Review Round 11, 2025 - Hawthorn vs. Brisbane Lions

[dlanod]

Let's be honest, we beat them in 2021/2022.
No free kick for holding my arse.

I'm not sure free kicks for holding your arse is part of the standard AFL rulebook.

 

[braddsey]

If I heard Howie one more time banging on about “The Athletic One” I was ready to throw a shoe through the tv. Howie, have you heard of a bloke called Jack Payne?

Watching the replay. Bloody annoying. Needs to go back to the Rex Hunt school of nicknames before he can start rolling it out every 3 minutes.

 

[martinson]

No other player was chasing Weddle or coming across to add pressure. Perhaps the implied pressure of Froggy chasing him meant he pushed harder than his capacity, so when he got within range he had nothing left in the tank and left his shot on goal 10 meters short.

Players all have different attributes, and a reality that some players will be faster than others.

The idea that anyone would've caught Weddle was a bit weird.

Froggy's deceptive. He did a great job to keep up.

 

[Section 5]

It was a good team effort, but McCluggage has continued on with his good form in 2025.
Yesterday 17 of his 24 disposals were contested

Was a bit worried when he was holding his left buttock high up, right where the hamstring ends after he took a mark.
Played out the game without any noticeable concern which is great.

McCluggage has improved on his 2024 contested possession average by 2.38 per game so far this year.
Will Ashcroft has also had a nice 2.9 increase.

Year 2024: (1) Neale 13.88, (2) Dunkley 10.63, (3) Oscar 10.08 (4) McCluggage 8.89, (5) Will Ashcroft 7.46
Year 2025: (1) Neale 12.18, (2) McCluggage 11.27, (3) Dunkley 11.00 (4) Will Ashcroft 10.36 (5) Oscar (7.62)

 

[T Rick]

I too don't think Lester's spot is in danger, is a premiership player and doing a good role, but Weddle ran away from him yesterday whilst bouncing the ball at least three times down the wing and almost scored a goal.

In that chase down the wing Lester did not look like giving up - as always he gave a totally committed 100% effort that kept the pressure on Weddle to muck up - which he did - just ask his Coach in the box.

 

[JasRulz63]

While very happy with the response I think it needs to be said that was a surprisingly dysfunctional Hawks' side.

Well done Noah, Charlie and Cal in particular for answering the critics. Thought Kai played his best game for the year too.

I think a bit of it is chicken or the egg though. Almost every time they showed the 'pressure rating' ours was close to over 200, except near the end of game where it dropped off a bit. Our pressure on their ball carriers was very good, and our midfield smashed theirs out of the middle.

They're pretty reliant on Will Day to carry their midfield. Their best midfielder yesterday is probably Newcombe, and he'd be our 4th/5th? best midfielder.

 

[Thedeftouch]

Just saw they’re auctioning the game worn signed jerseys from this game on the Official Memorabilia site. The top bids currently are $1425 for Neale, $550 for W Ashcroft and Charlie, $450 for Ah Chee. Pretty cool, might try to get one!

 

[Thedeftouch]

In that chase down the wing Lester did not look like giving up - as always he gave a totally committed 100% effort that kept the pressure on Weddle to muck up - which he did - just ask his Coach in the box.

Yep this. Without the pressure he could have run it in for a goal. Impressive effort from Lester as usual.

 

[Viceregal]

Also it baffles me how players are allowed to encourage, pretend there is head high contact.

If one umpire calls a free against for staging and another umpire calls a free for for high contact at the same time what happens?

 

[mpal6]

If one umpire calls a free against for staging and another umpire calls a free for for high contact at the same time what happens?

They have to get on a stone, paper, scissors to see who wins.

 

[MSB ROYS]

If one umpire calls a free against for staging and another umpire calls a free for for high contact at the same time what happens?

Obviously being able to communicate isn't being used when one umpire calls advantage to the Lions and the other umpire gives a 50 m penalty to Hawthorn.

Who knows what they will do.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Dunstall pumped him up tonight
I actually like it when he calls games

The guys on the Hawks GD board were going ballistic over Dunstall's commentary. Apparently he hates the Hawks

 

[Nathan Barley]

Hawks down to 6th now

 

[Coastal Lion]

The guys on the Hawks GD board were going ballistic over Dunstall's commentary. Apparently he hates the Hawks

He cant seem bias glad they all love him too.
Calls it how it is unlike some of the other idiots that call games

 

[martinson]

He cant seem bias glad they all love him too.
Calls it how it is unlike some of the other idiots that call games

I honestly thought he was biased towards the Hawks yesterday . Riding very kick.

Maybe that's how biased I am.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Lester has years of synergy training with this group. His judgement of when to stay and when to go is sublime. That forward run in the gf, wow.

Even if they are exactly the same lester will perform better at this point in time.

Doedee obviously needs time to develop that synergy, but swapping them will cost us in the short term.

How short we don't know, but it's a massive risk in a premiership contending year.

Experience says lester would cope with being dropped but i won't.

Lester really is undroppable. I’ve been following VFL / AFL for over 55 years and the general rule is you don’t drop players who have strung together a couple of seasons of consistently strong football and are still bringing it week in week out. Additionally, Lester is one of those rare players who has become culturally significant among our playing group because he leads by example and is completely fearless and selfless.

These players don’t get dropped. An in form Lester stays put.

 

[Happy_Neale]

They have to get on a stone, paper, scissors to see who wins.

Stone?

 

[BangyBangy]

Hawks down to 6th now

Perfect. Two losses & down to 6th. Should bring the best out of them this week against the Pies. Love to see it.

 

[Viceregal]

I honestly thought he was biased towards the Hawks yesterday . Riding very kick.

Maybe that's how biased I am.

My wife (who does not follow the footy) was doing other things on the couch while I was watching the game and she comes out with 'they don't seem to be as dismissive of the Lions as they normally are' ... was interesting not only that she had picked up on the standard bias but also that she spotted an adjustment this game!

 

[3KZ is Football]

The idea that anyone would've caught Weddle was a bit weird.

Froggy's deceptive. He did a great job to keep up.

Absolutely. I loved that chase. What it did was it meant Weddle couldn’t go inboard and had to stick to the boundary line, spending all his petrol tickets. Inspirational play by Lester!

 

[Denno]

Some random thoughts:

Credit where credit is due - the coaching staff could have taken what might have been seen to be the easier option, and drop Fort off the back of Gawn's dominance last week. I don't think any of us would have thought twice if that was the case.
Instead, they gave O an extra week (at least), and backed Fort in, against a pretty good ruckman fresh from a week off.

Fort repaid them in spades. I also thought he coped better with the speed of the game this week, too (not nearly as many hack kick forwards).

Hopefully Cameron realises he does still have "it".

Good to see Lohmann reading the play in the last and getting to the drop of the ball - he has to be better for the run, surely......

Payne monstering Gunston was reminiscent of Joel Smith owning JG at the 'G a few years ago (if only for a qtr or so in that particular game). JG was completely out of tricks yesterday, and Payne looks super confident at the moment. Let's hope he stays fit for the whole season, and gets into A-A discussions (which he's absolutely capable of).

Watching it live, I felt we covered their spread really well, and forced them wide as a consequence. No doubt that was a coaching directive, and played into our hands beautifully.

Best four qtr game this season from Ah Chee - hopefully he can keep something like that up for the second half of the year. Rayner too had his moments - those last quarter misses would have been the icing on the cake (for a relatively low disposal game).

Loving watching Bailey at the moment - he himself may not be a 4 qtr player week in, week out, either, but seeing him have the confidence to spin, fend off, and even tackle better, suggests to me he has confidence back in his body (ankle), and he's proving a handful for opposition sides. No wonder Tas have (perhaps tongue in cheek) circled his name........

My only nagging doubt is whether we've let "playing on emotion" creep in a bit over the past few weeks (that I seem to recall David Noble mentioning a few years ago). We get up against Nth/Mel, and should have gone on with both of them, but we switched off as if we had nothing to play for. We did have a point to prove against Hawthorn (bogey team, we're on the rebound, etc), and low and behold, we win, and win well.

Whilst I fully expect us to account for Essendon, I hope we don't get "up" for the teams we feel we have a point to prove against, and drop our bundle when we come up against "lesser" teams.

 

[braddsey]

My only nagging doubt is whether we've let "playing on emotion" creep in a bit over the past few weeks (that I seem to recall David Noble mentioning a few years ago). We get up against Nth/Mel, and should have gone on with both of them, but we switched off as if we had nothing to play for. We did have a point to prove against Hawthorn (bogey team, we're on the rebound, etc), and low and behold, we win, and win well.

I’ve got no such concerns. It is a long season, particularly for non-Vic clubs with all the travel. To be up all season would be a massive ask, to have a bit of a down phase, while disappointing may be beneficial/required in terms of mental recovery - particularly when we have the wins on the board.

In my professional work i certainly have up and down phases (and i don’t have the adrenaline roller coaster footballers need to manage). If I’m up all the time, i burnout.

 

[3KZ is Football]

Yep this. Without the pressure he could have run it in for a goal. Impressive effort from Lester as usual.

It was not as good as this from ruckman John Ironmonger, who stood 200cm and weighed in at 118kg, but it was a gutsy effort from Lester.

 

[Perrip]

 

[braddsey]

It was not as good as this from ruckman John Ironmonger, who stood 200cm and weighed in at 118kg, but it was a gutsy effort from Lester.

We were at that one, waving our Lions flags, celebrating a story-tale end to some wonderful careers.