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Autopsy Hawks: 30 minutes not enough for 4 points...

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We are clearly not a premiership contender after our performances 2 of the last 3 weeks and IMO our future ain’t looking too bright either. Sure, our start this year has been a whole lot better than last year but if you look at our best performers it hardly paints a promising picture.

JOM, Tom and Sicily have been in our best 10 this year but after that you are looking at names such as Breust, McEvoy, Stratton, Gunston, Smith, Shiels and Henderson. Maybe throw Impey in there too but it is hardly our youth doing the heavy lifting. When you consider too how important Burgoyne, Rioli and Puopolo are I think we may still have some pain ahead of us.

I hope I am wrong but I fear that rumours of our “6 month rebuild” have been horribly inaccurate.
You'd say Breust, Stratts, Gunston, Smith & Shiels are in the prime of their careers right now in terms of no. of games played. Possibly not Stratts due to the way he has to fly and smash into opponents, which will shorten his career. However, they should be doing the heavy lifting whilst providing guidance to the sub (say) 75 gamers. Those younger guys, with a few exceptions across the league, will drift in and out as will the 250+ gamers. Our prime movers should be those on 75-200 games.
 
I was at the game yesterday and i just was dumbfounded by the way we played, not only that but north played amazing. There was nothing we could do to stop them. the big thing i noticed though is James Frawley, that performance was utter shit. He needs to be dropped, he fumbled, was too slow and just paid no attention at all. I was watching him when we had the ball in our area and he was literally standing doing nothing at all (not giving direction and taking none).

I wonder if Frawley is not quite right still. I don't mean from the migraine but form the other injuries he had.
 
The issue is the amount of our good players that are in their late 20's.

It will be a big concern in a few years.
Last season I was very worried about our lack of young talent but the improvement was very solid and I actually think its underrated

I've got a fair but of confidence in our ability to pick talent and turn mid picks into decent AFL players

Time will tell though
 

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Hawkins gave Brand a bath on the lead I think if he'd played on Brown we'd have seen more goals.

If it had been an either or with chip

Perhaps with them both playing meaning Stratts didn't have to stand Waite we'd have had a slightly less damaging first half against, but that's assuming we were able to defend better by swapping Mirra for Brand as an example.

What that is doing though is bringing in Brand as an insurance policy that our midfield is going to fail

If you think you've got the setup and game plan to win and you think you can execute that game plan better without Brand for Mirra that's what you do.

Coaches made a mistake I think by playing all of Shiels, Mitchell, Howe and Cousins.

May have made a mistake bringing Burton back after one game, then again it could have been the clash with Higgins that left him looking all at sea in the second half, was a hard hit with a head clash just because he didn't go down doesn't mean it didn't slow him down.

Half the team looked like they were getting over the flu with how they ran or didn't run.

Norths pressure had a lot to do with how poor we were but I think we crossed the line into having too many kids the wrong roles

Doc did some painful things but he put more effort in to trying to win than half his team mates so I don't see him going, especially with Sis being a ****ing idiot again

Rough, Shiels, Smith, Doc, Hendo, Gunston, Sicily and Breust all stepped up in the third, we are a much better team with Sis up and going for those attacking kicks, but we need guys attacking with their run to make it work
 
I don't wish to trivialise the loss because there is much we can learn from it. However, it's important to remember it is only round 5 in a long season. ALL teams will have their bad games as Melbourne can testify to last week. Even the great Hawks teams of the 1980s had their horror days. It was North's turn to be full on whilst their opponents were a little off the pace. If I were a betting man, I'd wager North will be slightly off their game next week.

If Hawthorn is as good as we think/know they can be, they will turn last week's showing around. All I wanted at the beginning of the season is to make the top 8, and we are still well on track to make that happen.

A Saturday game would be nice for a change :)
 
I don't wish to trivialise the loss because there is much we can learn from it. However, it's important to remember it is only round 5 in a long season. ALL teams will have their bad games as Melbourne can testify to last week. Even the great Hawks teams of the 1980s had their horror days. It was North's turn to be full on whilst their opponents were a little off the pace. If I were a betting man, I'd wager North will be slightly off their game next week.

If Hawthorn is as good as we think/know they can be, they will turn last week's showing around. All I wanted at the beginning of the season is to make the top 8, and we are still well on track to make that happen.

A Saturday game would be nice for a change :)

So true. I remember when following them week in week out when I was a youngster in the 80s I would be so angry and upset after a loss and my dad used to say to me 'every dog has its day'. Even when you're playing well in the course of a season you will get beaten and some will be bad losses. I'm not writing off the season because of Sunday's dismal performance.
 

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The issue is the amount of our good players that are in their late 20's.

It will be a big concern in a few years.
Luckily for us we seem quite aware of this(Lewis being the example that took most of us by surprise).

I got in a bit of tiz last trade period, because of where the age profile will be in 18 months, but I needed to remind myself that Wright and Clarkson are not stupid, and will have a list of players they intend to both target and release.
 
Just watched the 3rd Qtr again and we were certainly in with a genuine shot to win.

We were 27 points down with about 2 mins to go but there were 4 to 5 instances where we things went against us:

- Roughy dropped a sitter about 40 out.
- Roughy fumbled about 50 out
- Brown got a very soft free in the middle of the ground.
- Umpire decided against a 50/50 for a push out against Breust about 20 out.
- Gunston missed a shot from 50

There were a few more I can't remember but if a few went our way then it could easily have been a 3 goal margin with a quarter to go and Nth being a few rotations down.

We still lost and Nth clearly deserved the win but there are still signs that we can be a very good side this year.

Poor games against Rich and Nth yet we were still thereabouts.
 
Stop giving that slob clicks

Exactly. The sooner people start pretending he doesn't exist, the better off we'll all be. He only keeps his status in the media because of the way people carry on about him. Stop watching him, stop reading him in print, stop responding to him on twitter, etc, and he's outta here.
 
Exactly. The sooner people start pretending he doesn't exist, the better off we'll all be. He only keeps his status in the media because of the way people carry on about him. Stop watching him, stop reading him in print, stop responding to him on twitter, etc, and he's outta here.
Who? Don't worry, if that guy's anything like the slobbo I stopped watching years ago he's not worth it.
 

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Who? Don't worry, if that guy's anything like the slobbo I stopped watching years ago he's not worth it.

Yeah, I don't watch him either, but thanks to this forum, I seem to know everything he's said or done. I've often said we get the media we deserve and he's a classic example of someone who thrives in the media because people detest him. It makes him totally employable.
 
Completely unrelated, but thought I'd mention ...

While we all loved the Impey chase down and tackle, I wasn't really a fan of the way he got up and celebrated the fact, and then was a little lippy about it. That kind of behaviour just isn't our way. It's not the way we play and especially not the way Clarko likes to see us behave. Disrespectful.
At that point we were goals down, we had the momentum, and he had stopped a potential potent run against us. A team lifting momentum changer in our favor, yet he was distracted and let the ego take over from what should have been a immediate refocus and counter attack. It should have been simply grab ball, and bang.

Seem to remember a similar type carry on (worse from memory?) a number of years ago for us, (2010ish? maybe, the player being Rhan Hooper, though apologies if I'm off the mark). I don't know if there was a view that it was unHawthornlike, or is just a figment of my imagination.

I know its an overreaction, a slight blemish on another otherwise excellent game for the club. Just thought it was unnecessary and not the way we go about things. I hope a senior player, or Clarko would have had a chat to him about that. He'll learn.

Hes young, enthusiastic, genuinely talented, hungry and a big part of our future success. Gonna love watching him develop and mature.
 
I was at the game yesterday and i just was dumbfounded by the way we played, not only that but north played amazing. There was nothing we could do to stop them. the big thing i noticed though is James Frawley, that performance was utter shit. He needs to be dropped, he fumbled, was too slow and just paid no attention at all. I was watching him when we had the ball in our area and he was literally standing doing nothing at all (not giving direction and taking none).

He does some strange things. Turns his back on the play for no reason. Walks away from his opponent. It is odd.

The collision with Mira in the first 2 minutes that led to Norths first goal.... Lake or Gibo would have called Mira in.

But i thought given the circumstances of the game in the first half he did not do terrible. I want to see him grow into the season. Improve.
 
So true. I remember when following them week in week out when I was a youngster in the 80s I would be so angry and upset after a loss and my dad used to say to me 'every dog has its day'. Even when you're playing well in the course of a season you will get beaten and some will be bad losses. I'm not writing off the season because of Sunday's dismal performance.

A loss in the 1980's meant the world had come to an end for me. Funny, all things considered.:trophy::trophy::trophy::trophy:
 
So true. I remember when following them week in week out when I was a youngster in the 80s I would be so angry and upset after a loss and my dad used to say to me 'every dog has its day'. Even when you're playing well in the course of a season you will get beaten and some will be bad losses. I'm not writing off the season because of Sunday's dismal performance.

Well pity me Bumps, I saw Hawthorn lose every game in 1950, it was the wins in those days which were few and far between. On the brighter side I have seen 13 premierships, early ones live, and later on TV, which makes the horror start to my association with the club worth every loss. We learn from our mistakes, and that's what losses are - mistakes.

We will learn from this loss to as we have the best teacher in the competition.
 

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Autopsy Hawks: 30 minutes not enough for 4 points...

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