Preview Hawthorn vs Cats - changes and discussions

[Ram-Man]

Very good post. First time I have ever agreed with what you have said.

If we are up by less than 5 goals at 3 qtr time, I am leaving. There is no way I am watching my heart get broken again.

lol

5 goals only ... 10 goals and I'm still not confident that we'll hang on !

Either way , win , lose or draw .... GO HAWKS !!

 

[Hawker55]

God we can be a bunch of whingers, it has been done to death. Buddy declared himself fit to play against G.W.S, he would have done the same today reading between the lines. Against G.W.S they took his word and it backfired. Once bitten, twice shy. They err on the side of caution this week and we have kittens?

They don't have much data to go on with buddy's soft tissue injuries being that he has been so resilient over his career, fair to say next time they will handle it better.

Considering he was swimming this time last week it was always going to unlikely that he would get up for the cats for a friday night game.

This pretty much.

Plus I think Clarko is actually enjoying Buddy being out and the team learning to look for other options in the forward line. I don't think they will play Scarlett man on man with anyone - he used to be sensational but like Fletcher this isn't his strength anymore. He's a lot more like Gibbo these days, great as the third man up/loose player in defence rather than a run with player.

The biggest concern I have with Buddy out is that it frees Taylor to go play up forward. Although I guess if Pods/Taylor and Hawkins are all there then they run the risk of playing a bit too tall...

 

[MinerBoy]

The biggest concern I have with Buddy out is that it frees Taylor to go play up forward. Although I guess if Pods/Taylor and Hawkins are all there then they run the risk of playing a bit too tall...

That would be awesome. Hope Chris Scott does that. Play the man where the ball ain't.

 

[Hawker55]

haha yeah, I was really worried about Tarrant playing forward against the Pies too. our defence does seem so much more organised this year. I guess a lot comes down to our midfield being better too, but against the Pies every time the ball came in it was to a three on 1.

 

[HawthornHawk]

Must be one hell of a hammy strain

Hell of a corked buttock

 

[Neville Bartos]

Any chance that Gilham comes in and Schoenmakers goes forward? (Same as Bulldogs game)

Then if sh1t hits the fan in our backline we have a few options to change things up.

 

[satan1]

Back our strengths, when teams have tried to go unusually tall against us we have killed them on the spread from half back.

I think the team has to focus on what we do well, realistically Gilham isn't going to offer a big body that will win the majority of one on ones against a Pods or Hawkins anyway.

In the game against Essendon a few weeks back midway through the second quarter Geelong had 30 turnovers, we need to be geared towards forcing these and taking advantage of it best we can rather than worrying about how many talls Geelong may put inside 50.

 

[Hawker55]

Any chance that Gilham comes in and Schoenmakers goes forward? (Same as Bulldogs game)

Then if sh1t hits the fan in our backline we have a few options to change things up.

I reckon there's more chance of Rough going back in that instance than bringing Gilham into the side. At the end of the day we have to back ourselves to cause them more problems than they cause us.

 

[hawkheart]

Buddy or not, tomorrow night the dam BURSTS and the Cats get swept away.

 

[Nomore4s]

So after 26 days Buddy's hamstring still not right to go.

Herald sun saying he might not make the trip to Tassie for the Port game. It's on a Sunday so that would be 35 days and the following game is another 7 days after that, 42 days.

Either this is a high grade hammy tear or, as usual, we are being kept in the dark about injuries.

I was sure he would play and this news has just really pissed me off.

There is nothing wrong with his hammie, its just that they can't fit him into the team

On a more serious note I've got no issues with them sitting him out this week or even next, it is all about finals for us now and we are performing really well without him so why take any risks?
If he was to re-injure the hammie now there is a chance he could miss a fair chunk of finals in a worse case scenario, so better to be overly cautious. They probably made a mistake playing him against GWS but there has been a silver lining so it has all probably worked out for the best.

 

[Partridge]

This pretty much.

Plus I think Clarko is actually enjoying Buddy being out and the team learning to look for other options in the forward line. I don't think they will play Scarlett man on man with anyone - he used to be sensational but like Fletcher this isn't his strength anymore. He's a lot more like Gibbo these days, great as the third man up/loose player in defence rather than a run with player.

The biggest concern I have with Buddy out is that it frees Taylor to go play up forward. Although I guess if Pods/Taylor and Hawkins are all there then they run the risk of playing a bit too tall...

Another intrusion guys...

I think Scott would only do that if we were in deep trouble to begin with and nothing else was working. Walker's still a long way from proving himself and Pods if he returns hasn't actually done much for a while. Be very, very surprised if they moved Taylor up there. Besides which he'll probably get Gunston (assuming Lonergan gets Roughead).

 

[QuietB]

If it aint broke, don't fix it and based on what I have seen it definately ain't broke.

 

[HawksILove]

Before the game, I'm always been nervous playing Geelong but tomorrow night
I am not, WE WILL WIN

 

[bugalugs213]

****ing annoying how they've handled that.

 

[Dinsdale]

No Buddy, no worries, we dumped the wobbles and scum without him, and I reckon we can dump on the handbags.

But its going to be great to get him back when he's fit.... I reckon Buddy will play next week and break the 18 goals in a game record.

 

[Footy Smarts]

Is 1. really true? Since 2009 buddy has averaged 3.5 goals per game against the cats. Last season he returned 2, 4 and 4 which includes the final which was played in the wet and in which he got injured.

Given we have pretty much switched off at 3/4 time in almost all of the matches since 2009 (save round 1 2009), has lonergan really done that well against Buddy? I think the second bolded passage is much more accurate. Buddy hasn't kicked massive bags (although two lots of 5 in 2009 plus 2 lots of 4 in 2012 is hardly bad!) because we haven't won enough ball in the midfield.

Year Rd Goals
2009 1 5
2009 17 5
2010 2 2
2010 15 3
2011 5 3
2011 12 4
2011 QF 4
2012 2 2

Lonergan wasn't first choice in defense until 2010. The games he played in 2009 were terrible so even if he played and played on Buddy (which from memory I would seriously doubt) I wasn't referring to them. Also at least one of the games in recent times Taylor went to Buddy early and he had 4 shots at goal in the first 10 minutes or something stupid like that and then Lonergan held him well from then.

Even discounting that Buddy's only averaged 3 goals a game since the start of 2010 which is a solid return.

Edit - From the round 5 game last year:

"In a breathtaking first quarter, the Hawks kicked four goals in the first 11 minutes, including two in the opening three minutes to star forward Lance Franklin, causing his starting opponent Harry Taylor to be replaced by Tom Lonergan.

But with Taylor, Lonergan and Matthew Scarlett all excellent in defence from that point..."

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl...-afl-premiership/story-e6frf3e3-1226045064407

Not that it matters for the weekend anyway.

 

[Hawker55]

Another intrusion guys...

I think Scott would only do that if we were in deep trouble to begin with and nothing else was working. Walker's still a long way from proving himself and Pods if he returns hasn't actually done much for a while. Be very, very surprised if they moved Taylor up there. Besides which he'll probably get Gunston (assuming Lonergan gets Roughead).

Cheers for that. There were posters on your board saying Scarlett might get Gunston but in recent times he's very much been the third man up I thought rather than the man on man defender? I think you're right on the matchup I'm just not sure how it'll go since Gunston isn't a massive bloke, unlike Rough and Buddy.

It's definitely going to be an interesting game though!

 

[thommus]

will be interesting to see if we opt to go with three ruckmen in the absence of Buddy

 

[sydney_hawka]

will be interesting to see if we opt to go with three ruckmen in the absence of Buddy

We need pace not height. Keep the Team as is until Bud comes back in.

 

[Bosk]

I'm not terribly worried about this game.
Yes it's Geelong, but its a far cry from the Geelong of old. Their youngsters dont particularly impress me and they have far too many of them going into a big game. They're overly reliant on a small group of veterans to carry the rest of their side and blokes like Scarlett, Chapman, SJ & co. are too far past their prime to worry us as much as they used to.

The way we've been playing over the past month has been phenomenal.
Best of all they've been genuine team efforts with few if any players failing to do their bit for the side. The skill with which we've moved the ball, the desperation and tackling from virtually every player, the utterly ruthless Nazi-esque manner in which the backline has organized itself and refused to concede opportunities, the unselfishness and team-first focus all the forwards have demonstrated... I've seen nothing to compare with it for many a year.

If we play to our best we win.
Geelong are now a second-tier side which is no longer good enough to threaten us, even at their absolute best.
Even our last game against them we should have won comfortably, and that was when the team was looking painfully dis-organised (especially down back), Franklin was playing up the ground and spraying most of his shots, our midfield was looking extremely slow, we were being beaten in the ruck and thrashed in clearances....... to say that things have changed would be an understatement of biblical proportions.

So yeah, bring on the Handbaggers I say. We have nothing to fear from them, we have every reason to be motivated to smash them and I think that's exactly what we'll do.

 

[Roddy27]

Hale in for Savage.

 

[IBleedBrownNGold]

Please let there be a late change. Too tall.

 

[Cyril the Squirrel]

Bizarre selection :O

 

[Gilbert_Hodge]

Terrible decision to play 3 ruckmen. I would expect a late withdrawal.

 

[Bosk]

will be interesting to see if we opt to go with three ruckmen in the absence of Buddy

Everyone's talking about this game as if we need to do something special to beat Geelong... oh noes should we bring in another ruckman? Should we rush back Gillham? We need Buddy playing!


Guys - WE are the favorites in this game and for very good reason. THEY are the ones who should be panicking over how the hell they can stop us.

We've lost to them the past 8 times? Big shit! They've done the same or similar to most teams in the comp in case you hadn't noticed. That was then and this is now. They're in decline and we're playing the best football I've ever seen from our club in two decades.
If we play the way we have been the past month we will smash them by 10 goals minimum. Clarkson won't pull any major changes - why the hell would he when we are playing so well? No Franklin? No worries! Have we had any trouble scoring since he's been missing? Hell no!

Geelong should be shitting themselves now and rightly so. We are the form team of the competition and I see very very few weaknesses in our current side they could hope to exploit. No, the pressure is all on them now. How the hell are they going to contain the Hawthorn juggernaut!??