Preview Marsh Week 2 - Hawthorn v Melbourne - UTas Stadium - Friday March 6, 7.40pm

[vanders]

Forwards lost confidence pretty quickly because every kick into the 50 was shizenhouse.

Hopefully we blew out the cobwebs, got some run in the legs and play kick to kick for the next fortnight.

 

[Nastyfish]

Seems like we are lining up for much more run and gun play on footy out of the back and through the guts. Not sure we have the team for it. Actually, with one more great pressure forward And a full complement down back, we’d have a very good team for the old hawks way of pick a way through the back then fire it long into the 50.

Just a practise game and losing them, and Dare i say it even losing round one, can sometimes be a blessing.

I thought wingers looked sparky and wasn’t it great to see Mitchell take another step?! Big boy was good in the ruck, who woulda thunk it?!!!!

 

[Taskmaster]

Seriously, some of you arm chair "experts" need to cool the jets. It's a bloody practise match. You really think Clarko is going to show his hand?
Yep it was a rubbish game by both sides, but let's judge our year on the first 4 rounds and then yes, if we are 0-4 and playing footy like tonight, then ye, go to town.

And those of you on Morrison's case....He was 1 of our best.

I will say this though, Stratts should not be captain and Pop is cooked!

 

[TylerDurden]

The signs are bad.
Form isn’t something you can just flick a switch.
Worpel a worry now.
Brisbane are a quality outfit. I’m heading into r1 with zero confidence now.

 

[Hawk Time]

Holy s**t, 2 touches from 83% time on at 50% efficiency. Quality game.

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Yeah Stratts looks very average, I think back to when he got injured in that first final and couldn't play the second he was actually a massive massive loss and reason we would struggle, well he is not even on the same planet as that now....

 

[lethalselbow]

Do people on here genuinely rate hanrahan?? Confuses the hell out of me that we didn't look to get some zippy small players over in the off season our lack of pressure we put on the ball carrier is non existent .

I'm not sure where we are at but game plan and skill wise there isn't much to like , in both marsh games there wasn't one clean passage of play I can think of .

I rate him.

I thought Hanrahan showed some glimpses. I understand he's not training well, but he does look to have some skills on game day. Some aggressive tackling, a snap or two at goal and a few goodish things. Not sure of his stats, but did see him making an effort and using the ball creatively.

 

[westhawk]

Do people on here genuinely rate hanrahan?? Confuses the hell out of me that we didn't look to get some zippy small players over in the off season our lack of pressure we put on the ball carrier is non existent .

I'm not sure where we are at but game plan and skill wise there isn't much to like , in both marsh games there wasn't one clean passage of play I can think of .

Don’t rate Hanrahan at all. Minchington showed more over a couple praccy games. Poppy is cooked, not just tonight, but was horrible last year aswell. I want Wingard in the middle, however I think he has to play forward.

 

[lethalselbow]

The signs are bad.
Form isn’t something you can just flick a switch.
Worpel a worry now.
Brisbane are a quality outfit. I’m heading into r1 with zero confidence now.

It still just boils down to a practice match... albeit a frigging ugly one by our lads.

We're a chance against Brisbane, but i'd like to see some more speed in the side. Think we look sloooow.

 

[kazzooka]

Holy s**t, 2 touches from 83% time on at 50% efficiency. Quality game.

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I think i saw a spoil too. Just the one though.

His game used to be judged on how well he peeled off and helped teammates with a spoil or intercept mark. Like the big game saving marks in that prelim. The dangerfield tackle in the prelim. His role in handball chains and d50 exits.

Now it seems that if he just holds and pinches a guy all game and limits him to 2 goals 3 it's job done?

This guy used to keep the best small forwards touchless, take 8 marks and 15 spoils.

A real problem recently with our last 2 captains unable to play anywhere near their usual high standards. Roughead obviously had a very hard time and just getting back to play was great after what he went through and at a different stage in his career.

But Stratton came into captaincy after one of his best years still in a good prime age for an experienced player and had an absolute stinker of a year falling over 15 times a game and embarrassing himself with the pinching and stomping.

 

[Snakelilbandit]

I think i saw a spoil too. Just the one though.

His game used to be judged on how well he peeled off and helped teammates with a spoil or intercept mark. Like the big game saving marks in that prelim. The dangerfield tackle in the prelim. His role in handball chains and d50 exits.

Now it seems that if he just holds and pinches a guy all game and limits him to 2 goals 3 it's job done?

This guy used to keep the best small forwards touchless, take 8 marks and 15 spoils.

A real problem recently with our last 2 captains unable to play anywhere near their usual high standards. Roughead obviously had a very hard time and just getting back to play was great after what he went through and at a different stage in his career.

But Stratton came into captaincy after one of his best years still in a good prime age for an experienced player and had an absolute stinker of a year falling over 15 times a game and embarrassing himself with the pinching and stomping.

Concerning for sure, hopefully he can turn it around for the regular season. Can't carry him in the team if he keeps playing like that but can you drop the captain?

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[cogs2hawks]

Everyone needs to calm down it was just a practise match. I know the signs weren’t good but I didn’t think that would mean season over... I’m sure clarko will adjust things before round 1. Still reckon we are a good shot of beating Brisbane especially since it will be on the G.

 

[TylerDurden]

Concerning for sure, hopefully he can turn it around for the regular season. Can't carry him in the team if he keeps playing like that but can you drop the captain?

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We did it with Rough. He's got about 6 games to sort his s**t out or he'll suffer the same fate. We can't carry anyone. We're not good enough to do it anymore.

 

[Siri]

If by the club's own admission that was our final dress rehearsal before the season proper, then we're in for a very bumpy ride. We looked slower, weaker and far less efficient than the team that finished 17th last year. Terrible use of the ball, hard hands & poor decision making. We lacked polish, class & composure. Unfortunately, at this stage of the year it's all we've got to judge our team on. Still reckon Stratts is the least inspiring captain in the competition. Terrible decision to persevere with him after last year's embarrassment.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

I’m really trying to work out what Stratts brings to the table? Been assigned to Fritsch most of the night and been given a bath, it’s a worry if we feel we have to carry him because he is captain. People will say it’s pre season which is fine, but after last year you’d hope we would see a bit of improvement out of him early on.

To me it was a very risky decision by the club to make Straton captain again after his less than stellar 2019.

Just seems a weird decision to reward a players career worst year (the stats back me up on this) with club captaincy. I know being a captain includes more than just playing duties but at a minimum that player needs to merit a spot in the 22 on his playing abilities.

 

[Mrzohs]

The truth will be in pudding round 1, It is a worry our ball movement is poor! on the flip side they defence held up well!
Lewis at chf is a worry! Mcevoy at chb is a worry! Round 1 is when we judge!

Morrison and Hanrahan were good

 

[Topiary]

Everyone needs to calm down it was just a practise match. I know the signs weren’t good but I didn’t think that would mean season over... I’m sure clarko will adjust things before round 1. Still reckon we are a good shot of beating Brisbane especially since it will be on the G.

normally I would agree, but this was a display of utter INCOMPETENCE.

 

[detox]

Look too tall and slow for me. Shocking skills .

I've knocked Morrison but thought he was good tonight.

Stratton worrying. Not sure About this big boy experiment either

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[Topiary]

The truth will be in pudding round 1, It is a worry our ball movement is poor! on the flip side they defence held up well!
Lewis at chf is a worry! Mcevoy at chb is a worry! Round 1 is when we judge!

Morrison and Hanrahan were good

Hanrahan got to the ball. Pity he had ZERO ability to take it.

 

[Topiary]

Look too tall and slow for me. Shocking skills .

I've knocked Morrison but thought he was good tonight.

Stratton worrying. Not sure About this big boy experiment either

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Stratton not even a shadow.

 

[Nastyfish]

The truth will be in pudding round 1, It is a worry our ball movement is poor! on the flip side they defence held up well!
Lewis at chf is a worry! Mcevoy at chb is a worry! Round 1 is when we judge!

Morrison and Hanrahan were good

Round 1 is too early to judge. Remember 2004?

 

[hk89]

Trying not to read too much into a couple of pre-season losses, but can't help but adjust expectations somewhat after tonights performance. Think we have the list to definitely play finals, but despite having more depth than we've had for a while, we still might need most of the best 22 on the park to notch up enough wins for finals. Losing Hardwick last week and probably Lewis for a stretch after tonight isn't going to help. Melbourne were quite poor tonight too , which makes the loss a little more concerning than it would be otherwise. I was mostly satisfied with our first outing against Saints (second one was hard to read into given how little of Saints best 22 was out there), but definitely agree with those seeing warning signs in tonights performance.

Basically looked like the bad Hawthorn from the first half of last year. Poor connection between mids and forwards, and vulnerable to fast ball movement going the other way. Hopefully it doesn't take us until the second half of the season to get the team humming like it did last year. In reality we've started poorly for the last 3 years in a row. 2017, 2018, 2019 our lowest position on the ladder in the early second half of the season was 17th, 11th, and 15th and we improved those positions by the end of the H&A by 5, 7 and 6 spots, finishing 12th, 4th and 9th. It would be nice to be holding a spot safely inside the 8 just after the midpoint of the season, instead of having to fight tooth and nail to scrape back into finals contention as has been the case recently.

Still time to make adjustments, and its easy to be hoodwinked by pre-season form, so hopefully we do come out firing - we'll need to given the relatively tough start to the season.

 

[Nastyfish]

Stratton not even a shadow.

Steady on tiger it’s early days!

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Ah well the bad we know, simply put we are way, way, perhaps even way again too slow.
To the good...
Cegs was good by far our best midfielder, BB can be his ruck back up (the rest of his game I'll ignore.)
CJ should play Rnd 1 we simply have no pace and he was ok in the last trying while no one else would provide run (except for Chips see later)
Harry tried in the second half, only issue is not quick.
Smith and Bruest ok overall.
Chips Frawley stood out rarely beaten, faster than most and had some attacking flair... (Although that could be a thread... like you know your season is in the toilet when Chips Frawley is your attacking flair out of the backline)

Really struggled to find too many positives, I honestly don't rate Melbourne and thought Cegs probably had the better of Gawn their "star" so the rest of the team was very disappointing tbh.

Don't underestimate Chip being more attacking. Has become a fine player. My view is Frost should be the fullback stopper like Chip in his early days and Chip the intercept marker. Most assume it is the other way round but Frost just lacks the skills to be given any sort of offensive role.

 

[Roger Rogerson]

I didn't see any of our forwards making leads to create space for the other forwards. Our stagnate forward 50 didn't seem to have any system at all, any design.

And you are surprised?

 

[Roger Rogerson]

At the moment Wingard is nowhere near our best anything, great to see he's invested by his pressure acts but his actual output has been crap and way less than we expected......

We? Maybe you.