whos our linchpin....

[dutchy_rules]

who is the single most important player to the makeup of the hawthorn team..... which single player could we not do without this year.... now i know its a team game, but there are always players who are just irreplacable. come on people i want plenty of responses to this topic....

personally i would have to go with either dutchy, due to his consistency over the last few years or john hay because as last year proved, without him our defence really struggles and doesnt have the muscle to cope with the better clubs.... so who do you think it is.

 

[TheGlove]

I'd have to say Fish...... Oh he's retired, that doesn't leave many...... Ah just kidding dutchy_rules....

I seriously reckon Hawthorn will struggle without the big Fish, but I guess because he is retired I can't say him....

In that case I would have to say the champ himself, although not as much of a champ as his brother(Ben), Nick Holland. He is a top target down at CHF and when firing can grab a game by the balls. From what I have seen over the last year or so, he has worked on his set shots which I am sure will pay dividends. Nick isn't bad either.....

Just kidding again dutchy_rules....

TheGlove


[This message has been edited by TheGlove (edited 07 February 2001).]

 

[elt]

It would have to be Jon Hay for mine, followed closely by Chick. If Hay doesn't play the defence doesn't look anywhere near as settled and it is not often you see him get badly beaten. Despite the fact he takes the best forward week in week out.

Chick's workrate and attack on the ball is inspiring for all and it seems like some of the younger guys can walk taller when he's around.

 

[Pessimistic]

Any one of John Hay, Nick Holland, Shane Crawford or Daniel Chick. Plus our game plan requires first use to be provided by the Ruckman. So Thommo or Rehn are very important.
It pains me to hear commentators say Crawf had a bad year. Bad by his standards is still quite good.

But John Hay as the most important because defence is the rock that the forwards build wins on.

 

[Danny Chook Fan Club]

Nick Holland is the one. He is the most important player in the team, simply because if he plays very well, we win, and on the rare occasions that he struggles, we always lose.

Other blokes can play good or bad games, and his teammates will compensate. But there's no replacing Dutch. Nick's not the best player in the team, but he is the best barometer of our performance.

------------------
He's blonde, he's quick
He's got a massive ... err ... kick
Danny Chook! Danny Chook!

 

[BUBBALOUIS]

I agree with all the players you guys have mentioned, my smokey though is John Barker,............ ok ill explain know youve stopped laughing, Barks added another dimension to our forward line with his form last year, very hard to match up on when all our other talls are fit and gives us a target if Thommo or Dutchy go down. Had a great year and would be missed if injured. Cheers

 

[thommo16]

Hey


well my lynchpin(s) (sorry i couldn't pick just one) would have to be Thommo, Barks, Hay, crawf and Holland!!!! (would that be our so-called spine bby any chance?)

 

[RogerC]

Holland for mine. Sometime around 98-99 the rest of the team twigged that he was unreliable and learned to play around him. Once he came good, he was the difference between putting up a good show and actually winning.

BTW, does anyone else think he looks and plays better away from centre half forward? His marking skills somehow mean more when he's more than a kick and a bit out of goal. He tends to look for someone to kick to up forward, rather than employing those trademark suicide handballs of his Waverley days.

Has anyone suggested Thommo for CFH, with Croad at full forward? With Hay and Rawlings as lynchpins in the backline, surrounded by the likes of McCabe, Tallis, Chick and Vandenberg (or Woods or Dent ha ha ha ha) in the back line, that could free Croad to be a very damaging forward type. Given his propensity for long bombs to nowhere from anywhere behind the half forward line, Croad should be given a goal scoring brief.

I once advocated that position for Holland, thinking that he had no football brain. I have since revised that line of thought. His football brain is excellent anywhere except CFH. I don't know why, it just seems to be true.

Crawford and Harford and Chick and Dixon are all valuable assets. Barker is mercurial, and has been known to swing a game from his own boot (eg Haw vs Bris 2000), but for mine, Holland is a true barometer. When he's on, we rarely lose.

 

[Danny Chook Fan Club]

I disagree to an extent. What I want from Holland is what I would call a 'true' centre half forward. To me, that's a bloke who can work from centre circle to goalsquare, flank to flank, with the majority of the forward ball kicked to or through him. In that role, he's played his best football and Hawthorn have played its best when Holland plays this role.

What you need in that situation is a foil - someone who can be the alternate option when Holland is covered, out of position, or actually kicking the ball forward. That's where Barker thrived last year, and hopefully will continue to do so.

------------------
He's blonde, he's quick
He's got a massive ... err ... kick
Danny Chook! Danny Chook!

 

[Hawkforce]

Dixon. We never lose when Dicko's having a big one.

Actually, I alaways found that whenever Krummel played a good game we won.