AFL Autopsy Hawthorn

[Lord Nicholson]

Funny how you name Jetta. He pretty much escapes criticism no matter how poorly he plays.

Indeed. Seems to be the ultimate nowhere man. Not really bad enough to be in the absolute worst, but in a sort of beigey nothingness.

 

[DrEvil]

He wasn't in the side until Buddy got injured.

He was in with buddy, obviously had less chances then

 

[yaco55]

Monfries can perform a defensive role ( forward ) better than most - I would like to hit the scoreboard more.

I suspect that he won't be in our premiership 22.

 

[SirJimi05]

Isn't overly surprising though, surely?

Jetta is a more pacy, creative type player. More "entertaining". Can make things happen out of nothing.

Monfries is more of a role type player undertaking the "dirty work". He doesn't do anything out of the ordinary and is rather predictable.

I'm not surprised at all.

The point I'm making is that in Kelvins mind he believes that Monfries escapes criticism on here, whilst Jetta cops heaps of flack. Quite bizarre. Can only put it down to bias.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

I'm not surprised at all.

The point I'm making is that in Kelvins mind he believes that Monfries escapes criticism on here, whilst Jetta cops heaps of flack. Quite bizarre. Can only put it down to bias.

I never said he escapes criticism on here ...sheesh. We all know there is a group of whipping boys on here, the list is getting longer.

What I did say though is Monfries makes crucial mistakes time and again, like the pot shot for goal with 3 on 2 that if a player like Reimers, Stanton, Jetta, Slattery, etc, ,etc would have made for great reading on here.

People seem to have invented a role for Monfries and justify his good game when the half back flanker is not best on ground. Forget the fact that he butchered every possession and can't get it 20 times. Loved his work last week when Duncan got 12 in a quarter and Gus was nowhere to be seen.. well he was seen trailing 10 metres behind.

My final word on Gus and it's not my words, Ant sums it up beautifully

Monfries - is on limited time in my book, too slow for a small, lacks the footy smarts to play midfield at AFL level and has really not improved much at all in the last 3 seasons. Good player if you are a middle of the road side. Not in my long term view of things.

.

 

[raskolnikov]

Never been so angry about a loss. I am still seething. Never seen such an insipid, gutless, weak, pathetic performance in my life. We wouldn't beat GWS at the moment.

 

[Phone]

Last year's performance against the hawks was worse. So was the performance about Melbourne. And St Kilda. And of course there was Knights' last few games. This was just the performance of an average team against the flag favourites.

 

[Pweter]

At least I've now seen what all the Bendigo reports have been talking about with "that sidestep" that Browne has. Used it to good effect a couple of times and I am more than happy to give him an extended run in the team.

Kav on debut looked too small but went about it pretty well. Obviously a very tough game to debut in when the whole team is off the pace. Not sure I want to see him again this season, let him get a body closer to AFL ready, but what I saw was encouraging enough.

Winderlich got to good positions often enough but was a bit fumbly. Will be better for the run.

Other than that, Gumby, Watson and Carlisle can hold their heads high and everyone else should feel ashamed of what they dished up.

I threw some money on Hawthorn at the line (-30.5 points) and the only positive of the night was that I didn't have to worry about it at all.

 

[hunterrory]

Hard to take much from the game but i liked Baguley. He made some mistakes - he wasnt R Crusoe there - but he was still having a crack late in the game and seems to be gaining in confidence with each minute.

He also reminds me a whole lot of Mark Thompson when he first started... hope that's not too much of a burden for him...

 

[MinerBoy]

I gave Monfries votes because he kept Birchall out of the game and looked reasonably dangerous himself. Pretty simple really.

I barely noticed either of them during the game so not sure who wins that to be honest. No doubt Birch has been on fire and limiting him is great for you guys, but at the same time Monfries seems one of your more dangerous players (to an outsider) and he had no impact that I recall at all. To be fair on Birch too (and I say this with respect and without trying to sound smart - honestly), he still had it 18 times and the ball spent most of the night down the other end.

I'd say it was a break even contest, which might be good enough for the Bombers in their match planning, but I certainly don't think Monfries towelled him up as was suggested a few times early in your thread.


Anyway, bad luck guys. Your injuries are ridiculous and it is a hard situation to overcome (I don't care what people say about excuses - injuries are reasons and you have plenty of them). Be great for us if you can somehow rise over the Crows this week. All the best.

 

[Slattery_20]

There's plenty of heart being shown by all players when the ball is in their vicinity, but their overall workrate is abysmal. During those first nine rounds, the setup of defensive and offensive zones for shots for goal or kickins was sharp (and you don't get to see this very often on TV) and the zone stretched from boundary to boundary. Those zones were set up the same way throughout the whole game and are indicative of workrate. Last night, the setup of those zones was listless at best.

It's work off the ball that creates opportunities for those with the ball and the Bombers' workrate off the ball — whether offensive or defensive — is pretty ordinary since that opening run. Workrate off the ball also creates the space for players to lead into so that kicking to a 50-50 contest is minimised. Without that workrate, attempts to kick precise passes into traffic result in turnovers and turnovers result in goals against good teams. Without that workrate to create space for footpass opportunities, players under pressure look for handpass targets that a hard working opposition can close down pretty easily. More turnovers. More goals. Workrate sees mids running both ways. Hard! Hard running and hard to do, but without it the defenders get exposed by Hawthorn mids who DO run hard both ways.

Toward the end of the game the Bombers looked tired, but that excuse doesn't wash in the first quarter and the workrate off the ball was missing even then. It's hard to see from outside how they can get a spark in their enthusiasm again to take on that unrewarded running — or perhaps all the building for the future is taking its toll on the players? Either way, what remains of 2012 doesn't look like it's going to be pretty!

Agree.
Agree 1 million percent.

Played extraordinarily dumb, lazy football. Plain outworked & outrun.


Skills will be up and down, won't always have your best side, but the execution shouldn't drop off that much.
No way.

Coaches will have a looooot to say. Possibly end a few careers, that loss.

 

[Slattery_20]

I barely noticed either of them during the game so not sure who wins that to be honest. No doubt Birch has been on fire and limiting him is great for you guys, but at the same time Monfries seems one of your more dangerous players (to an outsider) and he had no impact that I recall at all. To be fair on Birch too (and I say this with respect and without trying to sound smart - honestly), he still had it 18 times and the ball spent most of the night down the other end.

I dunno. Didn't have much impact, looked to go short or sideways rather than going long & carving us up by foot - certainly no-where near the game of Guerra, Suckling, Gibson.
Probably Birchall's worst game for 4-5 weeks? Has been in fairly good form.


Wouldn't go claiming Monfries thrashed him or anything like that, but far from our worst.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I barely noticed either of them during the game so not sure who wins that to be honest. No doubt Birch has been on fire and limiting him is great for you guys, but at the same time Monfries seems one of your more dangerous players (to an outsider) and he had no impact that I recall at all. To be fair on Birch too (and I say this with respect and without trying to sound smart - honestly), he still had it 18 times and the ball spent most of the night down the other end.

I'd say it was a break even contest, which might be good enough for the Bombers in their match planning, but I certainly don't think Monfries towelled him up as was suggested a few times early in your thread.


Anyway, bad luck guys. Your injuries are ridiculous and it is a hard situation to overcome (I don't care what people say about excuses - injuries are reasons and you have plenty of them). Be great for us if you can somehow rise over the Crows this week. All the best.

If you didn't notice Birchall, the the tagger who had 4 shots at goal in a forwardline with no supply probably gets the points very comfortably.

 

[MinerBoy]

I dunno. Didn't have much impact, looked to go short or sideways rather than going long & carving us up by foot - certainly no-where near the game of Guerra, Suckling, Gibson.
Probably Birchall's worst game for 4-5 weeks? Has been in fairly good form.


Wouldn't go claiming Monfries thrashed him or anything like that, but far from our worst.

Yeah, he's been in great form and he was certainly quiet in comparison. Suckling was outstanding but Guerra and Gibbo were no better or worse than Birch (IMO).

If you didn't notice Birchall, the the tagger who had 4 shots at goal in a forwardline with no supply probably gets the points very comfortably.

I didn't notice either of them, and Monfries is someone you needed to kick more than 1 goal to have been any chance.

Don't get me wrong - if his job was to shut down Birch then I guess he performed it ok but I would also say that keeping a HBF to 18 touches when the ball is going over the goal umpires hat at the other end for a large % of the night is hardly "taking the points comfortably".

Of course, I could be biased. Let's just say Jordan Lewis is one of my favourites.

 

[Slattery_20]

Those having cracks at Monfries obviously didn't watch the game. Absolutely destroyed Birchall tonight and was our only winner on the ground. Birchall was that frustrated he resorted to cheap sniper tactics with an elbow to the back of Monfries head.

The bit I loved were the Hawks fans near me who said he dived/staged that one.
Absolute winners.

 

[MinerBoy]

I kind of enjoyed that forearm.

 

[Slattery_20]

Woudl you be shocked to know I'm not surprised?

Smaller bloke, completely pinned down. Utter cheapshot.

 

[MinerBoy]

Woudl you be shocked to know I'm not surprised?

Smaller bloke, completely pinned down. Utter cheapshot.

Yeah, how would you know I'd enjoy it? I'm a bit bigger than Birch so I would have done it harder myself.

Nah, c'mon. Birch is a very fair player and while it was a bit of a cheapy there was nothing in it. Got the free it deserved but was hardly a big deal.

 

[Slattery_20]

Yeah, how would you know I'd enjoy it? I'm a bit bigger than Birch so I would have done it harder myself.

You'd noogie a guy who you're lying on top of?
I'm ever so envious of your manly testosterone.

 

[Kong]

The bit I loved were the Hawks fans near me who said he dived/staged that one.
Absolute winners.

I was getting that, too.

This was shortly before and after Hawks players were on the end of some rather contentious frees, of course.

When I told the drunk behind me to have another beer, he did, before chatting to his mate about how annoyed he was that we weren't putting on a good show for him.

 

[MinerBoy]

You'd noogie a guy who you're lying on top of?
I'm ever so envious of your manly testosterone.

Not sure what a noogie is. Sounds sweet though.

 

[Slattery_20]

You've never had/given a noogie?


Kids these days.....

 

[Slattery_20]

I was getting that, too.

This was shortly before and after Hawks players were on the end of some rather contentious frees, of course.

When I told the drunk behind me to have another beer, he did, before chatting to his mate about how annoyed he was that we weren't putting on a good show for him.

He egregiously refused to move his head out of the way of Birchall's arm.
And he clearly had a complete lack of line of sight of the arm coming.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

That's the fourth Hawthorn game I've been to in the last two years.

The content coming from Hawthorn supporters is.... ah... distinct, let's say. In comparison to other fans.

 

[Childish Gambino]

Getting back on topic a little bit.

I had a good laugh watching Hocking trying to keep up with Whitecross. Had to chase him for 30 metres and was buggered. Whitecross realised this so made a lead for about 100 metres, luckily for Hocking he led to the flank and Hawthorn decided to go through the middle.

The different levels of fitness between Hawthorn and Essendon was amazing.