Autopsy Essendon v Hawthorn

[MinerBoy]

Time to bring in Hale for McEvoy.
The 'McEvoy as a forward' experiment has failed dismally.

Certainly not clunking the marks.

 

[Argy]

Having thought about it overnight I'm not so upset as I was. The hardest thing to swallow is being beaten by cheats. Other than that, we played okay without two of our main midfielders and two of our best defenders. ANd we still only lost by two seconds. We were uncharacteristically sloppy and slow to make decisions. My guess is that's a combination of cockiness and pressure from the opposition. No loss is good, but coming at the start of the season, as it has, means we've had a solid reality check. Anyone who thought a hat trick was a foregone conclusion has rocks in their head.

PS: I agree with Teamwork Talks - probably about time to give Hale a run.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

All part of the plan. We got way too much media attention last week. (It may have also gone to our heads).

 

[MinerBoy]

Having thought about it overnight I'm not so upset as I was. The hardest thing to swallow is being beaten by cheats. Other than that, we played okay without two of our main midfielders and two of our best defenders. ANd we still only lost by two seconds. We were uncharacteristically sloppy and slow to make decisions. My guess is that's a combination of cockiness and pressure from the opposition. No loss is good, but coming at the start of the season, as it has, means we've had a solid reality check. Anyone who thought a hat trick was a foregone conclusion has rocks in their head.

PS: I agree with Teamwork Talks - probably about time to give Hale a run.

For the most part this is how I feel. The cheats thing is irrelevant to me. I'm disappointed we played so poorly but cheats or not, it had no bearing on the outcome. We were good enough to beat them but didn't put our best foot forward. As you say, despite all that, we still should have won in the end even though we didn't deserve it on the balance of the day's play.

My positive to take is that despite having Gibbo and Mitch as withdrawals and Frawley out early, and playing as badly as we have in any game since Richmond 2013, and their full back plucking a snap from his arse that hits the instep of his boot for an inverse torp that sails straight through the middle, we still win that game if it goes for an extra 60 seconds.

It really does take a lot right for the opposition, and a lot go wrong for us, for even very good opposition (Bombers yesterday, Swans and PA last year) to manage to just sneak over us. We are one hard team to beat.

 

[Taskmaster]

Having thought about it overnight I'm not so upset as I was. The hardest thing to swallow is being beaten by cheats. Other than that, we played okay without two of our main midfielders and two of our best defenders. ANd we still only lost by two seconds. We were uncharacteristically sloppy and slow to make decisions. My guess is that's a combination of cockiness and pressure from the opposition. No loss is good, but coming at the start of the season, as it has, means we've had a solid reality check. Anyone who thought a hat trick was a foregone conclusion has rocks in their head.

PS: I agree with Teamwork Talks - probably about time to give Hale a run.

Im the same I think. Still really disappointed how we played, it was utter rubbish, but we only lost by 2 points to a team who gave it everything they had and we played like we were back in the early 2000's.

But surely, Clarko has to treat the next 3 games, WB, PA and NM as a mini finals series?? After that, we have the likes of Stk, Melb, GWS and no disrespect to those sides, but that's the time to rest some with "General Soreness" if need be.

Should I be concerned that by Rd 5 we could be 1-4 or 2-3???

 

[Leather Poisoning]

We've got the lowest average losing margin in the league.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Jono o'rourke - had this belief he is just an average player and first time seeing him play live today .. How he was a no.2 pick is baffling .. Even more outrageous is how we swap pick 19 for him ..

He is just not clean with the ball, always rushed, has bad bad hands ie, is a fumbles king .. Bad decisions.. No tank, no real speed, .. I m astounded how he was so high rated ..

Hawks have lost big in this one .. I think Maynard, miller, Goddard were available at this pick ..

I think you've gone a bit early.

It was his first game for Hawthorn, in a tight match, in front of the biggest crowd he'd ever played in front of, so he was always going to be a bit nervous. We'd just hope that it would transfer to his ball handling.

Add this to the fact that he has not had senior bodies around him, telling him where to be, or what to do in most of his career to date, so there's a learning curve, and one which he has said himself is a big change from being at GWS.

One thing Wright has excelled in in his time as list manager is identifying talent at other clubs who will flourish at Hawthorn.

The kid has time up his sleeve.

 

[Taskmaster]

Hawks fans can be pathetic. Maybe your arrogance has got to your heads a bit too much. Not as good as you thought you were after all.

Please go back to shithole you are from. Come back in September and have a chat!!!

 

[Paul Kersey]

Please go back to shithole you are from. Come back in September and have a chat!!!

No - come back after round 13.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Really missed Hale up forward.

 

[J Shuttlesworth]

Hawks fans can be pathetic. Maybe your arrogance has got to your heads a bit too much. Not as good as you thought you were after all.

Settle down mate, is there something you can take for that?

I see it as a reality check the club might need also it's a round 2 whoopdy do deal.

On wards and Upwards.

Missed Mitch's calming influence as well.

 

[Arc1]

Goodness they are keen to get in and troll eh. The b*tthurt of many years.

On a brighter note, I heard Jobe Watson on SEN this morning, actually sounds like a pretty decent bloke. The funniest part was when they asked him about the supposed "set play", and he asked whether they meant deliberately kicking an inside-out helicopter punt. Then proceeded to give it to his dad... thumbs up.

 

[tige19]

I think you've gone a bit early.

It was his first game for Hawthorn, in a tight match, in front of the biggest crowd he'd ever played in front of, so he was always going to be a bit nervous. We'd just hope that it would transfer to his ball handling.

Add this to the fact that he has not had senior bodies around him, telling him where to be, or what to do in most of his career to date, so there's a learning curve, and one which he has said himself is a big change from being at GWS.

One thing Wright has excelled in in his time as list manager is identifying talent at other clubs who will flourish at Hawthorn.

The kid has time up his sleeve.

Can not believe some of the overreaction on this board, Jono is a kid who literally played his first senior game for Hawthorn and needs to adjust to the obvious structure changes that all our new players initially struggle with. Gibbo/Burger/Hale/Big Boy have all struggled early on, I remember people on here giving Gibbo and Burger serves during their first season.

Jono is a super talented kid with elite skills, he was not as clean as we would like yesterday however he still handled the day well and contributed. HE WILL GET BETTER.

PS - Echols this is not aimed at you, you catch my drift though mate.

 

[grumbleguts]

The game could have gone either way and those last two minutes were pure desperation by both teams.

Football was the real winner today.

No. In a scenario where the general sport is the winner there are two genuinely good teams having a crack at each other. For the general sport to be the winner (in this case Australian Rules) the general adherents of the the sport (the fans) would have to be better for the experience, they would have to have enjoyed the experience. The numbers of people wanting to watch the sport would have increased.

Sadly, there are 17 teams in the competition, and ALL of their supporters (the aforementioned adherents, if you will) were disappointed at the result. Even though Hawthorn has dominated for the last few years they STILL wanted hawthorn to win today.

There have been posts in this thread from some of the other 16 teams' supporters that sum up the general consensus. "You guys have dominated for so long and you chose THAT game to stuff it up?"

No one wants to see a cheat win. Not because your team cheated. But because you sabotaged the game. You lowered the prestige of the sport in the eyes of the public. No one will ever go to a match again and fully appreciate that that result that brilliant bit of play was unassisted. Your team did that. For nothing more than a few extra wins in a couple of seasons, your team visited domestic violence on the children of the afl. Hansie Cronje has nothing on your team.

Then instead of taking the punishment like real men, you hid in the corner burning the evidence like wormtongue, sinvelling that no one likes you. Then celebrated when you all mistakenly thought you'd been found not guilty. When in fact you'd been found to have destroyed the evidence sufficiently were enough.

No football wasn't the winner, and never will be while your team takes the field of play.

Hope this clarifies things.

 

[Mootsy]

No. In a scenario where the general sport is the winner there are two genuinely good teams having a crack at each other. For the general sport to be the winner (in this case Australian Rules) the general adherents of the the sport (the fans) would have to be better for the experience, they would have to have enjoyed the experience. The numbers of people wanting to watch the sport would have increased.

Sadly, there are 17 teams in the competition, and ALL of their supporters (the aforementioned adherents, if you will) were disappointed at the result. Even though Hawthorn has dominated for the last few years they STILL wanted hawthorn to win today.

There have been posts in this thread from some of the other 16 teams' supporters that sum up the general consensus. "You guys have dominated for so long and you chose THAT game to stuff it up?"

No one wants to see a cheat win. Not because your team cheated. But because you sabotaged the game. You lowered the prestige of the sport in the eyes of the public. No one will ever go to a match again and fully appreciate that that result that brilliant bit of play was unassisted. Your team did that. For nothing more than a few extra wins in a couple of seasons, your team visited domestic violence on the children of the afl. Hansie Cronje has nothing on your team.

Then instead of taking the punishment like real men, you hid in the corner burning the evidence like wormtongue, sinvelling that no one likes you. Then celebrated when you all mistakenly thought you'd been found not guilty. When in fact you'd been found to have destroyed the evidence sufficiently were enough.

No football wasn't the winner, and never will be while your team takes the field of play.

Hope this clarifies things.

The arrogance levels here are extraordinary.

Again, your team played well yesterday but Essendon also had some vital players out, Dempsey, Myers and Hocking..

Give the cheating thing a rest, thanks. Even if the cheating issue hypothetically occurred I doubt the players wanted anything to do with it. Let it go, focus on the football, thanks.

 

[tige19]

Hawks fans can be pathetic. Maybe your arrogance has got to your heads a bit too much. Not as good as you thought you were after all.

We played the worst half footy in the last 3 years that, our first half will never be that bad again this year, we were on a short turn around and our structures went up $hit creek after Frawley went down. You blokes scraped home a win, that's brilliant, well done! Can't see this making any difference come September.

 

[J Shuttlesworth]

Can not believe some of the overreaction on this board

The overreaction both ways from this game on all platforms has been cringe-worthy.

 

[grumbleguts]

The arrogance levels here are extraordinary.

Again, your team played well yesterday but Essendon also had some vital players out, Dempsey, Myers and Hocking..

Give the cheating thing a rest, thanks. Even if the cheating issue hypothetically occurred I doubt the players wanted anything to do with it. Let it go, focus on the football, thanks.

They rolled up their sleeves day in day out and got injected with supposedly an unknown substance. I know you are an essendon* supporter but even then, you should be able to put two and two together. Surely?

No perhaps not. It's like kicking a guy in a wheelchair. And while your team is in the competition, it'll never be given a rest. Jus' sayin'.

 

[J Shuttlesworth]

The arrogance levels here are extraordinary.

Again, your team played well yesterday but Essendon also had some vital players out, Dempsey, Myers and Hocking..

Give the cheating thing a rest, thanks. Even if the cheating issue hypothetically occurred I doubt the players wanted anything to do with it. Let it go, focus on the football, thanks.

Ok focusing on the football, Hawthorn didn't play great, Essendon played abit better and won. Congratulations. Round 2 complete for both teams.

On ya bike.

 

[Taskmaster]

The arrogance levels here are extraordinary.

Again, your team played well yesterday but Essendon also had some vital players out, Dempsey, Myers and Hocking..

Give the cheating thing a rest, thanks. Even if the cheating issue hypothetically occurred I doubt the players wanted anything to do with it. Let it go, focus on the football, thanks.

Your Pathetic club will always be tainted as cheats. And yes we will focus on football, that's why we are B2B premiers!!

 

[tige19]

The arrogance levels here are extraordinary.

Again, your team played well yesterday but Essendon also had some vital players out, Dempsey, Myers and Hocking..

Give the cheating thing a rest, thanks. Even if the cheating issue hypothetically occurred I doubt the players wanted anything to do with it. Let it go, focus on the football, thanks.

This is where any credibility you had diminished.. It is universally accepted the first half was the worst half of footy our club has played in god knows how long! Essendon played out of their skins, they were manic and committed, it was a Grand Final as such. We were laconic, on a short turn around and lazy. That won't happen again, good luck next time around.

 

[cryptor]

One thing that really sticks out in my mind was when Gunston was lining up for goal (30m, 45 degree angle) in the second half. Essendon had already set up with every player in position for the possible kick out. Hawks on the other hand were fluffing about trying to work out where they needed to be with Anderson and Langford trying to work out which of them should be in the spot they were in and lots of pointing by our players but not very much movement. Luckily Gunston slotted the goal but no doubt we would've seen a coast to coast goal had he missed such was the disorganization.

In a different but similar play we again had Sicily and (I think) Anderson positioned correctly as far as I could tell in our defensive press. I saw Sicily turn around to see a Bombers player behind him that a long kick would've reached but instead of calling out for someone to cover him he weakened the press by moving back from his spot to hedge his bets. Then the Essendon player with the ball in the opposite pocket was able to play on, draw Sicily towards him as Sicily needed to cut off the short handball option but then left that other Essendon player free out the back on the flank. I can't remember the result of that play but they probably got a goal from it.

Just a lot of confusion and bad decision making by our younger players. Also a lack of leadership from some of the older blokes who seemed to be more wrapped up in what they were doing and trying to get themselves into the game rather than helping the younger blokes get involved. Mitchell and Shiels leadership through the middle was sorely missed just as much as their footballing abilities were.

 

[Hodginator]

The arrogance levels here are extraordinary.

Again, your team played well yesterday but Essendon also had some vital players out, Dempsey, Myers and Hocking..

Give the cheating thing a rest, thanks. Even if the cheating issue hypothetically occurred I doubt the players wanted anything to do with it. Let it go, focus on the football, thanks.

We didn't play well. That's the problem. And we still only lost by 2 points and 2 seconds. Lets see how things are looking in round 22, not round 2.

 

[IschenkoUBeauty]

Typical f*****g Essendon carrying on after the game. Kevin Sheedy twirling the scarf around. Supporters doing the same. Get f****d c***s.

 

[Slick]

Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water. The overreation on these boards borders on comedic sometimes, it really does.

O'Rourke won't make it (after one serviceable game in the brown and gold)
McEvoy is a liability, drop him (after he and Ceglar were awesome last week)

The reality is, and no team should ever be reliant on one or two players but we were missing Mitchell and Shiels (and got slaughtered through the middle) and we were effectively missing Frawley and Gibson (and had Stratton playing on Daniher, and giving away close to 20cm).

The really disappointing thing for me was the lack of effort and care factor from some players, they just looked like they weren't up for it or weren't there mentally. Rough, Bruest and Suckling to name a few.