Toast Half-time 2025: Mid Season Appraisal

[Bedi]

Rating 7/10

While we're not the same exciting outfit of last year, the fact we're 9 wins, 5 losses – all while yet to really hit our straps – you'd take that any day! Not winning pretty, but grit and determination this year has been outstanding. From last quarter charge against fired up Dees, to massive comebacks against GWS and Adelaide, we've won a few we could have very easily lost. Also loved our winning start this year, and being 4-0 was huge and really saved our arses as we hit that mid-season slump


Loves: Chol, Gunston both been revelation up forward; Barrass has been the rock of Gibraltar back there; Meek has also continued on from last year; while Weddle, Jai and Watson have all played like the A graders they are. Also love our depth, and seeing the Box Hill players come in and win the last two games has been huge. Once we get Day, Calsher, Lewis, Worpel and Scrimshaw back into the side, who the hell is going to go out! Plus we have Breust, Frost, McCabe, Reeves as added depth.

Hates: Constant injuries has really disrupted our mojo and in that sense feels a lot like 2009. The form o Moore and Sicily at times has been worrying – esp as they're close to our best two players – but think both are wll placed to come back strong. (Moore had his best game of the year on the weekend, so that's pleasing)

Prediction: 6th. Think we're well placed to make finals, from where anything is possible.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

The fact we're 9-5 and haven't got going at all is pretty funny

 

[burger09]

We look a 5-8 team so far.

Add a fit and firing -Sis, Day and one of Calsher or Lewis and that could push us into top 4 contention.

Mitchell has completely replaced our spine in 2 years. Barras, Battle, Meek, Chol, Calsher were not in our 22 in 2023.

Massive improvement and the sort of foundation that top 4 teams are built on.

Add another A grade mid to the squad and all we need is luck to start contending.

 

[KermitJagger]

We're top 6 without ever really looking our best or going out with a fit side. I feel like we should have beaten Gold Coast and thus be top 4, but I'm happy with where we are.

 

[TONYC3163]

In addition to above comments, the inconsistency of how we play is the issue.
Game to game, within games, slow starts.
Injuries and resultant change in personnel haven’t helped.

 

[Hungdaddy]

Starting to think we have a little secret sauce to us with the way we've ground out a few wins lately. Once the belief permeates through the group as they keep gelling, I think the confidence to play on our terms will become apparent. Feeling much better than I was 3 weeks ago, and it's a long season.

 

[bigmaxi]

The fact we're 9-5 and haven't got going at all is pretty funny

This is same for me, 9-5 and we haven’t really convinced anyone of anything. That second half against the Crows was telling, willing ourselves over the line against a quality outfit just before the bye could be the spark that convinces the playing group that we have got this. Add a slow trickle of Worpel, Scrimshaw, Sicily, Dear, Lewis and a few surprises from behind the curtain at BHH, you never never know.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Rating 7.5/10

Liked

• Ability to win “dirty”. It’s an underrated skill and you need that to bank the wins.
• Weddle improving every game and looking like he will be a top 20 player in the league before too long
• Gunners and Chol double act down forward
• Battle and Barrass have been very good inclusions

Disliked

• Losing to the Cats (again )
• Would like to see us start to smash some lower teams which the good teams tend to do
• Injuries to Day, Sicily, Scrimmers
• Slow starts and inaccurate goalkicking

-Massimo seeming to struggle a bit to replicate his amazing form of last year


Prediciton
5th

 

[OhhhhhCyril]

Agree with everything said above. 6.5/7 rating seems fair.

Injuries have really hurt, and a few really key important players have been down on form (Moore, Mass, Sic)
Players like Newk (copping a tag) and Chol taking the #1 defender each week has hurt our structure, and it has shown at times.

Losses to port and Geelong really hurt and it has shown we are just 1-2 steps behind.

The positive outlook is there is only improvement to come.
Fit Sic, Dear, Lewis, Day all come back will be huge for us, so long as we win the games we should. North, Saints, Port, Carlton Deez and pinch 2 of (Freo, Pies, Crows, Brissy) will have us go a long way.

Looks like it's going to be a Pies/Cats 1-2 Finish and the rest us up to us. I am optimistic our best is good enough, will really just depend on if we can execute more often than not.

 

[tommyk72]

7 for me. I think we're at about the win loss count that I would have hoped/expected. I thought we might lose another 1-2 early, and we've 1-2 in the last 6 weeks that I hadn't expected.

But we've still not clicked. We've had so many changes due to injury and form. I really hope we can get a consistent team on the park for the last group of games, including Day, Lewis and Calsh. Big opportunities to take our 7 to a perfect 10 and a premiership!

 

[phlogiston]

Given most people were expecting 3-3 or maybe 4-2 from the first 6 rounds before the season, you think they'd have taken 9-5 in a heartbeat. But it's not felt convincing at all.

Likes:

• Barrass and Battle
• Wardy's improvement
• Chol
• Jars
• Gunners' Indian summer
• Harry M's consistency
• Meek (for the most part)
• Grinding out wins / the mental fortitude
• New(ish) partner is from overseas: we have +1 Hawthorn fan, and she loves going to the footy!

Dislikes:

• Injuries and suspensions, leading to...
• ...lack of consistency in line up
• Gold Coast loss, and Easter Monday loss
• The way we use the sub (both on and off) – really feel for poor HH. Frost and Finn as sub still makes my head hurt
• Slow starts
• Just in general the way the competition is being run (not club specific, but it needs to be called out)

Hopes for the remaining games (and finals):

• Return to earlier years' form (ie 2024 and earlier) from Mass, Moore, Sic, Croc, Frenchy (good signs in the last couple of weeks for Moore and Croc)
• Solid to good returns to the seniors for Day and Lewis at least
• Better use of the sub (CJ is great as the sub)
• Dear coming in
• Scrimshaw finding a position (back line feels too top heavy with B, B, Sic, and Scrim)
• Continuation of exposed form of Butler and Seamus
• Potential debuts for some of the Box Hill lads (Scaife, McCabe) to get some exposure to the top level

Predictions are often wrong, therefore should be held lightly. At the very least, I'd like another finals win, ideally three

 

[goldfinger]

D+

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

Mid Season Report 2025

Results B-
Style D+

Biggest positives

1. The continued rise of Ward
2. Depth player performances
3. Battle and Barrass have played at expected
4. Chol’s performance as the sole marking forward
5. Turbulent waters behind us?

Biggest negatives

1. Continued injury disruptions
2. Skill level / ball usage
3. Calsher’s absence / fitness
4. Jai being tagged every week
5. Small forwards output overall

Expected H/A finish
3rd

 

[unitedhawk2]

D+

Did I miss something? Have Fox Footy awarded their mid-season grades already?

 

[bigmaxi]

Given most people were expecting 3-3 or maybe 4-2 from the first 6 rounds before the season, you think they'd have taken 9-5 in a heartbeat. But it's not felt convincing at all.

Likes:

• Barrass and Battle
• Wardy's improvement
• Chol
• Jars
• Gunners' Indian summer
• Harry M's consistency
• Meek (for the most part)
• Grinding out wins / the mental fortitude
• New(ish) partner is from overseas: we have +1 Hawthorn fan, and she loves going to the footy!

Dislikes:

• Injuries and suspensions, leading to...
• ...lack of consistency in line up
• Gold Coast loss, and Easter Monday loss
• The way we use the sub (both on and off) – really feel for poor HH. Frost and Finn as sub still makes my head hurt
• Slow starts
• Just in general the way the competition is being run (not club specific, but it needs to be called out)

Hopes for the remaining games (and finals):

• Return to earlier years' form (ie 2024 and earlier) from Mass, Moore, Sic, Croc, Frenchy (good signs in the last couple of weeks for Moore and Croc)
• Solid to good returns to the seniors for Day and Lewis at least
• Better use of the sub (CJ is great as the sub)
• Dear coming in
• Scrimshaw finding a position (back line feels too top heavy with B, B, Sic, and Scrim)
• Continuation of exposed form of Butler and Seamus
• Potential debuts for some of the Box Hill lads (Scaife, McCabe) to get some exposure to the top level

Predictions are often wrong, therefore should be held lightly. At the very least, I'd like another finals win, ideally three

With 85,000 odd members if we all followed young Phlog's move here and got a +1 for next year we would have 170,000 members. Imagine being at the MCG and we outnumber everyone!

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Agree with everything said above. 6.5/7 rating seems fair.

Injuries have really hurt, and a few really key important players have been down on form (Moore, Mass, Sic)
Players like Newk (copping a tag) and Chol taking the #1 defender each week has hurt our structure, and it has shown at times.

Losses to port and Geelong really hurt and it has shown we are just 1-2 steps behind.

The positive outlook is there is only improvement to come.
Fit Sic, Dear, Lewis, Day all come back will be huge for us, so long as we win the games we should. North, Saints, Port, Carlton Deez and pinch 2 of (Freo, Pies, Crows, Brissy) will have us go a long way.

Looks like it's going to be a Pies/Cats 1-2 Finish and the rest us up to us. I am optimistic our best is good enough, will really just depend on if we can execute more often than not.

Pies Cats 1 and 2 is the ideal scenario, go hammer and tong to get that 4th spot and I would back us against either of them with a fully fit list to choose from in the QF. They don't have any mystery players that will improve them (DeGoey potentially if he gets he's body right) unlike us who will look miles different to when we played both last time. I rate our season 7/10 also. Haven't hit the great heights we may have expected pre season but we are banking the wins you need to make finals. If we hit our stride after the bye look out we can get some serious momentum into the back end of the season.

 

[phlogiston]

With 85,000 odd members if we all followed young Phlog's move here and got a +1 for next year we would have 170,000 members. Imagine being at the MCG and we outnumber everyone!

I'll take the "young" compliment any day bigmaxi ! (Although if everyone did follow my lead, I take no responsibility for family law costs that will likely ensue.)

Her favourite player is Mabs; she can't bear to watch set shots at goal; when we do kick a goal people two bays away can hear her delight over the crowd; and she loves sitting on L4 figuring out the gameplay. Not bad for someone whose first game was watching Round Zero in the pub.

 

[tommyk72]

Given most people were expecting 3-3 or maybe 4-2 from the first 6 rounds before the season, you think they'd have taken 9-5 in a heartbeat. But it's not felt convincing at all.

Likes:

• Barrass and Battle
• Wardy's improvement
• Chol
• Jars
• Gunners' Indian summer
• Harry M's consistency
• Meek (for the most part)
• Grinding out wins / the mental fortitude
• New(ish) partner is from overseas: we have +1 Hawthorn fan, and she loves going to the footy!

Dislikes:

• Injuries and suspensions, leading to...
• ...lack of consistency in line up
• Gold Coast loss, and Easter Monday loss
• The way we use the sub (both on and off) – really feel for poor HH. Frost and Finn as sub still makes my head hurt
• Slow starts
• Just in general the way the competition is being run (not club specific, but it needs to be called out)

Hopes for the remaining games (and finals):

• Return to earlier years' form (ie 2024 and earlier) from Mass, Moore, Sic, Croc, Frenchy (good signs in the last couple of weeks for Moore and Croc)
• Solid to good returns to the seniors for Day and Lewis at least
• Better use of the sub (CJ is great as the sub)
• Dear coming in
• Scrimshaw finding a position (back line feels too top heavy with B, B, Sic, and Scrim)
• Continuation of exposed form of Butler and Seamus
• Potential debuts for some of the Box Hill lads (Scaife, McCabe) to get some exposure to the top level

Predictions are often wrong, therefore should be held lightly. At the very least, I'd like another finals win, ideally three

Clearly a biased view. Expected to see some critiques of your partner under dislikes and also some hopes for the remaining games.

 

[Thesharks]

What’s going on with CJ? Doesn’t seem like the player he was a couple of years ago?

 

[Strattonsphere]

Did I miss something? Have Fox Footy awarded their mid-season grades already?

They did just release their predictor, which has us missing the finals in 9th..

 

[Roddy]

We're on our way back to absolute contention. But of course, it's always a rocky road back (for example, those three losses on the trot were tough to take, but we've bounced back nicely, while still not really getting out of third gear)

There's a flag awaiting us before the end of this decade, I'm very confident of this. So we'll maintain that ridiculous record of not having gone a calendar decade without at least one flag since the 1950s.

 

[Blackhawk42]

They did just release their predictor, which has us missing the finals in 9th..

I did a ladder predictor this morning, and brace yourselves...

I had a finishing 9th too!

Basically we just need to win the games we should, and hope Freo lose a few extra, then we'll be absolutely safe.

 

[Holy Rioli]

How many teams lose the week after playing us? We are the most scouted team in the comp, the scalp everyone wants, the most pressured and best prepared against team. When a team runs us close or even gets the W they have just about always lost the following week. Even Collingwood could only win by a point against Melbourne the week after and Melbourne beat Brisbane the week after playing us. Geelong lost after beating us, Port lost.

With that in mind I think we've done quite well so I'm going with an 8 out of 10. I also suspect when we play a lot of our double ups we'll do better than the first time we played them as we will have a much better idea of how they scouted and prepared against us.

 

[Roddy]

Every ladder predictor I do has us finishing 7th, every 'autotip' predictor I do has us finishing 7th-8th.

 

[Ripper Rioli]

B+

Whilst having been unconvinced with our style of play at times, I think we have definitely been tinkering with a few things in our game plan. Especially with our ball movement.

Also note that we had more players 22 and under playing on Friday night, than any other team.

I would have taken 9-5 at the bye. We win the games we should win we will make finals. 3rd to 6th, keep in mind every year under Sam we have been much better after the Bye so let it continue again this season.

Also, teams like Sydney will invariably improve second half of years getting players back. So whilst a fixture can look easy at the moment, it can obviously change very quickly