Hawthorn - Suddenly 'not' rated!

[topdon]

I can honestly say that i can't believe this. They have been playing great footy all year, and after copping a hiding at the hands of Essendon (not the first team mind you), suddenly they are not rated a chance. Pretenders everyone says. Hello? They have only lost one game this year. Yes they were outclassed and were pressured into making mistakes, but in the end, you can't rate or not rate Hawthorn after just one game.

If you were to name Hawthorn's top 5 players: Crawford, Holland, Hay, Chick and Rawlings (based on this years form), you had all of those injured...Chick and Crawford injured during the game. You're going to struggle anyway. However...i'm not going to get into an our injuries are bigger than yours arguement. These pointless arguements have been done to death.

I will admit though that Essendon have now proven they can cover their injuries better than anyone else. We didn't get to see this last year with the ralative great run we had on the injury front. The players are doing the club and their supporters proud, and we have a great bunch of players with great heart.

But back on topic...don't write off Hawthorn after one game...especially after they have won 8 others after 9 rounds. They are not the first team to be found wanting against this Essendon side...and they won't be the last.

 

[elt]

Great post topdon.

I have watched slightly bemused as people jump off our bandwagon. Whilst I am very disappointed about Saturday night's game, I am pretty happy with 8-1. Especially considering we have beaten some of the highly fancied teams people are now jumping on : Collingwood, Adelaide, Western Bulldogs, Carlton.

Spot on about the injuries too, but that's part of footy. I hope we can come up ok and get at least one of Hay and Rawlings back for this weeks game against Port.

 

[Chris_23]

Thanks topdon

It is a little hard to believe that after one loss (to the best in the business mind you) everyone is saying that we are gone. To be honest, it doesn't really bother me, we are used to negative media. We'll bounce back this week with a vengance against Port!

 

[Pessimistic]

One thing that dismayed me was the mention of crawf's injury. He was performing a brave act and was very unlucky. The hun had a colour photo spread of it but didn't mention his courage.

I think the Hawks will follow what they did with Holland and Rawlings and resist the temptation to rush him back. We may lose one or two games in the meantime but we should be back at full strength for august/september.

It's not well known but crawf had a similar injury in the pre-season 1999 but went on to win brownlow and media awards.
Good luck crawf

And we are three wins higher than I thought we would be so once the disappointment of saturday wore off I didn't feel so bad.

 

[GOALden Hawk]

Great post TopDon, I couldn't believe the rubbish been spouted by Mike Sheahan in the Herald Sun today, virtually saying our season is over. We have lost as many games have Essendon have!!!!

If someone had said at the start of the year we'd be 8-1 I'd happily take it. Saturday night was very disappointing, because we didn't take it up to them like we should have, but we are still 3 games clear of everyone bar Carlton & Port Adelaide.

I've had a lot of people say to me "well you are playing some hard teams now". What do you call Carlton, Adelaide, Bulldogs & Collingwood. Everyone bagged us for not putting those teams away (except for the Blues) and now those wins look pretty good I reckon!

The Hun reckoned Adelaide were "incredibly unlucky to lose to Hawthorn". What absolute crap! We had the game in control the whole day, led by 6 goals with 10 minutes to go and took the foot off the pedal.

Oh well, let the media & the public think what they want, but as the saying goes "one week doesn't make a season"

 

[Damp Squarie]

Originally posted by topdon
I can honestly say that i can't believe this. They have been playing great footy all year, and after copping a hiding at the hands of Essendon (not the first team mind you), suddenly they are not rated a chance. Pretenders everyone says. Hello? They have only lost one game this year. Yes they were outclassed and were pressured into making mistakes, but in the end, you can't rate or not rate Hawthorn after just one game.

If you were to name Hawthorn's top 5 players: Crawford, Holland, Hay, Chick and Rawlings (based on this years form), you had all of those injured...Chick and Crawford injured during the game. You're going to struggle anyway. However...i'm not going to get into an our injuries are bigger than yours arguement. These pointless arguements have been done to death.

I will admit though that Essendon have now proven they can cover their injuries better than anyone else. We didn't get to see this last year with the ralative great run we had on the injury front. The players are doing the club and their supporters proud, and we have a great bunch of players with great heart.

But back on topic...don't write off Hawthorn after one game...especially after they have won 8 others after 9 rounds. They are not the first team to be found wanting against this Essendon side...and they won't be the last.

Not all sides are intimidated like Hawthorn were

And er...Go Crows

 

[Pessimistic]

Not intimidated by any other team though... but I must admit the return game against the crows looks to be one of the 'harder' games left to us

 

[Dan26]

Goalden Hawk,

That headline in the Sun, saying "Season over" was not referring to Hawthorn. It was referring to the belief that Essendon will win the premiership.

 

[WCE2000]

Dan, there is an article on the AFL web-site by Mike Sheehan, with the headline "Hey Hawks...where were you?"

Back on to topdons post, i think you are very correct. The Hawks have lost only 1 game, and it is very unfair to right them off instantly.

Remember, even if Essendon dominate the home and away rounds, we still have the unpredictability of the finals to go.

 

[dees01]

For what its worth, the Hawks should easily make the Top 4. They will probably be better for the experience anyway.