Autopsy Round 2, 2024: Hawks go to hell

[Dewwwww]

Ginnivan and the Wiz the two positives so far. The next 10hrs are going to be very exciting watching these two terrorising the opposition.

With Day out it’s the perfect opportunity to give Hustwaite 5 games straight to get a feel for it. No benefit at all in playing Finn. Offers nothing offensively. Get the games into the kid who could be our best pure inside mid in 3yrs time

 

[phlogiston]

The best list? Quite possibly yes.

The best team? You've got to be kidding. A poor culture head by a mediocre coach, riddled with drugs and sheer entitlement, and second-rate management. Their success comes off the back of years of early draft picks, accompanied by good fortune in trading, a once-in-a-generation ruckman, compromised scheduling, and umpiring that bizarrely favours teams wearing the colour blue. (Statistically, I sh!t thee not.)

They are an AFL basket case licking (or sniffing) the last of the ice-cream from the bottom of the bowl.

I’m intrigued by this. Are you able to point to the stats on this?

Cheers

 

[SSSSSS]

I don't really get the angst about Reeves. Thought he was average today but certainly not deserving of the vitriol.

Gawn is going to go down as one of the best rucks of all time. He smashed English last week who was the AA ruck of last year.

I don't think Gawn had that much of an influence on the result today.

 

[dermott]

Two games in and it seems that our effort is there for a quarter or two but our skills require a lot more work and some of our best from last year are out of form or out of the side with injury.
I have no doubt we will improve with Day back and greater consistency over four quarters. However, expectations of playing finals this year were obviously premature. We still have a long way to go.
Patience is needed. I still expect finals circa 2026, not before.

 

[Dazza the Viking]

Reeves kept up his average of 1 Mark per game

 

[peetoo]

42% after 2 rounds last year. Essendon and sydney

 

[BobHawk]

Sam Mitchell invests all our trades in the forward line and then has a chip chip chip 1st quarter plan. Soul destroying for fans and players.

Two weeks of shite sub selections. Make it 3, after Meek in last game 2023.

Needs to lift. His SEN appearances are going to be interesting in coming weeks

The one thing that bothers me most is that in that first quarter and actually, throughout the game the players didn't seem to know what to do. This is where I am concerned about having an entire preseason to prepare yet the team seems lost out there. This cannot stand in a professional sport after 6 months of trade, draft, training, planning, prep etc. In the NFL coaches starting like this are shown the door quick smart.

 

[TassieGrown]

I think they kicked 14 goals from stoppage / centre bounce.

The midfield group is NOT working and something must change…

Definitely missing Day, need Hustwaite in the team next week, and need substantial improvement overall.

What needs to change is Reeve’s using his god given advantage of being 7 foot tall and actually jumping at ball and hitting to advantage instead dropping it at his feet. Just don’t get why it’s body work every god damn f$&#ing time, jump man just jump for gods sake

 

[HeHateMe]

Melbourne’s pressure was on today. Even the best users of the footy are susceptible to pressure. We need to get the point where we can bring defensive pressure consistently, we’re nowhere near it atm

Yeah I understand that but I'm more reference the slow decision making early. Both grew into the game well. But early we needed them to be more instinctive get it and go but at times, maybe because they are good ball users and didn't want to give it up, they would hesitate and demons pressure was to good to give them that and they would shut everything down.

If love them to back themselves in and go for the hard kick instinctively, once it's in their hands it should be go time.

 

[Slysh]

I don't really get the angst about Reeves. Thought he was average today but certainly not deserving of the vitriol.

Gawn is going to go down as one of the best rucks of all time. He smashed English last week who was the AA ruck of last year.

I don't think Gawn had that much of an influence on the result today.

I think it less about his game this week and more what he is as a player. His tap work does not come close to making up for the fact he is a complete non factor in every other facet of the game.

 

[Gut Runner]

Sam and coaching group have been piss poor. Maybe they are duds...no plan b or plan c. The fighting for the spoon is on!

Sam did change them at qtr time with a different plan and it worked for a bit. Unfortunately he cannot help if players have terrible skills and cannot even complete a 2m handball.

 

[Sturty]

We are so bad and it makes me so sad

 

[BobHawk]

90's revisited indeed, some of us experienced that vanilla and we never want to see that again.

It also reminded me of some of the worst Melbourne teams. Players used to rock up to games with their hair done like they were attending a wedding. And then get walloped by 50 to 100 points.

 

[Gut Runner]

I don’t even know where to start. At least half the team is trash. Our midfield is just shocking, shows zero toughness and the skills of Worpel, Nash and Finn are not even VFL level.
Lewis doesn’t work anywhere near hard enough. Gunston is cooked, the decision to bring him back is a massive fail. Breust looks cooked.
Can’t have Impey, Massimo, Amon in the same backline, as none of them like to defend. Move Amon to the wing, Massimo stays and Impey goes to Box Hill, his disposal is poor.
Would love to know what our game plan is aswell. I can handle losing, but at least show a game plan and take the opposition on.

Thought Impey was better than most.

 

[Davo-27]

We need a back to basics for this football club. Get the simple things down pat.

Tackling is piss poor just put an arm out
Kicking to 2vs1 on a constant basis
Handballing to players under pressure
Goal kicking
Stop playing atheletes
Make some big name drops. Mitch lewis drop. Frost drop. Ward drop. Reeves drop. Bruest drop.

Where are the hawks of the second part of last season? Has mitchell lost the plot?

1. we dont tackle - anyone with a brain knows this has been tried and failed in modern footy, defences win finals, get you to finals and win premierships, being weak gets you a dunces hat...

2. we cant win REAL contested footy - this is more to do with young bodies, but also the lack of physicality taught by not tackling, this will do the team no favours going forward imo, we need some tough footballers, im tired of seeing us be pushed around, we used to be the team that pushed others around and gave teams injuries...

3. we over posses the footy - the over handballing is just annoying at this point and the dinky nothing kicks, i could tell from the Western Bulldogs preseason game that we would struggle in midfield, i couldnt believe how pointless our midfield movement was, no direction, over possessing, no idea when to go forward, no urgency to go forward allowing defences and mids from opponents to set up before someone was brave enough to kick it, we need Newcombe to snap out of his spell and start kicking the ball long, we also need to get tougher in the middle or more skillful, because we lack both atm

4. we actually need Hickmott back coaching the mids, we need to seriously look at getting a good defensive coach, not just the back 6 but team defence because it wins games/finals/premierships, im starting to get a bit concerned about how we play, the ease at which other teams score against us and our inability to play good footy for long periods of time

we'll see where the season takes us, because things can change, but it is a bit frustrating atm.

 

[HedgeFund]

It’s utterly amazing to me that posters can spend the days leading up to the game declaring that Gawn will have his way with Reeves and that Gawn will smash us, and then when he doesn’t the first person people want to see dropped, of all the players that failed today, is Gawn’s opponent.

Seriously?

Gawn comfortably beat Ned around the ground.

Ned kicked the ball 3 times and took a solitary mark (which was uncontested from a dinky kick in the back half). He had no inside 50s.

He had -12 metres gained.

Gawn had 12 kicks and 6 marks. He had 6 inside 50s.

He had 390 metres gained.

The taps from Ned were largely ineffectual - hence we got hammered in centre clearances and scores from centre clearances.

How can you possibly argue Ned didn’t lose his position comfortably?

 

[DeafHawk]

We need 2 priority picks from AFL for FFS

 

[Rob R]

Mids awful especially Newk and Mash, tackling awful, Moore absent, one tall short in defence.

Ginni, Chol, Dambrosio, Sicily, Scrim, McDonald (dropped off late) all good. Thought McKenzie showed signs. Didn't think Reeves was disgraced.

We seem to have a team full of flankers not mids and keys.

On SM-A125F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Makedonija]

Does anyone know what the crowd figure was for today? I was at the ground and I’d say there were no more than 45k.

I fear for our attendances this season if that’s the performance we dish up for our first home game.

Would love an upset against the Cats but the squad needs a shake-up if that’s to happen. We need players fighting for their spot - there seems to be a fair bit of complacency creeping in.

 

[Franko Armani]

Again, we have to be patient this year. We could see it in the pre season games and I will say it again - it’s going to take at least 8 weeks and maybe even 12 for this group to start gelling and getting injured players back to start playing some good football again. Second half of the year we will see the what the full potential of this current list could be. I fear though that we are about quality 6-8 players short of a very good best 22.

 

[Stottzy]

I don't really get the angst about Reeves. Thought he was average today but certainly not deserving of the vitriol.

Gawn is going to go down as one of the best rucks of all time. He smashed English last week who was the AA ruck of last year.

I don't think Gawn had that much of an influence on the result today.

Cause he isn’t offering anything other than a few good taps. 1 mark is his career average and 0 is his contested mark average. For a man his height and weight, that is well below par. I barely see him even going up for them. When the ball has been slowed up and we need to kick long, he needs to be there.

 

[Gut Runner]

Frenchie, Mass, Ginny, Frost, Scrim, Worps and Weddle can hold their heads up. Chol was okay in patches as well and Watson and CMac did some positive things.

Senior players, outside of Worpel and Frost have been absolute dog s**t this season.

Must bring in Phillips, HH, Meek and Harry next week.

Love Ward but he has done little. Same with Lewis, Nash and Newk. Amon on the wing or at BH. Not a defender’s you know what.

Gunston can’t be in the side next week if we want to be competitive. A champion of the club but is past it.

Sam needs to pull his finger out with the tactics and selection. Been out coached two weeks in a row and we don’t have enough X factor through the middle. Get Weddle, CMac, Chol, Ginnivan in there more and get Reeves out.

Ginni has had a great start to the year but if we need to put him in CBAs we will need to ask for a priority pick.

 

[Glebehawk]

For the last 4 years, I’ve watched games without much expectation, excited enough to witness youth coming through and a future team taking shape.

4 years on, it just feels a little flat. Today especially!

We’ve drafted some decent talent, Macdonald, Weddle, Newc, Watson, Mackenzie, Ward, all should continually improve, Day’s a little older but still young enough! But you only need to watch North today to see some genuine A-grade youngsters.

Sheezel, McKercher, Wardlaw, Duursma, Powell.

Course they've been kissed by the AFL, but they’ve assembled future stars.

When I hear Mitch say, we have our premiership core already, I don’t agree. We need to keep hitting that draft. Get some proper midfield talent and top up with Key position players ideally via free agency.

I guess it’s my long winded way of saying, finishing bottom 2 this year is not the worst thing!

 

[Davo23]

It’s utterly amazing to me that posters can spend the days leading up to the game declaring that Gawn will have his way with Reeves and that Gawn will smash us, and then when he doesn’t the first person people want to see dropped, of all the players that failed today, is Gawn’s opponent.

All those clearances you keep on about?

Reeves gets his hands on the ball first, the opposition then take it away.

Very effective!

 

[RoughysMullet]

1. we dont tackle - anyone with a brain knows this has been tried and failed in modern footy, defences win finals, get you to finals and win premierships, being weak gets you a dunces hat...

2. we cant win REAL contested footy - this is more to do with young bodies, but also the lack of physicality taught by not tackling, this will do the team no favours going forward imo, we need some tough footballers, im tired of seeing us be pushed around, we used to be the team that pushed others around and gave teams injuries...

3. we over posses the footy - the over handballing is just annoying at this point and the dinky nothing kicks, i could tell from the Western Bulldogs preseason game that we would struggle in midfield, i couldnt believe how pointless our midfield movement was, no direction, over possessing, no idea when to go forward, no urgency to go forward allowing defences and mids from opponents to set up before someone was brave enough to kick it, we need Newcombe to snap out of his spell and start kicking the ball long, we also need to get tougher in the middle or more skillful, because we lack both atm

4. we actually need Hickmott back coaching the mids, we need to seriously look at getting a good defensive coach, not just the back 6 but team defence because it wins games/finals/premierships, im starting to get a bit concerned about how we play, the ease at which other teams score against us and our inability to play good footy for long periods of time

we'll see where the season takes us, because things can change, but it is a bit frustrating atm.

Can’t stress how important the 1st point is - that we don’t defend, no doubt we’re a young side- but we absolutely need to learn to defend all over the ground… putting the opposition under pressure is an absolute must if we want our gameplan to stand up…

My fear with Mitchell’s coaching is he’s really keen for us to play fast attacking footy but he’s not teaching the players how to defend the ground properly the other way… and we just are being exposed so badly…
You need to learn to defend 1st and attack 2nd…