Are wins and experience mutually exclusive?

melb_will

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In the immortal words of Ron Burgundy

I'd just like to put something out there and if you like it you can take it, and if you don't send it right back.

I think Hawthorn is now at a stage where the coaching staff have to choose between wins and gaining experience. This is different I believe to last year where we simply did not have the experience to choose to win games. (ie giving Roughhead (18 games) Franklin (20 games) Sewell (16 games) Lewis (19 games), not to mention Campbell back, Guerra )

So anyway we can choose between wins and experience.

In theory I think that wins would involve us playing the best players in each position, playing a game plan which works for us now. It would also mean more membership NOW and more money NOW. However, I think that people will be kidding ourselves if we think that even trying to win we would make the 8.

In theory playing for experience will involve playing kids in positions where they will be beaten, playing a game plan that is above the skill levels which the kids possess so that they grow up as footballers knowing a game plan that can win a premiership. playing for experience will I think result in less membership NOW and less money NOW, but more membership, money and success in the FUTURE. Also if we play for experience then we will likely win less than 5 games and qualify for priority picks.

The other big unknown is whether we will instead of building good experience instead build a losing spirit that seemed to affect the doggies/swans/including possibly us.

Ok so everyone knows this or has been thinking it now lets apply it to real life.

Zac Dawson v Rocca, clearly choosing experience, (although I think that a lot of people have said it right that a lot of those goals would have been kicked anyway because of the delivery, the ones that could have been stopped were the ones where rocca roved the ball for a start)

Everitt v Max Bailey, well have to say that choosing winning here. The coaching staff has admitted Everitt is not fit.

So where to from here.

Well if we choose to go for experience we need to have explicit statements from the coaching staff and the management that this is the direction we are going. I do not think that the two possibilities can both be achieved this year. The explicit statement needs to be made to make sure that the drop in membership and money is not as great as would be without it.

We also need an explicit statement because at the moment Clarkson's contract review seems to be based on his performance in winning games.

I'd like to here people's thoughts on this rambling crap especially if people can provide more examples of choosing of wins or experience. Also whether wins and experience are mutually exclusive this year.

cheers

Will
 

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Fat Tony

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melb_will i think that you underestimate our side...

before the collingwood game we had already beaten Freo, West coast and richmond and lost to adelaide by 13 points. Now other than the freo game we had a great set up:

Boyle, Franklin, Roughead with Willo and Dixon in the forward line.

Crawf, Mitchel, Bateman, Ladson, Lewis and Hodge in the middle

and finally
Jacobs, campbell, croad, smith, greura and brown

now i reckon we will win more games than we lose by playing these players in the right positions...

... great news everyone just read that boyle franklin and brown are all to be considered this week:thumbsu: :thumbsu:

this relates to my reply because that team i selected above is now very similar to the one we might select for saturday's game:thumbsu:

we might just surprise the pussies at kadina...

go hawks
 

melb_will

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I like your optimism fat tony, don't agree with it but like it. However to bring back players like cambell brown we have to ditch some of the young kids. Who won't get the experience that getting whooped by senior players provides, (at least according to our coaching staff)

So we are trading of experience for performance.

cheers

Will
 

Mr.Likeable

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#4
melb_will said:
whether wins and experience are mutually exclusive this year
Not mutually exclusive, but experience has to come before wins.
Most footballers reach physical maturity and then peak performance from 23 to 25 years of age. They retain peak performance until roughly 28 and then it's a gradual decline.
Ages of Hawthorn footballers:
31: Crawford and Everitt
30: Barker
29: Vandenberg
28: Dixon, Smith
27: nil
26: nil
25: Jacobs, Croad
24: Bateman
23: Mitchell, Guerra, Campbell, Clarke, Osborne, Ball, Ries, Taylor
22: Williams, Brown
21: Hodge, Sewell, Ladson, Boyle
20: Brennan, Little, Miller, Thurgood
19: Dawson, Lewis, Young, Roughead, Bailey, Franklin, Murphy
18: Dowler, Muston, Tuck
17: Birchall, Ellis

Any wins this year are a bonus. That's not to say we're not capable of getting a lot of wins, but our club has very few players at peak performance, and heaps of players on the right side of it, but needing experience.

In addition, most players need 50 games in order to start to fullfil their potential, and most play just over 100 before really hitting their straps.

In two more years our side will be starting to really grow into itself:

Bateman, Mitchell, Clarke, Osborne, Ries, Williams, Brown and Hodge will all be 23 to 26 years old and all hitting a century of games around the same time. Sewell, Ladson, Brennan, Miller, Thurgood, Lewis, Young, Roughead, Franklin and more will be 21 to 23 with 50 games and building. Boyle, Dawson, Bailey and Birchall will be round the point that Ladson is at now. Croad and Jacobs will still be at their peak. Dowler, Muston, Tuck & Ellis: Who knows?

Any good wins in the meantime are a bonus to be savoured.
 
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