Norm Smith Medal - they got it wrong

[The Dustbin]

I thought Ellis was close to BOG, he had a consistent game. However I think Hodge had more of an influence, he deserved the medal. No complaints from me.

 

[potatomasher]

I would've given it to Dew. Wasn't there all game, but when he was up, the Hawks won the game.

 

[HAWKERS91]

Bloody stats. Hodge represents the reasons why Hawthorn won. Courage, effort, persistence, leadership and determination. I value all of that more than the number of kicks, handballs, marks etc. The fact is Hodge is a born leader, demands respect and is a superstar of the competition. They got it right.

spot on.

 

[fugu]

Mitchell is a dog by the way. Bateman is a tip rat

Suffer in your jocks.
Was at the game and thought Ablett was a bit stiff but his possessions are not damaging.

 

[Tippaz]

man, Ablett's stats say it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just got back from the game a few hours ago (not knowing any stats).
but after having a looking at the numbers, my best players are confirmed.
and i know plenty of players got junk stats. but not Ablett.

there's no way Luke Hodge was bog. everyone knew Ablett was best on. he was awesome.
Xavier Ellis was Hawthorn's best, but i don't think he was Norm Smith material.
also, Cameron Ling and Matthew Scarlett had to be in contention for their shut-down roles on Mitchell and Franklin.

on a 3-2-1 basis, i would've gone:
3. Ablett (GEE)
2. Ellis (HAW)
1. Ling (GEE)

it was a very big team performance by Hawthorn. no real standouts.
Geelong had heaps of stats, but didn't convert them into goals.
StevieJ came too far up the ground. i certainly didn't read too much into his 34pos.
Bartel, Corey, Selwood, Sewell, Crawford all had 25+, but i didn't really notice them much. probably Selwood was the best of that lot.
Clinton Young was the best man on the ground at half-time, but i don't think he came back on.
Hodge's game was cheap playing that halfback role. i wouldn't have had him in the top10 players on the ground.

Ablett >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Hodge

 

[jimmyn13]

No hodge was great!!! He dominated his man. Who was????? Must be hard to play by yourself! Give it to a bloke who's go someone on him. Not a rich man's joel bowden

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Campbell Brown deserved the medal. Anyone at the ground can attest to that.

Ablett was great but Brown saved us when bodies had to be put on the line. Definitely stood out the most, at the ground.

Hodge destroyed Stoke (did he even get a single kick?), and made the loss of Croad seem irrelevant when Ottens moved up forward. A worthy winner.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

hodge was awesome but Dew won them the game his 5 minute burst in the 3/4 is one of the best i've seen! and I know you can't win a normsmith for playing 5 minutes but if you could he would have won it!

Definitely.

Dew won us the game. Brown saved us... If that makes sense?

 

[pharro]

10 rushed behinds probably further proves the point that the defence wasn't clinical.

I guess you weren't at the game or near a television. Or perhaps you simply don't understand the game. 10+ extremely tactical rushed behinds. That was text book clinical.

 

[monday-expert]

62 inside 50's for 11 goals and the back line without Croad says that Hodge was immense.

Absolutely

 

[monday-expert]

10 rushed behinds probably further proves the point that the defence wasn't clinical.

Hilarious comment from someone who obviously didn't watch the game!

 

[mb0y]

Just like Goodes and Judd - there were numerous contenders for votes but reputation of the big name player, Hodge, contributed to his triumph.

Sewell was BOG by a country mile - absolutely destroyed Corey/Bartel in the centre esp. with hitouts something like 45-24 to Cats ruckmen, hard running, broke tackles and ran through the lines, even saw Ling get moved onto him in 3rd QTR.

Will continue to live in the shadows of the big named Hodges and Mitchells because the big name heroes will always receive the loudest applause. But I'll tell you now he is the best midfielder at hawthorn and was BOG today and did not receive the BOG award.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Well that wasn't too hard considering they all had piss poor games and that wasn't because of Hodge. And yes, I did see 95% of the game!

Eh?

Everytime the ball went near Stokes Hodge had either out-positioned him, cut it off, got their first or won the contest.

He also took the initiative to run off him and chop out numerous leads/marking attempts. He destroyed all who played on him.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I agree that Ablett was probably the best on ground. I don't think his 4th quarter was big enough though, to pull the NS. Just to avoid copping criticism, I had money on Hodge so that's a completely unbias assessment.

 

[Primetime Pricey]

Luke Hodge paying $14, thanks for the ceeeeeesssssshhhhhhhhh TAB lol. Easy money.

My best friend pulled him in skull footy, his 1st qtr was sensational

My bro got Joel Selwood, never heard someone yell to handball so much in my life. Lucky for me i got Tom Harley, enough said

 

[strategy]

Hodge
then
Ellis
then
Brown
then soooky Ablett.
They picked the RIGHT player that won the Norm Smith Medal .

 

[thoselionslads]

Luke Hodge was great today, not taking away from that, the simple fact is that Gary Ablett, like his father in a losing GF against Hawthorn 20 seasons earlier was clearly best on ground.

Kicks: 12
Handballs: 22
Efficiency: 85%
Goals: 2
Clearances: 8
Tackles: 5

Hodge was basically playing his spare man in defence role again (which he does extremely well), while Ablett carried his team for most of the game.
IMHO Abletts performance today was Judd and Bucklley like (2002,2005)

thats funny mate. voss was clearly BOG that day. its just because they voted at 3qtr time buckley got it.

 

[bunsen burner]

Stop crying cats. You can lose to us again next year.

No Cats are crying on this thread, this is just a case of you making an excuse to gloat.

You won the game. There is no reason to gloat.

 

[THRILLHOU]

Surprised Adam Goodes didn't win it with the way he scored votes this year. Questionably

 

[Stereophonic]

Surprised Adam Goodes didn't win it with the way he scored votes this year. Questionably

havent I read this post somewhere before, are you going for multiple laughs

 

[winty]

Hodge deserved it, he influenced the game, prepared to leave his man and help out another defender, the problem with geelong is they didn't use Hodge opponent enough.

Ablett was great and if the umpires had voted he would have won it, how many times does he get caught with the ball and no free kick against, inconsistent umpiring - he was geelongs best though.

Ellis was superb, absolute superb but Hodge excellent!

I thought Ablett did get pinged a couple of times yesterday. Could be wrong though. Hodge fully deserved his NS though. Absolutely killed Stokes in what was a piss poor match-up.

No Cats are crying on this thread, this is just a case of you making an excuse to gloat.

You won the game. There is no reason to gloat.

Spot on. Shows how gracious some Hawks fans are in victory. Hope we don't have to put up with crap like that for the next 12 months.

 

[ant22]

Another classic case of people only looking at stats to back up an argument. Ablett was fantastic but for mine hodge was clearly bog.

Have a look at why the game was won(apart from geelong screwing up) For the first time in a long time geelong was forced to go wide into there forward 50. Normally that have many of their shots from the corridor, that was not allowed to happen and IMO the main reason for that was hodges role. Not only did he win quite a bit of the footy and used it superbly he also continually back into the hole, he tackled hard, he spoiled. The game was won from hawthorns backline and he was the general. Great decision IMO.

 

[maryjames]

If the game was closer ablett would had got it. And im sure there must had been a better player for hawks than hodge. He got 4 his name sake.

 

[likka]

In actual fact, if Clinton Young had stayed on the park, he would of had it in the bag

My thoughts too.

Hodge and Ablett both had briliant games... NS medal could have gone either way, but probably correct call to give it to Hodge.

62 inside 50's for 11 goals and the back line without Croad says that Hodge was immense.

This is probably the most telling stat.

 

[Warnock2Judd2Fev]

Wrong

Best man was clearly Hodge. Masrshalled the defence and continually rallied them and commanded them while Geelong fed the ball in.

Was inspirational.

You are kidding aren't you? He played well but was nowhere near best on ground, Ablett was better, Ellis was better, I think Dew even had a bigger influence on the game than Hodge. Why do people rate him so highly. he is a loose man in defense who points alot.