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Before Sunday's game against Sydney I was preaching a "don't panic" mantra to the Hawk coaching staff and that message will ring true regardless of what happens from here.
There's been plenty made of Hawthorn's midfield deficiencies (and not without some justification), but the prospect of switching Nick Holland for Kane Johnson is one that I wouldn't be rushing into. Johnson is a fine player, but he's by no means a great player and I'm yet to be convinced that one buy will be enough to transform us into a premiership outfit overnight. Holland is very important to this club, emotionally as well as physically, and I don't believe in giving up good experienced key position players. People say we can afford to lose a tall, but I'm not convinced, as you only need a couple to fall over injured (as happened this year) for things to fall away markedly. We've worked hard to assemble a strong core of mobile key position talls, and the more of 'em we have the greater the depth. I have little doubt that good talls are the key to a flag and Holland is as valuable as any of them for the role he plays at CHF.
Besides, we've seen how much better Hawthorn's midfield looks when Crawford & Chick are fit and firing. I also believe that Picaone can add bite with another summer under his belt, which is to say nothing of the exciting crop of youngsters coming through. Greene could be anything with his speed, stamina & skill and looks to be a natural midfielder of considerable potential. Tim Clarke will also go places, as he reminds me of Craig Bradley in many ways. Both of these guys need a solid summer under their belt and a few extra kilos on their frames, but they can take us places, I'm sure of it. There's also Billy Nicholls showing promise and young Nick Ries out at Box Hill, and Hawthorn should pick-up another quality centre youngster with their opening pick in the draft. I haven't even mentioned Brett Johnson who clearly has his best in front of him.
The likely demise of Woods, Rock & Dent will be enough to render us the second youngest list in the competition, despite the fact that some of our younger talls are already closing in on the 100 game mark. We probably can't win the flag next year, but by 2003 we should find ourselves in a similar position (list wise) to Brisbane this year. Lets not forget that Brisbane is a work of many years in the making!
So I wouldn't be making any rash decisions drafting wise come October. I hear that Nick Daffy is likely to go cheap at Richmond and I'd be willing to pick him up, mainly because we lack a capable smaller crumbing forward and he might fit that bill. Another option would be to play Harford predominantly out of the forward pocket to give Greene more time in the centre.
I might sound tough, but I've never had a lot of time Aaron Lord or Luke McCabe and I'd like to see the back of both of them. Adrian Cox is an infinitely better prospect in the back pocket and should be favoured there from this week on. I admire Rayden Tallis for his tenacity and workrate, but there's little doubt that Nathan Lonie would give extra dash and bite to the defence playing out of the HBF and I hope they perservere with him there. There also needs to be more thought put into Croad, as it seems as if nobody knows where he should be playing, Croad included. I'd like to be able to start games next season with him and McPharlin as shock weapons on the bench and we can only hope that the young West Australian makes a better (and faster) than anticipated recovery.
Just thinking out aloud...
Kevin
There's been plenty made of Hawthorn's midfield deficiencies (and not without some justification), but the prospect of switching Nick Holland for Kane Johnson is one that I wouldn't be rushing into. Johnson is a fine player, but he's by no means a great player and I'm yet to be convinced that one buy will be enough to transform us into a premiership outfit overnight. Holland is very important to this club, emotionally as well as physically, and I don't believe in giving up good experienced key position players. People say we can afford to lose a tall, but I'm not convinced, as you only need a couple to fall over injured (as happened this year) for things to fall away markedly. We've worked hard to assemble a strong core of mobile key position talls, and the more of 'em we have the greater the depth. I have little doubt that good talls are the key to a flag and Holland is as valuable as any of them for the role he plays at CHF.
Besides, we've seen how much better Hawthorn's midfield looks when Crawford & Chick are fit and firing. I also believe that Picaone can add bite with another summer under his belt, which is to say nothing of the exciting crop of youngsters coming through. Greene could be anything with his speed, stamina & skill and looks to be a natural midfielder of considerable potential. Tim Clarke will also go places, as he reminds me of Craig Bradley in many ways. Both of these guys need a solid summer under their belt and a few extra kilos on their frames, but they can take us places, I'm sure of it. There's also Billy Nicholls showing promise and young Nick Ries out at Box Hill, and Hawthorn should pick-up another quality centre youngster with their opening pick in the draft. I haven't even mentioned Brett Johnson who clearly has his best in front of him.
The likely demise of Woods, Rock & Dent will be enough to render us the second youngest list in the competition, despite the fact that some of our younger talls are already closing in on the 100 game mark. We probably can't win the flag next year, but by 2003 we should find ourselves in a similar position (list wise) to Brisbane this year. Lets not forget that Brisbane is a work of many years in the making!
So I wouldn't be making any rash decisions drafting wise come October. I hear that Nick Daffy is likely to go cheap at Richmond and I'd be willing to pick him up, mainly because we lack a capable smaller crumbing forward and he might fit that bill. Another option would be to play Harford predominantly out of the forward pocket to give Greene more time in the centre.
I might sound tough, but I've never had a lot of time Aaron Lord or Luke McCabe and I'd like to see the back of both of them. Adrian Cox is an infinitely better prospect in the back pocket and should be favoured there from this week on. I admire Rayden Tallis for his tenacity and workrate, but there's little doubt that Nathan Lonie would give extra dash and bite to the defence playing out of the HBF and I hope they perservere with him there. There also needs to be more thought put into Croad, as it seems as if nobody knows where he should be playing, Croad included. I'd like to be able to start games next season with him and McPharlin as shock weapons on the bench and we can only hope that the young West Australian makes a better (and faster) than anticipated recovery.
Just thinking out aloud...
Kevin
