Round 1: Hawks. vs Freo

rgauci

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Thread starter #1
Both teams are in relative form in the preaseason.

Their will be some exciting matchups to watch:

Sandilands vs. Everitt

J.Carr vs. Mitchell

Croad vs. Pav

Should be a good game.
 

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Mr.Likeable

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#3
It's worth remembering every year that Round 1 is a raffle. In heavy statistical terms, historical analysis shows that the variation in results from Round 1 is due to the fact that it is Round 1. i.e. the variation attributable to it being Round 1 is greater than the variation attributable to any other variable. In simple terms, look back over the years and see how many ultimate premiers were beaten in Round 1 - it's no coincidence. (Though, interestingly, last year's Round 1 results appeared to be much more consistent with the rest of the season than other recent years.)

Of course, if you come out of it with four points, it's better than coming out of it with no points, but a Round 1 result is useless as a predictor of the season ahead.

Go Hawks.
 
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#4
Round 1 automatically means less to me than round 2... our first game in Melbourne. When I can actually be there at the game, that's when the season starts for me.
 

rgauci

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cschreuder61 said:
Crawford vs Haselby would be another, I'm not sure who we are going to play on McPharlin either.

Definately a hard game to tip.
Crawf will get a tagger, and it won't be Hasleby.
 
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#7
i expect us to win strongly! I know its a bit presumptious but we have relatively strong pre-season form, seem to be adhering to ACs game plan better after 12 months, we played well there a couple of weeks ago against Adelaide and have an improved forward line structure that last yr.

No excuses for this one. A loss here is unacceptable. We can't keep making excuses for having a young list etc. We have a strong list capable of winning the footy in the middle against great midfield opposition and rebounding well out of defence. If we get our forward line functioning, we can beat anyone on the day.

Fremantle should get dazed and confused on that ground. I expect a similar posession dominated game by the Hawks, similar to the Freo and Bris wins of last season.
 

rgauci

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cschreuder61 said:
Maybe, but I would have thought Hodge and Mitchell would get the first two tags, and that you wouldn't go in tagging our starting three midfielders.
J.Carr will go head to head, AKA tag Mitchell. Crowley will get the job on either Hodge or Crawford. I imagine you won't be starting Hodge, Mitchell and Crawf the whole game. So we may see 3 taggers in the middle, sometimes 2 and sometimes 1.

Though i can't see Connolly leaving Haze out of the centre for too long. He is our trump card.
 

Bennycoff

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#9
I agree. Anything less than a victory is no acceptable. It's our home match at Tassie, we have the advantage and should be able to beat the Dockers. If we play like we did against Adelaide with the same pressure and tackling we will go close and if our skills are better than we will win easily. Must win this match to start off the year strongly and show the football public that we will be a force in years to come, we can't waste this season and finish bottom four again, it's not acceptable, no excuses this year, it's time for the middle group of players and the senior players like Dixon, Smith, Vandenberg, Jacobs to improve and take this club forward this year.
 

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Bigger

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#12
I love this conviction on the Hawk supporters part that we are their bitches.

When we were crapper than crap (2001), Hawthorn gifted us the first of our only two victories for the entire year. We also held them to a total of 4 goals (goalless first half) in 2002 or 2003.

Seems to me we're just returning the favour.

But not any more.
 

Nightwolf

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#13
Bigger said:
I love this conviction on the Hawk supporters part that we are their bitches.

When we were crapper than crap (2001), Hawthorn gifted us the first of our only two victories for the entire year. We also held them to a total of 4 goals (goalless first half) in 2002 or 2003.

Seems to me we're just returning the favour.

But not any more.
2002 and counting..

So, on the game. Im excited. My man Willo will determine a win IMO. If he kicks 4+, a definite win.
 

Wizard

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#15
FatBoy's Wombats said:
Thems fighting words. See you at York Park clown.:) In all seriousness i reckon it will be a good high scoring game, probably close like previous encounters at this ground. Whats up with Jeff Farmer, playing like a one armed monkey at present.
Jeffrey has been in sensational form this pre-season, its gonna take a damn good effort to shut down the Wizard.
 
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#17
Can some of you Hawks fellas put up a likely team. I'd like to do matchups.

I reckon Cook will get Mitchell. The Carrs will get Crawford. Dodd/Crowley (likely unknowns to the Hawks supporters) will probably get Hodge and Lewis. I'd like to see Dodd go head-to-head with Hodge. I could see a break-even.

As to Aurora Stadium. I don't know if a number of very tight losses including a one-point loss to the Sainters last year puts us in the dazed and confused category.

I'm really interested to see the Hawks supporters suggest a loss to freo would be unacceptable. This sounds either very ignorant or very disrespectful of where Freo is at. We missed 6th spot last year by half a game. We won 5 of our last 7 last year, and our list is at full strength.

If you can get over Freo I would chalk that down to an absolute bonus.
 

Bennycoff

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#18
We beat Freo away last season by some 9-10 goals.

We are playing at Tassie, our home game, big travel for Freo.

We have improved from last season ( i hope ) and i think if we are any good then we should account for fremantle quite easily

but footballs a funny game, we'll have to wait and see

hawks by 27 pts. :thumbsu:
 

LoneStar

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#19
I think the travel factor is almost nonexistent this time around. The long trip over would be negated by the fact that it's the first game of the season and there is no recovery/turnaround involved. It's Round 2 the week after that might be a negative for the Dockers. I know the Hawks won big vs. Freo at Subiaco last year, but they were listless in the 2nd half vs. Collingwood the next week and struggled to find their A-game for several weeks afterwards.
This game will be decided in the midfield and the control of the clearances. If Everitt plays and has a good game in the middle, the Hawks will be hard to beat. If the center is open and transitions from defense into attack are often uncontested, the Hawks can put a big number on the scoreboard and the Dockers will have to work hard to outscore the Hawks in a shootout.
If Freo has the upper hand in the clearances and makes the Hawks struggle to get the ball forward, then the Hawks will have trouble scoring and will have difficulty winning a low-scoring contest.
I'm an optimist -
Hawks to have a dominant 4th quarter and win by 23 points
 
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#20
Freo rarely does well in Tassie. They played a decent game against the Saints in Tassie last year, and an umpiring error cost them the match in the final seconds. I'd expect the Hawks to win this one, but I doubt it will be an easy win. The wind down there is fairly unpredictable, changing direction constantly and this will effect the outcome no doubt.
 

kanabar

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#21
the umpiring debarcle in tassie which cost us the game i remember how they called the tackle of black by hammil which was out of bounds was given as holding the ball which result in the goal which we lost the game by 1 point.

how the hell can someone be holidng the ball outside the boundry blind maggots tbh.

so freo will want to rectify this nightmare feat of stupid losses at the ground in tassie by winning, watch out a big game by the boys.
 
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#22
kanabar said:
the umpiring debarcle in tassie which cost us the game i remember how they called the tackle of black by hammil which was out of bounds was given as holding the ball which result in the goal which we lost the game by 1 point.
Close mate, it was Matty Carr.
 

bigbol069

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#23
My team for round 1.

FB: GUERRA CROAD SEWELL

HB: SMITH CAMPBELL JACOBS

C: BATEMAN HODGE CLARKE

HF: FRANKLIN BARKER VANDENBERG

FF: DIXON WILLIAMS ROUGHEAD

RUCKS: EVERITT MITCHELL CRAWFORD

INT FROM: LADSON DAWSON LEWIS MILLER OSBORNE TAYLOR YOUNG

Unlucky to miss: Brown (suspended) Bailey Boyle Murphy.

What I reckon you will see:

Croad v McPharlin - Freo have already indicated big Luke will be their man in the goal square this year.

Campbell v Pavlich - Al will give Robbie the huge task to continue his development away from ruck duties, Robbie has never been fitter, stronger or better equipped. Still don't know whether he has enough to combat Pav IMO, Dawson might be a show, otherwise Joel the reliable.

Sewell/Osborne v Farmer/Medhurst - one or the other on either of these two.

Clarke & Vandenberg - will tag

Jacobs - got to keep using him as the free man in defence rather than making him player accountable, usually on guys bigger and stronger cos we are short of key post options in defence. He gives us so much drive and can take a big saving grab, hope Al uses him wisely, will be awesome this season.

Williams - who can stop him? Brilliant this bloke. Freo have to stop supply to him rather than trying to stop him.

Roughead, Franklin and Barker - How long has it been since we had 3 marking forwards of this calibre? Consistency will be the key. God help Freo or anyone else if these guys all fire on the same day!
 

cs61

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#24
Pretty good effort bigbol.

There is gonna be some competition for the last bench spots on the bench which is healthy for the team, rather than forcing to play whoevers left on the list the last couple of seasons.

This will be good for guys like Osborne who will have to work really hard on his game, rather than automatic selection.

I'd have Ladson, Dawson, Young and Osborne as the guys on the bench. Lewis very unlucky but just for balance (Osborne might need to go on Farmer etc.)
 

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#25
Good job Bigbol but I don't think Sewell will play 1st round, IMO Ozzy will go to the back pocket and Lewis onto the ground for Clarke.

I think you will be right that Vanders will get a tagging job but he might rotate that job with Clarke off the bench. Anyway Freo should be more worried about who's going to tag our plethora of midfield options.

If Campbell is going to play CHB then Tails will have to play, rotating with Everitt in the ruck and even pinch hit up forward if Roughy or Dixon isn't firing.

On the bench i would have to choose:

Clarke & Taylor as mentioned above,

Ladson on Preseason form and even his form before his broken arm last year warants him selection.

Boyle as a back up big man, can play either end which will help his cause.

I think Miller will be the unlucky one and does deserve a chance but you can't fit everyone in. Also i can't see who Young will push out of that side even though Viney's article said he would be stiff to miss out on round 1.

My reasons for Miller missing out are:

Guerra can go forward and crumb goals if need be, if this happens Laddo can become the playmaker out of the backline with his speed and footskills.

I haven't been more exited than this about the start of a season for a long time, the future looks bright and hopefully we can start the year off with a bang.

Go Hawks.
 
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