Review Rd 12 vs Hawthorn: Post-game review

[DrummoSolo]

26 less tackles in a game like that is seriously worrying

Having said that, Hawks tackling intensity today was incredible.

Reckon half the problem was that the Hawks were strong enough to break our tackles - saw Mitchell shrug off at least two. The effort is there, but the technique and hugely, the strength, isn't.

 

[whatboutbob]

And poo to the mods for not waiting for me to finish my post before closing the other thread. Where are the manners?! lol

Well said!... I was in the middle of posting too

Automatic red card for mod abuse.




(Sorry ladies. )

 

[patfullfankezz]

I disagree. I think we fought much harder than the losses against the Dons and the Pies. First half especially was great. Hawks were too good though, and played better than any other team we have played this year.

Much to improve on (turnovers for one), but they are slowly getting it done. Bring on the Dogs and Demons.

I'd say the turnovers bit is purely experience. Some guys have it instantly (Joel Patfull was pretty good in his first few years, helps he's a 4th gen player I guess) and some need to have that instinct hammered into them with experience.

 

[Nick Lions]

Hawthorn were classier and their higher fitness levels allowed them to keep up the tackling pressure. We lost tackles 96-70 despite being done by 10 goals. They had 71-41 inside 50's too. Maguire was excellent under the circumstances. Zorko was terrific, BOG for us. Green doesnt have the fitness to run out an entire game. Would have been the better choice as sub, but I can see why he wasn't. Wasn't Ace's day minimal, poor entry into the fifty and couldn't stick a grab. Hudson battled all day. Browny worked Schoenmakers over for most of the day. Our midfielders had a pretty dirty day really. Should have come off the bye with more energy than that. On the plus side we won clearances.

 

[Ceebee]

Getting game time in to a lot of our young players and they are doing quite well.
Zorko ,fantastic as was our backline.
Dissappointed, but pleased with the way we are attacking the ball.
Hawthorn are pretty good but I hope they dont win premiership.
Mitchell is a smart arse as is Buddy.
We are getting there.
Another year in those boys, we will surprise a few.
certainly we are not going backwards..

 

[jackess]

Actually won the clearances by 2 and were only just beaten in contested possession by 5 in the end.

The main difference was really that whenever the Lions had the footy they were under pressure and didn't have free targets while the Hawks were able to get themselves out of pressure and had really good run off half back.

 

[John]

I think that our skills were very good in the 1st half and that hid the fact that the Hawks were wasteful. Be that as it may our skills dropped of in the 2nd and with the superb pressure that Hawthorn put on the ball and the player a lot of our blokes buckled skills wise. A good team Hawthorne and have some wonderful players. FWIW I have no memory of ever thinking that a player could have such a good game under such trying circumstances as Goose had and that is with 5 dobbed against him by Buddy. If Goose is not in the top 3 of our B&f at this point in time I wonder what he has to do to impress.

 

[Judge]

When you combine the Hawks' fantastic pressure today with their big advantage in weight/strength and experience we were simply overwhelmed in the midfield and around the stoppages after the midpoint of the second quarter.

Sure the result and scoreline were disappointing, but realistically I'm not surprised. Mistakes made by the boys as the game wore on were more often than not caused by poor decisions or execution under pressure rather thank any lack of effort or heart. The reality is that most of our "senior" guys are battling types, or past their best physically, so you can't really expect them to lead us to victory against a good side playing well.

This game is also a good example of the fact that high draft picks can't change things too quickly with a rebuilding side - a guy like Toby Greene would hardly have made a difference today - we just have to keep working and get games into our younger guys whilst we wait for our turn as a contender.

 

[Skoob]

Bigfooty Lions board is like the Twilight Zone for me.
Last year I am sure I was percieved as being Mr. Negative and felt surrounded by "delusional" silver lining types. It was one of our worst seasons since the Bears days and I was critical (I still believe rightly so) of poor skills and more so poor efforts and endured the constant " we're rebuilding" mantra. This season those who lampooned me last year have recognised how bad we can be but more worryingly more people continue to find fault where we have clearly improved. There were some poor efforts today, but even "Mr Negative" can see we are well ahead of where we were this time last year.
We just played the Hawks who are equally the best team right now. We lost partly because of their current form and partly because of the hangover from beating the Weagles. Just like Richmond, our young players might have just got ahead of themselves. Just need to get the basics right and know your limitations.
I for one am happy with today's game given some of our previous efforts this season and particularly first quarters.
So many have credited our team with one winning game against West Coast, but I am certain that form heralds back to half time of the North Melbourne game. 6 competitive quarters before today and another half of footy on top of that. So we got smashed in one half of one game against the in form Hawks. Pretty happy with that.
Currently the positives far out weigh the negatives.
Among a few things tackling really killed us today and that is one thing that has constantly been poor for us and could be the final thing to improve as I see everything else has.

 

[Lockie]

Back from the game. Hawthorn clearly looked bigger and stronger and were able to break out of tackles. Defence was under pressure all day and the kick ins were pretty shocking and hand balling out of defence??? . Really felt we missed Ash McGrath today and couldn't work out what was happening with Drummond. Was Polec injured when he was subed? On the positive, first half was good and it was great to see Zorko play another good game. Good on Goose, he battled hard and was pleased that Buddy didn't get to kick his 500th against us!!!! Shall be interesting to see how our legs come up after a wet MCG track and a 6 day travelling break.

 

[policegetthatman]

1. Zorko
2. Goal kicking efficiency
3. First quarter

 

[spudmaster]

Zorko...wowies! You fellas have found an absolute gem right there. Has he got a nick name as of yet out of interest? My father kept asking who the player was, i told him, and he kept calling him zorro...few screws loose at his age

Apologies to those from the sunny state that had the misfortune of enduring a typical melbourne day weather wise. Rain, clear skys, more rain, directional changing rain etc I'm moving up north with you lot sooner rather than later

Bring that first half effort to the doggies game and the 4 points are yours (can't believe you've got another game in melbourne next week, and on a 6 day break. Bit rough)

 

[Stocka]

I thought it was interesting how much space we seemed to have up forward at times today. My opinion is that Hawthorn are not strong defensively, but I also feel that we are starting to see a more effective structure up forward on our own part. I guess the mix of players that we have up there helps, as well as their ability to make the most of the opportunities that they have. We are certainly a lot better this year at generating goals from a variety of players. Without looking at the stats, I reckon our goals to entries inside 50m ratio would be on a marked improvement as this year has gone on, as especially compared to the last few years. Accuracy on goal has also improved markedly.

I suppose, given the amount of ball that Hawthorn had up forward compared to us, 65 might well be an accurate reflection of Hawthorn's win, however, it was pleasing to see that we played positive football for four quarters, with some sense of an effective strategy for moving the ball forward and scoring once inside 50m.

Although we are still turning the ball over, I tend to think that we're trying to back up better from these mistakes and at least putting more pressure on so that it's not simply and easy take-away from an error.

One big area of improvement yet to come is our ability to win the loose ball. We seem to get smashed in this area most weeks, which may be attributed to the amount of errors we make with disposal. However, we also don't seem to be first to get to the loose ball, which I tend to think may also reflect the fact that some of our players are a bit slow off the mark or are not running hard enough to get numbers to the spill of the ball from a contest.

 

[Ceebee]

I saw so many positives today.What great pick ups we got in Zorko and Hudson,add so much to the side.Goose has been awesome,Brownie improving,Rich in and under.Golby so composed for his short career,Polec showing so much skill.We seem to be able to get into space a bit more.We are still lacking in strength and staying power but we now seem to have a bit more structure.
Our backline has been so good under so much pressure.
It is like seeing light at the end of the tunnel, we are showing glimpes of what is to come.
As for Zorko who does he remind you of ?Anyone have any ideas.
He is a ripper .

 

[Hollow Knight]

Zorko...wowies! You fellas have found an absolute gem right there. Has he got a nick name as of yet out of interest?

His nickname is Tinka.

 

[Gabbatoir]

Loved the first quarter and most of the second half. Zorko was phenomenal, and I saw something good from all of our youngsters. Felt Harwood didn't really do much with his opportunity, although he played in defence. Would have liked to see him win more of the contested ball that we keep hearing about in the 2nds.

Side note, and I'm not saying they influenced the result at all...
but I still find myself frustrated with the umpires. It felt like they'd get away with something and the same thing happened to us a couple of minutes later and we'd be pinged. So much inconsistency.
Also, the holding the ball rule is a farce, and Gieschen should be sacked purely for allowing the rule interpretations to deteriorate to what they currently are.

 

[spudmaster]

His nickname is Tinka.

Ta mate

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Yeah, those calls to move Rockliff to the centre really turned the game around eh?

I don't mind people putting the opinion out there, but they sold at least have the cajones to admit when they were wrong.

Anyway, getting a little venty.

Yeah, its hard not to when you're frustrated isn't it? Maybe you'll be a bit more understanding TBD before you threaten to send others to the vent thread (as you did to moi a few weeks back).

 

[Mazza44]

I hope Voss shows the rest of the players the replay of Zorko this week and tells them that is what they need to do. He was following up every possession today and always moving around.. unlike the rest of our players whenever we had the ball on the half back flank who were just bloody walking everywhere. I can't bring myself to put votes on this game because apart from him and Maguire there was a complete lack of effort today. Played exactly like they have over most of their games in Melbourne over the last 3 years, they just do not care.

They are wearing the Roys jumper next week against beatable opposition. I don't care if we win or lose, but some form of effort would certainly be appreciated.

 

[Stocka]

There was a complete lack of effort today. Played exactly like they have over most of their games in Melbourne over the last 3 years, they just do not care.

I can't agree with that level of superlative. I think we played with more effort and positivity than we have in most of our games in Melbourne over the last few years. We were very good in the first quarter, and held on reasonably well in the second quarter. Given that Hawthorn are clearly a superior side, and have been over the last few years, it was not unreasonable to expect that the Hawks would get a hold of us at some stage.

In my opinion, turning the ball over, which was one of our biggest problems today, as well as being overrun in the second half by a premiership challenger, doesn't equate to a lack of effort.

 

[stuyd1]

Im a B

I hope Voss shows the rest of the players the replay of Zorko this week and tells them that is what they need to do. He was following up every possession today and always moving around.. unlike the rest of our players whenever we had the ball on the half back flank who were just bloody walking everywhere. I can't bring myself to put votes on this game because apart from him and Maguire there was a complete lack of effort today. Played exactly like they have over most of their games in Melbourne over the last 3 years, they just do not care.

They are wearing the Roys jumper next week against beatable opposition. I don't care if we win or lose, but some form of effort would certainly be Appreciated.

Iam a Broadbeach supporter and have watched Tinka for the past 4 seasons. Great to see the Lions finally draft him and its paying rewards already... he will become a very good player for the Lions....And the Suns let him go.....terrible decision.

 

[Mazza44]

I can't agree with that level of superlative. I think we played with more effort and positivity than we have in most of our games in Melbourne over the last few years. We were very good in the first quarter, and held on reasonably well in the second quarter. Given that Hawthorn are clearly a superior side, and have been over the last few years, it was not unreasonable to expect that the Hawks would get a hold of us at some stage.

In my opinion, turning the ball over, which was one of our biggest problems today, as well as being overrun in the second half by a premiership challenger, doesn't equate to a lack of effort.

Stocka, I agree and I was very happy with the first and second quarter efforts. I don't think many of us at the game today expected a win but it is just tiring seeing our players walk around and not provide options. There was a moment today where Zorko kicked it to somebody on the back flank and then ran past him into the open space 30 metres in front of him, all because the other players sitting on the wing weren't moving at all! In comparison, Hawthorn players in the same position were constantly running and providing options. I understand that Hawthorn are vastly superior skill wise however our players can still move and try to provide options. They did it against Melbourne and it's not like Hawthorn were pinning them to the ground. It just seems like our players go for a simple pass mark when in possession as opposed to going above and beyond the minimum expectation.

 

[Gibbo_88]

I liked:
Brown's game. He actually jumped at the ball a few times, I thought those days were over. Looking 100% ATM
Ace's bump: always thought of him as a softie, hope to see that kind of aggression all year
Goose: if we weren't a bottom 4 team he'd be in the AA team. Those extra sessions in browny's gym are paying off
Zorko: lucky for his attitude problems, 3rd time I've heard Dwayne say that this year. Moves to right spots all the time and doesn't go to ground.

 

[alscotoz]

Great 1st half. Zorko a revelation, Maguire fantastic. Hawks far too physically strong. From where I was sitting behind the goals the umpires were no more average than usual. Next week will be interesting. Is Black a chance?

 

[Rally]

Thought the umpires weren't much to complain about. Besides Maguire's 'holding the ball' that led to the Franklin goal (which was a very poor decision) I thought it was pretty even.