Autopsy Round 13, 2026: Hawks get leashed

[cuttlefish]

Some earlier posts have alluded to us lacking maturity, and I would extend that to mature decision making.
Riding around on a scissor-lift with a baggie in your pocket reeks of immaturity and poor decision making. Expected leaders, no less.
Not being able to extricate yourself from onfield distractions...by our expected leaders, no less.
Not "showing up" each week, ie massively inconsistent performances from individuals.
It's tremendously frustrating to all involved to have to witness this.
We're by no means a lost cause, but boy I wish this squad could sort this crap out.

 

[TheFourPillars]

Its quite interesting reading some of the reactions in this thread. I haven't read all of it because a lot of it was repetitive.

Sicily I thought was great. The same reasons u r complaining about were the reasons we led by nearly 5 goals in the first half. It built the energy around us.

The antics of Sic and wiz werent the reason we lost the game. There was plenty of lip from both sides. Including bont who got into newk when he got him holding the ball. We lost it going inside 50 and kicking for goal. No other reasons. We had players open everywhere but that last kick inside 50 let us down I would say for the entire game.

It was eerily similar to the Collingwood game. Which is the concern and guess what Gunston Nash and Barrass played in that game. Execution by foot and our goal kicking were the reasons we lost. Talking about Sicily and the way he behaved I will just say this when Sic is playing in that manner he plays his best football. He was rarely beaten and some of his kicks were the Sicily of old

 

[H00t]

Something needs to be done about our small forwards what’s gone from a massive strength has turned into a huge weakness.

Wiz has been elite with 33 goals, problem is Moore, Ginni and Croc have 31 combined. Wiz also has the most tackles inside 50 of the quartet.

I know part of it is coaching having them up the ground but it’s also a lot on performance as well. Wiz also has the second most score involvements.

Which leads to games like the second half where teams can focus on the Wiz as our other smalls aren’t a threat.

 

[stevehawkington]

Perez is depth but I feel for him. Two games in a row he's been absolutely shafted by the umps with stiff calls.

I thought perez positioning and running was great. He puts his body on the line heaps.

Perez, nairn, bmac, ryan, is it possible to have too much inexperience on the field?

Add 2 rucks, and a time managed will day we're not going to run out games. I feel that we're not balanced for endurance and even in our wins we can't get big % boosts.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Yes, we kicked badly for goal and were undisciplined, but what concerned me in the 2nd half was the constant bombing into the forward line where we were outnumbered. We rely heavily on our transition game and if sides can slow our ball movement and then flood our forward line, we struggle to counter this. The Collingwood game followed a similar pattern. Flood our forward line and then get us on the slingshot.

On a positive note, we'll have Gunners, Barrass and Nash back after the bye. Barrass has been a huge loss as he's such a rock in our backline. A few players struggling so the bye a good opportunity to reset. I really liked Bmacs game and hope Nairn retains his spot as he has a huge upside.

And what to do with our rucks? Lots of criticism of Meek here but there were some green shoots I thought. Yes, he kicked badly for goal (he wasn't alone in this) but at least he clunked a few marks and thought his CB contest was OK. IMO he was better than Reeves last night who looks incredibly slow and cumbersome around the ground. My view is to go with Meek as the solo ruck and with Gunners back Chol can provide ruck back up. It worked the last two years.

So looking in the crystal ball:

IN: Gunners TB Nash
OUT: Perez Ryan Reeves

Apart from his goalkicking (which was absolutely putrid) I thought Meek showed some good signs last night. He was clunking some big marks and that's when he is usually at his best.

Watching Reeves live at the ground it really stands out just how immobile he is, he changes direction like the Titanic trying to avoid an iceberg .

I'm like you I think we roll with a Meek / Chol combo second half of the season (and for the love of god can someone please work on Lord Meeks goalkicking over the break!)

I was a little bit disappointed in Moores game last night as well, he seemed to call for the ball when he was in some pretty poor spots which didn't help us and he made some unusual decisions with ball in hand.

 

[Billyc]

M

Something needs to be done about our small forwards what’s gone from a massive strength has turned into a huge weakness.

Wiz has been elite with 33 goals, problem is Moore, Ginni and Croc have 31 combined. Wiz also has the most tackles inside 50 of the quartet.

I know part of it is coaching having them up the ground but it’s also a lot on performance as well. Wiz also has the second most score involvements.

Which leads to games like the second half where teams can focus on the Wiz as our other smalls aren’t a threat.

Big issue for our success this year - getting the forward mix right. Wiz, Gunston and Chol have been super. Lewis is important.

Ginnivan Cmac and Moore are out of form (Ginni and Cmac started year very well) and offer little defensively. A specialist pressure forward - whether Butler, Hill, Beatie - should be explored as an option, especially if we need to use Chol more as second ruck (which I think we do)

 

[HedgeFund]

It was eerily similar to the Collingwood game. Which is the concern and guess what Gunston Nash and Barrass played in that game. Execution by foot and our goal kicking were the reasons we lost.

Compare the Pair.

Comfortably won every measurable statistic save for goal efficiency and actual score. This time we even won the tackle count.

Again.

We simply don’t finish off our work.

Again.

 

[offtherails9]

Something needs to be done about our small forwards what’s gone from a massive strength has turned into a huge weakness.

Wiz has been elite with 33 goals, problem is Moore, Ginni and Croc have 31 combined. Wiz also has the most tackles inside 50 of the quartet.

I know part of it is coaching having them up the ground but it’s also a lot on performance as well. Wiz also has the second most score involvements.

Which leads to games like the second half where teams can focus on the Wiz as our other smalls aren’t a threat.

Yeah, I reckon they end up too high now. But Moore has been nowhere this year.

 

[BobHawk]

+17 inside 50’s.
+77 disposals
+14 contested possessions
+77 uncontested possessions
+41 marks
+5 marks inside 50
+5 contested marks
-1 centre clearances(even)

1.11 in a half. That’s the game.

No offence but I certainly hope Sam Mitchell isn't looking at these stats in the same way. Team keeps dominating the stats but with not much in return. That first quarter was a prime example of this problem which has persisted all season. There was complete domination in every stat yet we were only a couple of points up. If Mitchell keeps looking at games in this way he isn't going to be around for much longer.

 

[H00t]

Got to admit it was frustrating in the last quarter where we’d have a dogs player dead to right holding the ball and allowed them to get a kick away with multiple hawks players standing still near by.

I know you don’t want to commit too many players to a tackle but when the player has the ball arm free tackling it and preventing the ball coming out is going to be a holding the ball decision.

 

[BigTonkaTroy]

Ben King is like Warwick Capper. Never more than 20m from goal.

He is a one trick pony and if he doesnt kick 3 or 4 goals he is a net negative.

But he does kick 3 or 4 goals most games.

You can say the exact same about any player “take away cam mackenzies disposals and he’s a net negative one trick poney”

Ben king kicks goals accurately which no one in this team current does apart from Watson.

 

[yeahmate]

what was the goals from free kicks stat. felt to me at the game bulldogs got quite a few of there goals from free kicks and im not sure we got any

 

[BlueWaterHawk]

Day snapping without enough oomph etc.

The oomph-less snapshot seems to be a bit of a theme for the club. Maybe they spend too much time on boundary snaps rather then pressured shots. Ward especially really struggles, he looks unbalanced and leans back on his snaps rather than rotating through the kick.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Something needs to be done about our small forwards what’s gone from a massive strength has turned into a huge weakness.

Wiz has been elite with 33 goals, problem is Moore, Ginni and Croc have 31 combined. Wiz also has the most tackles inside 50 of the quartet.

I know part of it is coaching having them up the ground but it’s also a lot on performance as well. Wiz also has the second most score involvements.

Which leads to games like the second half where teams can focus on the Wiz as our other smalls aren’t a threat.

I wont count Moore in that, hes primarily playing up the ground. I reckon ive only seen him forward half a dozen times.

The others I agree though

 

[TylerDurden]

You get the feeling, Meek kicks that goal and we run away with it. Goes up the other end and English splits the middle. 2 goal turnaround. Heads drop.

 

[RoughysMullet]

I thought Will Day played a very good game for his second game back and spoke really well when interviewed out on the ground after the game. The bloke has class and humility in spades. Make him captain.

We’re not winning any silverware with Sicily in the job. He has shown time and time again he’s not a captain’s a%#hole. The sort of schoolboy crap he pulled last night permeates through the team, and because he’s co-captain, you can’t easily drag him either. He can play but he’s not a leader and must not be captain next year.

Will Day just needs a good run at it and he’s the captain in waiting for sure - would already be there had it not been for the injuries

 

[HoldingThe Ball]

Reckon this game gets talked about all year down Dingley way.


We played well in Q1

In Q2 that 20 min burst was elite. There wouldn't have been a team in the comp wanting to play us when we were on like that.

The game was won.

Unfortunately we have a group of very immature players - Ginnivan Chol, Watson, Sicily, Mass, MacDonald, Moore and one or two others - and in addition to immaturity, then have a terrifying ability to consume vast amounts of their own bathwater.

The review should and will be brutal.

I have no issue with Mitchell playing four rookies - but - with 2 lumbering rucks, a mid on strictly limited game time - they must be AFL match fit to play all 4.
Nairn just about lasted but BMac and Perez were gone 5 mins into Q4. Perez could barely jog.
I'd love to understand the rationale to send 3-gamer Ryan to swap with Dimma when better options were there.

I felt really sorry for Ryan - looked lost and frustrated.

Mitchell should have come down to the dugout - maybe the direct feedback may have sharpened minds - and sorted out the absolute disaster of the Q4 rotations.

I read 'Sam will learn from this' often on here. Too often. He needs to, as he's not a first year coach anymore.

Watsons ears should be bleeding. No more half-time interviews, and frankly just shut up if you have nothing of value to say.
Gave ammo to the dogs - you can bet Bevo had that on loop at the break - and Sellwood gave him a bath in the second half.

Sicily - he must be the most immature AFL skipper ever.
Again a deliberate move from Bevo and once the game was 'won' in our players minds Sicily reverted to a hyperactive 6 yr old on intravenous food additives.

Will Lewis must still be laughing at just how easy it was to take Sicily completely out of the game.

I've never seen such a selfish childish half of footy from an AFL player - let alone a Captain.

Being Captain is an honour - a privilege - not something to dishonour. And Sicily did precisely that.
He gets the captaincy removed and I'd love to see Grampa Jack join Jai for the rest of the season.

It wasn't just them but the arrogance and beligerence just flowed through 2/3rds of the team.

Half-hearted chases, poor disposals, terrible decisions, avoiding contact (Amon I'm squarely looking at you) and generally going at 70% max saw the Dogs win the game. Meek may have missed 3 sitters but he at least took 3 good contested marks to win the shots at goal.

But even after all the above - we still shouldn't lost.

We were dreadful in the second half but we still should have won by 5 or 6 goals.

1.11 to 8.2 is the sort of anomaly that won't often get repeated but the simple fact is that we threw 4 points away because 2/3rds of the team just got too big for their boots.

Try to enjoy the long weekend Hawkers!

 

[BobHawk]

You get the feeling, Meek kicks that goal and we run away with it. Goes up the other end and English splits the middle. 2 goal turnaround. Heads drop.

I actually think we could have put the game out of reach early in the third when we kept burning the ball going into F50. Numerous opportunities. Just very sloppy play and it included poor options and kicking from Newc.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

I tell you what, the vitriol towards Watson by the masses is borderline psychotic. Dont think ive ever seen a player so hated

 

[Roger Rogerson]

M

Big issue for our success this year - getting the forward mix right. Wiz, Gunston and Chol have been super. Lewis is important.

Ginnivan Cmac and Moore are out of form (Ginni and Cmac started year very well) and offer little defensively. A specialist pressure forward - whether Butler, Hill, Beatie - should be explored as an option, especially if we need to use Chol more as second ruck (which I think we do)

I’m with you on the pressure small forward it stands out like dogs balls at the ground.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

You get the feeling, Meek kicks that goal and we run away with it. Goes up the other end and English splits the middle. 2 goal turnaround. Heads drop.

Yep.

It would have been one of those games were the trailing side spent all their tickets catching up.

SO many chances - Ginni running unopposed through the wing or middle of the ground approaching f50 - I reckon that happened at least 6 times in the last quarter - that just completely failed to create a decent goal opportunity.

I thought Will Day looked really unsure of what to do in the CBA's after half time. In the second quarter I was in heaven watching Newc and Day combine. Third quarter it disappeared completely and Bont/Richards just dominated.

There is such a pattern in how we get beaten. Collingwood example is obvious. But also Port came back in the same way. I'm sure there are other examples. Ll our effort gets absorbed via poor goalkicing and crap entries, and we get opened up easily out of centre bounces and can't defend well.

Sigh.

At least we got to watch one of the best quarters of the year - as a fan that second quarter was so much fun.

 

[VandoHawk]

Had some time to cool off and rewatched the game. I thought I'd post some thoughts here.

• Our backline really struggled defending ground balls deep again. There was inexperience with selection, but it's the same when our starters are there. It's why opponents are scoring so accurately.
• Hardwick forward is a great weapon in games, but can be ineffective when the opposition plan for it. Happened last year too.​
• Lewis getting injured really hurt us. Couldn't use his mobility to challenge and prevented us from rucking Chol.​
• The carry on about Sicily and Watson is perplexing, but I do wish they didn't do the stupid stuff. Watson put down the gauntlet then didn't touch it. Sicily miming his opponent's celebration was weird. Don't need to do it.​
• Meek and Reeves actually did rather well nullifying English for most of the match. Meek would have had a really good game if he kicked straight.​
• Midfielders struggled defensively to halt momentum in the second half. We missed Nash.​
• Our inaccuracy is no longer unlucky but a trend, especially at the MCG. Needs to be sorted out.​
• Our delivery into the 50 was shockingly bad, but we're normally one of the best teams at converting scores per inside 50. We need to think of better strategies to counter the flood, but the horrific nature of our delivery is more likely to be an anomaly than other trends.​
• This loss wasn't on our supporting players, but they were all down on their contributions from previous weeks.​

The controversial one. I grow increasingly convinced that Moore, Ginnivan and CMac are less than the sum of their parts.
All of them play their best football pushing up to stoppage and lack legspeed to genuinely pressure.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Them worst thing about poor goalkicking is that the other team always feels like they are in with a shot.

We should have buried the doggies multiple times last night but we didn't and that slight opening was all that any half decent AFL team needs.

For how well we have played the first half of the year and how much game time domination we have had we have had few games where I've felt we had it totally under control due to this issue.

 

[Mrzohs]

The last quarter fade outs are starting to be a concern, granted we had plenty of opportunities to kill of the game

How long can you continue to have two rucks who play half a game and no input around the ground.

4 of the bottom 5 players time on ground are Hawthorn Ruck and midfielders.
Not including the injured dog Mcneil.

I could further extend that and Mackensie, D'Ambrosio, Perez all played under 75% TOG.

Reeves 44%
Meek 56%
Nairn 66% - 2nd game building his tank.
Day 67% - Elite mid building his fitness.

 

[Hodgey 15]

I tell you what, the vitriol towards Watson by the masses is borderline psychotic. Dont think ive ever seen a player so hated

There's a lot of envy and general Hawthorn hate wrapped up in that vitriol.