Hawks - Bubble Bursting or One Poor Night

[Hawkk]

I was expecting this two or three weeks ago, frankly. I never expected us to beat Port and we definitely shouldn't have had a chance against the Pies. It looked like Schwab-era Hawthorn out there tonight. It was men versus boys.

Having said that, the proof of the pudding is next week. If we can beat the Tigers, who have been a bit of a bogey side for us in recent years and always seem to break our hearts just when we think we're doing alright, it will set us up nicely.

We've got a pretty nice run home, truth be told. Top end of my expectations is 15 wins, low end is 12. Could still miss the 8 with 12 wins. We'll probably get a home final in the first week with about 14 wins. If we can win that final, I'd be ecstatic.

Agree about that, but given our run home 12 wins - albeit bottom end, would be terribly disappointing given where we are placed...

This is my take on the run home;

Best case

vs. Richmond
vs. St Kilda
vs. Kangaroos
vs. Essendon
vs. Brisbane
vs. Port Adelaide
vs. W Bulldogs
vs. Sydney

16/6 (2nd/3rd)

Worst case

vs. Richmond
vs. St Kilda
vs. Kangaroos
vs. Essendon
vs. Brisbane
vs. Port Adelaide
vs. W Bulldogs
vs. Sydney

13/9 (5/6)

Disaster

vs. Richmond
vs. St Kilda
vs. Kangaroos
vs. Essendon
vs. Brisbane
vs. Port Adelaide
vs. W Bulldogs
vs. Sydney

9/13 (11/12)

Likely outcome

vs. Richmond
vs. St Kilda
vs. Kangaroos
vs. Essendon
vs. Brisbane
vs. Port Adelaide
vs. W Bulldogs (touch and go)
vs. Sydney

14/15 (3rd/4th)

Obviously I'm leaving myself open for ridicule, but honestly we should win 14/15 games given our run home.

 

[The Tinman]

Did a couple of nice things without being brilliant. And yes Adelaide had a fair bit of it so its not surprising he picked up a few.

he doesn't make many errors...like his work...a couple of preseaons into him and it will be scary for the comp...

cheers mate...

 

[Buddy Hero]

To be honest i dont think this game will effect my thoughts on our season, i expect the crows to play in the gf this year and while i was disappointed in the end score i wouldnt say our bubble has burst and i still hope we can squeese into the top 4 to play a couple of final games. However if we lose to Richmond next week then you can start questioning our worthiness of a top 8 finish let alone top 4.

 

[Duskfire]

You guys are fine. Prior to this you played a couple of awesome games, lost to Sydney, played a couple of awesome ones before that. Don't get too worried - one loss isnt indictive of the season or how you will continue playing, you will lose games here and there. If you recover as well as you have in the past though you'll be good.

 

[jazz]

No bubble burst but we found out that our quick, skilled possession game doesn't work well in wet conditions.

We started getting desperate and bombing it long inside 50 where a nest of Crows players were waiting to gobble the ball up.

I don't know what inside 50's ended up at but we were ahead for a long time whilst being way behind on the scoreboard. We didn't help our forward line at all with the way we brought it in.

The worst aspect of the game was the way in which we capitulated in the third quarter once we realised that it was going to be a loss. That's the first game this year where you could see the team say "bugger it - we've lost this one".

Another learning experience for the team. Let's see how we come back from it - that's the most important thing at this point.

 

[GhostofJimJess]

I was expecting this two or three weeks ago, frankly. I never expected us to beat Port and we definitely shouldn't have had a chance against the Pies. It looked like Schwab-era Hawthorn out there tonight. It was men versus boys.

Having said that, the proof of the pudding is next week. If we can beat the Tigers, who have been a bit of a bogey side for us in recent years and always seem to break our hearts just when we think we're doing alright, it will set us up nicely.

We've got a pretty nice run home, truth be told. Top end of my expectations is 15 wins, low end is 12. Could still miss the 8 with 12 wins. We'll probably get a home final in the first week with about 14 wins. If we can win that final, I'd be ecstatic.

Great post, as per usual Monty. let's hope it's your top end estimate so you can get in there and have a reasonable crack at doing some damage to the teams we don't want to win it.

This is my honest assessment.

Hawthorn were terrible.

Almost every game this year they have played has been on a fast track and they have honestly evolved to an incredibly quick, precise and skilled team. Tonight we went over to play the Crows (after two weeks in a row under the roof at the Dome) and faced -100 degrees, a dam they call a footy field, and a very spirited and determined Crows who I rate as serious premiership contender.

We were also FLAT as a tack.

So what do I think. I think if we were an awesome team we would have found a way to win anyway. If we were a hopeless team it would have been a 157 point defeat. So we are still somewhere in the middle. We also have a few passengers still with our injuries stacking up.

Fair assessment. Quite a few people on this board have been raving that "if it had been dry conditions the losing margin would have been double" - maybe somewhere up around that 157 points you mentioned.

I disagree, though. If it had been dry it would have been a very different game. The Crows clearly lapped up the greasy conditions, while the Hawks struggled in them almost from the first bounce. That fast flowing, clean ball-handling style that the Hawks had perfected over the last couple of months was never a going to be enforcable in today's conditions. And if there was a Plan B, it was a flop.

The Crows were certainly on a mission today, and even on a dry ground they probably still would've won that game such was the mood they brought with them. But the margin would have been less than 12 goals, and they certainly wouldn't have tripled the Hawks score.

Did a couple of nice things without being brilliant.

Yep. About how I would've assessed him. Those sort of blokes you just want to get games under his belt, though.

 

[Hirdsgun]

Joke = Hird straining a calf while handballing. Super athlete

That's a bit rough. Hird has proven he is a super athlete

 

[tazhawk]

The real Hawthorn of the last 10 years are back.

Oh you mean the real Hawthorn that always seems to beat Geelong.

 

[tazhawk]

hawks have shown they are pretenders. When it comes to the crunch they are pathetic. When they get a decent coach things "might" improve

Oh the irony.

Bitchmond supporters dream about some day in say about 2011, of hopefully being in a position to be called pretenders.

 

[tazhawk]

hawthorn was terrible. To think I thought they might have been a chance to finish top 4

note to hawthorn FC. Leave it to the real sides to compete this final year. You are a joke

When you say "real sides" I assume you do not include Essendon in that.

 

[Mad Dog]

Playing the last 2 games at telstra dome and then playing at a soaking wet aami stadium really affected our skill level
.

....but of course remembering that while it rained on and off all day - it didn't rain at all during the game.

Adelaide scored regularly with and against the wind - as it was steady - not blustery.

I've got to say I was looking forward to last night but was very dissappointed with Hawthorn.

Croad was smashed by Rutten and Franklin by Massie. Hawthorn's midfield performed well.......but the game was lost on 2 fronts IMO.

1 - poor disposal - and despite leading all the KPIs last week - that was our downfall last week against the Weagles.
2 - absolutely no respect paid to any of our onballers.......ie Edwards 41, McLeod 39, Goodwin, Thompson, Knights etc all high 30's in possessions.

I like Hawthorn's style as it's exciting and refreshing........but not respecting opposition ball winners and class users will not win finals football

 

[tazhawk]

....but of course remembering that while it rained on and off all day - it didn't rain at all during the game.

Adelaide scored regularly with and against the wind - as it was steady - not blustery.

I've got to say I was looking forward to last night but was very dissappointed with Hawthorn.

Croad was smashed by Rutten and Franklin by Massie. Hawthorn's midfield performed well.......but the game was lost on 2 fronts IMO.

1 - poor disposal - and despite leading all the KPIs last week - that was our downfall last week against the Weagles.
2 - absolutely no respect paid to any of our onballers.......ie Edwards 41, McLeod 39, Goodwin, Thompson, Knights etc all high 30's in possessions.

I like Hawthorn's style as it's exciting and refreshing........but not respecting opposition ball winners and class users will not win finals football

We were crap no doubt about it and I think that Adelaide played their best game for the year.

Hopefully our young team will learn a lot from last nights game.

Adelaide were far to good for us, but if they play like that then there are a hell of a lot of sides they are far to good for.

 

[dyer-17]

The real Hawthorn of the last 10 years are back.

I found it amusing how the phone wasn't working (or so Clarko claimed) and he thought ripping it out of the wall would help?

the phone was working, as usual the bad tempered midget cracked it cos he saw the real hawthorn stand up last night, as teh phone cord was tangled he took it out on the phone cos he knows phones do not hit back!

hawthorn proved that under pressure they cant stand up, turn to mush

 

[kriles76]

....but of course remembering that while it rained on and off all day - it didn't rain at all during the game.

Adelaide scored regularly with and against the wind - as it was steady - not blustery.

I've got to say I was looking forward to last night but was very dissappointed with Hawthorn.

Croad was smashed by Rutten and Franklin by Massie. Hawthorn's midfield performed well.......but the game was lost on 2 fronts IMO.

1 - poor disposal - and despite leading all the KPIs last week - that was our downfall last week against the Weagles.
2 - absolutely no respect paid to any of our onballers.......ie Edwards 41, McLeod 39, Goodwin, Thompson, Knights etc all high 30's in possessions.

I like Hawthorn's style as it's exciting and refreshing........but not respecting opposition ball winners and class users will not win finals football

Most of what you said was fair enough. I didn't know that we had a few pull out before the game but luckily we brought a few witches hats over on the plane to take their place.

But I reckon your comment re: Massie 'smashing' Buddy was optimistic at best. Hawthorn's delivery, gameplan and coaching beat Buddy tonight, not Massie - three of our goals came about from marks that Massie was contesting.

The real story of the night was our zoning off was useless and Adelaide hard-bods were able to move the footy in traffic and in numbers - 4 or 5 in close proximity a numver of times - and with quick and efficient handball to move through and around the afore mentioned witches hats. They also held their marks, which we had a problem with.

We really missed the Boyler tonight too and bombing into the forward line was doomed to failure. Your move, Clarko.

 

[borgo]

Funny how the majority of people that think our bubble has burst are Richmond supporters. Jealous maybe?

We shall see next week exactly where our teams are...

Bring on the Thorpedo..

 

[giantroo]

They were simply beaten at their own game. Tempo footy.

 

[richmondgal]

A night in Adelaide wasn't a good night. And you can tell by how many disposals Edwards, Mcleod and Goodwin got.

 

[Mad Dog]

They were simply beaten at their own game. Tempo footy.

aaahhhahaaaa..........did you watch the game ????

 

[Coin_Toss]

They played their Grand Final last week.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

....but of course remembering that while it rained on and off all day - it didn't rain at all during the game.

Adelaide scored regularly with and against the wind - as it was steady - not blustery.

I've got to say I was looking forward to last night but was very dissappointed with Hawthorn.

Croad was smashed by Rutten and Franklin by Massie. Hawthorn's midfield performed well.......but the game was lost on 2 fronts IMO.

1 - poor disposal - and despite leading all the KPIs last week - that was our downfall last week against the Weagles.
2 - absolutely no respect paid to any of our onballers.......ie Edwards 41, McLeod 39, Goodwin, Thompson, Knights etc all high 30's in possessions.

I like Hawthorn's style as it's exciting and refreshing........but not respecting opposition ball winners and class users will not win finals football

I agree with your post overall, but you have your match-ups wrong. Croad spent most of the game in the backline and when he was thrown forward, Stevens picked him up. Rutten played on Roughead.

 

[Mad Dog]

I agree with your post overall, but you have your match-ups wrong. Croad spent most of the game in the backline and when he was thrown forward, Stevens picked him up. Rutten played on Roughead.

yes - you're right - I meant Roughead........

 

[TheWiseOne]

the phone was working, as usual the bad tempered midget cracked it cos he saw the real hawthorn stand up last night, as teh phone cord was tangled he took it out on the phone cos he knows phones do not hit back!

hawthorn proved that under pressure they cant stand up, turn to mush

Yet we beat Collingwood just 7 days ago in a "High Perssure" match

I agree with most posters that we could not have played worse last night, i think there will be a few changes next week.. Muston/Thorp will come into the side

 

[Digby_from_Dingley]

After 1/4 time the Hawks had 3 players on the field over 24 years old.

A definite contributing factor. If they cant get a bit more experience into their side they will struggle.

They have a young squad and missed 7 of their 10 oldest players after 1/4 time. (Dixon, Jacobs, Bateman, Osborne, Clarke, Vandenberg, Williams). If these players continue to miss games, they will be in trouble.

 

[Hadders]

Re: See the Hawks fall

After the wonderful night i had last night, i'm glad we could give you a happy night.

Hird, Ryder and Davey's injuries brought joy to all at the 82 household.

Classless, just like your team last night.

Disgrace.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Re: See the Hawks fall

Update: Checked Bushies profile, he is a fair weather Collingwood supporter. At least most of the other Magpie fans are courageous enough to list their club in their profile.

How do you do that? I checked his profile and it just says "Unlisted" for his club.

Incidentally, The Bushranger posts a lot of crap on the Pies' forum too, he's not cast from the usual mould, you might say.