Autopsy Hawthorn pipped at the post by Port Adelaide

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Did the side play a little like it had been sipping it's own bath water? Or going hard at it from the start?

I couldn't watch due to kids sporting commitments. Only caught the last 10 minutes and we were giving it a massive crack, but won't really want to watch the replay.
The side played like there was pressure on early. That's all it was. Didn't play our game
 
History doesn’t repeat.. it rhymes and our time is coming!

As much as this loss sucks (I haven’t felt so flat after a loss since 2012 GF), this will be the loss that drives our preseason and pushes 2025 to new limits.

I tell you one thing, the Hawks marketing department won’t need any gimmicks to sell memberships next year.
 
Sh1t sides can bring u down... hopefully just the loss we had to have..

I hope ginni can take what's coming
Port were not shit - they came with a plan and they executed it. They got hands in all night to break up Hawthorns handballs, they even got their heads in the way for a goal - how unlucky was that. They had a plan to stop Hok ball and they did. On top of that they controlled the tempo of the game with short kicking when they had the pill.

Hawks simply had no flow. There were no slicing kicks, little run and when the Hawks did run they inevitably ran into dead ends.

Hawks defence was fine - Port stopped our offence. Full credit to them.
 

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Many of our players had a down night but we still pushed Port at their home ground. We'll learn from this and there's plenty of reinforcements to bring in next season including Barass and Battle. Who knows if there's another target we're not aware of. Our list will be stronger in terms of talent and experience next season. It's up to the boys to continue pushing for excellence. Thanks for a brilliant ride in 2024, onto 2025!
 
Kenny was embarrassed by how poorly Port played. Of course he would claim motivation from Ginnivan's tweet because it diverts attention from how badly they played against the Cats.

There was a post from someone last night about how Kenny never got over the 2014 preliminary final. I bet that's absolutely correct. Nurses a grudge about how that game ended.
 
I’ll bet that there’ll be a post from Ginni next week… in Sydney.

Proud of the club, what a great job. Well done to Port, they’ve done what they’ve done all year and that’s come out firing after a thumping.

The guys know what it’s like to be hunted now, there won’t be any more heat than that in a match. It’s up to them to have it drive them for next year. Even with what was thrown at them, they’ve lost by hitting the post. So even games where the opposing team can keep up a huge level of pressure for four quarters.. the game plan stacks up.
 
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What a great experience/learning moment for a mostly young side.
Sam wanted a style that stood up to finals and we are not quite there.
Port stifled the way we want to play. Covered the switch, pressure on players getting handball receives and covered our playmakers.
Historically sides need to lose games like this before going all the way.
 

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Hope Sam goes to town on that game. It was the least Hawthorn game we’ve played for so long, and he needs to understand why.

But fantastic season. To be disappointed in losing now shows how far we’ve come. Let’s skip forward a few months and start the next season
It is hard to see on TV - were port playing man on man? Hawks did not cope with their defensive set up. We didn’t seem to have switched all night. Half forwards never had any space to receive. Port seemed to shut the whole Hok ball system down
 
Kenny was embarrassed by how poorly Port played. Of course he would claim motivation from Ginnivan's tweet because it diverts attention from how badly they played against the Cats.

There was a post from someone last night about how Kenny never got over the 2014 preliminary final. I bet that's absolutely correct. Nurses a grudge about how that game ended.

100 per cent. Same way Mark Williams never got over the 2001 Semi (just ask Chad Cornes).

Amazing that the three knock out finals have all been decided by three points. It was always going to be extremely tough for us to go to Sydney in a Prelim without Frost and Day under a cloud
 
1. Defensive pressure is the key to winning finals

2. Port put the cue in the rack halfway through last week’s game and began preparing for last night

3. We have complained routinely about opposition sides saying “we played a bad game tonight” and not giving Hawthorn due credit. Maybe we should do that to Port?

4. We were most certainly not “owned” or “dominated” or whatever the binary supporters think we were. We played a good finals game last night, but were very narrowly defeated by a side…..which only 6 weeks ago belted Sydney by 100+.

5. There’s a good reason why most sides who get the double chance don’t go out in straight sets - it’s the fact they get a home semi final and a chance to reset.

6. The last 3 months have been awesome to watch as a Hawks supporter of 40 years’ standing. We have a lot to be proud of, and more to look forward to.
 
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Long time lurker first time poster.

Enjoyed the season and pity it ended last night in a very frustrating game. They came out red hot as expected and we made mistakes that top 4 teams don’t do. Had to cringe at some of the over confidence from posters saying it was in the bag. Port are a weird fickle club and it obviously took Ginni’s comment to get them fired up. Despite all that we still had a chance to win off our own boot and we kept fighting all night.

Adding Day, Battle and Barrass into last night’s team would help for sure. But it’s that extra level of composure we need to work on. Hardwick going back a few extra steps so he doesn’t kick into the port bloke. Newcombe going the safer option just before half time and not turning it over. Chol and Impey executing quicker instead of being run down or running too far. Moore calling for it despite being in a worse position on the flank.

The best clubs don’t make these mistakes and it’s a tough learning experience, but hopefully the boys take a lot out of it.

Lastly Ken Hinkley is an absolute peanut. His tenure at Port would be over had Sicily kicked straight.
 
Don’t play the race card you flog.
Chol deserved it- that’s why Richmond got rid of him and GC. He’s a big man and non competitive sometimes. He need to show some aggression.
Yet he was massively better than Dear and Gunston
Also Weddle and Macdonald who were both so bad it was literally like having two extra port players out there. If you want to rip into players, start with those two.
 
Did the side play a little like it had been sipping it's own bath water? Or going hard at it from the start?

I couldn't watch due to kids sporting commitments. Only caught the last 10 minutes and we were giving it a massive crack, but won't really want to watch the replay.

For the first time since Geelong we were the HUNTED instead of being the HUNTERS.
 
If it was a Ginni comment on Instagram that gave them the 5% extra to win a cut throat final then they are a poor excuse for an elite sporting organisation. You can't rely on external incidents to motivate you before a huge game.
Sounds logical to an outsider but footballers aren’t always the smartest bunch and the same motivation didn’t help them last week. For a lot of players “this guy is disrespecting you” is more effective than all the rational things.

I’m sure it wasn’t just the Ginni post though. It was probably the selfies and the gushing Hokball articles all week. Ken would have been saying all week that “these campaigners have got ahead of themselves” and so he should have, that’s his job.

But at the end of the day, it’s what makes the spirit of this group and what got us this far and will hopefully lead to more success in the future so I’m comfortable with it.
 

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Autopsy Hawthorn pipped at the post by Port Adelaide

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