Autopsy Round 5, 2020: Hawthorn falls in a heap against the Giants

[almuz]

Scully did lay 4 tackles on Sunday. His highest amount for the year. Was also top 2 in pressure acts for us.
We've got much bigger problems than Scully right now.

After he missed that tackle on Shaw in the open field, I think he must have been given a rocket because he cracked in after that.

 

[almuz]

Anyone remember if Scully was less fumble-prone at the Dees or Giants? I don't blame him given the ankle injury he went through but I feel like he's spooked for contact every time he gets a hand on the ball.

 

[hk89]

Depends how you want to view it . How long do we look to last season as a guide on teams and form ? Its a very long time ago now

Until we're a bit further into this season for mine. Last season was a while ago, but 5 games, 4 of them against teams that either finished top 4 or played in prelims (2 in a GF) last year is also a small sample up against a tough group with no real home games with home ground advantage over the period.

I personally think a month in after break is long enough to get a guide on how we are playing .
We have looked very good in patches , ok in patches and very poor in patches.

Agreed a mixed bag in unusual conditions with the lockdown impact. Its for that reason that I'd include last year to put a bit more context to what is going on. If we start dropping home games to teams not thought to be making the 8 later in the season, then I'll start to ignore what we did to teams with a list that is arguably worse on paper than what we have this year, then I'll stop putting any weight on what happened at the end of last season, but for now - this early in the season, and with such unusual conditions in play - I think it is still relevant.

Its a crazy season anything can happen but everything to me is pointing at us being an ok team , like about 8 others going around.
If people think we are better than that , thats fine too .

You may be right, but I think in these unusual conditions it is very hard to get a read on where any team is at. We really have been completely shafted with the draw, not just who we play but where. I still think on paper we are a better team than the one that performed extremely well at the back end of last year. Whether the team can match last year's good form out on the field remains to be seen. I think there are enough excuses at hand for what happened against Geelong and GWS to say the jury is still out.

Think we will be a better side next season IMO

I hope so. We've gradually been putting pieces in place, and replacing old used out parts with new ones since 2016, but most of the parts have had a chance to gel together yet. Almost certainly would have made finals again last year had Mitchell not broken his leg, and it also robbed us of a year of having Mitchell, Worpel, JOM , Wingard and Scully all play together. That's a fairly versatile inside/outside group who should be able to do good things over the next couple of years. Lewis is still very young for an emerging KP player. Patton will need time to prove if he still has what it takes after the 3 knee recos, and we've also introduced Frost (and McEvoy) into defence, and still deciding which small forward setup we want to go with in the longer term, so its a fairly unsettled unit right now, with moderate changes across every line. For the structure based gameplan that Clarko has us playing, knowing your role and fitting in with the rest of your team mates is a big deal, without a proper VFL running, that is even more of an issue, because we haven't had the same opportunity to have debutant players as game plan ready as we'd normally have.

Personally I'm super happy with 3-2 given the context. After watching us start very poorly in 2 of the last 4 seasons and then narrowly fall short of finals with an end-of-year rush of form, getting a few early wins against mostly tough opposition is IMO an improvement. Whether we can turn it into something later in the reason is difficult to make a call on right now. New lockdown measures are not good news for the season though. Would love to see us play a string of games at the MCG later in the year, we are certainly owed a few.

 

[hk89]

After he missed that tackle on Shaw in the open field, I think he must have been given a rocket because he cracked in after that.

I'd have preferred if he stuck the tackle, but it was a tough call by the commentators implying it was a weak effort. Shaw is considerably taller and heavier and had a full steam run up, and Scully was caught flat footed. Scully didn't shirk the tackle for mine (put himself right in the path of Shaw), and wasn't far off holding him, but Shaw broke through. I think it would have been tough for most players with that size difference to stop Shaw in that situation. I don't see him as a particularly weak tackler in general. Stronger than outside players we've had in the past like Hill (when he played for us, he's a bit more contested now), and probably no weaker than Smith. You can't expect him to tackle as effectively as a larger player like Worpel.

I've said earlier that I think Scully is suffering from the short quarters, because it is harder for him to exploit his greatest strength which is to break lines when the opposition gets tired and he's still feeling fresh and full of run. When you cut time off the quarters, the opposition are not going to be as tired, nullifying his biggest strength. Still think he's outperformed Henderson this year, which I wouldn't have said last year.

 

[hk89]

Been surprised with the backlash for Scully so far tbh
Hasn't looked too bad but clearly needs some more support.

Yup, outside mids are common whipping boys when the team loses, because they often have minimal input when you get smashed. Its not their job to win the hard ball. Mind you in this case I don't think our midfield was that badly beaten, so doesn't necessarily apply to the GWS game, which had more to do with what happened inside the two arcs than between them. In general I think it is easier to see Scully's value live than on TV. Does a massive amount of work off the ball to provide options. Probably not getting used as much this year, so his numbers are probably down, but without being at the ground it is hard to know if that is his fault or not.

 

[Pessimistic]

On the last point’ a lot of commentators are seeing the games as we are, via the telly. Very few are at the ground. Yet the opinions are as strident as ever.

we just have to watch it unfold. Hawks have been ok plus this year. There was a huge difference between their beginning and end last year. Had we qualified for finals might have won one at least