Analysis Tom Hawkins - clearly not insignificant !

GHS33

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Of course I will cop it on this forum however I feel it needs to be debated.

All summer we heard his lean,quick and slimline he was.

He continually refused to take shots

Passed to people in worse position to himself

Is too selfless

Cannot breakway and leads too late

Leads too far up the ground


Other players who are in losing teams have far more influence such as Jack Riewoldt,Josh Bruce,hogan have more of an influence

Minimum should be 1 goal per quarter I think we need Vardy or Clark to assist as Stanley & Smith are pinch hitters at best.

To be goalless against the Bombers defence was pathetic .

No excuses now he has Dangerfield and caddy delivering into forward line the Hawkins from 2011 GF is only a memory

He had eight shots on goal against Brisbane and was BOG against GWS. Simmer down.
 

DV2000

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Hard to believe I'm reading this...
Me too. Some posts havebeen really exaggerated, and many on this board (to quote Scotty :D) "have thrown the baby out of the bathwater".

However, this problem cannot be pushed under the carpet, and we must improve our attacking game immensely before we can even think about winning a flag. Let's face it. Hawkins is good, not great. But I feel that his form is only one tiny piece of the puzzle wehave to put together. What weneed is a diverse array of goalkicking options. That's what wins premierships. Just look at the hawks - Roughy, Gunston, Breust, Puopolo, Rioli...the list goes on. Even look at us in 2011. We had Pods, Stevie J, Stokes, Hawk, Varcoe as well other midfielders who hit the scoreboard. When Pods went down in the gf, we had other who filled the void in terms of kicking goals (Hawkins notably, along 4 from SJ and 3 to Jimmy).

This year, Adelaide have the best forward line in the comp. they have crafted it in the mould of Hawthorn's which won them 3 flags. Two big key forwards in Tex and Jenkins, supported by the slightly shorter Lynch, and Eddie Betts - a small forward who literally gives opposition backlines a headache. We need to do something similar. The first thing we MUST do is get support for hawkins. We've been attempting to do this for years, but we havent been lucky, with injuries to vardy and clark. We need to get one of these fit and firing, and if that isnt possible we need to obtain another kpf through a trade or free agency. Also, while I have been criticising kersten recently, he could still be vital to our forward set up (if he can actually become a good player, that is).

At the end of the day, hawkins is, and will remain to be, our spearhead - our main man up forward. As such, he has to pull his finger out and start playing like the elite player he was expected to become after his 2011 gf antics.
 

Larry Donohue

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Me too. Some posts havebeen really exaggerated, and many on this board (to quote Scotty :D) "have thrown the baby out of the bathwater".

However, this problem cannot be pushed under the carpet, and we must improve our attacking game immensely before we can even think about winning a flag. Let's face it. Hawkins is good, not great. But I feel that his form is only one tiny piece of the puzzle wehave to put together. What weneed is a diverse array of goalkicking options. That's what wins premierships. Just look at the hawks - Roughy, Gunston, Breust, Puopolo, Rioli...the list goes on. Even look at us in 2011. We had Pods, Stevie J, Stokes, Hawk, Varcoe as well other midfielders who hit the scoreboard. When Pods went down in the gf, we had other who filled the void in terms of kicking goals (Hawkins notably, along 4 from SJ and 3 to Jimmy).

This year, Adelaide have the best forward line in the comp. they have crafted it in the mould of Hawthorn's which won them 3 flags. Two big key forwards in Tex and Jenkins, supported by the slightly shorter Lynch, and Eddie Betts - a small forward who literally gives opposition backlines a headache. We need to do something similar. The first thing we MUST do is get support for hawkins. We've been attempting to do this for years, but we havent been lucky, with injuries to vardy and clark. We need to get one of these fit and firing, and if that isnt possible we need to obtain another kpf through a trade or free agency. Also, while I have been criticising kersten recently, he could still be vital to our forward set up (if he can actually become a good player, that is).

At the end of the day, hawkins is, and will remain to be, our spearhead - our main man up forward. As such, he has to pull his finger out and start playing like the elite player he was expected to become after his 2011 gf antics.
You are outrageously harsh on a great player. The man has almost got us through to a preliminary final on his own in 2014 against North, almost over the line against the Hawks in 2013. Has for a few years now done it alone up forward. Give him a Clark or Vardy or someone else next year and he will be as outstanding as any KPF. How some forget when the chips are a little down.
 
I've noticed that some players refuse to have a long set shot and instead prefer to short pass to someone else in space which doesn't always come off... Hawkins for such a lovely long kick of the ball is often too selfless.

It's had a flow on effect to others with the Cockatoo dish off to Motlop in a worse off position a prime example.

Go back and have the set shot for * sake.

It's either an on going issue with his back or a confidence thing but he no longer likes taking shots that were once well within his range, nor does he lead with any urgency.
 

Gogeelong

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They play without confidence.
Good players do not dish off but take the responsibility themselves.

Hawkins needs help but he is not an elite forward as he simply can not move as well as he used to
 
clearly he was directed to spend more time further up the ground against Essendon. Hard to judge how effective that was in a game like that, but I thought he wasn't too bad ( relative to a number of other players, and the standard of the game )
 
The "Hawkins doesn't lead" talk continues to confound me.

Could anyone post a clip or a reference to a specific time in a quarter in Saturday where Hawkins failed to lead into the free space in front of him?
 

Burro

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I think the reason Hawkins slimmed down a touch is because they have identified that the game has changed or the afloat want it to change in the forward line. He can not continue to wrestle and must lead more. He is being penalised too much for holding. If you look at other forwards that are doing well this year they are all mobile leading types.
 
The "Hawkins doesn't lead" talk continues to confound me.

Could anyone post a clip or a reference to a specific time in a quarter in Saturday where Hawkins failed to lead into the free space in front of him?
or some clips of quality delivery in to the forward 50 ( other than Hawkins delivery.... )
 

Burro

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The "Hawkins doesn't lead" talk continues to confound me.

Could anyone post a clip or a reference to a specific time in a quarter in Saturday where Hawkins failed to lead into the free space in front of him?
Of course he leads. The delivery to space in front of him has not been great. These things will be worked out.
 

strauchnyy

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So much crap in this thread.

Blokes kicked 9 in 4 games, was poor last week (1 poor game this year) and is our best forward by far.

He struggled last week because the whole team played like absolute dirt and we had no clean forward 50 entries. It was flooded, with slow ball movement.

I have no doubt that Tomahawk will bounce back and kick the 50 - 65 goals this year.
 
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I don't think his season so far warrants having him written off. My only criticism/observation of Tom is several times now I've seen him play where he has decided in his own mind that he needs to try to get the team home, and then he dominates the forward line. I only wish he'd play with that mindset every game. But I think he's very much a team man, not the arrogant forward of days gone by, so he sticks to the plans and structures.
 
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Insignificance runs in his thread maybe, not so much the TOmmahawk.

It's gonna be a long 5 years if peeps think he is done now...

Give him help that clears space to lead I to and service that delivers to said space and wah lah... Hawkins is relevant again..

Go Catters
 

Poetic Justice

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I think this thread is mostly insignificant, rather than Tom.

I'll temper by saying that unless he has an absolute gimme pass-off that results in an undoubted goal, If Tom takes a mark anywhere inside 50 he should go back and take it.

Never should he dish it off to a competition inside 50, the bloke is paid the big bucks to be the dominant goal kicker. Take the shots.

Other than that I think he has had a great start to the year.
 

johnnyscarecrow

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I'll chime in here, because I am of the opinion that Tomahawk is an outstanding player. His workrate, whether kicking goals or involving team-mates, is exemplary. I'd be guessing that, given the rather poor opposition on Saturday (not that you'll hear any official acknowledgement of that) the coaches were far more interested in senior players making sure others got involved rather than taking on the load themselves (as is usually the case). A great shame, in that regard, that Kersten was forced to miss as it would have been an outstanding opportunity for him.

Having said that, I cannot for the life of me understand why Hawkins isn't played as a centre half forward in the Barry Stoneham mould. He is an excellent player in traffic and a commanding presence where the ball enters our forward half. You could nominate any number of players to play at full forward. Hawkins is also an excellent kick, so if he has to take a few shots at or outside 50 it shouldn't worry him too much.
 

Cronin

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clearly he was directed to spend more time further up the ground against Essendon. Hard to judge how effective that was in a game like that, but I thought he wasn't too bad ( relative to a number of other players, and the standard of the game )
I would like to see him played out of the goal square for an entire game, like a traditional full-forward. Not as a high forward, not on the wing, not leading through the middle of the ground, but FF and give him an opportunity to destroy a game close to goal; the supply needs to be good though.
 
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I would like to see him played out of the goal square for an entire game, like a traditional full-forward. Not as a high forward, not on the wing, not leading through the middle of the ground, but FF and give him an opportunity to destroy a game close to goal; the supply needs to be good though.


Agree kick it in quick and put their backs under pressure just have a rover nearby. My observations wernt based solely on the weekend it's from the last 18 months or so .
Be selfish and take the shots
 
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Cronin

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Agree kick it in quick and put their backs under pressure just have a river nearby. My observations wernt based solely on the weekend it's from the last 18 months or so .
Be selfish and take the shots
Our ball movement has been disgustingly slow for years, I would rather them try to take the game on and make some mistakes then this short, sideways chip-kick crap that they play now.
 

AM

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Was that about Ottens?
Yep!
Just to lighten things up a tad courtesy of Scott Gullan in the HS.

In a team meeting before the game, Lions coach Justin Leppitsch asked Walker if he had anything to reveal about the Cats which might help his new team mates.

Walker was like a rabbit in headlights, he had nothing. There was an awkward silence before he finally came up with this gem: “Tom Hawkins likes to eat Tim Tams the night before a game.”

The revelation had his team mates in stitches, but Walker wasn’t finished.

He went on to explain that the number of Tim Tams consumed by the Tomahawk depends on how many goals he thinks he’ll kick the following day.

Let's hope he goes through a whole packet this Friday. :D
 

google_this

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Sadly agree with the o p, we play 1 offensive pressure position down with him in the team, unless he is dominating he's *ing (the correct use of the word before halfwits go off) the defensive mechanism of the forward line.

He needs arrogance and he needs it fast, because currently we have a forward who isn't hurting teams on the scoreboard, isn't providing any defensive pressure and has a huge influence on the ability of others (see kersten) to play a natural forwards game.

Cloke struggling too suggests the current game requires multiple facet forwards.

People talk about delivery being an issue, but I look at it the other way, how often do you see Hawkins get separation on his opponent? Even when on the lead?

Lot easier to hit Gray, Bruest, Stringer on the tit when they have 5 yards on their man and if the ball hits the ground guess who's still in the contest?

Apparently re- ****- ing is unacceptable language?
 
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