Autopsy Round 2, 2024: Hawks go to hell

[The Golden Glenferrie]

Mackenzie's effort against Gawn was fantastic. Glad to see he played a much better game today. Now to string more of them together

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Mackenzie looked good today. His first half was excellent, and he seemingly tired a bit late - just like he did against the Doggies practice match, where he played another good game.

 

[The hands of stone]

Has Sam tried turning the midfield off and back on again?

And if that fails , pour coffee on it

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

Sam doesn't have the cattle

We can't all get gifted prime priority picks by the AFL.

It's going to be compounded by the father sons we're going to lose too

 

[Gut Runner]

Looks like the cliff for Bruest and Gunners might come pretty quickly.

Getting Butler in would be good - some more pace and tackles.

Ginni has been good but 0 tackles, Wiz - 1, Croc -2, Gunston - 1, Lewis - 1. That's hardly any forward pressure.

 

[Gut Runner]

We can't all get gifted prime priority picks by the AFL.

It's going to be compounded by the father sons we're going to lose too

What FSs?

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

What FSs?

The Hodges and to a lesser extent, the Burgoyne

 

[Lickmesocks]

That's probably down to the last 3 drafts.

Sheezel, Wardlaw, Colby, Duursma is a way better haul than Ward, Mackenzie, Wiz.



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Denver says

 

[TylerDurden]

5-14 centre clearances.
Last week was 9-18.
That's the ball game there.
I think Ward may need a spell. Huss has to come in to help in that area. It's officially alarm bells in there.

 

[H00t]

Really need a lift from everyone on the field. Can’t afford to be carrying so many passengers each week.

Also makes it a lot easier for the opposition to sit on the few players winning the ball when there’s only a couple to worry about rather than each and every player being dangerous.

 

[Off The Couch]

Why ?

Arguably our best all round player.
The one midfielder we have who can win ball at contest and get it on the outside.
Can also play back and can kick goals.

Back in he improves our side more than anyone , comfortable .

I’m not saying that he isn’t an important in but he isn’t a 55 point difference either

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

At the game it was evident that we'd shift their zone and then were too scared to hit the player in space on the 45. Ward tried a couple of times, noticed this last year too. He is a smart player and once he gets bigger (and older, is only 20) then he will be an asset with his kicking and smarts.

Centre bounce was a shambles, Croc doesn't know what defensive side is and a lot of those centre clearances where Melbourne waltzed it out on the fourth were on him. Saw Ward and Nash bake him after one too.

Have to remember that despite a good year last year, that as a midfield unit we average like 50 games. We are desperate for a seasoned midfielder that we should have drafted under Clarko.

 

[phlogiston]

Was at the ground last week and this week. Certainly we seemed to play better last week, but I'm struggling to fathom the depth of negativity here.

From my amateur eye, and applying a Pareto analysis approach, there are three things we have to address. In order:

1. Centre bounces. In both games, very easy 4-5 oppo goals have come from them simply sharking or winning the tap, running out out of the squarer, and a kick to a forward 35-40 metres out dead in front. I'm not sure what the fix is, but figuring it out makes our job immediately 5 goals easier / their job 5 goals harder (note: I'm not saying the oppo won't kick those 5 goals, but at least make it hard for them!)
2. Coming into the 50. On at least two occasions last week, and two occasions this week, we've over-used the ball coming into 50, and coughed it up to the oppo for an easy rebound. I'm pretty sure at least one case each week led to an oppo goal. Even simply giving the team instructions to have a ping would be preferable to what has happened. We do this, and we are immediately a 1 goal per week better team (let's say we kick 1.1 from this)
3. Tackling. I don't really care if we over-tackle and give away free kicks. It's preferable to a half-arsed effort that allows the oppo to shrug it off. Just go into the tackle 100% and stop the oppo momentum, either by forcing a ball up or giving away a free that slows momentum (most frees from tackles give us valuable time to organize defensively).

There's plenty more, but I reckon addressing these three will have the biggest impact on the scoreboard.

Thought we had some good players today: Weddle was terrific across the ground. Worpel's effort was 100% but he's either hanging on for the ball too long and getting caught or trying to get rid of it before he has proper control. Hardwick was Hardwick, rock solid and dependable. Mackenzie showed a lot of intent and willingness to get involved; was it him who had a go at Gawn later in the game? One Watson got the goal monkey off his back, he was getting involved everywhere, on the wing, in the backline. He's a gem. Frost, Scrimmers, Sic, and Impey all did well down back. Not convinced on Amon in the backline TBH. Also enjoyed Chol's and Ginnivan's games. Ginni is a great trade.

In terms of the whipping boys from this thread, Ward did a shedload of defensive running and a lot of the "hidden" stuff. (There was a time in the fourth quarter I think when he could have had a shot but didn't, and it ended up being a turnover for a Dees goal. It's those kinds of situations where have a ping; worst case scenario there's a contest 15 metres out dead in front.). I actually didn't mind Nash's game either, although his tackling was well down. Some of his field kicking is top notch. Reeves was well down on last week.

We really need, each week, 2-3 of the Croc, Frenchy, Ward, Nash, Newk, Worps type players to chip in with a goal each, and two unique score involvement chains from each. Thought Croc had an inconsistent game; was good in patches then went quiet.

Enough ill-informed blathering from me. Not great, but really I didn't think as bad as is being made out here. One last thing: I was sitting next to a very nice Dees supporter and her adult daughter, and we had a good chat throughout the day. The umpiring was pretty average, with some incredibly late calls (including a centre bounce recall after Chol was off), and she made comment early in the game about the late calls. There was some free quick in the last quarter, and her daughter asked what it was for. This lady replied, "Oh, an infringement in the third quarter." Absolute gold.

Cheers,
P

 

[undefined]

She'll be right. Defensive structure held up rather well in the 2nd and 3rd terms. Positive signs sparse but still there.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Looks like the cliff for Bruest and Gunners might come pretty quickly.

Getting Butler in would be good - some more pace and tackles.

Ginni has been good but 0 tackles, Wiz - 1, Croc -2, Gunston - 1, Lewis - 1. That's hardly any forward pressure.

Breust started very slowly last season (8 goals in 6 games), but finished the season with 47 goals. Hopefully it's just a case of him starting slowly again, though given his age it's inevitable that the wall will come.

IMO we really need to see what Butler has to offer, if anything. We need him to work out for us. Breust and Gunston (and Wingard) have nothing left to prove and won't be part of any success we may have in 3 or so years, so we should be giving guys like Butler a go.

OUT:

• Reeves
• Breust
• Gunston
• Finn

IN:

• Meek
• Butler
• Mitchell
• Hustwaite

Maybe make Impey the sub.

Amon to a wing with Mitchell going into the backline.

 

[LRobbo]

Biggest concern for mine, is the clear lack of top shelf premium players on our list.
Day and Sicily are probably the only ones.
Mackenzie could become one, confident Watson becomes one and Weddle could be anything, but it drops off quickly.

We need to nail 2 more drafts.

Our key position stocks are the worst in the competition

 

[Elhawko]

Agree with most of the sentiment here.

Positives
-We kept our 1st round pick for 2025
-McKenzie looks like he is a jet
-Wiz kicked a goal today, made contested ball, a great reason to come to the footy
-Chol a serious upgrade on Kossie, but where was Mitch Lewis today?
-Weddel looked good everywhere he played. May need to try running him as a mid if we get smashed like that in the middle
-Frosty made no major disposal blunders today
-Backline, stood up pretty well considering how many clearances we lost

Urgent Attention Necessary
Midfield - was pulverised for clearances today. May need to learn to bang it on the boot at first opportunity rather than trying to be pretty about it. I'm curious to see what Sam will do here. I think Hustwaite in for Finn. Sub Nash and throw Weddel into the mix, even Wiz if you've lost 5 or 6 consecutive would do better.

Disposal in general- some huge issues here. If you're going go turn it over percentage wise with where you are, better off booting in 50 to 60m down the line rather than going short/inboard. A few times we tried to find options in our forward 50 and turned it over, just have a shot.

I have to say I felt a bit for Mitch Lewis today. There were seversp times particularly in the second quarter when the players upfield set him nearly impossible tasks by lobbing the pass directly into a knot of players ahead of him and forcing him to crash a pack they should have kicked over. Then Nash burnt him badly with a poor pass in the last quarter, got thick he apologised. Hard to be a key forward in our team they way we distribute into the forward fifty.

 

[Gut Runner]

Really need a lift from everyone on the field. Can’t afford to be carrying so many passengers each week.

Also makes it a lot easier for the opposition to sit on the few players winning the ball when there’s only a couple to worry about rather than each and every player being dangerous.

Yeah they can sit on Newk and know Worps and Nash disposal isn't dangerous.

 

[jive]

I’m going to put this down to Melbourne just being a very good football side. They will smash several teams in similar fashion this year.

We had no answers for the way set up behind the ball and then they were pretty classy in general play too.

Quite a few of our young players haven’t adjusted to the pace of the game yet and we look severely undersized compared to a team like Melbourne.

I still believe this group will be a good side, maybe today just showed I’m going to have to be a bit more patient.

 

[Franko Armani]

You saw it a lot in the intra club matches and practice games. Short, sharp handballs to each other but no real release option. Good luck someone upfield trying to lead when they don’t know when the ball will come out.

It’s a valid observation.

 

[Brucie Buffer]

I have more than one Sammy Mitchell jumper hung on my wall, but he has been beaten 0-2 in the coaches box.
Finn as sub the first week and a game plan that produced over 50 marks in a quarter for one solitary point.
It’s an observation not an opinion. He would know it, it’s fair to criticize our mids or players but the last two weeks has been an all around s**t show from top to bottom.

 

[rei154]

5-14 centre clearances.
Last week was 9-18.
That's the ball game there.
I think Ward may need a spell. Huss has to come in to help in that area. It's officially alarm bells in there.

IMO if we're getting HH in it's probably for Nash. Ward hasn't been playing out of the centre enough and I think we either need to get him in there more so that he can build that part of his game or we need to send him to box hill so he can show why he should be replacing someone else in there.

 

[Franko Armani]

Nash has dropped off a cliff. Looks like he started his pre season yesterday and has lost any sense of football smarts.

Ward runs around doing sweet FA. Move him to Box Hill and give him a role .
Finn is a complete Butcher and should not be playing AFL:

Ned is an absolute battler. 1 mark on a dry ground for a 7ft bloke is embarrassing. Get him out and Meek in.

if Ethan Phillips is not better than Frost as an option we are in huge strife.

Finally, if Sam instructed our side to play that game style today he needs to put the hand up and say I fluffed up. It was diabolical crap.

Can’t disagree with any of this, except the Meek thing - if only there was someone better.

 

[Franko Armani]

Turnovers from D'Ambrosio today. Perhaps drank his own bathwater last week. Super disappointing.

Needed to hit a target on our way out many times this afternoon but missed almost every time. Momentum
Killer.

 

[TheFourPillars]

I read through about 7 pages before i couldnt read any more.

I mentioned before the game that Melbourne's defensive structures are the best in the game. In a lot of ways we got a dose of our own medicine only 10 years ago. Our defensive structures were the envy of the competition. Melbourne were always going to be hard to beat. We had very similar problems last year transitioning the ball.

That wasnt our major problem our Midfield has started this year like they did last year. Our first qtr was diabolical so many weak efforts at tackling just throwing the arm out at someone running by. No intent no thirst for the contest.

Thankfully Twe came out in the second qtr with a lot more grunt. It was our best qtr its the way we should have played the game. We cant sustain that high intensity all game but we dropped off significantly.

Like many have mentioned Finn looks like he will be out of the side next week huss has to come in along with Seamus and or bailey. We need Amon back on the wing

Reeves was the least of our problems you ppl are over looking the fact that Max is the best in the comp and he isnt getting in the votes this week. Yes Reeves was beaten but he wasnt disgraced like Mcevoy was many times.

We will have growing pains in the middle our mids are not ready physically. I read quite a bit about how we r so poor in our tackling in pre season but guess what we wetent facing petracca and oliver in pre season training.

Going by what a lot of u have said about youngsters. You have no bloody patience. Petracca was playing VFL at frenchie and wards age. I know i saw plenty of games for boxhill where he was in it and teally didnt set the world on fire. Just remember the wards and mackenzies are still kids a long way to go. Till they build their bodies to be genuine stars of the AFL.

The outcome of this was predictable after that first qtr. We still need to forge our identity as a team. We came up against a very good side and we faltered we wont be the first or the last