Preview Round 3, 2024: Hawthorn v Geelong, 1st April 3:20pm MCG

[peetoo]

Serong also an option

 

[threesixpio]

Sammy said that the tactics he directed the team to play with, in the first quarter probably won't be seen much for the rest of the season. Kind of a coaches way of saying,"I stuffed up"

He also said that the break onto forward 50 was the problem and seemed to kind of simply that the tactic may have worked if that part was nailed. I’m not sure it made sense though. Letting them set up was the problem which killed the forward 50 entry

 

[HawthornHawk]

I really like that Ginnivan is working hard up the ground and winning a bit more ball but I think it might be good to see what he can do closer to goal. Do we bring Butler in to play that role and have Ginnivan deeper?

 

[lethalselbow]

He also said that the break onto forward 50 was the problem and seemed to kind of simply that the tactic may have worked if that part was nailed. I’m not sure it made sense though. Letting them set up was the problem which killed the forward 50 entry

Wasn't fun to watch as a supporter, either. Enthusiasm buzz kill.

We stacked our forward line in the off-season, so get the ball in quick!

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Wasn't fun to watch as a supporter, either. Enthusiasm buzz kill.

We stacked our forward line in the off-season, so get the ball in quick!

I actually heard some Bronx Cheers from the crowd after the ball was switched across half back (for the umpteenth time).

What is disappointing is that that tactic left us 5 goals behind at quarter time. It was not only god awful to watch, it also cost us the match

Second and Third quarters we actually matched or even slightly beat the Dees in general play which was pleasing to see.

 

[RoughysMullet]

The jury is out on whether a pre-season spent playing Amon and Hardwick out of position was a clever move or not. Already seeing Harwick spending more time back than forward. Be interesting to see how long the experiment with Amon goes on for.

Hated the moves pre season and yet to be proven wrong.

- Amon can’t defend when down back and plays the wing so well. We don’t have anyone else to play wing and his delivery forward of centre is so valuable we lose that when he’s in the backline… has seemed unsettled so far when played in defence

- Hardwick showed signs as a forward but he’s so good at defending opposition small forwards and we don’t have anyone else to shut them down. I thought the point of recruiting Ginnivan and Watson was that they would be the small forwards…
This one may work better when Seamus returns…

 

[Sirlemsip]

If you want to shut down Stewart, you need to play a strong marking player on him.

Obviously plan A hasn't worked so far this year. Why not try something a bit different?

Throw Scrimshaw forward to play defensively on Stewart. We can bring in Phillips and move Hardwick back to cover that loss.

As others have said, Amon needs to come up on the wing as well. Would love to see Seamus get another go in the seniors.

 

[TylerDurden]

Hardwick 150 games this week.

 

[SSSSSS]

Want to see Lewis get on his bike this week and actually lead to a contest. Has been playing some lazy football.

Stop asking for the ball on your head and crash a pack instead. Give the smalls a chance.

 

[Strattonsphere]

Yep, Frost has been impressively solid. Keep in him for sure.

Frost is running at 100% disposal efficiency this year

 

[RoughysMullet]

If you want to shut down Stewart, you need to play a strong marking player on him.

Obviously plan A hasn't worked so far this year. Why not try something a bit different?

Throw Scrimshaw forward to play defensively on Stewart. We can bring in Phillips and move Hardwick back to cover that loss.

As others have said, Amon needs to come up on the wing as well. Would love to see Seamus get another go in the seniors.

Absolutely need to make Stewart accountable in the air- Adelaide played a midfield tagger on him last week and got embarrassed. Maybe Weddle could be the man- has looked good when he floats forward…

 

[Coathanger]

The person who most needs to lift is the coach!
Bonehead sub decision in first game. Then beaten by the arch enemy with no fight
in the last qtr. Hey let’s keep the same line up and get pasted again for the next game?

We can beat them this week, bring in HH and Phillips or Serong.
Nash and Newk need to fire up, Morrison will be back for sure.
As someone mentioned Hardwick defensive forward tag on Stewart would work.
Seamus ran out of steam at Box Hill so he’s not coming in.

 

[Mercy Seat]

Media are really laying on the heat on Mitchell and the team at the moment.

Good opportunity for us to respond.

 

[SSSSSS]

Frost is running at 100% disposal efficiency this year

We had to sacrifice Jai and Nash for the new mythical footballer.

Perfect Frost.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

The person who most needs to lift is the coach!
Bonehead sub decision in first game. Then beaten by the arch enemy with no fight
in the last qtr. Hey let’s keep the same line up and get pasted again for the next game?

We can beat them this week, bring in HH and Phillips or Serong.
Nash and Newk need to fire up, Morrison will be back for sure.
As someone mentioned Hardwick defensive forward tag on Stewart would work.
Seamus ran out of steam at Box Hill so he’s not coming in.

There’s a major issue with your first paragraph.

No coach, especially one with such a young list, is going to just tear up the plan and the players he has in mind for specific roles after 1 home and away round.

Mitchell giving Nash, Worpel, Newc and others the opportunity to respond to their first round performance is absolutely the right thing to do, particularly when we won the first possession count against Essendon.

It would have been a bit crazy for him to make changes after 1 game and show the list that he didn’t want to back the mids in to clean up their ball handling and clearance work.

 

[DogDaySonny]

The thing that struck me about the Melbourne game was that their structures were much easier to see and always in place. The moment we got our hands on the ball, Melbourne were back in lines, filling open space and daring us to try something. Geelong will be similar. Our wide open play against teams like that last year got us smashed every time we turned over possession. They opposition was just too well set to take advantage of the opportunity. There have been fewer times, it feels, of teams cutting through us like butter but almost none of us doing (or attempting) the same.

We're definitely trying to play a more structured game. Long way to go.

EDIT:

I'm trying to remember one time we dashed up the middle this season. I can remember one overlapping play that went from backline to forward line in the second quarter against Melbourne along the member's wing. But that's it and it wasn't the middle. It seems that angled kick to the centre that launched so many attacks last year has evaporated. Maybe teams are protecting the middle too well and foiling all our plans, but even still we don't seem to be making the attempts. Hmm...

 

[SSSSSS]

The thing that struck me about the Melbourne game was that their structures were much easier to see and always in place. The moment we got our hands on the ball, Melbourne were back in lines, filling open space and daring us to try something. Geelong will be similar. Our wide open play against teams like that last year got us smashed every time we turned over possession. They opposition was just too well set to take advantage of the opportunity. There have been fewer times, it feels, of teams cutting through us like butter but almost none of us doing (or attempting) the same.

We're definitely trying to play a more structured game. Long way to go.

Noticed that too. Last year it felt our kids had a lot more creative freedom. Improvising. Making s**t up as they go along and sometimes it payed off and other times it went over our head.

We look to be a bit more methodical this year and there will be some growing pains as the players put the things they have learned into practice.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

Need more offensive running to make an option.
Need more defensive running when we don't have it. The only time we run quick are when we can front run if we have ball forward of centre.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Hated the moves at the time and yet to be proven wrong.

- Amon can’t defend when down back and plays the wing so well. We don’t have anyone else to play wing and his delivery forward of centre is so valuable we lose that when he’s in the backline… has seemed unsettled so far when played in defence

- Hardwick showed signs as a forward but he’s so good at defending opposition small forwards and we don’t have anyone else to shut them down. I thought the point of recruiting Ginnivan and Watson was that they would be the small forwards…
This one may work better when Seamus returns…

It just seems like a move made by coaches trying to big brain some tactics. Occam's Razor suggests that playing your best defender (at defending) as a defender, and playing your best wingman as a wingman is and was always the answer.

Never mind the fact we are pretty flushed with forwards now, and that Amon cannot defend to save himself.

 

[burner1]

Challenge for Sam this year is clubs are fully across how we want to play and when we are dangerous (ie if allowed to freewheel aggressively transition with space and with Sicily roaming free across half back).

The bombers managed to push us out wide on transition but they weren’t structured well enough to stop us scoring. Dees sat back and we couldn’t get through.

At this stage we aren’t great at contested ball (we can win a bit but can’t move it outside cleanly and get cut up the other way) and lack contested marking targets across the park. So if teams can force contests we are in strife.

I expect cats will try a similar style to dees - sit back and back their structure and defenders (eg stewart) to get the turnover, physically pressure us around the contest and exploit us defensively on the turnover. Quick, uncontested ball into the cats forward line with Hawkins and Cameron will cause chaos for our defence.

Big challenge for coaching staff and players. Absolutely midfield domination (as we saw at times last year) would help but would be a big change from recent weeks. Cats midfield however looks like their weakness with danger out.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

It's likely they'll be going into the game with a midfield unit of:

Stanley, Blicavs (mid and relief ruck), Parfitt, Holmes, Clark and O'Connor.

If Bruhn and Atkins return then they will take the majority of the CBA's. Maybe Duncan would get some midfield time too, if he also returns.

That isn't a great unit on paper. Even without Day we should be beating that unit in the middle.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

The jury is out on whether a pre-season spent playing Amon and Hardwick out of position was a clever move or not. Already seeing Harwick spending more time back than forward. Be interesting to see how long the experiment with Amon goes on for.

Every player needs a second position.
Won't see the benefits until we start winning games

 

[Leather Poisoning]

I reckon we'll win this one.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Hawkins 350. Have the AFL sent the script yet?

Dangerfield's miraculous recovery due to the extra days rest is part of the script.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

And more free kicks for this

The dude weighs 200kg but can't keep his feet when he gets a slight touch in the back.

He inherited Paul Chapman's laws of physics.