Preview Marsh Week 2 - Hawthorn v Melbourne - UTas Stadium - Friday March 6, 7.40pm

[Nick the Pig]

I hope we play CJ from R1 and stick with him through the ups and downs. I think he will be the kind of player who will improve out of site with solid exposure in the firsts.

I'm not as sold on Morrison as some on here. I think he looks OK in a loose game where he can find the space to get the ball but his disposal, while tidy enough, lacks penetration from the back half. As a defender doesn't play with enough accountability for my liking. Reminds me of Teia Miles. It seems Clarko likes him in this role though and will be playing from R1.

Breust looks a class above all our other forwards. Give him some help!

Frawley often cops a bashing on here but gee he is still such an important player for us. I'd hate to be the opposition forward who has to line up against him. Rarely beaten. I feel he and Frost will form a good partnership

Worpel has looked out of sorts this pre season. Not sure if he is second guessing himself with Mitchell back as the main man. The synergy should come with more game time.

Having Hendo rested highlighted just how much his run and positioning has become crucial for us.

 

[threesixpio]

Desperate for some footy positivity I went and watched Box Hill today.

Found plenty. Infinitely more watchable than last night's garbage.

But first the bad news - Will Golds did his ACL. Tragic for the kid, was playing well.

Ok, the good stuff - we won 11.7 73 to 2.12 24.

3.2 - 0.3
5.3 - 0.9
7.7 - 0.10
11.7 - 2.12

As far as I could tell the Dees had 11 listed players to our 10. The first half was pretty evenly fought, but Casey just couldn't find a goal. We rushed a lot of their points but they sprayed quite a few they should have got. Second half was dominated by Box Hill.

Our listed players were Golds, Day, Jeka, Maginness, Hartley, Moore, Ross, Jones, Pepper, Reeves.

Glass was there, in civvies. Didn't seem injured, not sure why he wasn't playing. Must be a niggle. No sign of O'Brien, Howe, Gunston or M.Walker (what's happened to him?).

Day, Hartley and Pepper lined up down back. Reeves, Maginness and Jones in the middle. Ross, Jeka, Moore and Golds up forward.

Dylan Moore started on fire - best player in the first qtr. Ross kicked our first 2, the first a really good snap. Cucinotta got the 3rd from a set shot. Reeves was great, winning all the taps and taking 4 or 5 marks, 2 of them good strong contested ones.

2nd qtr was a bit more of a slog. Casey off target, and Box Hill scrapping a couple of goals - Ross walking into an open goal and Jeka with a big snap around the body from distance. Golds injured early in the qtr.

3rd qtr we dominated but struggled to find the goals. Maginness and Jones really worked into it. Reeves serving it on a platter for our mids. Ross kicked his 4th and Will Day kicked a beauty late. Worthy of a description - Casey cleared from deep, Day sprinted hard to make the contest and spoiled the ball to ground wide on the boundary, somehow landing and pirouetting as he did, somehow emerging from the traffic with the ball tucked under his arm. Handpassed forward, then got it back and snapped across his body on the angle for a brilliant goal. We bemoan a lack of class in the senior side, well this kid has it in spades.

Last qtr foot came off the gas a bit and Casey snagged a couple, but it opened up for Box Hill as well. Jeka got on the end of a great passage of play, taking a big mark in the goal square. Kid can play. Reeves drifted forward and took a strong grab, dobbing it from about 25 out. Riley Bowman - new young ruckman - struggled most of the day but hit a purple patch with the last two goals, one a quick snap from a pack and then a good lead out mark and conversion.

HFC listed blokes:
Reeves - BOG by a mile for mine. I haven't seen a more dominant display by a Hawthorn ruckman since Salmon. Sure, I don't know who he was up against, but he was that dominant and impacted the game to a ridiculous extent. Every stoppage, he put it down a BH player's throat. Taps behind his head to blokes on the move, thumps into space where our blokes ran onto it, palms straight to Finn and Jones over and over again. I'll say again, I haven't seen anything like it for 20 years, and I've watched a lot of footy. Also took marks around the ground, kicked a goal, laid some heavy tackles. About 500% better than I've ever seen him play before.

Jeka - moved well, got up the ground, took marks, distributed well. Kicked a couple, could have maybe had one or two more as he had one touched on the line and one slipped through his hands in the square after he'd done all the body work to take the mark. Has a presence. Lot to like.

Day - got more and more prominent. Just after he kicked that great goal, he did a lazy kick on the wing that drifted wide of the mark and went to an oppo player. I watched him for a reaction - he took off toward the action like a mad man. I thought he's not going to impact this, it's just going back over his head. But he threw himself headlong and smothered the kick over the boundary. In the last quarter, he was everywhere, linking and driving forward. Took a big defensive mark in the goal square at full back. He's got me very very keen to see more.

Maginness - was workman-like. I'll stop short of saying he was great, but he played as well as any of our mids, and clearly knows how to play. Got ridiculous silver service at the stoppages from Reeves, and fed it out well most times. I tried to keep rough track of his possessions, I'd say he got around 20.

Jones - very very similar to Maginness. They actually play similar games. Finn actually looks the stronger, but Jones is slightly more manic and fights in and under.

Hartley - great game at full back. His ability to be in the right spot was a bit dare I say Mirra-like. He's a great kick, although he did bite off a couple of kickouts that were a bit over ambitious. He'll be a very handy player for Box Hill.

Pepper - this kid could be an absolute steal. The knock was his kicking, but he looks to have a nice compact action and hit all his targets today. (In fact Box Hill's overall skill made a mockery of what we saw last night - brrrr trying to forget). Pepper competes like crazy, has a great leap, and looks really composed. Like I said, he looks a steal.

Ross - has that happy knack of getting to the right spots at the right time. He's a very dangerous and clever player. Four goals is a good return. Did drift out of it a fraction in the second half but we were rotating forwards and he was still creating for others.

Moore - started on fire. Only played the first half, but was doing it all - marking, tackling, linking. Seem to be playing high HFF, not playing close to goal.

Golds - really sad. Was going pretty nicely, getting his share of touches pre injury.

Box Hill lads -
to be honest I was there more for the Hawks but these blokes stood out:

Mullenger-McHugh - played at CHB and looked more at home in defence than any time I saw him last year up forward. Very good game with some disciplined spoils and intercepts.

Bowman - young ruckman looked pretty tentative for the most part until taking his chances up forward in the last qtr. Box Hill might be very happy to have Brooksby to accompany Reeves cos Bowman doesn't look up to it (admittedly at first glance).

Deluca - stocky left footed midfielder, got involved a lot. Could be a handy replacement for Meadows, looks a similar type.

DeWit - after playing defence last year he was used as a tall wingman today and was quite prominent.

Otten was serviceable down back, Deledio didn't play.

I know this is all probably a little overly positive, but after last night I know I needed it. Was a good spectacle, and a fair bit to take away for Box Hill.

Great write up. Keen to see more of Reeves.

 

[Rowie09]

We're top heavy. How many times did we handball to a stationary ruckman, or was a tall involved in a running chain?

Our disposal was horrific. Even by pre-season standards, it was enormously below par, and on a ground that we normally exploit.

Yes, its only pre-season. Yes the result doesn't matter.

However, unless we are cooking up something that is the direct opposite of what we served up last night, the opening 6 weeks of the season are going to be dire.

Pros and cons?

Pros:
Scully with a full pre-season and 20 odd games last year under his belt looks ready to roll. A gun.
Morrison passed the test.
CJ adds some X factor out of defence.
Frawley.
We cant play any worse.

Cons:
Hanrahan isnt the one, sadly. Does some ok things, but just seems to lack polish and penetration. Doesnt seem to ever take his chances.
Stratton got torched again.
We seem rushed, under pressure and slow to give/receive.
Zero forward structure. We spent 14 weeks last season bombing it on the heads of stagnant forwards, and that doesnt seem to have changed.
Love Worp, but as Taz alluded to last night, his disposal simply must be better.

I actually didnt think Big Boy was terrible given how new he is to the role.

Fingers crossed for a better showing in R1, but 2 weeks out we have work to do, and thats a concern.

Go Hawks.

 

[Topiary]

When you watch such putrid football it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and think this is what lies ahead for the season.

Then you remember we played some awful games early on last season, players badly out of form, then for example the Geelong game after the break we looked like a different team.
thankfully last night wasn’t the real deal. I’m still optimistic and think this season will reveal some good young players, some good wins with some bad losses and fingers crossed a finals birth.

I understand we have not won a preseason game since 2015

 

[tommyk72]

I don't see how we can carry so many players. Stratton and Ollie are not contributing, and I don't like to say it but we need more from Nash (he's a fave of mine). Normally you can carry one or two, but when you are already trying to get a team to gel, and have a few people coming back from injury, you can't have that many.

The good thing is, our kicking can't get worse.

Positively surprised by Morrison. Can't believe how much sh!t is being thrown at Ceglar. I would have had him in my top 5 last night. I also thought McEvoy was more than handy. Improve our kicking efficiency by 10% - particularly from our top 5 onballers - and we look really good. Our talls are going to look poor if we can't kick it to them.

 

[TylerDurden]

Cegs had 6 clearances. He was dominant. Least of our worries.

The delivery inside 50 was diabolical. Needs to be fixed pretty quickly or we are in a world of trouble.

 

[Pessimistic]

Desperate for some footy positivity I went and watched Box Hill today.

Found plenty. Infinitely more watchable than last night's garbage.

But first the bad news - Will Golds did his ACL. Tragic for the kid, was playing well.

Ok, the good stuff - we won 11.7 73 to 2.12 24.

3.2 - 0.3
5.3 - 0.9
7.7 - 0.10
11.7 - 2.12

As far as I could tell the Dees had 11 listed players to our 10. The first half was pretty evenly fought, but Casey just couldn't find a goal. We rushed a lot of their points but they sprayed quite a few they should have got. Second half was dominated by Box Hill.

Our listed players were Golds, Day, Jeka, Maginness, Hartley, Moore, Ross, Jones, Pepper, Reeves.

Glass was there, in civvies. Didn't seem injured, not sure why he wasn't playing. Must be a niggle. No sign of O'Brien, Howe, Gunston or M.Walker (what's happened to him?).

Day, Hartley and Pepper lined up down back. Reeves, Maginness and Jones in the middle. Ross, Jeka, Moore and Golds up forward.

Dylan Moore started on fire - best player in the first qtr. Ross kicked our first 2, the first a really good snap. Cucinotta got the 3rd from a set shot. Reeves was great, winning all the taps and taking 4 or 5 marks, 2 of them good strong contested ones.

2nd qtr was a bit more of a slog. Casey off target, and Box Hill scrapping a couple of goals - Ross walking into an open goal and Jeka with a big snap around the body from distance. Golds injured early in the qtr.

3rd qtr we dominated but struggled to find the goals. Maginness and Jones really worked into it. Reeves serving it on a platter for our mids. Ross kicked his 4th and Will Day kicked a beauty late. Worthy of a description - Casey cleared from deep, Day sprinted hard to make the contest and spoiled the ball to ground wide on the boundary, somehow landing and pirouetting as he did, somehow emerging from the traffic with the ball tucked under his arm. Handpassed forward, then got it back and snapped across his body on the angle for a brilliant goal. We bemoan a lack of class in the senior side, well this kid has it in spades.

Last qtr foot came off the gas a bit and Casey snagged a couple, but it opened up for Box Hill as well. Jeka got on the end of a great passage of play, taking a big mark in the goal square. Kid can play. Reeves drifted forward and took a strong grab, dobbing it from about 25 out. Riley Bowman - new young ruckman - struggled most of the day but hit a purple patch with the last two goals, one a quick snap from a pack and then a good lead out mark and conversion.

HFC listed blokes:
Reeves - BOG by a mile for mine. I haven't seen a more dominant display by a Hawthorn ruckman since Salmon. Sure, I don't know who he was up against, but he was that dominant and impacted the game to a ridiculous extent. Every stoppage, he put it down a BH player's throat. Taps behind his head to blokes on the move, thumps into space where our blokes ran onto it, palms straight to Finn and Jones over and over again. I'll say again, I haven't seen anything like it for 20 years, and I've watched a lot of footy. Also took marks around the ground, kicked a goal, laid some heavy tackles. About 500% better than I've ever seen him play before.

Jeka - moved well, got up the ground, took marks, distributed well. Kicked a couple, could have maybe had one or two more as he had one touched on the line and one slipped through his hands in the square after he'd done all the body work to take the mark. Has a presence. Lot to like.

Day - got more and more prominent. Just after he kicked that great goal, he did a lazy kick on the wing that drifted wide of the mark and went to an oppo player. I watched him for a reaction - he took off toward the action like a mad man. I thought he's not going to impact this, it's just going back over his head. But he threw himself headlong and smothered the kick over the boundary. In the last quarter, he was everywhere, linking and driving forward. Took a big defensive mark in the goal square at full back. He's got me very very keen to see more.

Maginness - was workman-like. I'll stop short of saying he was great, but he played as well as any of our mids, and clearly knows how to play. Got ridiculous silver service at the stoppages from Reeves, and fed it out well most times. I tried to keep rough track of his possessions, I'd say he got around 20.

Jones - very very similar to Maginness. They actually play similar games. Finn actually looks the stronger, but Jones is slightly more manic and fights in and under.

Hartley - great game at full back. His ability to be in the right spot was a bit dare I say Mirra-like. He's a great kick, although he did bite off a couple of kickouts that were a bit over ambitious. He'll be a very handy player for Box Hill.

Pepper - this kid could be an absolute steal. The knock was his kicking, but he looks to have a nice compact action and hit all his targets today. (In fact Box Hill's overall skill made a mockery of what we saw last night - brrrr trying to forget). Pepper competes like crazy, has a great leap, and looks really composed. Like I said, he looks a steal.

Ross - has that happy knack of getting to the right spots at the right time. He's a very dangerous and clever player. Four goals is a good return. Did drift out of it a fraction in the second half but we were rotating forwards and he was still creating for others.

Moore - started on fire. Only played the first half, but was doing it all - marking, tackling, linking. Seem to be playing high HFF, not playing close to goal.

Golds - really sad. Was going pretty nicely, getting his share of touches pre injury.

Box Hill lads -
to be honest I was there more for the Hawks but these blokes stood out:

Mullenger-McHugh - played at CHB and looked more at home in defence than any time I saw him last year up forward. Very good game with some disciplined spoils and intercepts.

Bowman - young ruckman looked pretty tentative for the most part until taking his chances up forward in the last qtr. Box Hill might be very happy to have Brooksby to accompany Reeves cos Bowman doesn't look up to it (admittedly at first glance).

Deluca - stocky left footed midfielder, got involved a lot. Could be a handy replacement for Meadows, looks a similar type.

DeWit - after playing defence last year he was used as a tall wingman today and was quite prominent.

Otten was serviceable down back, Deledio didn't play.

I know this is all probably a little overly positive, but after last night I know I needed it. Was a good spectacle, and a fair bit to take away for Box Hill.

Not bad at all given the massive amount of change especially leadership. Whos impressing on that front? Too early?

 

[Zack]

Cegs had 6 clearances. He was dominant. Least of our worries.

The delivery inside 50 was diabolical. Needs to be fixed pretty quickly or we are in a world of trouble.

Have to agree with TD,

The thing I don't understand is we have become the slowest team I've ever seen worse than the 80's teams slowness.
But our disposal is abhorrent, at least from 2010 to 2016 we were the best team by foot, perhaps ever (I'd argue just ever) which would alleviate slowness.
Two games in this year we are the slowest team in the league and can't hit a barn door from in front of a... well barn bloody door.

That is the worrying. We miss Impey and Hardwick so much one can burst clear and spread to be an option the other always tries to be an option. Playing BB as an anchor without those two there is like expecting the titanic to dodge an iceberg it's just not gonna happen turning circles of dinosaurs don't escape icebergs. We need pace.

Another example is and I wish no ill will to Mitch Lewis, but I don't want him in the team until we drop Patton or BB as KP players, we just can't carry all these tall slows and he's probably on the slightly faster than say Patton, BB, Cegs range, I'd just rather play TOB who's not slow.

Our other issue was strong tall midfielders, Bontempelli rips most teams a new one but us especially, but yesterday Petracca looked like Dusty/Danger combined without the umpires helping him... hopefully a taller Maginess with time will help that but at the moment he took the piss last night and we had no one to stop him or even went close, he brushed the aside like they were muppets.

Does this spell the end, not necessarily, put in a firing gunston as an example and teams set up differently, which means other players have less pressure etc,etc. But it is a concern that if we don't get help in certain areas soon we do have issues that a crap team like Melbourne exploited and we had 0 answers.

 

[Pessimistic]

Who are our fastest talls? TOB frost gunston nash and CJ? Might also need massive ones from smith henderson scully etc to offset the other talls - who with lewis out is just Patton Ceglar and BigBoy ( who has a tank)

 

[Mojo]

Cegs had 6 clearances. He was dominant. Least of our worries.

The delivery inside 50 was diabolical. Needs to be fixed pretty quickly or we are in a world of trouble.

Is it just synergy? Or are we just lacking the required players?

On paper we look balanced and competent, do we not?

Mitchell, O'Meara, Worpell, Wingard, Scully, Smith, Henderson...

 

[stemline]

Not bad at all given the massive amount of change especially leadership. Whos impressing on that front? Too early?

(Re Box Hill) -
A bit early perhaps but it seems obvious that Otten will be an onfield coach down back, and Hartley has the experience to be solid there too.

Jackson Ross does a lot of organising up forward but it's a VERY young side. Apart from Otten and Hartley, the next oldest out there today was Deluca and he's still only 23!

Edit: Just checked and Box Hill haven't announced their captain yet. Will be interesting.

 

[grumbleguts]

Have to admit that although it was only a practice game, something worried me. How are the medicos going to be looking after Tim Obrien when he is carrying this team all season. No Tim, No Hawthorn.

 

[UsedtoKick50]

We finished 9th last year. Simply saying Clarko doesn't value pre-season matches is what pisses plenty of opposition fans off about many of us, smugness. Topiary is the best poster on here, we all know it. I'm guessing he was a few sherberts deep last night, but consider the temperament to his posts.

We have an incredibly tough start to the season. Not an ideal lead in.

So many questions surround the makeup of this team. No, it isn't panic stations, but only the complete optimist could head into the season devoid of any nervousness after watching our pre-season games.

A poster said it best when they said it was just like watching the frustrating, slow ball-movement, inability to score Hawthorn for the most part (yes we made a run late) of last year. That's my worry.

 

[cogs2hawks]

If we’re all concerned for round 1 based on a preseason game look at Brisbane. They were woeful against Port. Chuck us on the G where it won’t be dewy (since during day), our skills will be much better than last night. Round 1 is a 50/50 for mine, I may seem like I’m just an optimist but I’m just expressing my opinion. They usually beat us but they never win at the G so they cancel eachother out. 50/50.

 

[Davo23]

I understand we have not won a preseason game since 2015

Why do you need to “win” a preseason game?

The win is meaningless - the coaches gain a huge amount irrespective of the result.

.

 

[MasterSamurai]

I usually like Garry Lyon’s thoughts on footy but I don’t agree with him on demons having another gear to go to and more improvement than hawthorn!! I can’t see us playing like this in the season proper but both saints and dees looked extra serious in their games! The only thing that worries me in both games is that the oppo are a lot quicker and have more bodies around the spilled contests than us. This I believe, will be fixed early in the season .

 

[Mrzohs]

Cegs ability to rack up possesions as a mobile ruckman is very handy.

I have always rated the rucks who can do this ala Dean Cox, Stefan Martin and of course Brodie Grundy.

And to be honest I feel that a lot of the reason around Cegs issues with consistency in the past was due to Clarko playing him as a key forward which is not his go at all.

Cegs can pitch hit in the forward line but he is not a true ruck/forward in the David Hale mold (very few rucks are).

100% agree with that.
On the flip side
- Mcevoy was a top 5 ruckmen in the league.
- Anyone that thinks you can have 4 guys on the field at once close to 200cm who are not excatly quick for there size is borederline crazy in today game the balance is out Mcevoy,Cegs,Lewis,Patton. Good luck getting the ball off the team when you don't have it.
- Melbourne wouldn't be in the top5 quickest sides they made us look vfl standard.

Not reading to much into the preseason it was clear the player's didnt put to much presurre on the opposition. Just needs to be a tinker with our personal or setup i hope the coaches adjust quickly.
Clearly we had a good side at the end of last yr but it took far to long to get the balance right.

 

[Mrzohs]

Desperate for some footy positivity I went and watched Box Hill today.

Found plenty. Infinitely more watchable than last night's garbage.

But first the bad news - Will Golds did his ACL. Tragic for the kid, was playing well.

Ok, the good stuff - we won 11.7 73 to 2.12 24.

3.2 - 0.3
5.3 - 0.9
7.7 - 0.10
11.7 - 2.12

As far as I could tell the Dees had 11 listed players to our 10. The first half was pretty evenly fought, but Casey just couldn't find a goal. We rushed a lot of their points but they sprayed quite a few they should have got. Second half was dominated by Box Hill.

Our listed players were Golds, Day, Jeka, Maginness, Hartley, Moore, Ross, Jones, Pepper, Reeves.

Glass was there, in civvies. Didn't seem injured, not sure why he wasn't playing. Must be a niggle. No sign of O'Brien, Howe, Gunston or M.Walker (what's happened to him?).

Day, Hartley and Pepper lined up down back. Reeves, Maginness and Jones in the middle. Ross, Jeka, Moore and Golds up forward.

Dylan Moore started on fire - best player in the first qtr. Ross kicked our first 2, the first a really good snap. Cucinotta got the 3rd from a set shot. Reeves was great, winning all the taps and taking 4 or 5 marks, 2 of them good strong contested ones.

2nd qtr was a bit more of a slog. Casey off target, and Box Hill scrapping a couple of goals - Ross walking into an open goal and Jeka with a big snap around the body from distance. Golds injured early in the qtr.

3rd qtr we dominated but struggled to find the goals. Maginness and Jones really worked into it. Reeves serving it on a platter for our mids. Ross kicked his 4th and Will Day kicked a beauty late. Worthy of a description - Casey cleared from deep, Day sprinted hard to make the contest and spoiled the ball to ground wide on the boundary, somehow landing and pirouetting as he did, somehow emerging from the traffic with the ball tucked under his arm. Handpassed forward, then got it back and snapped across his body on the angle for a brilliant goal. We bemoan a lack of class in the senior side, well this kid has it in spades.

Last qtr foot came off the gas a bit and Casey snagged a couple, but it opened up for Box Hill as well. Jeka got on the end of a great passage of play, taking a big mark in the goal square. Kid can play. Reeves drifted forward and took a strong grab, dobbing it from about 25 out. Riley Bowman - new young ruckman - struggled most of the day but hit a purple patch with the last two goals, one a quick snap from a pack and then a good lead out mark and conversion.

HFC listed blokes:
Reeves - BOG by a mile for mine. I haven't seen a more dominant display by a Hawthorn ruckman since Salmon. Sure, I don't know who he was up against, but he was that dominant and impacted the game to a ridiculous extent. Every stoppage, he put it down a BH player's throat. Taps behind his head to blokes on the move, thumps into space where our blokes ran onto it, palms straight to Finn and Jones over and over again. I'll say again, I haven't seen anything like it for 20 years, and I've watched a lot of footy. Also took marks around the ground, kicked a goal, laid some heavy tackles. About 500% better than I've ever seen him play before.

Jeka - moved well, got up the ground, took marks, distributed well. Kicked a couple, could have maybe had one or two more as he had one touched on the line and one slipped through his hands in the square after he'd done all the body work to take the mark. Has a presence. Lot to like.

Day - got more and more prominent. Just after he kicked that great goal, he did a lazy kick on the wing that drifted wide of the mark and went to an oppo player. I watched him for a reaction - he took off toward the action like a mad man. I thought he's not going to impact this, it's just going back over his head. But he threw himself headlong and smothered the kick over the boundary. In the last quarter, he was everywhere, linking and driving forward. Took a big defensive mark in the goal square at full back. He's got me very very keen to see more.

Maginness - was workman-like. I'll stop short of saying he was great, but he played as well as any of our mids, and clearly knows how to play. Got ridiculous silver service at the stoppages from Reeves, and fed it out well most times. I tried to keep rough track of his possessions, I'd say he got around 20.

Jones - very very similar to Maginness. They actually play similar games. Finn actually looks the stronger, but Jones is slightly more manic and fights in and under.

Hartley - great game at full back. His ability to be in the right spot was a bit dare I say Mirra-like. He's a great kick, although he did bite off a couple of kickouts that were a bit over ambitious. He'll be a very handy player for Box Hill.

Pepper - this kid could be an absolute steal. The knock was his kicking, but he looks to have a nice compact action and hit all his targets today. (In fact Box Hill's overall skill made a mockery of what we saw last night - brrrr trying to forget). Pepper competes like crazy, has a great leap, and looks really composed. Like I said, he looks a steal.

Ross - has that happy knack of getting to the right spots at the right time. He's a very dangerous and clever player. Four goals is a good return. Did drift out of it a fraction in the second half but we were rotating forwards and he was still creating for others.

Moore - started on fire. Only played the first half, but was doing it all - marking, tackling, linking. Seem to be playing high HFF, not playing close to goal.

Golds - really sad. Was going pretty nicely, getting his share of touches pre injury.

Box Hill lads -
to be honest I was there more for the Hawks but these blokes stood out:

Mullenger-McHugh - played at CHB and looked more at home in defence than any time I saw him last year up forward. Very good game with some disciplined spoils and intercepts.

Bowman - young ruckman looked pretty tentative for the most part until taking his chances up forward in the last qtr. Box Hill might be very happy to have Brooksby to accompany Reeves cos Bowman doesn't look up to it (admittedly at first glance).

Deluca - stocky left footed midfielder, got involved a lot. Could be a handy replacement for Meadows, looks a similar type.

DeWit - after playing defence last year he was used as a tall wingman today and was quite prominent.

Otten was serviceable down back, Deledio didn't play.

I know this is all probably a little overly positive, but after last night I know I needed it. Was a good spectacle, and a fair bit to take away for Box Hill.

Love the right up thanks for that good news to see our depth!

- For mine Maginness or Jones is a must in the senior side ahead of cousins who is to similar to shiels,worps,mitch
we need speed, youth, manic pressure in our midfield set-up.

- Day is ready to go despite his size his all class, get him in we don't have that type of player in the side desperately lacking a small defender.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

100% agree with that.
On the flip side
- Mcevoy was a top 5 ruckmen in the league.
- Anyone that thinks you can have 4 guys on the field at once close to 200cm who are not excatly quick for there size is borederline crazy in today game the balance is out Mcevoy,Cegs,Lewis,Patton. Good luck getting the ball off the team when you don't have it.
- Melbourne wouldn't be in the top5 quickest sides they made us look vfl standard.

Not reading to much into the preseason it was clear the player's didnt put to much presurre on the opposition. Just needs to be a tinker with our personal or setup i hope the coaches adjust quickly.
Clearly we had a good side at the end of last yr but it took far to long to get the balance right.

Yes I agree, we are way too big and slow at the moment. A team like Richmond would destroy our current lineup with their power running, especially on a sunny day on a big ground like the MCG.

But Cegs is a legitimate top 5 starting AFL ruckman. The problem is we have two legitimate starting rucks in Cegs and Big Boy and it is causing issues to the balance of the side to fit them both into the 22.

I wish I knew what the answer is, the club tried using Cegs as a power forward last year which was a failure so I guess the Big Boy to CHB is another role of the dice.

 

[crazywildhorse]

Something we can all agree on:

Garry Lyon is a really poor commentator. I dont mind his post match comments, but I find during matches he doesn’t talk about the game, just relentlessly criticises players and says such fatalistic stuff about players “if he can’t improve his kicking he won’t hold down a spot”. He’s the new Robert Walls.

Except he’s actually unbiased in his criticism, unlike ‘offended’ Walls

 

[westhawk]

Desperate for some footy positivity I went and watched Box Hill today.

Found plenty. Infinitely more watchable than last night's garbage.

But first the bad news - Will Golds did his ACL. Tragic for the kid, was playing well.

Ok, the good stuff - we won 11.7 73 to 2.12 24.

3.2 - 0.3
5.3 - 0.9
7.7 - 0.10
11.7 - 2.12

As far as I could tell the Dees had 11 listed players to our 10. The first half was pretty evenly fought, but Casey just couldn't find a goal. We rushed a lot of their points but they sprayed quite a few they should have got. Second half was dominated by Box Hill.

Our listed players were Golds, Day, Jeka, Maginness, Hartley, Moore, Ross, Jones, Pepper, Reeves.

Glass was there, in civvies. Didn't seem injured, not sure why he wasn't playing. Must be a niggle. No sign of O'Brien, Howe, Gunston or M.Walker (what's happened to him?).

Day, Hartley and Pepper lined up down back. Reeves, Maginness and Jones in the middle. Ross, Jeka, Moore and Golds up forward.

Dylan Moore started on fire - best player in the first qtr. Ross kicked our first 2, the first a really good snap. Cucinotta got the 3rd from a set shot. Reeves was great, winning all the taps and taking 4 or 5 marks, 2 of them good strong contested ones.

2nd qtr was a bit more of a slog. Casey off target, and Box Hill scrapping a couple of goals - Ross walking into an open goal and Jeka with a big snap around the body from distance. Golds injured early in the qtr.

3rd qtr we dominated but struggled to find the goals. Maginness and Jones really worked into it. Reeves serving it on a platter for our mids. Ross kicked his 4th and Will Day kicked a beauty late. Worthy of a description - Casey cleared from deep, Day sprinted hard to make the contest and spoiled the ball to ground wide on the boundary, somehow landing and pirouetting as he did, somehow emerging from the traffic with the ball tucked under his arm. Handpassed forward, then got it back and snapped across his body on the angle for a brilliant goal. We bemoan a lack of class in the senior side, well this kid has it in spades.

Last qtr foot came off the gas a bit and Casey snagged a couple, but it opened up for Box Hill as well. Jeka got on the end of a great passage of play, taking a big mark in the goal square. Kid can play. Reeves drifted forward and took a strong grab, dobbing it from about 25 out. Riley Bowman - new young ruckman - struggled most of the day but hit a purple patch with the last two goals, one a quick snap from a pack and then a good lead out mark and conversion.

HFC listed blokes:
Reeves - BOG by a mile for mine. I haven't seen a more dominant display by a Hawthorn ruckman since Salmon. Sure, I don't know who he was up against, but he was that dominant and impacted the game to a ridiculous extent. Every stoppage, he put it down a BH player's throat. Taps behind his head to blokes on the move, thumps into space where our blokes ran onto it, palms straight to Finn and Jones over and over again. I'll say again, I haven't seen anything like it for 20 years, and I've watched a lot of footy. Also took marks around the ground, kicked a goal, laid some heavy tackles. About 500% better than I've ever seen him play before.

Jeka - moved well, got up the ground, took marks, distributed well. Kicked a couple, could have maybe had one or two more as he had one touched on the line and one slipped through his hands in the square after he'd done all the body work to take the mark. Has a presence. Lot to like.

Day - got more and more prominent. Just after he kicked that great goal, he did a lazy kick on the wing that drifted wide of the mark and went to an oppo player. I watched him for a reaction - he took off toward the action like a mad man. I thought he's not going to impact this, it's just going back over his head. But he threw himself headlong and smothered the kick over the boundary. In the last quarter, he was everywhere, linking and driving forward. Took a big defensive mark in the goal square at full back. He's got me very very keen to see more.

Maginness - was workman-like. I'll stop short of saying he was great, but he played as well as any of our mids, and clearly knows how to play. Got ridiculous silver service at the stoppages from Reeves, and fed it out well most times. I tried to keep rough track of his possessions, I'd say he got around 20.

Jones - very very similar to Maginness. They actually play similar games. Finn actually looks the stronger, but Jones is slightly more manic and fights in and under.

Hartley - great game at full back. His ability to be in the right spot was a bit dare I say Mirra-like. He's a great kick, although he did bite off a couple of kickouts that were a bit over ambitious. He'll be a very handy player for Box Hill.

Pepper - this kid could be an absolute steal. The knock was his kicking, but he looks to have a nice compact action and hit all his targets today. (In fact Box Hill's overall skill made a mockery of what we saw last night - brrrr trying to forget). Pepper competes like crazy, has a great leap, and looks really composed. Like I said, he looks a steal.

Ross - has that happy knack of getting to the right spots at the right time. He's a very dangerous and clever player. Four goals is a good return. Did drift out of it a fraction in the second half but we were rotating forwards and he was still creating for others.

Moore - started on fire. Only played the first half, but was doing it all - marking, tackling, linking. Seem to be playing high HFF, not playing close to goal.

Golds - really sad. Was going pretty nicely, getting his share of touches pre injury.

Box Hill lads -
to be honest I was there more for the Hawks but these blokes stood out:

Mullenger-McHugh - played at CHB and looked more at home in defence than any time I saw him last year up forward. Very good game with some disciplined spoils and intercepts.

Bowman - young ruckman looked pretty tentative for the most part until taking his chances up forward in the last qtr. Box Hill might be very happy to have Brooksby to accompany Reeves cos Bowman doesn't look up to it (admittedly at first glance).

Deluca - stocky left footed midfielder, got involved a lot. Could be a handy replacement for Meadows, looks a similar type.

DeWit - after playing defence last year he was used as a tall wingman today and was quite prominent.

Otten was serviceable down back, Deledio didn't play.

I know this is all probably a little overly positive, but after last night I know I needed it. Was a good spectacle, and a fair bit to take away for Box Hill.

Thanks for the report mate, great to hear about Reeves. Can take Ceglars spot. I know he is only slight, but no smaller than English from the Dogs and Reeves has him for height.

 

[local hack]

Bring on 2021

I understand we have not won a preseason game since 2015

Haven’t won the regular season since then either

 

[Hawk_francais]

Except he’s actually unbiased in his criticism, unlike ‘offended’ Walls

I thought we would be united on this one

 

[crazywildhorse]

I thought we would be united on this one

It’s the Robert Walls part that created the issue. Lyon is an old grump, but Robert Walls is a flog of the highest order.

 

[Hawk_francais]

100% agree with that.
On the flip side
- Mcevoy was a top 5 ruckmen in the league.
- Anyone that thinks you can have 4 guys on the field at once close to 200cm who are not excatly quick for there size is borederline crazy in today game the balance is out Mcevoy,Cegs,Lewis,Patton. Good luck getting the ball off the team when you don't have it.
- Melbourne wouldn't be in the top5 quickest sides they made us look vfl standard.

Not reading to much into the preseason it was clear the player's didnt put to much presurre on the opposition. Just needs to be a tinker with our personal or setup i hope the coaches adjust quickly.
Clearly we had a good side at the end of last yr but it took far to long to get the balance right.

I think you're being needlessly pessimistic. WCE won the 2018 flag with McGovern, Kennedy, Lycett and Vardy. McGovern is no more mobile than any of our big guys. McEvoy is clearly being set for a similar role, and so far so good. Yes it maximises our assets having Ceglar step into the ruck, but I have no doubt it's also partly to extend Ben's career - he's taken a weekly battering since Hale retired. I also notice we're not the only team loading up on talls in the starting 22.

I suggest that all those seriously concerned about this warm up game have a listen to Clarko's press conference:

Clarko not hung up on last quarter fall away

The official AFL website of the Hawthorn Football Club

www.hawthornfc.com.au