Mitch Hahn

[Gilbo_Fan]

I've consistently talked up Mitch Hahn as a Norm Smith medallist for the club.

I see a scrappy grand final day (which basically they always are) in which he is moved on to the ball in the third quarter cameo. He gets trademark hahn centre clearances banging it onto the boot to our advantage, busts open a few packs, rag dolls an opposition midfielder for a holding the ball decision, and kicks 4 for the day including 2 in the vital premiership quarter.

Thats the vision - the rest is up to Mitch and co

 

[always right]

My favourite is a few years back at the Gabba, playing in the square he pollaxed Voss with this great tackle. Voss took a long time to get up, in the mean the Scott idiots "attempted" to pick a fight with Hahn.

Favourite "Mitch" moment.......versus Brisbane at Telstra Dome in 2005 (Robbo's mark). Last quarter...Mitch smothers ball off Brad Scott's boot at centre half forward....ball spills out wide......Voss charges towards it......Mitch comes from other direction......two Mac trucks go full bore at contest....Mitch puts his head down with no consideration for his safety.....emerges with ball and handballs to Eagleton who slots the goal....Mitch swamped by teammates.

That passage of play still gets me pumped up......beating one of the hardest players (Voss) at his own game. Shivers up the spine.

If I have one criticism of Mitch is that he's too nice. He could really hurt blokes but it's not in his temperament.

 

[Mr. Walker]

Very hard at the ball, not the most subtle of players, can make poor decisions. Will play off the bench in our grand final winning team

Yes, i see Mitch as very important to our success.

That last final against the Eagles showed how far off the pace we are without our best 22 or 24 on the field. It was embarrasing. The players to come into that team are Mitch, Murph, Darcy, Higgins and Aker. Could also expect some improvement from the young pups but this may be offset from a slight decline in the old pups so the improvement must come from the named players. Of all of those Mitch is the hard man and it highlights his importance.

 

[The_Bulldogs_Bite]

Hahn is probably one of my favourite players when he's on.

He's not particuarly "flashy" like Murph or even Gia, but his bullocking work is fantastic. Not too many players seem to do it like him, not like he was for the first few games prior to the knee injury. I hope he's able to fit back in and continue on because he's a vital cog in our side. Gives us a fair bit of flexability in the midfield and up forward. Strong, strong body and a pretty decent mark. He's not the most accurate kick, but he definitely can slot one.

I think Boyd and Hahn could work pretty well in tandem, and I think Boyd could even learn a few things off Hahn.

Not to mention, Aker, who's going to help every single solitary player in our side be a better player.

Oh, and for anyone who hasn't seen Hahn lately - he's freaking massive. He's not overweight at all, just pure muscle and there's a LOT of it.

 

[Go_Dogs]

If Boyd wasn't so good with his centre work, I feel he would have played the Hahn role in the forward line. His contested marking, and ability to pressure is first rate, much like Hahn's, in the forward line.

 

[Wind Sock]

Could his knee hold him back from all that pack busting and such he use to do?

Once he's cleared by the docs he's ready ...in theory. I don't think there is any special reason to worry about another ACL. But Mitch's style of play puts a strain on every part of his body so I would expect a long lay off to leave him a little short of match fitness and I think full 'match fitness' is harder to attain for a pack-crasher like Mitch.

There is another aspect. Players retuning from ACLs have a tendency to have a certain lack of confidence in their knees hamper them for a while. It's often in the head rather than the knee. I'd just expect Mitch to maybe need a few more weeks to get back to full power than a less physical player.

It doesn't really bother me. We will need about 30 players fit and ready to go and will need to give game time to quite a few who aren't in the top 25 or so. It's fine by me if Mitch is playing well in the second half of the season and peaking for the finals.

 

[borgy]

Once he's cleared by the docs he's ready ...in theory. I don't think there is any special reason to worry about another ACL. But Mitch's style of play puts a strain on every part of his body so I would expect a long lay off to leave him a little short of match fitness and I think full 'match fitness' is harder to attain for a pack-crasher like Mitch.

There is another aspect. Players retuning from ACLs have a tendency to have a certain lack of confidence in their knees hamper them for a while. It's often in the head rather than the knee. I'd just expect Mitch to maybe need a few more weeks to get back to full power than a less physical player.

It doesn't really bother me. We will need about 30 players fit and ready to go and will need to give game time to quite a few who aren't in the top 25 or so. It's fine by me if Mitch is playing well in the second half of the season and peaking for the finals.

Ok, so by the second half of the season or toward the end we should see where hes at on the confidence side of things.

Heres just a suggestion, in 2008 or in the latter stages of 07 how put we plonk Mitch at CHF. Hes a massive unit and i think he could do very well there, what are your opinitons on that?

 

[Wind Sock]

Ok, so by the second half of the season or toward the end we should see where hes at on the confidence side of things.

Heres just a suggestion, in 2008 or in the latter stages of 07 how put we plonk Mitch at CHF. Hes a massive unit and i think he could do very well there, what are your opinitons on that?

Between Murph going down and Mitch going down last year, that was where he was mainly playing I think. He's actually taller than Hamil who plays that role when he is fit enough to play at all but, despite being quite a good mark, he plays short for his height rather than tall. I think it makes a lot of sense to have someone with key position strength who's a good ground player as one of the half forward targets. You would also have Murphy who can lead and mark, Power who is more of a link player, Aker a dynamic crumber and either McDougall or Baird who are leading tall targets. I think if you had Hahn, Murph and McDougall at HF for example, you could alternate all three through the true centre half forward position and play mostly through the one who has the best match up when you need to go to a one-on-one. Two of them might even bunch at CHF to make it hard for the opposition to figure out the plan; imagine the blocking work Mitch could do for a Murph or Baird.

One half forward might also have a license to roam anywhere on the forward line—Aker, Murph and Mitch come to mind here. I think versatility and adaptability is Eade's trademark; that and attention to exploiting our speed and precision passing without sacrificing accountability too much. I like the idea of Darce being a big physical presence up forward, Big Will in the centre and Hahn popping up at all points in between. It mightn't seem that important when our precision game and speed are working perfectly but for those teams who put us under pressure it will be invaluable.