Toast Welcome to Hawthorn, Finn Maginness “absolute Hawthorn nuffie” and a Hawk to 2025

[rei154]

Have read a few reviews from a couple different people about how they're viewing his progress at the minute- all is quite positive which I really like seeing. I think him losing a year of VFL development had a really big impact on the timeline for him making regular senior footy and is probably why we're seeing him get such a strong defensive development block in. I wouldn't be surprised if later in the year we see him in the VFL with a different set of instruction to see how he can impact the game offensively, without prioritising the defensive aspects but still having them drilled into him.

Have only seen the first half of the VFL game because 7plus seems to have bungled their upload, but he wasn't super noticeable offensively, but you could see the defensive work he was putting in which is great.

 

[Howe Amazing]

I don’t see the lack of speed in him compared to our existing midfield. In the Saints game he had Hill on his tail and kept him at bay

 

[Hawk_francais]

Nail on the head - Coaches can only coach what's given to them - as you have pointed out they've been given very small, slow mids lacking skills. Those 3 (Lovell, Hurtang, and what we gave up for JOR, plus Howe etc) should now be the absolute core our midfield - that type of recruiting just kills you.

Wrights gone, and everybody should be really happy about this, if they really look at - in his last 2 years as he was being pushed out the door we decided we needed pace and height - when McKenzie was in transition. I expect this to continue rather the ego we had thinking he could outsmart everyone else.

Complaining about our drafting is just pointless. Been hit and miss like everyone else’s.

Also, you call Hartung slow? You could criticise him for almost anything else, but he had good speed. O’Rourke was certainly worth the punt. Lovell stagnated.

Something that really hurt our midfield was Langford’s non-development. He is 29 this year. Between he, Lovell and O’Rourke there was a lot of talent, but it seems like they all lacked a bit of drive to get the best out of themselves, rehab professionally etc.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

Complaining about our drafting is just pointless. Been hit and miss like everyone else’s.

Also, you call Hartung slow? You could criticise him for almost anything else, but he had good speed. O’Rourke was certainly worth the punt. Lovell stagnated.

Something that really hurt our midfield was Langford’s non-development. He is 29 this year. Between he, Lovell and O’Rourke there was a lot of talent, but it seems like they all lacked a bit of drive to get the best out of themselves, rehab professionally etc.

Disagree that Hartung had speed. Was very fit and could run, but would have just been above average speed. Was ran down a lot.

 

[rei154]

After watching the full game from the weekend I'm pretty impressed with what Maginness offered in close with ball in hand- seemed to move quite well through traffic. Will be interested to see the write up for him this week as I don't think Phillips (who he was tagging) was overly impactful in that game.

 

[toomanysquibs]

Disagree that Hartung had speed. Was very fit and could run, but would have just been above average speed. Was ran down a lot.

Hartung had some serious toe. I don't know how quick he was over the first 10m, but he ripped North a new on in a game at the dome in 2016 I think. Just ran right past and through them.

Impressed them enough, that they drafted him.

 

[bigbuddyboy]

Caveat - can't get to BH games ever on account of being abroad, so only rely on BH watchers reports and write-ups. Just curious to hear what is keeping Finn back at this stage and what the long term strategy (if any) is with him. Where do we see him fitting into the hawks best 22?

I understand the theory of letting Finn tag in the VFL to work on his defensive side. But is tagging Phillips, a 5-game veteran at this stage, really teaching Finn how to step up to AFL?

We keep hearing he needs to work on his defensive abilities; but has he ever truly been able to show off his offensive ability?

 

[Brishawk]

I understand the theory of letting Finn tag in the VFL to work on his defensive side.

We keep hearing he needs to work on his defensive abilities.

Your answers

 

[bigbuddyboy]

Your answers

Ha - good point. I'm probably not articulating very well; but I guess I'm asking if this is the real reason he is kept at BH. When he played in the 1s, he actually seemed to do ok playing defensively (not great - but he's still learning). So how does he learn more by going back to BH and playing on Phillips as opposed to playing in the 1s on Hall or Atley.

On the flipside - do we really want to focus on pure defense for one of our only up-n-coming mids? From my comfy armchair, I look at our team and I think we would probably want to foster more attacking flair** coming through to the firsts. Is the fact that he is getting forced to play defensively and indication that we don't see him making it as an offensive mid?

**still needs to be able to tackle, etc, but all our current centre square mids seem to allow the other team to waltz out with the clearance without any pressure.

 

[On Topic]

Ha - good point. I'm probably not articulating very well; but I guess I'm asking if this is the real reason he is kept at BH. When he played in the 1s, he actually seemed to do ok playing defensively (not great - but he's still learning). So how does he learn more by going back to BH and playing on Phillips as opposed to playing in the 1s on Hall or Atley.

On the flipside - do we really want to focus on pure defense for one of our only up-n-coming mids? From my comfy armchair, I look at our team and I think we would probably want to foster more attacking flair** coming through to the firsts. Is the fact that he is getting forced to play defensively and indication that we don't see him making it as an offensive mid?

**still needs to be able to tackle, etc, but all our current centre square mids seem to allow the other team to waltz out with the clearance without any pressure.

He gets caught out of position a fair bit. He should be at point A but instead was incorrectly at point B which allowed the opposition space they shouldn’t have been afforded.

Maginness can tackle, apply pressure and do the basic AFL defensive stuff that you can easily see. It’s the defensive structures when the opposition has ball in hand that he struggles in.

 

[Flukey!]

From the HFC website...

Finn Maginness (14 disposals, 2 marks, 2 tackles)
"He tagged Will Phillips. Both of them had possessions in the teens. His ability to play a tagging role whilst also playing within the team structure has improved. He will continue to grow in this role of being able to negate a strong opposition player with time."

 

[Brishawk]

Ha - good point. I'm probably not articulating very well; but I guess I'm asking if this is the real reason he is kept at BH. When he played in the 1s, he actually seemed to do ok playing defensively (not great - but he's still learning). So how does he learn more by going back to BH and playing on Phillips as opposed to playing in the 1s on Hall or Atley.

On the flipside - do we really want to focus on pure defense for one of our only up-n-coming mids? From my comfy armchair, I look at our team and I think we would probably want to foster more attacking flair** coming through to the firsts. Is the fact that he is getting forced to play defensively and indication that we don't see him making it as an offensive mid?

**still needs to be able to tackle, etc, but all our current centre square mids seem to allow the other team to waltz out with the clearance without any pressure.

It probably doesn’t hurt him to be in the twos but it gives someone else a go in the ones. Don’t focus too much on the individuals invoked and think about it from the team perspective.

 

[LMGjr]

Ha - good point. I'm probably not articulating very well; but I guess I'm asking if this is the real reason he is kept at BH. When he played in the 1s, he actually seemed to do ok playing defensively (not great - but he's still learning). So how does he learn more by going back to BH and playing on Phillips as opposed to playing in the 1s on Hall or Atley.

I have a different opinion on this that could be pie in the sky - Maybe our senior coach is looking at our senior players and other fringe players first, to know who goes at the end of the year, while also letting Sammy and Andy teach these kids. We've lacked, imo, good teachers at Box Hill the past few years.

Also, It's not like we'll delist Finn this year or trade him so...........nothing like getting absolute conformation before making big decisions. Like I said it could be pie in the sky stuff, but it's better then getting upset about it.

 

[DeafHawk]

Let him learn the art of a midfielder
- tagging elite midfielders & learn from it

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

Assuming he had a niggle?

 

[Roddy]

Would love to see him back in for Howe next week (and yes, I know what Howe did at half time yesterday).

 

[Howe Amazing]

I thought I saw Finn sitting next to Sam in the coaches box, maybe he was there for a reason

 

[PT Bar None]

I'm assuming either a niggle or they have a job in mind for him in Darwin and don't want him off a 6-dayer for that.

Either way, we shall see...

 

[Birdofprey]

I have a different opinion on this that could be pie in the sky - Maybe our senior coach is looking at our senior players and other fringe players first, to know who goes at the end of the year, while also letting Sammy and Andy teach these kids. We've lacked, imo, good teachers at Box Hill the past few years.

Also, It's not like we'll delist Finn this year or trade him so...........nothing like getting absolute conformation before making big decisions. Like I said it could be pie in the sky stuff, but it's better then getting upset about it.

I agree that there would be at least some of this happening in team selection each week. I suspect some players getting minutes as a final opportunity or to shop them out for any possible trade value they might have.

 

[MrPremiership]

I'm assuming either a niggle or they have a job in mind for him in Darwin and don't want him off a 6-dayer for that.

Either way, we shall see...

Hope it was saving him for Darwin. Maybe for JOM if he doesn't get over any concussion/shoulder issues

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[H00t]

Despite playing a good game he still looks a little lost on the field currently. He spends a lot of time tracking his opponent and not so much the ball. I’d say this is a result of the tagging. Makes him a step behind in general play.

Feels like the coaching instructions have messed with his head a lot. He’s trying to do the right thing by the team but he’s not at the level of being able to play on instinct.

He definitely has the attributes to play. The club just has to work out how to get the best out of him.

He’s very strong, a great runner plus has really good hands in traffic. Plus he’s a very hard worker, just got to get him getting more of the ball.

 

[MrPremiership]

ahhh.....so he IS developing

 

[Howe Amazing]

ahhh.....so he IS developing

Hopefully that is a confidence booster for Finn and after 2 or 3 more games like that he gets another crack in AFL

 

[Slick]

Despite playing a good game he still looks a little lost on the field currently. He spends a lot of time tracking his opponent and not so much the ball. I’d say this is a result of the tagging. Makes him a step behind in .

Feels like the coaching instructions have messed with his head a lot. He’s trying to do the right thing by the team but he’s not at the level of being able to play on instinct.

He definitely has the attributes to play. The club just has to work out how to get the best out of him.

He’s very strong, a great runner plus has really good hands in traffic. Plus he’s a very hard worker, just got to get him getting more of the ball.

There's something in this, and it means a bit of short term pain, but I think the club understands that Finn is a bit of a longer burn, similar to what Josh Kennedy was. They're playing the long game.