Autopsy Round 1, 2024: Hawks fail against Bombers

[Judd2Sewell]

Honestly didn't feel their impact much at all. They didn't seem to generate many scores transitioning from half back (I actually think this is one area where defended quite well). They smashed us out of the middle though. I do agree with you though that our forwards need to tighten up against opposition half backs. A good side would absolutely kill us on transition if we give them the time and space we afforded to crabby, Reddog and Martin.

Thought their most influential players were mainly forward of centre.

Perkins, Stringer, Merrett.

For all his disposals, McGrath had a grand total of 3 score involvements. Redman 4.
Massimo and Weddle had 8. Amon 9.

The players with the highest score involvements were Perkins (9) and Stringer (7).

Parish, Stringer and Zerrett were three of their best players, alongside McGrath. He had 9 rebound 50's, 619m gained and racked up the touches, going at 85% efficiency too.

He was anything but a crab today.

 

[JoeHawk]

Not going to lie I experienced serious pain in my buttock region watching McKay today. Anyone saying he was a spud eat your hat, he absolutely killed us for most of the match

We just kept kicking it to him. Made him look like Silvagni

 

[Phil McCreviss]

Was pretty clear we are still a couple of years away covering for a player of Day's versatility. Centre clearances would have broken even with him in there. He also makes Newcombe better. Don't think we will see what we are really capable of until we have Day back in. Also need Hus in the system.
Not concerned about the forward line at all. Last year we likely get 10 less scoring shots. Gin, Watson and Moore can manufacture scores.
Defense is a patchwork quilt with Sic not being allowed to play his natural role. We lose the mid battle and it's curtains. Think we are genuine bottom 4 until we build true KPD depth

 

[kazzooka]

What - are you saying that even if we managed to kick straighter (5 more goals and 5 less points) we still would have lost?

Had we kicked 16.12.108 instead of 11.17.83, how do we lose?

More goals = more centre clearances for us to lose.

More points = more opportunities for us to turnover and score.

 

[CHUBBSS]

Far to much negativity, shit to lose against the peasant club but the amount of set shots we had and shots on goal we had chances for and fluffed was like no other game in the last few years. We need improvement across every line but it will be long year if we can’t find those positives.

A lot of positives to be had after some sleep. Sure their are plenty of thing to be annoyed at but we kick straight and it changes the whole game and pressure across quarters.

Weddle came a light in that last half, his coming fast. Would much rather Amon on a wing and a stronger defensive unit but for our first hit out with the new side was exciting to watch all be it frustrating with the missed chances.

 

[A Diakos]

Neutral here.

It must be disappointing to lose a close one but some of you are too harsh. I'm excited for your team and its attacking style! You've got gun small forwards and serviceable talls. On a good day, you can outgun just about everyone except Lions and Giants.

Clearance and inaccurate kicking sucked but Hawks are looking good!

We where poor today and have been bottom 6 for years

“Serviceable talls “ does not cut it for dynasty’s and flags

 

[theiaofseed]

The longer the day goes, the worse the taste in the mouth. I didn't go into today expecting a premiership, but I did think we would do much better than we showed today. To be showing improvement, we just had to defeat Essendon today, and we failed. People can look at "if and but" scenarios but I deal in facts. We just weren't good enough today and I really feel as a club we've taken a step backwards and have to start all over again. Sorry to be so negative, but it's been quite a while since I've been so disappointed as I am tonight. We need to win next week or the season is gone.

Essendon are 3 years deeper into their rebuild and loaded up on players last year for a crack at finals.
Our outs were bigger, there wont be too many games were both Sicily and Newcombe play that badly and yet they still struggle to beat us.

We were never playing finals and if that's your expectation you're going to be disappointed, this year is all about out forwardline gelling, building on last years midfield performances and closing our best and worse.

 

[theiaofseed]

Lewis needs to demand the ball, no aggression built like Tarzan but played like Jane today.

He's still building fitness after struggling with injuries but still managed to lead both teams for contested marks.

 

[Jim Prideaux]

We wasted opportunities, that happens. It’s bad footy for sure, but it happens. Let’s not throw the baby out, there were plenty of positives;

Ginni- amazing, better than I could of hoped for.

Chol - exactly what we needed, creates a contest and can do the second ruck thing.

Funnily enough, the things that let us down were the parts I thought we’d excell at - midfield, half back rebounds

 

[Seattle Mariners]

17.5 by Essendon was absurd and unlucky for you blokes.

Luckily you’re playing the most inaccurate and inefficient side in the league next week.

 

[Makedonija]

To be fair to the lads, if they converted a few of those easy shots we would probably be sitting here with the four points and praising today’s effort.

The meltdown is a bit over the top and seems to be more a factor of losing to the bombers than anything else. It’s only round 1 and the confidence of us fans going into this match (and the footy world in general) peaked only a day or so ago, and the almost on par odds right before the bounce show that.

For me, the main thing I wanted to see was the new recruits showing promise, which they arguably all did. We already know what the rest of the squad is capable of from the high points last season, so I’m not too concerned about the poor performance from some of the senior boys.

If we’re still making the same kind of errors in round 10, then the alarm bells may start ringing. As frustrating as it is to lose to the bombers in the way we did, there are enough positives to take out of today.

That said, did Mitch say anything about Finn as the sub in his presser? I’m sure he had his reasons, but I’m genuinely curious to know what they are.

Also thought our turnout was good today and I really hope the fans show up again against the dees and cats in the coming weeks.

As they say, we go again.

 

[PenAndPaper]

Just finished watching the game. Having read this thread before it, I thought we must have been horrible.

We were nowhere near as bad as people are saying, not even close. Our midfield other than Worps was poor and obviously could have kicked straighter but actually didn't think our defence or attack were bad. Infact I was very happy with how our forward line looked, it is so potent.

I'd actually go in with a basically unchanged team. Possibly Finn for Hust but I'm definitely comfortable keeping the same team.

 

[benhawk]

Did the umpire say block for the free against Sicily at start of game?

Sent from my SM-F936B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Rioli2Gunstall]

Setterfield played a very good game. Many under rate him.

I know I’m a bit biased but when some here said Newk would easily shake him off, I bit my tongue.

I honestly wanted us to pick Will up from Carlton.

Anyhow. Hopefully Newk gets a bit more space next week, but without Day and with Nash / Worpel being limited by foot, opposition sides will continue to clamp Jai down.

Was Nuke tagged? Cos he was shockingly bad for my fantasy teams.

 

[MasterSamurai]

And I repeat for the third time in a month, until I see our midfield stand up against opposition run ons and defend at the coal face , I'm gonna reserve my judgement on whether if we're a genuine chance against any opposition we play. I will also reserve judgement on our defenders as well.
I hope that newk doesn't go through the rough trough that young players go through after a promising start to their careers, like worpel went through. The * midfield is hardly any world beater yet they had our measure for majority of the game. As a side point, our frwd line looks dangerous for the first time since 2018.

 

[burger09]

Perkins caving us up was another twist of the knife.

 

[Threadkilla]

Not sure if this is extremely relevant but one thing that is starting to frustrate me is how the captain lets things get in his head. Yesterday after the push and shove and ridiculous free kick, he seemed to go into his shell. It’s almost as he’s thinking that it’s not his day today. An early turnover or niggle from an opponent can normally set him off too.

It’s a shame and I know I shouldn’t be comparing him to past legends like Derm, but those types of players tend to play better angry, whereas Sic is the opposite. It’s a harsh comparison and observation but I rate him that highly and it’s something I’ve noticed for a while.

He’s our best player, a gun of the competition and is every chance to bounce back and be best on against the Dees. He’s just so good that his down games can be very frustrating.

 

[Wingnut19]

We just have to get Seamus back in. He’s better than solid, was so good last year. And it’s the knock on effect it has on team, we can then afford to either swing Hardwick forward or move Amon up to the wing. I prefer the latter. Seamus looked our best young talent on list at times last year. Add his speed to Weddle and hopefully CJ down the track just completely flips the athletic profile of this side. He might not of been ready but we should be rushing him in.

 

[The hands of stone]

For all the negativity on here with how poorly we did so many things , we should have had a match winning lead at 3/4 time .
If that actually isnt a pretty big positive from yesterday I'm not sure what is.
Last year we needed Sic , Nuke , Day , Bruest etc all to have big games to just be very competitive.

Same scenerio last season we lose by 8-10 goals .

 

[Hawker55]

For all the negativity on here with how poorly we did so many things , we should have had a match winning lead at 3/4 time .
If that actually isnt a pretty big positive from yesterday I'm not sure what is.
Last year we needed Sic , Nuke , Day , Bruest etc all to have big games to just be very competitive.

Same scenerio last season we lose by 8-10 goals .

This pretty much. There won't be many games where the oppn kick that straight and we don't. We kick straight we win by 5 goals with our big three (Sic/Newk/Lewis) having little impact on the game. That's a huge improvement.

Our recruits all played well and showed what they were brought in to do. I'd be more worried if I were the Bombers than us on that performance - they ain't playing Finals.

 

[smeltitdeltit]

Did the umpire say block for the free against Sicily at start of game?

Sent from my SM-F936B using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yup.
Then refused to pay multiple the other way

 

[MJA33]

Would recommend listening to Mitchell press conference and not completely over reacting to round one. We created 28 scoring shots (something we struggled to do last year) and yes we needed to convert better and be more polished going forward - however can see what we are trying to do. He said centre clearances 18-9 was the key and a lot of them we got first hands on however it was a fumble or poor option that lost us the clearance and then put us on the back foot with field position. I see a lot of positives from yesterday as the things that lost us the game are completely in our control to fix and improve.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

17.5 by Essendon was absurd and unlucky for you blokes.

Luckily you’re playing the most inaccurate and inefficient side in the league next week.

We're playing an intraclub?

 

[Blackhawk42]

Some of you getting stuck into Ward and MacKenzie clearly haven't watched George Wardlaw's last 2 games.

Been just as poor or just as inexperienced. Whichever way you want to look at it.

Give young players time, please.

 

[hawk for 37]

Plenty of 20 year olds in the league performing at a much higher level. I’m not saying I’m writing him off. I just think he needs to lift.

I know he is only 20, I get it, but for a No. 7 pick, Ward needs (and McKenzie for that matter) to be our next elite gun midfielder that takes us to the next level and a contender. Part of our next Hodge, Mitch and Lewis combo.
It’s not their fault, but I fear that when our turn at prize picks came along, the quality on offer wasn’t there to kick the list into the next level.

Fingers crossed they are able to prove me wrong, but we are currently pinning our hopes on a pick 45, an Irish rookie and an apprentice chippy who walked off the street (with Day to return obviously).

In the next 18 months Ward, McKenzie and Day, all high end picks, should be saying thanks boys, we’ve got this, we will take it from here.

I’m a bit concerned that isn’t going to happen on current evidence.