Autopsy Round 21, 2025: Hawks can’t get it done against the Crows

[grumbleguts]

Here come the play-the-kids brigade.

 

[Turly]

Have to laugh at the people bagging Mass. he played a great game offensively and defensively.

If he had of kicked those goals you would all be saying he was BOG.

Far from our worst last night.

 

[Mercy Seat]

Have to laugh at the people bagging Mass. he played a great game offensively and defensively.

If he had of kicked those goals you would all be saying he was BOG.

Far from our worst last night.

Played a very good game but not immune from criticism due to those misses, particularly the late one. Symptomatic of our team really in that we lack clutch players late in games.

 

[Off The Couch]

Played a very good game but not immune from criticism due to those misses, particularly the late one. Symptomatic of our team really in that we lack clutch players late in games.

This

You just knew that Adelaide were going to nail those moments and yet I didn’t have the same faith in our own as it’s happened time and time again when the game is on the line

 

[killerspud]

If/when Worpel comes back this year bring him in for Amon.

Amon is a decent kick but when he doesn’t have the ball he is a liability and we can’t have a liability especially in the back half.

Seriously moronic post.

 

[killerspud]

Also the Curtin Watson debate has heated up SIGNIFICANTLY.
Wingers all throughout the league would be terrified of him one on one.

The biggest laugh is that Norf could have had them BOTH

 

[Cleric]

Curtin looks a ripper but I’m not at all worried about the debate, 2 very talented players and you can’t lose with either.

Hawthorn needed both positions and only had one pick. Quality small forwards are hard to find, and you take them if you can.
I'm sure it would have been a very contested debate at the Hawks list management meetings.

It looks like you got a win with Watson, and you cant get them all.

 

[Mercy Seat]

This

You just knew that Adelaide were going to nail those moments and yet I didn’t have the same faith in our own as it’s happened time and time again when the game is on the line

Tex kicking two from 55 out either side of Mass missing from just outside of the goal square when the game was on the line was infuriating yet somewhat predictable.

 

[DearJai]

Tex kicking two from 55 out either side of Mass missing from just outside of the goal square when the game was on the line was infuriating yet somewhat predictable.

I did not think Mass would miss. My jaw hit the floor, that's too close for a guy who can kick as well as he can.

This was not an easy win for the Crows, we could just as easily have won it.

Not bad for a team with all the flaws listed in this thread.

 

[Mercy Seat]

I did not think Mass would miss. My jaw hit the floor, that's too close for a guy who can kick as well as he can.

This was not an easy win for the Crows, we could just as easily have won it.

Not bad for a team with all the flaws listed in this thread.

I didn’t think he would miss either. My sentiment was more that you knew Tex would kick those goals.

 

[unitedhawk2]

We shouldn't be sacrificing proper structure at the expense of trying to fit our best available 23 (on paper) into a structure.

I reckon match committee opted for the latter against the Crows, including shoe-horning Worps into an ill-suited sub role once it had been decided to play four talls.

Selecting a side with the right structure will require some difficult selection decisions. This is where Sam needs to be strong.

That's my 2c's worth.

 

[Elhawko]

Not all losses feel the same. There's no shame in losing to Adelaide in Adelaide. I doubt any side would go there and start favourite to beat them this year, and definitely not in the second half of the year.

I actually wish the Crows well (apologies to our SA-based Hawks, who im sure see things differently in thst sense!). They had some key players out and to be fair, like us and Freo, they havent been gifted F&S superstars (Michalanney is good but not Darcy or Daicos level good, and he missed anyway) and they dont have academy or NGA kids.

But if we'd just slipped behind 3 points per quarter I reckon that would be easier to take than having twice taken control of the match and twice relinquished it. It's such a hard ask to beat them there that to have the chances to do and blown them is just really frustrating.

But in actual fact, we probably did pretty well just in terms of how close we got.

Be interesting to see how we get treated in the media vs GWS, who had a similar assignment and got trounced.

 

[TassieGrown]

Have to laugh at the people bagging Mass. he played a great game offensively and defensively.

If he had of kicked those goals you would all be saying he was BOG.

Far from our worst last night.

Mass was good had to reread a few posts that bagged him out. Not sure what they were watching

 

[Ka Norkers]

nah, totally disagree with Sam in his presser when he said Hawks fans wouldn't be disappointed, it was a decent effort.
I call BS on that, and I'd imagine he'd have said the same to the players.
Fed up with the media nonsense, Crows are a side that buckle under real pressure, and unlike a few games this year, we couldn't bring that for all four quarters.
In case you are doubtful on this, go have another look at the first quarter when Day was in there playing like a man possessed, the "super-skilled" Adelaide boys were fumbling, panicking and generally running around with startled and confused looks on their faces.
They are classic front runners, blokes like Keane, Keays, Milera and Worrell panic under proper pressure.
If they somehow manage to get into the GF, it'll have 2017 written all over it.

Poor performance, review that horrendous last quarter, learn to take meterage in tight games, and move on.
2025 might now be a stretch, but as long as the players learn from this, it was worth it.

 

[SSSSSS]

Our season actually reminds me of the Crows in 2023. They kept losing close games and missed the finals.

Crows have gathered so much belief this season knocking off the Lions away. We need one of those spirit rousing wins to galvanise the side.

We need our 2013 PF moment.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

We shouldn't be sacrificing proper structure at the expense of trying to fit our best available 23 (on paper) into a structure.

I reckon match committee opted for the latter against the Crows, including shoe-horning Worps into an ill-suited sub role once it had been decided to play four talls.

Selecting a side with the right structure will require some difficult selection decisions. This is where Sam needs to be strong.

That's my 2c's worth.

The thing about playing four talls up forward is that we also have four talls in the back half (Sicily, Scrimashaw Barass and TB). It's too much tall.

It might work but would take some time to gel. If we aren't seeing Lewis Chol and Dear taking big outlet marks we aren't getting the benefit.

 

[OnTheRocks]

I thought Butler was being groomed for this but he went into the midfield, could he rotate thru the forward line?

I like his tackling pressure, it vice like.

 

[vanders]

Seriously moronic post.

Almost as moronic as his one arm tackle attempts he tries multiple times a game

 

[SA HAWK]

Our season actually reminds me of the Crows in 2023. They kept losing close games and missed the finals.

Crows have gathered so much belief this season knocking off the Lions away. We need one of those spirit rousing wins to galvanise the side.

We need our 2013 PF moment.

Beat them at home.

Only top 8 team they beat away is the Western Bulldogs lost to gold coast, freo, collingwood & us away.

 

[TONYC3163]

Almost as moronic as his one arm tackle attempts he tries multiple times a game

Amon is not getting dropped, highlighting a few tackling attempts just silly.

 

[hfc70]

Not all losses feel the same.

Sorry to disagree - but ALL losses feel exactly the same.

 

[badgrill]

Speaking with several neautrals (well, people who are neither Hawks or Crows supporters) plus heard couple in the media referring to last night's match as the best game of the year.

You aren't involved in (arguably) the best game of the year and be as crap and mentally weak as many on here are spruiking.

We are close (losing Daysee may be a bridge too far, tho)

 

[hardway]

Our big men got monstered all over the ground. Sicily kept us in the game for as long as he could.

 

[DearJai]

. If we aren't seeing Lewis Chol and Dear taking big outlet marks we aren't getting the benefit.

This. They all needed to be in ripping form for it to work.

Aside from some early rumblings that it might in the first, our trio of contested marking players looked to be carrying ring rust.

Maybe Dear hold those grabs in the first and it comes together somehow But it failed spectacularly, made more obvious by the lack of a runner or two that we seemed to lack as well.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Dear and Chol are the ones who took us a couple of games into September last year, and they did it without Gunston playing as well as he has.

But just on this game: twice in the first quarter Dear dropped marks uncharacteristically. He looked the most likely of the guys on the park. Who else took a pack mark, or even flew for one?

His field kicking and vision in transition is as good as any of the others.

I think you can probably see watching the game back, that him going off dropped out forward pressure a notch or two.

There was no change to the 3 on 1 marking attempts from our talls in the forward 50 afterwards.

I think he was subbed because he seemed to be out of petrol tickets. If he was the reason for the crowd in marking contests, surely it would have disappeared when he went off?

The whole forward line didn’t work. It’s hard on a skinny ground but the spacing was horrendous. Play tall you need spread and you need to be trusted with contests, often out marked too. Was messy.