Are Hawthorn going to do a Brisbane?

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Abasi said:
Because Geelong failed in the Prelim?
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Pretty much yeah. We improved a lot but we don't have that run you need. We topped up and to me it was a pretty big gamble. We traded away our first round pick for Henderson, who had a pretty good year it must be said. But why get Hendo when we were already well stocked with players of his type? We did make the Prelim but it was more of a "north" kind of a prelim.

We are on the second rank of teams who need to improve a lot to stay in our current position. I am of the belief our current season and our structures were set up to conquer Hawthorn. That was a plan about two years too late.
 

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Pavlovs Cat said:
Pretty much yeah. We improved a lot but we don't have that run you need. We topped up and to me it was a pretty big gamble. We traded away our first round pick for Henderson, who had a pretty good year it must be said. But why get Hendo when we were already well stocked with players of his type? We did make the Prelim but it was more of a "north" kind of a prelim.

We are on the second rank of teams who need to improve a lot to stay in our current position. I am of the belief our current season and our structures were set up to conquer Hawthorn. That was a plan about two years too late.
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I largely agree. Did well to do as well as you did with a patchwork of half the old flag team with cobbled together other parts and dangerfield. What happened against Sydney was inevitable, 2 class midfielders no matter how good can't carry you to a flag on their own.

Ever since we beat Geelong I didn't think they were flag material, as that showed they were vulnerable whenever danger and selwood weren't dominating and could lose to anyone. Also showed up a large amount of soft front runners who also got exposed in the prelim
 
Pavlovs Cat said:
Pretty much yeah. We improved a lot but we don't have that run you need. We topped up and to me it was a pretty big gamble. We traded away our first round pick for Henderson, who had a pretty good year it must be said. But why get Hendo when we were already well stocked with players of his type? We did make the Prelim but it was more of a "north" kind of a prelim.

We are on the second rank of teams who need to improve a lot to stay in our current position. I am of the belief our current season and our structures were set up to conquer Hawthorn. That was a plan about two years too late.
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Geelong finished outside of the 8, added 4 players and got to the prelim.

Hawthorn finished up in the semi, will add at least 3 players and end up?

Remains to be seen, doesn't it, but I can't see us freefalling down the ladder if we strengthen the list in the next two weeks.

Ultimately Geelong fell over in the prelim becuase they just weren't up for the fight. Less a list management outcome, and more a result of mental preparation.
 

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Abasi said:
Geelong finished outside of the 8, added 4 players and got to the prelim.

Hawthorn finished up in the semi, will add at least 3 players and end up?

Remains to be seen, doesn't it, but I can't see us freefalling down the ladder if we strengthen the list in the next two weeks.

Ultimately Geelong fell over in the prelim becuase they just weren't up for the fight. Less a list management outcome, and more a result of mental preparation.
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I can't see you freefalling either, but with so many greats on the wrong side of 30, list management is tough. Geelong have been slammed and praised for our efforts since 2011 with the list, but we haven't made it back to the Granny since. Mainly because you blokes, Freo and Sydney were better. Now GWS, Bulldogs and Sydney are better. Letting the old champs play on and topping up probably gets you another genuine crack, but if you are still relying on the old firm then the cliff looms large. As for us, I wouldn't have minded us going more the Saints and Bullies way, even if it did mean a couple of crud seasons. We have sentenced ourselves to the middle of the ladder...see you there.
 
The Lemon said:
Bullshit.

We are holding onto old players for too long, and the development of the kids is poor.

Cliff falling is very possible.
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Clarko is topping up to pinch one more flag before our old champions retire, which is the right thing to do, but the cost of that is that there will be a fall. Could win it next year but 2018/19 we will fall as we have no young players ready to step up.
Unlike Brisbane, it will not all fall apart - our mid 20s players are solid (Rioli, smith, Gunston, Shiels, Bruest, Srratton, etc). After a few early draft picks and easier draws, we will be back up the ladder in no time.
 
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I don't think we'll completely bottom out, we've got measures in place to prevent it from happening again. But I do think we'll drop off to some degree, as is the natural evolution of the AFL. Most likely in the same vein as Geelong, probably one year out of finals, get a high draft pick or two along with a big-fish recruit and an easy draw and we'll be back in contention again.
 
It's a bit of mess now but we didn't have much luck.

The early retirement of Cyril that came out of nowhere.
Missing out on Lynch, Coniglio and Whitfield.
Our best player breaking his leg after a Brownlow winning season where we finished top 4 (at the end of H&A).

At the end of 2016, I daresay we didn't prepare ourselves for any of these (and wouldn't have expected to prepare for #1 and #3). The lack of a FA probably the most damning.
 
Being up for so long it was inevitable that they'd crash, made some poor decisions in a few trades. Possibly paid too much for O'Meara and unlucky with Tom Mitchell having such a devastating injury. The comparisons to Geelong are poor, I think they'll be up and more of a flag threat before Geelong will be after they lose some big names in the next couple of years.

Same will happen to Richmond too soon, as much as their supporters think they'll be top forever.
 
The collective psychology of Hawthorn supporters was something else back in the day.

I get they’d won back-to-back flags but the kinds of responses you see in this thread weren’t atypical. They couldn’t fathom slipping down the ladder, and especially in the manner which they (were about to) regress.

Interesting reading.
 
Even if the Hawks get the spoon the 6 year fade out isn't even the worst in AFL history.

Only took West Coast 4 years to drop from premiers to spooners (2006-2010)
 

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Are Hawthorn going to do a Brisbane?

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