List Management | End of year discussion

[Since 2001]

Hi guys, obviously Im a dogs supporter, but I am perplexed with Hawthorn and their off season moves. I heard a guy on the radio yesterday talk about how disgusted he is with Hawthorn due to the departure of Mitchell and Lewis and the straight sets departure from the finals. Straight after that there were txt messages to the station claiming he wasnt a real Hawks supporter. That confused me even further, I'd have thought there would have been a fair bit of anger about the off season moves. I would like to know what you supporters think of the loss of 2 club champions Lewis and Mitchell, and the recruitment of a player who has questionable fitness that hasnt played for two years and a 4th choice midfielder from Sydney. BTW not trolling - genuine question.

Hi
This guy who called up as a "hawthorn supporter" i can understand his feelings about mitchell and lewis being gone as they are both greats of our club, how ever nothing lasts for ever and the moves help out both parties. Lewis prolongs his career and mitchell gets an early start with his carrer at wce and makes the move to coaching easier. As for going out in straight sets, yes it was disapointing but an era must come to an end and the boys put everthing they had into the last 6 years. At the end of our finals campaign it was a time to reflect on how lucky we have been as a club to have so many great players play together and bring us the fans so much success, more than some have had in their history. So just because we didnt get sucees this year he is angry....not a true fan.

Now my point of view. When i heard the news about mitchell going i couldn't believe it, more shock and disappointment at first. Then when the trade officially went through i just reflected on how lucky we were to have him and then hearing him and clarko come out and talk about why it happened, i was happy with the move. Yes could've got heaps more for him but it was about making a smooth and easy transition for a great player.
As for Lewis i always felt he was also coming to an end, i also thought he was not the right person for the captaincy after hodge as we needed the next generation to take lead. We have heard to good/bad rumours about how it ended with lewis and the hawks, but again we couldn't afford to give him three years as we needed to move towards the future and sadly he wasn't apart of that and would only prevent development of younger players, so i am happy he got his three years some where else.
As for what we brought in...... I COULDNT BE MORE HAPPY!! T-Mitch is a gun and i think the reference of 4th best midfielder is a bit of joke.....he was easily top 3 performer in finals when the likes of Parker, hannebery and jack went missing. His stats are up there with the best and that was with limited time in the middle. If hawks get win/loss in favour expect him to poll well. Also won't find a better player at pick 14 with the impact he will and also young. O'Meara could be the biggest win or loss, but that is what footy is about risk and reward. All we can go on for form is his past which was promising, lets not judge this too early. But you know as-well as us fans do that if he gets healthy we have an out an out gun. Tyrone he will be a very important player, our new hale. Our fwd line had no height in it and we struggled to get the ball down to the ground him lining up with the big rough and gunno is only going to do him a world favours.

Also here are the swans midfield stat links: Click on games to see stats for each game, Mitchell is 2nd in that midfield. Said it all year.
JPK- http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-sydney-swans--josh-p--kennedy
Hanners- http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-sydney-swans--daniel-hannebery
Jack- http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-sydney-swans--kieran-jack
Parker- http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-sydney-swans--luke-parker
Mitchell- http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/pc-hawthorn-hawks--tom-mitchell

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Can't understand the Tweedie decision at all.

Even if he did have an injury that required screws being removed from his foot I cannot understand the logic.

We used our 1st pick last year on a bloke with screws in his knee, recruited a bloke called Burgoyne with dodgy knees, used a world record amount of draft picks on a bloke who hasnt played in 2 years, kept Max Bailey and Alex Woodward on the list despite 398 knee reco's combined BUT

we wont put someone on our list who costs us nothing apart from Cat B spot we arent going to use?

There has to be some other reason or the club has royally stuffed this one up.

The bulldogs are laughing at us.

Why would you even consider being bent out of shape by this?

Every single club had multiple opportunities to take him and when it all comes down to it no one did until the very very last minute.

So it's obvious we didn't rate him that highly, and nor did pretty much every other club in the league.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Can't understand the Tweedie decision at all.

Even if he did have an injury that required screws being removed from his foot I cannot understand the logic.

We used our 1st pick last year on a bloke with screws in his knee, recruited a bloke called Burgoyne with dodgy knees, used a world record amount of draft picks on a bloke who hasnt played in 2 years, kept Max Bailey and Alex Woodward on the list despite 398 knee reco's combined BUT

we wont put someone on our list who costs us nothing apart from Cat B spot we arent going to use?

There has to be some other reason or the club has royally stuffed this one up.

The bulldogs are laughing at us.

Probably became somewhat surplus when Nash came on the scene. I know they are different position prospects - but when Nash came on board possibly they wanted him over Tweedie so we're happy to just go with Nash rather than take both. Possibly also Mitchell Lewis is seen as a better forward prospect so again pushed Tweedie down the order. May also be another academy rookie we feel is a better prospect we'll get next year.

Bulldogs could make out like bandits - or he could languish on their list for two years to never be heard of again. Time will tell.

 

[Baz_hawk]

Losing Mitchell and Lewis was probably the story of the trade period and a lot of emotions were obviously felt by our supporters. The loss of Mitchell didn't sit well with me given his status in the game and being one of my favourite players to wear the Brown and Gold. With that being said I look back at the trades of these senior guys and the decisions makes sense from a team development point of view. What we have done is effectively opened up 2 spots in the midfield and thrown the challenge out to the younger guys to step into these roles. Yes we brought in O'Meara and Mitchell who will occupy these spots but we also have Burgoyne, Hodge and Gibson who are very possibly entering their final year at the club so opportunities will open up. I'd expect the club to employ a resting policy on the older guys to give the younger guys who perform at BH a chance to get more AFL match time and really develop.

It's a delicate period these next 12 months for the club as it really works to bring about a transition without falling off the cliff. We can't afford to go into next season and deny the young guys opportunity in favour of the older guys on each occasion, players like Heatherley, Lovell and Howe are probably the 3 that immediately standout as those pushing for selection for these respective players.

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

Why would you even consider being bent out of shape by this?

Every single club had multiple opportunities to take him and when it all comes down to it no one did until the very very last minute.

So it's obvious we didn't rate him that highly, and nor did pretty much every other club in the league.

Maybe I am Tristian and wanted to play for the most successful club in the AFL era.

My dream has been shattered

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

It's like his parents couldn't pick a name out of Tristan and Kristian.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Maybe I am Tristian and wanted to play for the most successful club in the AFL era.

My dream has been shattered

Mitchell Lewis took the project player vacancy from right under your nose.

 

[Agent Smith]

Mitchell Lewis took the project player vacancy from right under your nose.

Wait, what? Weren't they traded?

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

I noticed this too and took to google to find out more. Can find nothing. Not on Bulldogs website either. Strange things afoot at the circle K....

A man of my own heart...

 

[Turly]

Can't read the article as I'm not a member of the member of the Herald Sun (**** paying to read their garbage).

However, they are stating that Birch signed a deal months ago locking him in until the end of 2019.

Sorry if this has been posted.

 

[Billyc]

Curious decision if true. I though Birchall was pretty ordinary late in the year. Of course contracts don't mean much these days.

 

[threesixpio]

Why would you even consider being bent out of shape by this?

Every single club had multiple opportunities to take him and when it all comes down to it no one did until the very very last minute.

So it's obvious we didn't rate him that highly, and nor did pretty much every other club in the league.

Likely have their eye on a CAT B for next year - like that Ethipoian kid who is a pacey Half Back.

Edit: He would be CAT B being in our zone I assume?

 

[threesixpio]

Curious decision if true. I though Birchall was pretty ordinary late in the year. Of course contracts don't mean much these days.

I hear that Hawthorn players don't always stay until the end of their contracts .....

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I have faith in those who make these decisions that they know what limits Birchall's body has and if he can get back to his best in 2017-2018, but geez, if there was a guy who looked like he'd taken one foot off the cliff in 2016 it was Birchall with his poor positioning, lack of run and some very ordinary turnovers at different stages throughout the year.

I hope he gets his mojo back.


In Wright we trust.

 

[Billyc]

Why would you even consider being bent out of shape by this?

Every single club had multiple opportunities to take him and when it all comes down to it no one did until the very very last minute.

So it's obvious we didn't rate him that highly, and nor did pretty much every other club in the league.

I agree, it is truly bizarre how worked up people got over Jarman and now this bloke. Given where they were ultimately drafted the odds of either of them ever playing an AFL game are slim, let alone being good players.

 

[TazHawk15]

The bulldogs are laughing at us.

So a club that has won 2 Premierships in its entire history is laughing at a club that has won 13 and is considered the most financial powerhouse club in the comp.

Yeah na.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Can't read the article as I'm not a member of the member of the Herald Sun (**** paying to read their garbage).

However, they are stating that Birch signed a deal months ago locking him in until the end of 2019.

Sorry if this has been posted.

Surprised at that. I would have thought extending to the end of 2018 was enough and then put him on rolling one year contracts.

 

[flinchfree]

I agree, it is truly bizarre how worked up people got over Jarman and now this bloke. Given where they were ultimately drafted the odds of either of them ever playing an AFL game are slim, let alone being good players.

There's more than a few on our list that say 'hi'.

 

[Turly]

Surprised at that. I would have thought extending to the end of 2018 was enough and then put him on rolling one year contracts.

Agreed mate. Was shocked when it popped up on my news feed.

 

[Goldnbrown]

I don't understand why so many people get so agro when our great club decides not to take kids like Jarman and Tweedle. They seem to believe that they not only know more than our clubs experts but also more than 16 other clubs experts. 18 clubs decided not to select Jarman and Tweedle in the ND and 17 clubs decided not to draft them in the RD... perhaps they know more than us.

 

[threesixpio]

I have faith in those who make these decisions that they know what limits Birchall's body has and if he can get back to his best in 2017-2018, but geez, if there was a guy who looked like he'd taken one foot off the cliff in 2016 it was Birchall with his poor positioning, lack of run and some very ordinary turnovers at different stages throughout the year.

I hope he gets his mojo back.


In Wright we trust.

Either way we need to be thinking of his replacement and some of the new recruits tick those boxes. Not impossible he has a mentoring aspect to his role in later years.....or is traded to a club for pick 88

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

I don't understand why so many people get so agro when our great club decides not to take kids like Jarman and Tweedle. They seem to believe that they not only know more than our clubs experts but also more than 16 other clubs experts. 18 clubs decided not to select Jarman and Tweedle in the ND and 17 clubs decided not to draft them in the RD... perhaps they know more than us.

Surely you jest????

 

[RIOLINWITPUNCHS]

So a club that has won 2 Premierships in its entire history is laughing at a club that has won 13 and is considered the most financial powerhouse club in the comp.

Yeah na.

Clearly my post was purely referring to us not taking Tweedie.

 

[TazHawk15]

Clearly my post was purely referring to us not taking Tweedie.

Clearly.

Clearly the club did not rate the kid just like a lot of other clubs and never ever ever ever ever would a club like the Bulldogs laugh at the Hawthorn F.C.

 

[Skipper_]

Another trade game up for anyone interested. https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/post-draft-trade-game.1152646/