Our midfield is struggling ...

[H2F]

I don't know how many times or how many ways I can make excuses for our midfield. I am probably one of the most biased Hawks of all but for a couple of years now our midfield has been 'just going' at best.

Honestly I am thinking it is about time we drop some of our 'star midfielders' because on output they simply are not.

Just not willing to go as hard as their opponents most weeks, and our gameplan and attacking defenders cannot hide it much longer.

 

[La Vache]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

I'm with you on this.

 

[Stranglers]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Our clearances stats this year are certainly quite damning.

 

[Brant]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Our star-studded midfield includes some brilliant players including Franklin, Roughead, Breust, Osborne & Rioli.

And for anyone who wants to correct me & suggest that I named our forwardline, re-watch a 2011 or 2012 game...

 

[Hawkers]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Lets do an honest assesment

Mitchell - A
Sewell - C
Rioli - D
Hodge - C
Lewis - C+
Burgoyne - C


who else we got?
Rucks?

Hale - C-
Broc - D
Roughead - C
Bailey - D

 

[MinerBoy]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Nah, Lewis far better than that Hawkers. That's not accurate at all.

IMO our entire team has been embarrassing so far this year, but in particular today. It isn't confined to the midfield although it is indeed an area in need of an overhaul.

 

[Max Powers]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Lets do an honest assesment

Mitchell - A
Sewell - C
Rioli - D
Hodge - C
Lewis - C+
Burgoyne - C


who else we got?
Rucks?

Hale - C-
Broc - D
Roughead - C
Bailey - D

Not to mention Shiels (he has great potential but have to give him at the moment) D-

 

[Hawkers]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Nah, Lewis far better than that Hawkers. That's not accurate at all.

IMO our entire team has been embarrassing so far this year, but in particular today. It isn't confined to the midfield although it is indeed an area in need of an overhaul.

Lewis was the one I thought about most.
He is better than average but still not quite 'there' yet

B- then?

 

[Sometimes]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Kennedy... I lamented hard when we gave him away. He's a fricken Kennedy FFS!!! And we gave him away for a bag of chips.

 

[jr4jane2004]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Agreed our midfield is overrated..besides Mitchell....who do we have that can win games like the Swans, Abletts, Pendels, Stants, Bartels, Murphies, Judd....Hodgey used to do it...last decent game I saw him play was back in 2008 final....we got a workmanlike midfield...I'd have Kennedy back in a heartbeat...gonna be a great player....

 

[toomanysquibs]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

A ruckman would help things. It seemed to work for us last year when Bailey was up and running.

But yes, as it stands we have an aging group, that bats no deeper than one rotation, and sub par rucks.

 

[H2F]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

It isn't confined to the midfield although it is indeed an area in need of an overhaul.

I would argue it is.

I remember staring up at the stats the other day on the screen where I sat at the MCG on level 2. It was half time against the Cats I think and our top 5 possession getters were Guerra, Suckling, Birchall and Shoey.

You generally have your leaders in your midfield who are there because they are chartered with getting first hands on the ball and activating your gameplan. Not only this but your leaders can influence the momentum of games and the intensity.

They also set the bar for hardness in games.

What I am saying here is that when all these things are not happening by your leaders in the midfield devastating consequences can happen.

 

[MinerBoy]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Agreed our midfield is overrated..besides Mitchell....who do we have that can win games like the Swans, Abletts, Pendels, Stants, Bartels, Murphies, Judd....Hodgey used to do it...last decent game I saw him play was back in 2008 final....we got a workmanlike midfield...I'd have Kennedy back in a heartbeat...gonna be a great player....

Shattering day but some of the dribble I've read about Hodge today leaves me shaking my head. Can people not remember past their last shit?

 

[Sometimes]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Lets do an honest assesment

Mitchell - A
Sewell - C
Rioli - D
Hodge - C
Lewis - C+
Burgoyne - C


who else we got?
Rucks?

Hale - C-
Broc - D
Roughead - C
Bailey - D

Burgoyne for mine has been the biggest disappointment. Does what he needs to do to get by. Never grabs the game by the scruff of the neck. The cherry on top of a cake that's not been made yet.

 

[Hawkers]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Burgoyne for mine has been the biggest disappointment. Does what he needs to do to get by. Never grabs the game by the scruff of the neck. The cherry on top of a cake that's not been made yet.

Excellent point. We knew he wasn't a top poessesion winner when he played at Port but the fact is that he was a lot younger, had some other very quality mids with him and a couple of more than handy rucks to get it down to them.

We have too many cherries but no enough eggs and flour

 

[Hawker08]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Sadly, we have not had the ruck division to give our mids 1st use. Until this issue is addressed we'll struggle with clearances. A fit Bailey, is only part of the solution. The rest of our rucks are way off the pace. Geez a fit renouf may have at least taken a mark around the ground.

 

[Theprofessional]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Lets do an honest assesment

Mitchell - A
Sewell - C
Rioli - D
Hodge - C
Lewis - C+
Burgoyne - C


who else we got?
Rucks?

Hale - C-
Broc - D
Roughead - C
Bailey - D

I really rate Burgoyne, he's a good player imo. Started of great and got a lot, but I think he got tagged for the next couple quarters. Bad luck today though.

 

[Sometimes]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Sadly, we have not had the ruck division to give our mids 1st use. Until this issue is addressed we'll struggle with clearances. A fit Bailey, is only part of the solution. The rest of our rucks are way off the pace. Geez a fit renouf may have at least taken a mark around the ground.

Seaby was Sydney's first ruck today.

 

[Hawker08]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Seaby was Sydney's first ruck today.

Enough said

 

[toomanysquibs]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Seaby was Sydney's first ruck today.

And who did we use to dominate him... oh, wait....

 

[Ulittledipper]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Our midfield is past it.

Mitchell - inconsistent and no where near as good as last year
Sewell - GAWN
Burgoyne - slow as a wet week
Hodge - Juries out on one match but i would suggest he is now to slow for a midfield role
Cyril - not up to a midfield role but still dangerous
Lewis - Slow but hard but inconsistent, has looked good early but fades out like Cyril most games

Basicaly our senior players are playing bby reputation only - we are riduclously slow and one paced with with no structure.

I believe that this Hawthorn football team is the biggest waste of unpararelled talent that has and will be wasted in a generation. The coaching side of things also need a serious look at.

On the Bright side Shoey is coming good.

 

[xellis]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Brad Sewell is driving me nuts. He is so slow with the ball, every time he gets it I wait for him to be tackled and given holding the ball. In the last quarter (when Roughy was eventually given holding the ball to Kennedy) is one of many prime examples.

From 2009 until now (65 games) he has kicked 10 goals. Over his whole career he has 22 goals from 150 games. He missed two golden opportunities today and one that didn't make the distance.

Doesn't impact the game nearly enough. He's certainly not alone, but a trip to the Magoos would be a good start.

Whitecross should be given permanent midfield time from now on.

 

[m0zza]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Whitecross should be given permanent midfield time from now on.

Awful today, terrible disposal and worse decision making

 

[Hawker08]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Sewell - GAWN

Is it too late to swap Sewell for Kennedy? Geez, we kept Morton ahead of Kennedy.

 

[Tas]

Re: Our midfield is embarrassing ...

Is it too late to swap Sewell for Kennedy? Geez, we kept Morton ahead of Kennedy.

I thought Kennedy and McGlynn requested a trade so they could get guaranteed game time and this was a few years ago, a bit like the Mumford scenario where at the time they weren't in the best team.

Where is Smith at? I thought he showed a fair bit last year.