Autopsy 2025 Preliminary Final: Hawks get rolled

[VandoHawk]

Had a good reflection about the game and it's bittersweet.

I'll start with a personal rant - what was frustrating about the umpiring was the timing. We had all the momentum in the first quarter and a bit, yet we found ourselves down 2-7 with multiple dodgy calls that denied us goals. Then when Geelong had their period of prolonged dominance, every decision went their way. We got some fortuitous calls in the last quarter to make it look more even than it was.

That being said, it was a tertiary problem and one you cannot control. Our midfield (bar Nash) got slaughtered in all aspects. We conceded too many inside 50's, and the lack of midfield pressure saw our defensive weakness to ground ball return. We struggled with the pressure, which caused us to fumble clean possession and miss tackles we've nailed in previous weeks. Geelong are also a strong unit that punished most mistakes we made after the first quarter.

So many of the tactical moves went Geelong's way. Blicavs pushing forward punished Meek more than expected. They shut down Impey's run. The trio of tags on Newc, Wiz and Weddle were brutally effective. We had to compromise some of our structures to adapt.

Fixing the midfield will go a long way. Once we stop getting slaughtered at clearance, our backline immediately improves due to a reduction in pressure. This stability offsets the fumbles, alleviates our ground ball vulnerability, and gets our rebound game going to a greater degree. Once teams cannot just shut down specific players, we can better deal with strategic moves. Our forward line could use some tweaks but it remains rather potent when given supply.

I'm disappointed but optimistic about what we can achieve in the coming years.

 

[Hawks1523]

what would a non-burner account look like? is your legal name badgrill? What is your heritage...fascinating name!

I hope the ban your main for a decent amount of time. Lippy campaigner.

 

[Baz_hawk]

Got smashed in the middle after quarter time and it really gave us no chance. Our forwards never really saw any 1 v 1 contests and we ended up with Watson in the back half just to try and get some involvement.

Days absence was really felt last night, as Newk got sat on and we didn't seem to have anyone stand up in his place and the clearance numbers reflect that.

Did something happen to Meek? Was barely was in the park in the last quarter which didn't help us as we had no big target down the line to try and even a contest.

A solid year, we improved our position on last year after some really average games in the middle of the year. Can see us going midfield shopping in the off season, need some extra drive out of the middle to really take the next step.

 

[Stottzy]

Meeksy should have gone the old fashioned thump it forward 20m out of the ruck.

The only time we looked like getting a centre clearance was when Chol jumped and got the ball out of the ruck and kicked it forward himself.

I seriously don't get why ruckman don't do this more and just continue on with just tapping it down to their feet. It worked for Clark Keating and one of the best midfields we've ever seen, whom Lethal took inspiration from how Don Scott rucked.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Great season. Especially after day went down and it all looked shot. A prelim final is a great result.
As for last night - actually were quite efficient when we got the ball forwards and 85 points is ok for 40 entries . Our mids were just overwhelmed and cannot concede 66 entries to a Geelong side.
Umpiring very bad and cost us at least 3-4 goals. Butler in Q1 and Gunston in Q2 shocking and both impact momentum . I feel we are right in it. I would aim for Petracca if we could only get 1 of him and Merrett. Need a bigger mid to help newk and hopefully day

Chol free kick was there unfortunately

 

[unitedhawk2]

Still shattered but just wanted to come on here and tip my hat to Dangerfield. Bloke's a bona fide star!

Sam's words at the end of the H&A season probably sums up our 2025: Good but not great. We'll be better in 2026.

All the best to the three remaining teams - may the best side be triumphant next Saturday.

 

[RobHawk]

As well as trying

Hey guys, excuse the intrusion, I just wanted to come in and say great game, and yeah...suck shit you losers

Back at you for next week

 

[ScottMaginness]

I would disagree the umpire was vision-impaired in the first instance. He could clearly see Patrick Dangerfield was going to be the beneficiary.

 

[StackedHunch]

Hey guys, excuse the intrusion, I just wanted to come in and say great game, and yeah...suck shit you losers

Nice one, meth head. Say hi to Tanner Bruhn next time you see him at his 'rehab'.

 

[Off The Couch]

Hey guys, excuse the intrusion, I just wanted to come in and say great game, and yeah...suck shit you losers

How’s Tom this morning?

 

[StackedHunch]

How’s Tom this morning?

Probably in a similar mental state to Bailey Sniff and Tanner Bruhn

 

[Gene Simmons]

We had a handful of players who were overawed by the occasion.. Perceived pressure, fumbles and dropped marks was the theme of the night and no doubt there'll be afew gutted by their performance.

Credit where it's due, Geelong are so well coached and their players attack the ball with such ferocity we just couldn't match it.

Just like the hurt of semi loss last year helped drive the motivation last summer, this loss will burn and drive the players.

2025 was full of expectation (flag favourites at one stage) after a very promising end last year and we handled that added pressure and attention from opposition with flying colours.

With the addition of 1 or 2 quality midfielders plus a fit Will Day and further development we'll be there again.

Go Hawks

 

[TassieGrown]

Should we go after Jaidyn Stephenson?

what would a non-burner account look like? is your legal name badgrill? What is your heritage...fascinating name!

I would be shocked if Thedecoy is not living in his mums basement with a draw full of crusty socks

 

[H00t]

Interestingly enough despite losing the centre clearances 20-5 we kicked more goals 2 straight to their 1 goal 4 from them. Plus would have had another if not for the Chol free kick (was there but seen worse not paid).

Where we got scored against was around the ground clearances despite only being 30-28 they scored 10.2 to our 5.4.

The ball just ended up spending too much time in their forward half. Their backline was incredibly vulnerable.

 

[TylerDurden]

That Butler non goal in the first quarter was ****ing outrageous. Would've been 27 to 1, and instead opened the door for Geelong. Likewise the Gunston non-mark. Its moments like this that just kill you.

This.
But conceding -15 centre bounces and -26 I50's ain't gonna cut it in a Prelim v Geelong.

Keen to see the back of Worpel now.
Bring in some A grade mids and give it a shake.

It's crystal clear that midfield wont be able to get it done in its current form.

 

[BigHawk2025]

Respectfully disagree. Days injury prone and cannot be relied on anymore to be the one that takes us to premiership glory until he can put back to back seasons together of 20+ games. We all know how impactful he is, but 76 games across six seasons which is an average of 12.5 per season isn’t going to cut it. We saw what happened last night, and as good as day is, he isn’t going to create 5 goals per game, especially in a prelim. The midfields where the ball is won, meek won the hit outs yet we got smashed in clearances. Outside of Nuke, Nash isn’t going to dominate clearances, worpel is gone and wards still a long way off from consistency dominating games, that’s if he ever does. So realistically, A grade wise, Nuke is there, and who else outside of Day? If we don’t bring in ready made players to complete our midfield, we will get repeats of last night.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Had a good reflection about the game and it's bittersweet.

I'll start with a personal rant - what was frustrating about the umpiring was the timing. We had all the momentum in the first quarter and a bit, yet we found ourselves down 2-7 with multiple dodgy calls that denied us goals. Then when Geelong had their period of prolonged dominance, every decision went their way. We got some fortuitous calls in the last quarter to make it look more even than it was.

That being said, it was a tertiary problem and one you cannot control. Our midfield (bar Nash) got slaughtered in all aspects. We conceded too many inside 50's, and the lack of midfield pressure saw our defensive weakness to ground ball return. We struggled with the pressure, which caused us to fumble clean possession and miss tackles we've nailed in previous weeks. Geelong are also a strong unit that punished most mistakes we made after the first quarter.

So many of the tactical moves went Geelong's way. Blicavs pushing forward punished Meek more than expected. They shut down Impey's run. The trio of tags on Newc, Wiz and Weddle were brutally effective. We had to compromise some of our structures to adapt.

Fixing the midfield will go a long way. Once we stop getting slaughtered at clearance, our backline immediately improves due to a reduction in pressure. This stability offsets the fumbles, alleviates our ground ball vulnerability, and gets our rebound game going to a greater degree. Once teams cannot just shut down specific players, we can better deal with strategic moves. Our forward line could use some tweaks but it remains rather potent when given supply.

I'm disappointed but optimistic about what we can achieve in the coming years.

Geelong can't tag who they want and control the narrative if there's an array of players they have to contend with. We couldn't pull many levers that's the reality. Midfield will fix this problem when we get the right players. Instead of them sitting on who they like they all of a sudden have to put Spotfires out because we have players getting out of control. That's how you beat them. Force them to do what they don't want to do.

 

[Louis Litt]

We had two outstanding finals victories, but tonight was a bridge too far.

The cats were too quick, strong, and clean. We probably ran out of petrol tickets in the end.
Our midfield has to improve. Go get Merrett AND Petracca. We need both.

Well done to the boys on an outstanding season. It hurts, but that's what helps drive the team to achieve more.

Yep one power mid and another power forward - Lewis inconsistent and Dear developing.

 

[Worth a Kick]

Whately calling for the electric chair ......

Honestly shits me to tears. Of course you don’t want to see blokes knocked out and missing games, especially a grand final. But sometimes in contact sports it’s gunna happen. It was a good, hard tackle. What was Cholly supposed to do? Release him before they hit the ground and still land on top of him anyway due to forward momentum?

 

[StillAtLarge]

Whately calling for the electric chair ......

I can understand people baying for blood when it comes to something like a dump tackle but a run down effort where you pin both arms is extremely hard to execute (and legislate). But if Curtis got weeks I guess Chol does too.
Unfortunately accidents happen, there was nothing crude or spiteful about that tackle but when a player has forward momentum it's bloody hard to roll/protect them on the way down

 

[seysearles]

If you think about losing centre clearances 20 to 5, that's not only 15 additional attempts the Cats get to score with the 6 - 6 - 6 setup but that's an additional 15 times we have to spend energy to move the ball the length of the ground into our forward 50.

I wondered why we didn't just go man on man in the middle and just force some stoppages, it was obvious that we were outgunned trying to play the cats midfielders out of the middle.

Honestly its like starting with one hand tied behind our backs. Its actually kind of admirable that we even made a prelim with that midfield.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Dangerfield one is line ball, the whole ball has to be across the line and if it's out it ain't by much. The Gunston/Henry one was diabolically bad though, one of the worst decisions I've seen this year. It absolutely killed us

 

[IndiaHawk]

Respectfully disagree. Days injury prone and cannot be relied on anymore to be the one that takes us to premiership glory until he can put back to back seasons together of 20+ games. We all know how impactful he is, but 76 games across six seasons which is an average of 12.5 per season isn’t going to cut it. We saw what happened last night, and as good as day is, he isn’t going to create 5 goals per game, especially in a prelim. The midfields where the ball is won, meek won the hit outs yet we got smashed in clearances. Outside of Nuke, Nash isn’t going to dominate clearances, worpel is gone and wards still a long way off from consistency dominating games, that’s if he ever does. So realistically, A grade wise, Nuke is there, and who else outside of Day? If we don’t bring in ready made players to complete our midfield, we will get repeats of last night.

Completely agree to this. We can no longer rely on Day, he is too injury prone. Next year forward will not be the same. Gunston is bound to decline and unless Lewis and Dear improve we will be in trouble.

We are lacking a version of Hodge in the team who brings versatility and leadership. We need to find that quick.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

For those of us talking about ball handling.

This stat sums it up.

 

[RoughysMullet]

Easy fixture enabled Danger to chill and rest or go at 50% all season so he was fresh and primed for that 3rd quarter