Middle of the road?

[mrcurly]

The obvious point is that wet weather affects our game style significantly, we are a potent one touch side in the dry, last night was an excellent effort considering the conditions, the hostile crowd (and umpiring), and the outs we have from our strongest 22. With Birchall, Poo, Smith, Hodge, Bailey, Gilham, BMac... etc to add, there is plenty of upside to come, definitely nowhere near being a middle of the road team.

As for beating top 4 opposition, if you go by the last couple of seasons what are Collingwood? Who is a top 4 team is a week by week proposition - ie would North be considered a top 4 team if they knocked over Sydney today minus Goodes and Mumford?

 

[Roger Rogerson]

We're definitely a top 4 side.

We've already played 3 of the best teams in the comp and have led comfortably in all 3 games. I think that speaks for itself.

We never lead 'comfortably'. That is the BIG problem. We do not have the ability to dig deep like the really good sides do.

Hopefully by the end of the year we develop this attribute.

 

[Jayd19]

I don't think we're middle of the road but we now need to string a lot of wins together if we want to finish top 4. We can probably only afford to lose 4 more for the year and we have to play the 4 or 5 best teams again. The season could quietly slip away unless we ramp it up the next few weeks.

Personally I thought the cats loss showed a worrying lack of character but I can cop losing to the eagles over there in the manner we did.

 

[NICE1]

very valid post but the responses are pathetic....all I hear is excuses what a joke. While the rest of you get excited over wins against the easy beats, Ill keep a lid on in because the fact remains we are not good enough to close out the top teams...simple as that. Shouldve wouldve couldve.....

 

[SHAKESPEARE]

very valid post but the responses are pathetic....all I hear is excuses what a joke. While the rest of you get excited over wins against the easy beats, Ill keep a lid on in because the fact remains we are not good enough to close out the top teams...simple as that. Shouldve wouldve couldve.....

We are the best team in the league. The umpires are the only reason we lose.

 

[Maybloomer]

Unfortunately we tend to focus on the loss of 4 points but there are many intangible things that come out of last nights game, good things. A short preparation after a tough 3 weeks of footy, a long trip over playing a quality opponent who have had 3 practice games leading up. Throw the weather in for good mix. It might not have suited the WC talls, it obviously didn't suit our game plan and it most definitely favoured the team with the least taxing start to the season. The only thing we lost were 4 points.

Hawthorn is probably better placed than any team in the league. We've come through the toughest part of the draw relatively unscathed with a number of best-22 players resting up in the stands - players who will be fitter and stronger when the season gets longer and more tiring. It'll be these players who determine this years success.

Vlad's Wet Dream teams are giving a bit of a false indication on how teams are faring against others this year. The Bombers and WC are 4-Zip but have only taken 1 "scalp" each. Geelong were a Roughead 3rd grab away from being 0-3. The Pies are cooked.

2 losses might've got you the minor permiership last year, 5 losses got you a top 4 spot. I can't see that happening this year. 4 losses will probably get top spot. Can you name a side that'll only lose 4 games? I can only think of one.

 

[BigAl3001]

Going the early crow but us not beating the eagles sends a shiver to the rest of the comp. They will be very hard to beat at Subi. I reckon they're a monty to finish on top. So we need to finish 2nd or 3rd and avoid the interstate first final.

 

[Easy Slips Catch]

Any finish short of a GF is middle of the road year. So far we have come up short against two top 4 teams. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda aside those two teams have beaten us so we are tracking for a non GF season.

Our forwardline is a mess. Clarko wants to play Buddy up the field, then puts Roughie in the ruck. What have we shown this year that demonstrates we are any less Buddy reliant. Using the non marking David Hale as a KPF has resulted in how many goals?

Defence is still unsettled. Good teams isolate Schoe.

We still rely on our stars too much. IF Sheila, Sav, Stratts and Gunston can lift their output we will be in it this season. Our fringe needs to start flapping.

 

[Flukey!]

Early days DE.

We dropped far easier games in 2008 during the regular season, and look at the end result. I believe we will stand up when it matters.

One of those was to Richmond.
I still have trouble sleeping over that one.

 

[Paul Kersey]

North, Richmond, St Kilda, Bulldogs & Geelong from memory. So that makes it the other 3 sides which finished in the top 4 in 08, a team which played finals and.......Richmond (finished 9th).

 

[QuietB]

The obvious point is that wet weather affects our game style significantly, we are a potent one touch side in the dry, last night was an excellent effort considering the conditions, the hostile crowd (and umpiring), and the outs we have from our strongest 22. With Birchall, Poo, Smith, Hodge, Bailey, Gilham, BMac... etc to add, there is plenty of upside to come, definitely nowhere near being a middle of the road team.

As for beating top 4 opposition, if you go by the last couple of seasons what are Collingwood? Who is a top 4 team is a week by week proposition - ie would North be considered a top 4 team if they knocked over Sydney today minus Goodes and Mumford?

It is interesting that we have lost 2 in the wet.

This weekend is massive.

 

[Flag08]

I can't see anyone calling us middle of the road after we win our next 8 games. We will be 10-2 then a bye, then face the Blues on a Friday night. That will be the night we either announce our flag intentions or not.

 

[hawksalltheway]

I think the disappointing element is that Hawks could have easily been 4-0 if not for some tardy finishing up forward in both loses. Dominated large parts of both games you lost without the scoreboard pressure.

I think if you clean up that aspect then your outlook will improve. Probably need to look a bit at the forward structure, the decision making going forward and clean up the execution a bit.

spot on Tas...but bad finishing = bad football...its just a part of our game we need to improve on...

if we kicked straight we probably should be 3-1...as i reckon WCE missed some much easier shots than us...and i think that would be a fair representation of where we are at...

pretty happy with how we are playing overall...just need to deliver the knockout punch a bit better

 

[KOLOKOTRONIS]

We have clearly had the toughest run this season of any club. Hodge and Pop's hardness has been greatly missed. Mentally we are in disarray. The top teams believe they can beat us this year when the game is tight and that is very disappointing. I was expecting only 3 losses this year, so there is still hope of a miraculous recovery. Lose to another top 4 contender in Sydney this week though, and the season (given our club's expectations may be finished before it started).

KOLOKOTRONIS

 

[Paul Kersey]

More signs of a mediocre side. Absolutely pathetic 3rd quarter.

Get ready for the excuses to be rolled out.

 

[halfback dasher]

Looking that way ....

 

[Gene Simmons]

0.0 in the 3rd qtr is pathetic! If we play like this again next week Hayes will have 40 possessions, Riewoldt will kick 7 and Kozi will take 15 marks inside 50!!

 

[Rioli magic]

Ralphy agrees:


"NOT sure Hawthorn turned it up on Sunday, they just aren't as good as we thought they were."

"watching first-hand it wasn't so much the intensity, it was the ability of Sydney against a Hawks side we all vastly over-rated."

"The Hawks can't use the line that they weren't the ones that built the hype."

"They might not have spruiked, but everyone at the Hawthorn footy club thought they were contenders this year."

^^that makes sense, believing you're a contender coming off a pre-lim exit means you built the external hype of the club.

And follows up with this:

ANYONE CAN WIN

"We might be only five rounds in, but clearly the challengers are myriad."

"It is clear Carlton, West Coast, Sydney Collingwood and Geelong can win it."

"But where in the past a side like Essendon might have known it wasn't yet good enough, this is the year when teams of that calibre could strike in September."

"All of it means the team with the least injuries and the best August-September form will get it done, not just the year's best side."




Not sure where that leaves Hawthorn, obviously behind the 5 main challenges and the other teams of Essendon's calibre - middle of the road somewhere.



http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/exp...-bottom-out-myth/story-fn6cisdj-1226344029612

 

[Flukey!]

The club did contribute to the hype.
If you read through Clarkos player reviews at the start of the season, he was very upbeat about our chances, with stuff like this:

We’re really looking forward to what he might be able to do to help us win a flag in season 2012

have the depth necessary to launch into a finals campaign and hopefully go all the way in season 2012.

Maybe the perception is/was wrong

I am not giving up hope yet but we need to get a move on.

 

[mrcurly]

Its still early in the season, everybody should take a chill out and come back in 7 weeks when the performance of the team can be assessed a little better.

Its difficult to pigeonhole this team into a particular ladder division, at their best they can beat anyone, at their worst - well they don't even trouble the scoreboard..

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

The forwards so far have escaped this scrutiny.

We don't have forwards, we have defenders and midfielders doing the 100 metre dash.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Not sure where that leaves Hawthorn

Well, we're currently in 11th spot and in average form. There are teams who have already won 3 more games than we have. It hardly leaves us looking confidently at a top 4 spot.

What a waste.