Autopsy Hawthorn defeats Richmond

[EightyNineChamps]

Cyril, Gunston and Sicily all firing up forward today.
Mitch was good as always (Congrats on the 300th champ) Ceglar was good in the ruck and Stratts and Gibbo were solid down back. And kudos to WX for backing up last week with another great game.

Cool in the crisis, well played whitey!!!

 

[JustKickIt]

Well done Brad Hill , backing up to last weeks great effort. To be honest I cant really recall the last time seeing him playing 2 stand out/influentioal games in row. But kudos. Is that his highest possession count ?

He's marketing

 

[cryptor]

Those saying Whitecross is playing well and is like a new recruit for us are spot on. Will be a great story if we can get him a flag this year.

 

[Bedi]

A visit to the dentist would be a preferable experience

was frustrating we couldn't capitalise, but other then that i enjoyed it. Thank christ Richmond likewise couldn't kick a goal

 

[grumbleguts]

So just finished reading the richmond game day thread. Those guys all need therapy, whenever Cyril does anything.

 

[Bedi]

Those saying Whitecross is playing well and is like a new recruit for us are spot on. Will be a great story if we can get him a flag this year.

question is whether there's a spot for him when Shiels returns. I like to think so.

 

[Hawkk]

In reality we are 1 1/2 games on top due to our percentage.

If we lost 2 games in a row and those below all won, we would be sitting 5th.

Fortunately all things considered the teams below us will probably drop games themselves (ie Geelong, Dogs, Crows and GWS have all dropped games over the last 3 weeks). Win all the games we should plus Norf and the minor premiership is ours...

 

[Hawkboy62]

Don't know what it was about the conditions but both teams were missing fairly easy shots.

Great to get the win with good games from JOR and WX and no serious injuries. With JOR and WX firing we are finally getting midfield depth for our finals campaign. Great games by Mitch, Gibbo, Hill and Birchall too.

Most posts are negative about the game as a spectacle, and our forward 50 entries could have been better, and our conversion much better, but lighten up folks. Mission accomplished and Mitch BOG in his 300th! Rather be a Hawks fan than a Doggies one this weekend.

 

[EightyNineChamps]

JOR was very impressive today. Albeit I only saw the last 3 quarters so my judgement might be flawed but I saw a lot to like with him.

Same goes WX. Doubted that he would be of any value other than pure depth. Thought it was just giving him a year out of sentiment and hope but I forget we don't do stuff out of sentiment. The guy deserved to be here and he's showing it now. Two magnificent defence splitting passes created goals for us today.
He's always been very clean and composed but never thought I'd see him kick at as good as he did. Usually was a sideways player that kept the ball moving (which isn't a bad thing in itself) but he took the responsibility to drive us forward. I like it. Big tick.

Big Boy was good. Not amazing but his best game in a while. Need him back in form as he is a very handy player when on. Ceglar was OK but I think the partnership comfortably won today.

Pretty ordinary game. Gibbo and Mitchell were great. Congrats on your 300th Sammy.

TOB was disappointing. Had an opportunity but didn't take it. Only thing going for him is he was matched up on Rance a lot and not a whole lot get past him. Seriously good player.

If this is the case then his game today was quite good, I think his main role today was to get Rance out of the 50 and allow space for the others.

Those who were at the ground could probably get a better picture if this was the case. On TV it was hard to tell...

 

[cryptor]

question is whether there's a spot for him when Shiels returns. I like to think so.

I reckon our best 22 is shaping up something like this...

FB: Stratton Frawley Gibson
HB: Burgoyne Brand Birchall
C: Smith Mitchell Hill
HF: Breust Gunston Sicily
FF: Puopolo McEvoy Rioli
R: Ceglar Lewis Hodge
Int: Shiels Duryea Whitecross ...............

That final spot is out of Langford, Hartung, O'Brien, Howe and O'Rourke. Will come down to who the opponent is and who is in the best form. Not everyone in that 22 is guranteed to be fit or in form come finals though so more than one of them could grab a spot.

 

[Bedi]

Don't know what it was about the conditions but both teams were missing fairly easy shots.

Great to get the win with good games from JOR and WX and no serious injuries. With JOR and WX firing we are finally getting midfield depth for our finals campaign. Great games by Mitch, Gibbo, Hill and Birchall too.

Most posts are negative about the game as a spectacle, and our forward 50 entries could have been better, and our conversion much better, but lighten up folks. Mission accomplished and Mitch BOG in his 300th! Rather be a Hawks fan than a Doggies one this weekend.

exactly, well said. Nothing to be negative about.
yeah dunno why both teams were so inaccurate. The flags on top of the scoreboard showed a bit of swirl, but dont reckon that was the reason.

 

[B&GBlood]

was poo flavoured poo. But wasn't needed.

His presence made it easier for Sis.

 

[Jables]

Whitecross, O'Rourke and Brand played pretty well. O'Brien dropped some marks and his positioning in one contest actually killed what should have been an easy mark, needs his groove back after missing a couple of games.

Gibson has 3 goals this season.

3!

The dam has burst, Coleman is on next season.

 

[Hawkboy62]

question is whether there's a spot for him when Shiels returns. I like to think so.

Billy Hartung will be getting worried! Hill will have pressure on to keep up the good work, too.

Both WX and JOR bring a harder edge to our game and WX is prepared to spoil in the air. If Hill is prepared to run all day like today we may be better with without the 3rd speedster. JOR laid some nice tackles and both he and WX won't be holding anything back in a quest to get in to the best 22 as finals approach.

Now, if we could only get Spangher or Schoey up for the finals we would be talking about "Hawthorn problems"!

 

[EightyNineChamps]

question is whether there's a spot for him when Shiels returns. I like to think so.

If he keeps playing like that we'll invent a position for him...

As to who comes out, well that's what Clarko and Co are paid big bucks for.

 

[JoeHawk]

Those saying Whitecross is playing well and is like a new recruit for us are spot on. Will be a great story if we can get him a flag this year.

But what happens when Shiels returns. Is there room for WX?

 

[MJA33]

His presence made it easier for Sis.

Thank you - I'm glad someone noticed

 

[Off The Couch]

But what happens when Shiels returns. Is there room for WX?

Yes

 

[threesixpio]

Geelongs last 4 games are easy as and they will finish top 2zz

Cats being defeated in a GF by us is a football multiple orgasm wet dream. Please god - make it so!!

 

[Dixie Flatline]

12 goals to two after half time.

 

[threesixpio]

12 goals to two after half time.

Which just shows how awesome our defence is and...


Yeah nah Tiges are just shit

 

[A Cut Above]

Gee whiz the mainboard's always good for a laugh.

After evaluating Richmond's performance one Carlton fan is worried 'their brand is beginning to suffer'. 30 years of nothing is all well & good apparently, but one big loss to the Hawks & suddenly alarm bells should be ringing!

 

[tige19]

I loved JOR's effort to work himself into the game, some people probably don't know but his tank isn't far off the Hartungs and Izzys of the club. The kid has a serious motor, I'm hoping we can see him build on this as the snippet we seen could be super valuable moving forward.

Sicily is such a unique case for us, he reads the ball as good as anyone in the air. He gives opponents little fake movements and shimmys and always gets them to bite. A very smooth operator, brilliant in air and improving all the time when the ball hits the deck.

Brad Hills workrate today was immense, he was non stop from the get go. When his effort and attitude is what was today he is an elite footballer. He can have a huge ending to his career at Hawthorn, help us to another flag and help us nab a quality mid. Good on ya Hilly.

I know there's a million and one excuses and reasons thrown up about TOB but I'm just not seeing any improvement, not enough to suggest he is a consitant level AFL footballer. He struggles to duke the footy, even today he had a few sits where if it was Sic or Gunno they would have taken it and he couldn't get it done. I watched him today and I was trying to work out his leading patterns and running patterns, maybe he is told to be the ultimate decoy and not go near the footy? I'm not sure, maybe he doesn't have the natural footy smarts. Either way I hope there's some improvements, he has some nice tools but has some glaring weaknesses.

Who's 38 for Box Hill? The guy has some serious size and can take a grab, wouldnt mind him listed at some stage.

 

[MrPremiership]

TOB getting held by Rance is far from TOB playing a sh*t game. He continued to present and tackled well.

Rance kills AA Full Forwards

 

[savagelunchbox]

Mitchell will get all the accolades for his game today, but he would not have been as good if it wasn't for Lewis. Lewis played a great team game today blocking for Mitchell to give him the time and space whilst also playing the pseudo Shiels defensive mid role today. Hats off to him.

McEvoy played like someone who got the coach's rocket up the backside. Played better, but still loves giving the ball to the opposition a lot.

Brand continues to show some great signs. It's no surprise that having him in the side has coincided with the form surge Hawthorn are showing. They're taller down back and his use of the ball for a 2m player is very good. "He straightens them up."

JOR... I just don't see it. The one or two good things he does aren't all the great and encouraging especially when his defensive side of his game, including his defensive reaction time and position, is downright embarrassing and showing no signs of improving.

Good to see Smith and Hill exploit Richmond's lack of an outside runner.

Not one for the highlights. Next week could be worse being in Tassie though...