AFL Autopsy Loss to the Hawkes

[MightyDon]

A bag of Burger Rings would be more fitting

I’d take it

 

[Snake Charmer]

It’s an important building year for us. I’m not to worried with that result early. Shows some signs. Hope they bring in Edwards and SEH. The back line has gotten worse. No one willing to take the game on. Someone at the club really needs to sit them down and show em what the best sides do out of the back half.

 

[kelvin_sheedy]

Lots of positives across the board. Effort was there, we just lacked polish at crucial moments.

Same old guys with the same problems.

Like the Kako kid, surely we have a player on our hands here.

Need to see something from Tsatas shortly or I'm filing into the McGrath portfolio.

Season and career defining games over the next 3 weeks.

 

[biglaycock]

Liked the move of Roberts to the back half after halftime, he started on the wing but looked much better behind the ball. He’s going to be a real player in the coming years.

The bad:

- Backline of Reid, McKay, Ridley, McGrath, Shiel and Prior was absolutely shocking, Scott and selection committee made a big blunder here against a dangerous small forward line. Would love to see Roberts permanently taking the most dangerous small forward, McGrath to the wing rotation, Shiel & Prior out of the side, Give SEH a go.

- Injuries to Langers and Ridley

- Slipping over!! How many times until you change your boots, have some professionalism.

Good:

- Effort was really good I thought apart from a few who had absolute shockers.

- Calders is a jet, Roberts has grunt and uses it well, Duz looked great, Caddy and Kako continue to impress

 

[Donakebab]

Can we just make boots with long stops mandatory. Beyond ridiculous how many times we straight out slipped and lost a vital contest.

 

[SpeckieMcVeigh]

Stats:

CP - 150-126 Essendon's way
Clearances - 50-31 Essendon's way
Inside 50s - 58-48 Essendon's way
Shots at goal - 26-25 Hawthorn's way
Tackles - 78-58 Essendon's way
Tackles inside 50 - 18-8 Essendon's way

Yet we were never in it because of an inability to find a target inside 50 (marks i50 16-6 Hawthorn's way) and turning the ball over almost every opportunity.

So basically last year continued?

 

[dank420_]

Is it just me or do we always lose a game due to a shit first quarter under Brad?

It’s been happening a lot longer than that

 

[Its Manbearpig]

That could have easily been a 60+ loss. We got close enough a couple of times. In the end the string of Hawks goals in the first was the difference.

Kudos to Gresham, Perkins in the second half. McGrath giving away 3+ goals a game kills me.

For mine, Edwards, Hayes in for Rids & Langers. Prior lucky, but who else do we have?

El Hawli, must come in for prior
Prior is a downgrade on Kelly.

 

[BratPack]

 

[Call Me Cake]

Reckon Prior has to be dropped for Saad.

Shiel is not our future and is a bit of a liability. I like Martin up forward but if we have to move him back for the time being until we find a better option at HB then so be it.

Jury is still out on the Draper/Bryan combo. Felt like we were a little slow due to it.

 

[Beerfish]

Need to see something from Tsatas shortly or I'm filing into the McGrath portfolio.

There he is.

 

[ghostdog]

Okay, it's a loss. A bit of perspective is in order though.
Hawks went deep in finals last year.
We won just about every team metric tonight. The two main deficits were in disposal efficiency and centre stoppages.
Our work ethic is clear when you consider we had more of the ball (won both the contested and uncontested) and still had more tackles than them. Moore's comment, "That was a tough win," is reflective of this.
We had their measure for most of the game. If anything, we were outdone by the greasiness of the conditions, the wrong boots, inefficiency and a lack of pace on the outside.
Worth remembering they got to blow the cobwebs out against a quality opponent last week.
Loved Caldwell, Jones and Roberts tonight. Also Merrett, Duursma and Kako. My boy Prior won't be happy with himself. Probably Redders should have started back and Duz should have had the Day job.
I thought Bryan worked his way into the game - wasn't unhappy.
And Scrimshaw got what he deserved.

 

[sameolds33]

Also, how much can we read into not having played last week?

I think we'd have managed the pace better and not slipped over as much. So, a two goal difference?

 

[Beerfish]

I think we'd have managed the pace better and not slipped over as much. So, a two goal difference?

 

[Jobe Watson]

Are we so desperate to keep Shiel in the team that we're trying to turn him into a defender because others have gone past him in the mids? There isn't one quality he has that would make him a suitable defender let alone a good one. It was a strange move when it was being talked about in the pre-season but now that we've seen it in practice... yuck.

 

[eth-dog]

El Hawli, must come in for prior
Prior is a downgrade on Kelly.

Okay, who comes in for Ridley as well?

 

[doug85]

I took my dogs for a walk at the local lake at half time with my wife. One of the dogs ate a dead carp and vomited it up in the car on the way home.

I had to pull over to allow my wife and I to both

I spent the last quarter cleaning dead fish dog spew out of my car.

Still feels like a better experience than watching us.

 

[Cold Sober]

The only bloke happy about tonight's game is Scott, he'll end up with an extra year of severance pay.

 

[bombreys]

Weird sort of game.

We had a crack and showed some good signs.

Loved Caldwell, Roberts and X. And thought Perkins had a real crack. Caddy and Kako is going to be a lot of fun.

McGrath as a VC is at the point of embarrassment - I can’t believe how poor of a player he’s become. He and Prior killed us. Shiel just as bad, but was also probably never going to be a good defender.

 

[jdstorm]

So basically last year continued?

I wouldn’t say that.

Aside from the first quarter where we came out slow Effort was good.

We’re able to raise our physicality to compete with them and didn’t give up on the game even when down.

Umpiring was awful but our effort didn’t change.

Fitness levels were good and able to stay with the hawks to the end.

Started the first quarter trying to play zone and drop 2 defenders. It failed. We’re pretty good after that.

 

[MiguelM]

I think we'd have managed the pace better and not slipped over as much. So, a two goal difference?

How the fck is the ground greasy in the pockets on a day like today?

The grass looked a little long too. Doesn't hide the fact we obviously had the wrong boots on.

AFL probably watered it and told Mitchell to get team to wear the right boots!

 

[sameolds33]

Agreed. I was done at half time last night and probably would have been tonight if we weren't playing. I'm sure I watched some of round 0 but can't remember anything of note.

There seem to be a lot of close-ish results, but it's not an enjoyable watch to get there

I was thinking similarly; that if by some miraculous freaky chance we had won tonight I still wouldn't have watched the replay.

 

[Westlo]

Gresham has to start next week, non-negotiable.

out - ridley, langers, prior
in - el hawli, edwards, Setterfield

 

[CBombers17]

We are a slightly worse version of Scott North Melbourne. Honest but not great. Blue collar ordinary.

 

[mike ross]

All games or just ours?

All games.