Autopsy Round 3, 2025: Hawks fell the Giants

[hardway]

He played a stinker.

His first 30 secs and the writing was on the wall he was in for a tough day.

 

[HedgeFund]

Not kicking a goal with a 5 goal breeze is not great.

It wasn’t a 5 goal breeze in the last.

Everyone at the game agreed it had dropped off in strength from the first half.

It was an excellent win and whilst it was far from perfect, it has us in a very decent position after the first month.

 

[unitedhawk2]

Three take-outs on the morning after:

1. Cam Mackenzie has arrived. The silver lining to James Worpel’s injury has been additional minutes in the middle for Frenchie and he has thrived. Now strong enough to stand up in tackles and dish the sherrin out, he has gone to the next level. We have a(nother) bona fide star on our hands.
2. Nick Watson’s star factor has never been in doubt and I’d suggest the Kangaroos will be kicking themselves for not picking him instead of Zane Duursma at No.4 in the 2023 National Draft. Reminds me of the ‘04 Draft when the Tigers picked Tambling at 4, allowing Franklin to fall into our lap. If Pick 6 has been somewhat of a curse for us in the past, we certainly can’t complain about 5.
3. We are the best team in it. Four highly professional wins, in each of which we withstood the best our opponents could offer on the night before coming from behind and running over the top of them, against teams ranging from very good to quite competent, has convinced me. We were arguably without five Top 23 players - Worps, Scrima, Croc, Calsh, Mitch - last night and it didn’t matter against a side that was virtually at full strength and will be Top 4 at the end of the year. Our depth is scary - and very real.

 

[Mercy Seat]

Had a stinker. Wasn't his usual self, biggest negative was his lack of pressure

I wouldn’t call it a stinker, it wasn’t his best game but he was busting his gut all match.

I just think the plan was probably to sub for Gunston but because he was playing so well, particularly in that 3rd quarter, it made sense to go with Chol instead.

 

[TazHawk15]

A great night to watch the boys live and that second quarter blitz’s was a thing of beauty.

 

[eldorado]

Not kicking a goal with a 5 goal breeze is not great.

I didn't say great, but 'terrible' is overstatement.

First quarter was 12 scoring shots to 2, 22 inside 50s to 6...THAT was terrible.

Last quarter was 4 scoring shots to 2 OUR way, I don't have the inside 50s numbers, but I reckon we'd be ahead.

It's fair to say the last quarter was more even than we would have liked or perhaps expected.

 

[hawksfan71]

What a victory!

Go at it!

No Worpel
No McDonald
No Scrimshaw
No Dear

No worries!

How bloody good was Cam McKenzie he reminded me of Sam Mitchell!

 

[flinchfree]

.......

The cavalry are arriving.

Strap in.

I'm riding with TD.

 

[HawksILove]

Thanks all

 

[hawksfan71]

Just how bloody good are Barass and Battle?

They play like theyve been there for years.

Barass is lake without the fear he will get rubbed out for strangling a guy ahaha nah loved lake but Barass is awesome as is battle. Sam knew exactly what he was doing grabbing them both!

 

[Roddy]

I feel good, who else feels good?

I feels good!

I think a balanced view is what's required right now. I'm stoked out of my mind with our form so far, stoked we are 4-0. Especially when I said I'd be happy turning at 3-3 after rd 6.

I actually like what Kingy said, great form, playing well, but can't be classed as 'the team to beat' just yet. I don't want to be flag favourites. Lions have that mantle, they have the runs on the board, are a far more finals-hardened unit, and are undefeated so far.

We need some figures in the media, as well as the coach, to be keeping a bit of a lid on it, with all this hype around us.

I feel I'm actually seeing/hearing/reading the term 'Hok', and its variants, a lot less this year. Maybe partly because it was just momentary media and fan-drive hype, and partly because we've only really seen fleeting glimpses of 'Hokball' in our play this year. We've been seriously challenged every round this year, and we've stood up and met those challenges and prevailed through tough grind rather than pretty play. And I'm happy with that.

Plus we play two of our most recent nemeses in the next two weeks. More big tests.

Fantastic start, let's keep it going.

 

[ahhhhhh]

I love the way Battle becomes and outlet on the wing after a kick out. Definitely seems like part of the plan for him to just bolt.

 

[flinchfree]

Not kicking a goal with a 5 goal breeze is not great.

Not sure you are understanding what we did in the last quarter.
The only way we could lose that game based on the control we had exerted was to over-commit going forward, doing all we could to kick more goals.
That would leave us exposed and with plenty of open grass if they could turn us over.
Instead, we kept a player behind the ball and managed to have the game live in our forward half for probably 20 mins of that last quarter.
It was an absolute showcase of a professional team doing professional things to ice a really important win.
Everything turned a little jelly legged when the Giants finally managed to scramble forward and get the goal from the Battle free kick against, but apart from that it was an absolute master-class.

If supporters will only be happy with 6+ goal wins and destroying all opposition, remembering that our last 3 seasons resulted in 13th place, 16th place, and then the race up the ladder of last year, they'll be eternally disappointed.
A real miss in my books to live your supporterhood that way.
But to each their own.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

There is something about the way Mitchell is coaching this year. Goes into each quarter with a different set up.

Last year he would adjust if we were getting slammed - but this year he seems to be trying different setups throughout the game. It's evidenced by different players peaking at different times through the game. Day will have a quarter burst, then Wiz, the Weddle, then Sicily.

And so each game we have had big shifts in whether we are attacking, defending, moving fast, moving carefully etc. It's really interesting to watch. I think we prob could have won the Sydney and Carlton games by much more if we held the winning formula for longer - but there's a bigger plan in place.

 

[Roddy]

Not sure you are understanding what we did in the last quarter.
The only way we could lose that game based on the control we had exerted was to over-commit going forward, doing all we could to kick more goals.
That would leave us exposed and with plenty of open grass if they could turn us over.
Instead, we kept a player behind the ball and managed to have the game live in our forward half for probably 20 mins of that last quarter.
It was an absolute showcase of a professional team doing professional things to ice a really important win.
Everything turned a little jelly legged when the Giants finally managed to scramble forward and get the goal from the Battle free kick against, but apart from that it was an absolute master-class.

If supporters will only be happy with 6+ goal wins and destroying all opposition, remembering that our last 3 seasons resulted in 13th place, 16th place, and then the race up the ladder of last year, they'll be eternally disappointed.
A real miss in my books to live your supporterhood that way.
But to each their own.

Hey! Get that reasoned and logical thinking stuff out of here! It has no place on BF.

It always gets in the way of a good old whiny negative rant....

 

[Billyc]

That was a great win. Giants are a quality side and they jumped us. The wind was difficult and we didn’t cope in the first quarter but we adapted brilliantly in the third quarter. That quarter into the wind was absolutely sensational.

The second quarter was explosive and demonstrated our attacking best. The third quarter demonstrated our adaptability and discipline. We then did what was required to control the scoreboard in the fourth as we have done in previous weeks.

A really super and mature win. And our best were Watson Mackenzie and Weddle, all aged 21 or 20. The future is bright and the future is now.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Just how bloody good are Barass and Battle?

They play like theyve been there for years.

Barass is lake without the fear he will get rubbed out for strangling a guy ahaha nah loved lake but Barass is awesome as is battle. Sam knew exactly what he was doing grabbing them both!

i don't wanna be that guy.... but we did concede 5 goals to Hogan and Cadman last night.

But yes I agree they are both high high quality players. Barass is awesome at marking opposition outlet kicks - we haven't had that for a while! And battle is good with our outlet kicks. It means Sicily can be more creative and Meek can be further up the line.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

I feel like they are referring to this type of action but they don't have the vocabulary to elaborate on it, which is a bit infuriating coming from people who are paid to talk. But yeah, pick up the ball, drive upwards on that 45 degree angle, can be very hard for the tackling player to deal with to be hit on that angle. View attachment 2266190

Thanks for taking the time to explain.

You're right - people who are paid to talk should have the vocab for this.

Watson is tiny and strong and fast. It makes him very hard to tackle. That's the tackler's problem, not Watson's.

They compare it to Selwood, who use to fold himself in half when a tackler approached him. Completely different. He was normal height and would turn a legitimate tackle into a high tackle. Watson goes hard and low and they don't know how to tackle him without grabbing him around the head.

 

[Dewnior]

Who's out that would make them better apart from McKay . All their stars are playing.

 

[TassieGrown]

Were you watching the game? He was chasing like crazy.

Sure, it was his best game for the club, but he certainly didn't have a stinker.

N-ahhhhh he had a stinker, plenty of credits in the bank though.

 

[Dewnior]

Ah, yes. The tactical sub for an older, slower, shorter player. Happens all the time.

Refused to come off on 3 separate occasions

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Refused to come off on 3 separate occasions

I found that quite amusing

 

[Dewnior]

I found that quite amusing

So did Punky

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Refused to come off on 3 separate occasions

Yes and no. You never rotate when the ball is in dispute. Rotations are kept to shots on goal and after goal, limiting the likelihood of a mismatch.

Issue was, every time it looked like the ball was going forward for the giants there was a turn over and came back the other way.

 

[Sonny Hayes]

Josh Weddle is going to be supremely underrated by non Hawk supporters this year due to his lack of role so no real stand out stats.

But he is legit playing loose down back and dominating, then locking someone down and dominating, then rebounding, then he is competing in the ruck, then he is taking inside 50 marks and kicking goals… he is doing all of this in one game

He is our new Mr fix it!