Matt Little's debut .....

[apiro]

I think a lot of posters here are being unfair on the first gamer.

Apart from getting used to the pace of the game, the ball was not exactly coming into our forward lines with any consistency.

Lets wait till he gets a couple of games into him!

 

[rumblah]

I apologise for my rather drunken, angry contribution last night. It was unfair to a young first gamer. Mind you, in the cold, hard light of day I still believe he has a long way to go.

yeh i was a bit harsh i think, not drunk, but harsh.

 

[The Messenger]

didn't stop thorpie in his debut last week...

Thorp missed a couple of sitters last week in front of goal. I like Little I think he will go OK and I hope he gets another run next week.

If he had of debut in the Blues game he probably would have kicked 3 or 4 and we would all be saying he's a gun and should have played earlier. It was a tough game to debut tonight and the supply wasn't great.

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

Re: Matt Little

why hasnt dowler made his debut yet?

if this kid got a game before him thats saying something....unless of course he is injured

Now that the Little debut has finally been sorted out, the answer to the above question is that Dowler has made his debut. Against Carlton late last season.

Re Little taking over from Dixon - I think Mark Williams will be doing that long term.

 

[carntheroos4eva]

Worst player to AFL debut EVER!! What happened to the days when you had to be good to make AFL?

Lay off him. Just because he has been out injured it doesn't mean that you can pay out on him with all your shit.

 

[Robber Baron]

Little wont be on the list next year. I'm prepared to bet money on this.

If hes not gunna be on the list then why would of Clarko even hoave given him a game! You should give your money to the club thats better use of it so we can be stronger then making bets that your not gunna win.

Hes a first gamer and I recon Clarkos seen lots of telent in him so thats why hes played him.

 

[xDOUG69COOLx]

@the haters

I wasn't aware you had to kick 63 goals in your debut for your supporters to accept you as a good player

 

[carntheroos4eva]

@the haters

I wasn't aware you had to kick 63 goals in your debut for your supporters to accept you as a good player

Well said.

 

[Mojo]

lol funny responses!

Well it was his first game for the year! Second overall. I dont really think Hawthorn is the right club for him to have a crack at because of the amount of talent he has to contend with. Pretty unlucky, had he began at a Carlton he may have made something of himself. Age is against him if he is delisted. Given thorp is available for selection next w.e i would suggest he would get the call. As for Dowler, apparently his injuries have hindered his performance and will most likely play his first game next year, he has no chance this season!

 

[HawksRadar]

Watched Matt play a lot at Box Hill. He was picked because he was the next best option given the players that were out. He is a good lead and an excellent kick for goal however he is not quick and is not a ground player. His lack of pace is the killer for him. I have watched him a lot and I was surprised to see him playing last night. Good though that he has got a chance

With regard to Dowler he should be ahead of Little but he is not. Biggest issue with him is not his recovery from injury, but his lack of confidence. One of the major problems at Box Hill is they do not play team football. When you have a kid like Dowler who lacks confidence it is twice as difficult for him.

 

[Ranno]

He was alright, took a couple of marks, was better than Roughie that's for sure!!! It wasn't really his game to debut with StKilda sitting 3 men in front of all our forwards often with two on little. Pretty hard to counter on debut! I guarantee you if he played last week instead of Thorp he would've kicked a couple and we'd be saying: gee this kids alright. Such narrow minded crap really and honestly!

 

[The Kipster]

Re: Matt Little

People seriously find something better to do than cane one bloke making his debut. You call yourselves supporters? All I can say is that we are lucky that professional coaches run our team because if half you people were, we'd be in all sorts! How can you judge a bloke, let alone bag him based on one game. Freakin stupid. Perhaps these same bright sparks can tell me where Bateman, Dixon and Roughead were tonight? They all had a similar amount of the footy as the debutant but have a few hundred games more experience. They are the type that went missing tonight. Our team had problems well beyond Matt Little tonight. Try our defensive setup when we turn the ball over in our forward line.

I agree get off his back, some of you blokes would of been lucky to be as good as M LIttles jock strap..so STFU

 

[Rowie6]

Re: Matt Little

You are wrong Hawk fan. He debuted last season. Granted, he only spent about five minutes on the ground but he was named and played.

Sorry guys this was 110% his first game a have been watching Matty Littles progress like a Hawk.Also to all these very unlike Hawthorn barrackers on this site.Give young Matty a break,he has been in the system 2 and a half years now,which is sweet "F" all.He is 21 and is gettinng better and better with every game he plays.Last week at Box Hill he took 10 marks and a couple of those were really strong grabs,he kicked 4 goals and probably should have finished with 6 or 7.On Saturday night he layed off a couple to Big Buddy and i thought he presented really well and was better than Roughie and his first game was every bit as good as Thorps last week and every one is raving about Mitch.You know the only difference is we won last week.Up until now i never thought we had that many ******** supporters that eat there own.So give the kid a break and be patient.I am glad the club have been patient otherwise we would not have perserved with Tim Boyle,Ben McGlynn,Rick Ladson,Zac Dawson and Josh Thurgood and i am sure the club have a few more clues than all you Nuff Nuff's that are bagging a 21 year old !st Gamer.That is why i gladly pay my membership each knowing that our club will make the right decisions.So to all the piss weak back stabbers,either support our boys or just go get a life and remain barrackers.

 

[Rowie6]

Re: Matt Little

You are wrong Hawk fan. He debuted last season. Granted, he only spent about five minutes on the ground but he was named and played.

Sorry guys this was 110% his first game a have been watching Matty Littles progress like a Hawk.Also to all these very unlike Hawthorn barrackers on this site.Give young Matty a break,he has been in the system 2 and a half years now,which is sweet "F" all.He is 21 and is gettinng better and better with every game he plays.Last week at Box Hill he took 10 marks and a couple of those were really strong grabs,he kicked 4 goals and probably should have finished with 6 or 7.On Saturday night he layed off a couple to Big Buddy and i thought he presented really well and was better than Roughie and his first game was every bit as good as Thorps last week and every one is raving about Mitch.You know the only difference is we won last week.Up until now i never thought we had that many ******** supporters that eat there own.So give the kid a break and be patient.I am glad the club have been patient otherwise we would not have perserved with Tim Boyle,Ben McGlynn,Rick Ladson,Zac Dawson and Josh Thurgood and i am sure the club have a few more clues than all you Nuff Nuff's that are bagging a 21 year old !st Gamer.That is why i gladly pay my membership each knowing that our club will make the right decisions.So to all the piss weak back stabbers,either support our boys or just go get a life and remain barrackers.

 

[Rowie6]

He was alright, took a couple of marks, was better than Roughie that's for sure!!! It wasn't really his game to debut with StKilda sitting 3 men in front of all our forwards often with two on little. Pretty hard to counter on debut! I guarantee you if he played last week instead of Thorp he would've kicked a couple and we'd be saying: gee this kids alright. Such narrow minded crap really and honestly!

Right with you Ranno good post.

 

[Mojo]

We got beat tonight. After the adelaide game everyone pointed finger Thurgood, tonight its Little. Waste of time. We got beat. Chance had an off night... it happens how good has he been of late, a quiet night like that will happen. Roughy went missing well Franklin didn't.
The Adelaide game showed problems, tonight we didnt lose the game because of mistakes but because we got beat by a better team.

However for those that are wanting to blame one person, how about we blame franklin... 12 point turnaround tonight... yeah that lost it for us... forget the 5 goals..

PS. also for those that want to delist Smith Dixon. You may want to sit yourself back down and cosnider we need them one more year at least...

I dont know if youve noticed but Smith is playing some great footy atm, and was one player last night who actually added a bit of guts to the team's performance! While Dixon hasnt been great this year he has still provided the forwards with direction and leadership. On the forward line the Saints just have a quality team and a great backline particulary when they drop an extra in defence.. it wasnt so much roughy playing badly, it was the fact the saints had our measure!

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

If hes not gunna be on the list then why would of Clarko even hoave given him a game! You should give your money to the club thats better use of it so we can be stronger then making bets that your not gunna win.

Hes a first gamer and I recon Clarkos seen lots of telent in him so thats why hes played him.

I stand by my statement. You ask why Clarko would have given him a game if he's not going to be on the list next year? For the same reason he played guys like Harry Miller, to see whether or not he is worth persevering with. Let's face it, Little is not an 18 year old rookie. He is 21 and this is his third year in the system. If he has not made significant inroads into a senior career by now then he is very unlikely to do so in the future. He has been reasonable at Box Hill without setting the world on fire and he will resume his place in the queue behind Thorp, Williams and Boyle when these guys are available. Add Dowler to that group and then explain to me how exactly Little is going to fit in. Whilst you are trying to explain how Little stays on the list next season, do not forget to ask yourself the following two questions:

1) who are we going to delist and who is going to retire at the end of the season given that the AFL has rules in place regarding list turnover? I can't recall the MINIMUM number (6 perhaps, not exactly sure) of players that a club MUST delist (or retire) at the end of every season under AFL rules but what this means is that with tight list management, I'd like to know how this, in your opinion can be managed by keeping Little as well as the likes of Murphy, Dawson (just contracted for another 2 years), Dowler and Bailey (contracted 2008) plus the first year players that MUST be listed next year because of the rules regarding first year players.

2) with regards to your rather ignorant point above, do you think that Josh Thurgood will be on the list at the end of the year? Going by your rather illogical argument above, I suppose that you do. After all, AC would only play him if he was going to be on the list next year, wouldn't he?

Understand, I am not having a go at Matt Little. I have seen worse footballers than him and I am certain that he gives it 100% and is probably a lovely fellow. The fact of the matter is, and there is really no way around it, Matt Little is in his 3rd year of being on an AFL list and is very low in the queue of forwards at the Hawthorn Football Club. He is a one-dimensional footballer who has had his chance. He played on Saturday night only because Mitch Thorp was a last minute withdrawal and would have to do something exceptional at Box Hill to be given another opportunity. He will not be on the Hawthron list next season.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I believe the club must cut 3 players via delistings and/or trades from the main list at the end of each season.

If we wish to promote McEntee (and I believe that we will promote him, given our relative shallowness in the ruck stocks), we will need to find another one to move on.

Thurgood is just about a given, but there aren't too many easy choices to be made after him (unlike previous seasons).

 

[Dixie Flatline]

I always find it funny when a player is labelled as one-dimensional and that's given as a reason why a player should no longer be on our list.

Jason Dunstall was pretty much one-dimensional. So was Peter Hudson. More currently, Mark Williams is fairly one-dimensional, despite Clarkson's attempt to run him in the midfield last year.

I'm not saying, of course, that Matt Little will end up a tenth as good as either of those champions, but they are used to highlight that if a player excels at what he does within the limitations of his talent, then he will always find a club prepared to give him a game or 50.

 

[mulhollanddrive]

Id think at this stage Little is a long shot to remain on our list.

Given the shallowness of this years draft, we could redraft a delisted player with our 3rd pick, or rookie list (is he eligible?). Given our 4 man forward line i dont see a long term spot for him, could do ok in another team.

 

[HawkXNtric]

OK - now that we've cleared up the point that Matt Little DID play his first game against the Saints, and that Beau Dowler HAS already made his debut for the Hawks (last year), and that it WOULD be unfair to hang, draw and quarter Matt Little, here's my take on it all....

Consider this - I believe that we only have 27 or 28 guys on our list who are CURRENTLY up to AFL senior standard on any sort of regular basis. This means that we can have up to 4 or 5 of our best 22 injured at one time without unduly affecting our on-field performance. Once we get more players out than the 4 or 5, we start getting into the 'tail' (in cricketing terms) of our playing list. This includes 2-3 year players like Ellis, Murphy, Little, Thurgood, etc. Now I'm not knocking those particular 4 guys or suggesting that they won't be players, but I just don't believe that they are up to the level of our best 22 at present.

Because we currently have Vanders, Jacobs, Clarke, Williams, Boyle and Osborne out, we are in the above position. This is a fact of life - and AFL football. The only possible alternative to playing these guys is to give a game to one of the first-year kids on our list - say Thorp, Kennedy, Moss, Renouf, Morton, etc. Would they do any better? Probably not.

All you can hope for when injuries start to bite is that one of your first-gamers will show a lot more than what you expected. Little did not - his performance was only on par with what you would expect, nothing more and nothing less. The positive thing about injuries is that it enables a coach to gather more data on some of those players that have been around for a couple of years, such as Thurgood or Little, and take another look at whether they deserve to be on our list next year.

Anyway, best of luck to Matt for the rest of the season, it will be interesting to see whether he and/or Thorp plays next week.

 

[ricta]

@the haters

I wasn't aware you had to kick 63 goals in your debut for your supporters to accept you as a good player

That's Gold!

Anyway, best of luck to Matt for the rest of the season, it will be interesting to see whether he and/or Thorp plays next week.

totally agree

 

[Robber Baron]

I stand by my statement. You ask why Clarko would have given him a game if he's not going to be on the list next year? For the same reason he played guys like Harry Miller, to see whether or not he is worth persevering with. Let's face it, Little is not an 18 year old rookie. He is 21 and this is his third year in the system. If he has not made significant inroads into a senior career by now then he is very unlikely to do so in the future. He has been reasonable at Box Hill without setting the world on fire and he will resume his place in the queue behind Thorp, Williams and Boyle when these guys are available. Add Dowler to that group and then explain to me how exactly Little is going to fit in. Whilst you are trying to explain how Little stays on the list next season, do not forget to ask yourself the following two questions:

1) who are we going to delist and who is going to retire at the end of the season given that the AFL has rules in place regarding list turnover? I can't recall the MINIMUM number (6 perhaps, not exactly sure) of players that a club MUST delist (or retire) at the end of every season under AFL rules but what this means is that with tight list management, I'd like to know how this, in your opinion can be managed by keeping Little as well as the likes of Murphy, Dawson (just contracted for another 2 years), Dowler and Bailey (contracted 2008) plus the first year players that MUST be listed next year because of the rules regarding first year players.

2) with regards to your rather ignorant point above, do you think that Josh Thurgood will be on the list at the end of the year? Going by your rather illogical argument above, I suppose that you do. After all, AC would only play him if he was going to be on the list next year, wouldn't he?

Understand, I am not having a go at Matt Little. I have seen worse footballers than him and I am certain that he gives it 100% and is probably a lovely fellow. The fact of the matter is, and there is really no way around it, Matt Little is in his 3rd year of being on an AFL list and is very low in the queue of forwards at the Hawthorn Football Club. He is a one-dimensional footballer who has had his chance. He played on Saturday night only because Mitch Thorp was a last minute withdrawal and would have to do something exceptional at Box Hill to be given another opportunity. He will not be on the Hawthron list next season.

You need to relax more mate or else youll burst.

Clakrosn picked up Little in the draft with Ruffy and Buddy and Lewis and hes been a gun at picking up lots of gun kids and may be Little needs more time to turn into the gun to play the new modern football thats gunna win us some premierships. But you recon Littles not good enough to play well thats not what Clarko thinks because hes been an emergeny plenty of times and played in hte NAB cup and played a good game as a first game. If your such a good rectuter or coach why arnt you working for us, because your not and thats all Ive got to say negative to you but you should not criticise our coach or players because there playing there guts out for us and could get more money at other clubs but play for us members for less. Ive been told that the playrs read this site and you should hae the guts to say your name so the club can ring you. These kids need encourageing so they can be better players for us not to read your criticicms and get upset. Your not doing us any favors mate. You should go to training and help and volunteer or give money so stop being negative all the time like you do.

 

[hawker_91]

Worst player to AFL debut EVER!! What happened to the days when you had to be good to make AFL?

WTF

Took a couple of nice marks on the lead. Showed good pace against Maguire. Tough game for a forward to debut our midfield was pretty well smashed and left Fisher (i think) loose nearly all game.

Not the worst debut by a long way nor the worst player, showed some potential. your comments I think reflect badly on the poster

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

You need to relax more mate or else youll burst.

Clakrosn picked up Little in the draft with Ruffy and Buddy and Lewis and hes been a gun at picking up lots of gun kids and may be Little needs more time to turn into the gun to play the new modern football thats gunna win us some premierships. But you recon Littles not good enough to play well thats not what Clarko thinks because hes been an emergeny plenty of times and played in hte NAB cup and played a good game as a first game. If your such a good rectuter or coach why arnt you working for us, because your not and thats all Ive got to say negative to you but you should not criticise our coach or players because there playing there guts out for us and could get more money at other clubs but play for us members for less. Ive been told that the playrs read this site and you should hae the guts to say your name so the club can ring you. These kids need encourageing so they can be better players for us not to read your criticicms and get upset. Your not doing us any favors mate. You should go to training and help and volunteer or give money so stop being negative all the time like you do.

Mate, the club knows exactly who I am. I post on this site and operate another Hawthorn supporters site (mightyhawk.net) under the same username. I was the person that orchestrated the Jeff Kennett appearance on MH last season. I know a number of past and present players personally and none of them would argue that I don't have the right to an opinion. This right is amplified by the fact that I buy an upgraded membership for myself and my partner every year and have put money into the club in the past through player sponsorship and the like. I don't bag players personally and you will find no evidence as such. I only ever critique the playing performance and provide both the positive and negaitives as I see them.

So now that I have again cleared up another of your ill-advised comments, I will ask for proof of where I have been negative "all the time." I have been an outspoked advocate of Danny Jacobs in the face of continued criticism of him by Hawthorn supporters. The same goes for Joel Smith whom I believe gets a bum wrap from the same supporters. I don't know either of these players personally so I have no hidden agenda in my comments on them. I am one of the more positive people here when it comes to playing up Hawthorn's finals prospects as well. I hope that this demonstrates for you that I am not continually negative.

In any event, I will not justify my position to yourself any further just as I will not retract my opinion of Matty Little, the footballer. I do not believe that he is an AFL standard footballer and I do not think that we will see him in a Hawthorn jumper next season.