- Sep 28, 2014
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I remember Charlie Clarke had about 5 horrible clangers by himself. It was his first game and he was extremely nervous so I really felt sorry for him. But that won’t be repeated, we will have a much stronger team. Having said that, Watson was also nowhere near as good back then as he is now and Hawthorn in general have improved a lot since then as well. Our defence is much better as well and Richards insertion into the midfield has dramatically improved our midfield as well.On selection, it’s really a toss up between West & Harmes. If VDM is out I’d select both, but I suspect Jones will stay in in place of one of them. If Jones stays in, then I like Harmes as sub, he’s so versatile, and with a huge game yesterday he seems ready.
As to the game more broadly, last time we absolutely smashed them out of stoppages but just kept repeatedly handing the ball back with poor turnovers, our worst effort in 5 or so years (+20 turnovers for the game). Particularly in our defensive half.
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Given our transition from defensive 50 to forward 50 has improved out of sight since early season to become a real strength, I don’t think that game is easily repeatable for the Hawks (or more so, it’d take a significant dip/regression for us to throw away another game the same way).
Either way, both teams are playing much better since that game early in the year but I agree that we should not turn it over anything like we did in that game again, at least I definitely hope not.