Autopsy AFL 2026 Round 2 - Hawks v Swans Thurs March 19th 7:30pm AEDT (MCG)

[Shueygod]

Watch it again.

Mate I’ve screenshotted when Chol made contact with Mccartin, him turning his head later in the play is irrelevant.

When he makes contact he had eyes only for Mccartin and was physically turned away from the ball. That’s a free kick.

The hold was there in the end but it should have already been a free to the Swans.

 

[smeltitdeltit]

As soon as you initiate contact facing the player in a marking contest it’s a free. End of.

Not if you touch the ball.

 

[Shueygod]

Not if you touch the ball.

That’s not true, it’s a free even if you do touch the ball.

 

[MadMaxx]

Good to see the West Coast trolls back thriving in the hawthorn threads again this year. How are you going lads?

 

[ceebsaf]

Nick Watson has got to be the biggest flog in the afl.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Marks/frees from inside 50 kicks tonight, sydney kicking left, hawthorn right. Hawthorn able to generate 10 uncontested (including on lead) marks, vs just the two for swans.

View attachment 2556069

This is cool. Where did you get it?

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Mate I’ve screenshotted when Chol made contact with Mccartin, him turning his head later in the play is irrelevant.

When he makes contact he had eyes only for Mccartin and was physically turned away from the ball. That’s a free kick.

The hold was there in the end but it should have already been a free to the Swans.

That’s just not true. He engages and they engage with each other. Which is fair as the ball comes in nothing untoward. Then McCartin grabs him around, clear free.

 

[tropicaltiger]

commentators getting Hard-Ons and pumping up the AFL rules for the high score in the first quarter well guess what let's go back to 1992.
no 50m stand rule, no last touch, no 50m for talking back, no fullbacks allowed to run 40m for a kick in, no 666, 2 umpires only, no score review, no dangerous tackle rule just good tough attacking footy

 

[Dewyyyyy]

commentators getting Hard-Ons and pumping up the AFL rules for the high score in the first quarter well guess what let's go back to 1992.
no 50m stand rule, no last touch, no 50m for talking back, no fullbacks allowed to run 40m for a kick in, no 666, 2 umpires only, no score review, no dangerous tackle rule just good tough attacking footy
View attachment 2556180

They made the rules to aid the game because coaches, tactics and footy evolved.

 

[hk89]

I don’t disagree. But that’s what a good home crowd should get you. Influence.

Vic sides are currently winning free kick counts 8-1-1 in games against non Vic sides. Thats a ridiculous stat and I think it is worse now than ever.

In regard to Eagles in particular, that is partly because recently they are perhaps the worst they've ever been, and sides going poorly tend to go poorly in the free kick count too - although there is some wide variability on that too (Essendon with best home ground differential back in 2024 for example).

As others have pointed out, historically Eagles have the best home free kick differential of any side. Back in 2018 when they were good, they also had the best free kick differential at home of any side.

So the bottom line is, if you don't like getting rogered by the umpires - get better. Or don't. We in Victoria don't really care, and actually like the sound of your constant bleating, because it means you're not travelling well. We hear less of it when you're getting a massive ride from the umpires on your home ground and winning - which statistically speaking happens to Eagle's more than any other club, certainly a lot more often than the home ground bias enjoyed by Vic sides over the years.

I'm sure you'll be back to being good enough to take advantage of your massive home town free kick differential soon. In the mean time, we'll enjoy your tears.

Hawthorn btw is one of only two teams who have an overall negative free kick differential when playing at home (GWS the other). Toby Greene is probably most of the GWS problem Hawthorn being uncompetitive for the first few decades of their existence likely explains our historic negative differential.

Currently Eagle's , Port and Adelaide form 3 of the top 4 all time home ground free kick differential teams (excluding teams that no longer exist, i.e Fitzroy and Bears). So even if this is the worst period ever for non-vic free kick differential, 'bad' for you guys is more like 'average' for vic teams (from an historical point of view). Probably because we play a lot more home games against other teams that are not leaving the state to play.

Basically you've had a gift for years, and complain when you're not good and the gift isn't giving as much as it usually does. You should be grateful for the massive non-vic bias in home ground free kick counts over the years, not sitting on a forum thread for a game your team is not competing in, constantly complaining about vic-bias home umpiring.

 

[TheFourPillars]

I love the game day threads just come here after a win to react to all those salty supporters of opposition clubs same ones lol. Hawthorn won the game because their week midfield were +30 for clearances and as many for contested posssessions around the ground after half time we should have won by more.

 

[ReturningHawk]

Vic sides are currently winning free kick counts 8-1-1 in games against non Vic sides. Thats a ridiculous stat and I think it is worse now than ever.

Serious question. Is this something that non-Vic sides have complained about in the past? Have heard it a lot this year, but I think the free kick differential data paints a different picture. The opposite picture, in fact.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

27-16 is a large disparity. The Swans only getting 16 is also more of the issue than the ones the Hawks got.

Numbers are rarely objective in this sport
The umpiring was for the most part fine. Neither side got frees the other didnt (outside the first 10 minutes when the swans kicked 2 goals from wrong free kick calls)
3 if hawthirns frees were from Grundy still not understanding the ruck rules alone

 

[vanders]

Geez we finally get a decent contest on a Thursday night and all you lot want to talk about is umpiring. Umpires are shit and inconsistent, they make dodgy calls and miss obvious ones for every team every week and are influenced by home crowds. Nothing will change until the AFLstop acting like umpires don't deserve to be held accountable for it.

Anyway it was a good game and both teams played some good contested footy. Happy to get the win.

 

[FootyIslanders]

Some might call that a Yankee Doodle dandy

 

[MasterSamurai]

What a shame !!! Should've won by at least 40+ points !! 29 shots to 17!! Gave them too much of a sniff only because of poor conversion. Can't wait for Will Day to come back into this side in the second half of the season. Swans were ok, they'll win heap of games but Hawks too good after QTR time.

 

[Partridge]

Numbers are rarely objective in this sport
The umpiring was for the most part fine. Neither side got frees the other didnt (outside the first 10 minutes when the swans kicked 2 goals from wrong free kick calls)
3 if hawthirns frees were from Grundy still not understanding the ruck rules alone

Impartial and neutral observer here who missed a little of the first quarter but saw the rest. Hawthorn were the better team, worked and ran harder and were more desperate (especially in the second half). Umpires had absolutely zero to do with it. If Chol had held his marks and you converted better the margin could have easily been bigger.

 

[Back Pocket Rocket]

Nick Watson has got to be the biggest flog in the afl.

 

[Credit To Du Bois]

This is cool. Where did you get it?

It’s from a tool I launched yesterday at https://charting.football/i50/

Only really works for desktop, not mobile.

 

[tropicaltiger]

They made the rules to aid the game because coaches, tactics and footy evolved.

how about instead of more ball ups boundary throw-ins and congested plays (no time to sqeeze in an advert) the AFL wanted more time for sponsors to promote their products after goals. 60 seconds + now...... do the sums 7 goals each team = 28 ads.....15 goals each is 60 ads after goals and 75% of after siren breaks = ads. even the highlight packages are adverts....KFC play of the day....40 winks scoreboard, hungry jacks player of the match ect ect

 

[Mitchell Madness]

how about instead of more ball ups boundary throw-ins and congested plays (no time to sqeeze in an advert) the AFL wanted more time for sponsors to promote their products after goals. 60 seconds + now...... do the sums 7 goals each team = 28 ads.....15 goals each is 60 ads after goals and 75% of after siren breaks = ads. even the highlight packages are adverts....KFC play of the day....40 winks scoreboard, hungry jacks player of the match ect ect

Aiding scoring was definitely to get ads.
No issue with sponsoring the hell out of segments though

 

[revo333]

The Hawthorn free kicks in the last 10 minutes were there, The swans players should know better.

It's the staging for frees that is worse, Ginnivan goes to ground before contact even happens.

 

[GinniAndTonic]

Top game this changing my tip to the Swans here might be too good for the hawks be it at the MCG.
Swans need to prove they can do it at the MCG.
Line in the sand.
Swans by 17 points

Classic Timo Hawks hate. Absolutely hate tipping us don’t you? Some of your famous tips against us West Coast last year, North last year and Dons this year don’t change timokane

 

[Mr Meow]

Its literally identical to last season which got worse, not better.

And yes, the same excuses about sample size were rolled out last season.

Last season you showed that Vic sides won a lot of free kick counts early in the season and then it was mostly even week to week later on.

 

[Towmotar]

The 12 lowest stat earners for the game…..
But yeah, umpires….
Was at the game, thought Swans looked really sharp at times, but could easily have been a 6+ goal loss if Hawks goal kicking was a little better.