Expecting nothing at all in 2006?

[Bennycoff]

Well after our recent trades and retirements and heaps of draft picks, do you expect much next season?
I was hopeful that we'd finish 10-12th but it seems bottom four again. If we get the spoon Clarko won't be around either. He needs a finish just outside the eight for mine.
Our first few games seem very winnable, so lets hope we can have some early success next season.
We don't have much depth in the list and need an injury free season from our good players. We can't play stacks of youngsters otherwise the Port match could happen a couple of times.

 

[superstar]

Retirements and trades? The only 2005 regular out the door is Hay and he's been absolutely woeful for four years.

Given I expect the majority of our young list to improve with another year in the system, i'm expecting about 7-9 wins in 2006.

 

[Bennycoff]

just meant that we lost games of experience for picks. i know they werent playing much but if we have some injuries, it could get ugly cos we have a lot of kids. really i lot depends on how lewis roughie buddy josh and others mature over the summer.
how many wins does clarko need? i'd expect us to win against freo 1st rd.

 

[Roughie]

i expect us to finish from 8-12 and even if we finish in the 12-16 area of the ladder i think clarko will be offered another 2 year contract......We have drafted and moulded this team under clarko's guidence and i dont think we will be looking for another coach any time soon

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

To be honest, I don't really know what to expect from 2006. We could make the top 8, but it would depend upon our senior players (Everitt, Crawford) staying sound, our future leaders (Hodge, Mitchell) taking an extra step up, improvement from our younger players (Roughead, Franklin, Lewis), continued goal kicking form from Williams, and 2-3 of our new draft picks showing early promise .... and of course, self belief and a lack of injuries. If 2-3 of these things don't happen, we will be in the bottom 2-3 again in 2006.

 

[Gary Shadforth]

Post grand final, I have been mulling over tapes of the 2005 final series. Gee! There are some gaping holes in the performances of those teams which finished in the final eight. Clarko will sit down members of his team over the summer months in the new lecture theatre out at Waverley and go over those replays followed by practicing how to shape up for 2006.

Just hope our players are not looking down their noses like some people in this place. Just wouldn't like the same attitude to rub-off on them.

 

[RustyHawk]

My expectations for 2006 are not so much in how many games we win. Lets face it, we have an inexperienced list. What I want to see is guts and determination and plenty of.

For instance:
No more loosing the close ones like Essendon & Richmond.

No more disgraceful performances like what we saw at AAMI stadium against PA.

In particular I believe we need to keep that winning feeling against Essenscum in Rds 5 & 20.

RD 6 v Northorn should be interesting and again, no prisioners, we win.

Rd 7 @ Carrara; our home game by the way; against the Prissie Lions. Dont think supercoach Leigh Matthews wont want his revenge for the embarrasment we caused them at the MCG. We will have to stand our ground in this tough one.

& again in Rd16 at the Gabba &

finally, Rd 11 v the flagons of port at AAMI.

Again, if we can kick goals, be competative, show something, then the last 2 years would have been worth it.

 

[fishbowl]

We will fall into the eight much like Essendon 2003, Port 2004.

 

[CyberKev]

Retirements and trades? The only 2005 regular out the door is Hay and he's been absolutely woeful for four years.

Given I expect the majority of our young list to improve with another year in the system, i'm expecting about 7-9 wins in 2006.

I'm with you.

Surely to Christ we're going to finally get a fair slack of the reins re: injury!

We've been screwed in this department every year since 2000!

Even allowing for that and the blooding of ten debutantes this year, we still could have (and indeed should have) won 8-10 games.

We'll have to wait until next March to get a stronger idea of how the problematic issues of FF & FB are being handled, but I'm certainly not buying into the popular view that we'll be fodder in 2006.

 

[Gary Shadforth]

Surely to Christ we're going to finally get a fair slack of the reins re: injury!

Agree with you CyberKev. However, to counteract problems with injury, in re-devoloping our team there is a need for an emphasis on depth, in otherwords we need a list of at least 28 AFL quality players with flexible skills and ability to play in a variety of positions.

We'll have to wait until next March to get a stronger idea of how the problematic issues of FF & FB are being handled, but I'm certainly not buying into the popular view that we'll be fodder in 2006.

Certainly agree.

 

[tige19]

We will win 6-7 games finish in the bottom 3 and just miss out on priority picks, making season 2006 the most unimportant pathetic season Hawthorn has ever had. With 7 home games and bunch of no namers wearing the jumper why would you want to become a member in 2006???.

2007 -2008 will be very different but next season we might as well play in VFL and win a flag there , seriously 2006 is gonna be a no brainer, there wouldnt be another group of supporters looking forward to nothing next season besides Carlton.

cheers

 

[Bennycoff]

expect a record low in memberships for the club next season

 

[superstar]

I can't quite understand all the negativity about Hawthorn right now. We were expected to finish last in 2005 and we didn't. In reality, we ought to have won a few more games than we did. We haven't lose any players of value. It has me stumped.

Does anyone honestly expect Hodge, Bateman, Brown, Mitchell, Franklin, Roughhead and Lewis to go backwards in 2006? Given a few of those blokes missed chunks of the season I can only see us improving next year.

 

[Spook]

just meant that we lost games of experience for picks. i know they werent playing much but if we have some injuries, it could get ugly cos we have a lot of kids. really i lot depends on how lewis roughie buddy josh and others mature over the summer.
how many wins does clarko need? i'd expect us to win against freo 1st rd.

We had Sammy M, and Bateman out for most of last year...and towards the end of the season we had lots out???

 

[CyberKev]

I can't quite understand all the negativity about Hawthorn right now. We were expected to finish last in 2005 and we didn't. In reality, we ought to have won a few more games than we did. We haven't lose any players of value. It has me stumped.

Does anyone honestly expect Hodge, Bateman, Brown, Mitchell, Franklin, Roughhead and Lewis to go backwards in 2006? Given a few of those blokes missed chunks of the season I can only see us improving next year.

I couldn't have put it any better.

I think large sections of the Hawk fan base have become so accustomed to defeat in recent years that they now find it impossible to get past a "Henny Penny" approach to future performances.

I think the side has the capacity to be competitive.

There's going to be plenty of tragics from outside the club that will only be too happy to talk down our chances. I don't think we should be so eager to do the job for them.

 

[cs61]

Expecting improvement.

The trade period has led some (mostly opposition) supporters to believe we are going to be playing 22 eighteen year olds next season.

With Mitchell Hodge and Bateman in the middle for next season, I'm expecting we will put in a better show. Boyle to finally have a pre-season, and as Superstar said, Lewis Roughead and Franklin are going to better players.

Everyone seems to think we are going to have some huge surplus of kids, the only difference between how we are drafting kids this year to most clubs is our picks are going to be around the top 20.

I'd expect improvement, somehow we traded a disapointing fullback (I'm not saying it wont be any loss, it will be, but we can replace him), and suddenly we are favourite for the spoon. 7-9 wins wouldn't be a disapointment, but we should be striving for an outside shot at the 8. Why not?

 

[Bennycoff]

yeah but I don't want to be expecting too much then disappointed. some people think finals, I'd love that but I know it probably isn't likely.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I think a real problem over the next couple of years could be the number of players going through the dreaded "second year blues". A lot of players who show promise in their debut year call fall off a little in their second or third seasons as opposition sides start to work them out. This is when they find out how tough AFL football can really be.

 

[superstar]

I think a real problem over the next couple of years could be the number of players going through the dreaded "second year blues". A lot of players who show promise in their debut year call fall off a little in their second or third seasons as opposition sides start to work them out. This is when they find out how tough AFL football can really be.

You call it second year blues. I call Schwab-itis. That man was the master of stagnating promising careers.

What gives me confidence that won't happen again are Hodge, Bateman and Brown. These three blokes were among the worst in terms of stagnation under Schwab yet all three improved substantially in thier first season under Clarkson (and still have plenty to improve on).

I'm genuinely pleased with how we're gradually re-jigging the list and culture of the club after the shameful destruction at the hands of Schwab, Hook and co. We're removing the dead wood and troublesome figures and installing discipline to a young, developing side. After the state Schwab left the club in, we could not suddenly expect to play finals footy - it just wasn't possible. Not going to make any stupid predictions about 2006 except to say that I think we'll surprise a few.

 

[cs61]

Agree supe. After reading the science behind training article on the hawthorn website, you can see the effort that has gone into all the individual players, and I don't think we'll be going to backwards after reading how well prepared we get our players.