Autopsy Round 17, 2024 : Hawks fall in a hole in Geelong

[dermott]

I try to always watch Sam’s post match press conference and noted he again stated we are a work in progress trying to reach a standard where we can consistently match and beat the best teams.
He knows we are not at that standard yet. Our recent form has been excellent after an inconsistent start but the question remains whether we can sustain that form over a long season in order to play finals.
I am with Sam in believing that our best is good enough but the question is whether we can do it consistently which is required of the best teams.
The jury is still out but we are going in the right direction.

 

[ahhhhhh]

Wow , we are really doing this .

It was his first game in a few months .
He still kicked two from pretty limited supply in our worst game in a while .

I'm one of Dears biggest fans and he has plenty . It's a shame he didn't play as it would have been good for the Cats to get a glimpse of what they will be dealing with .
But he is also a kid . He will need Lewis and Chol there as support .
Expecting him to be the 'one' just ain't going to work .

We need and want those 3 to build synergy together as they can and will be a dynamite combo as we improve further.

The Lewis bashing and criticism is pretty tiresome tbh.

It’s not bashing and the criticism is warranted. He’s 26 and never played over 15 games and kicked more than 40 goals in a season.

I hope he makes it, but at this point not questioning his output and future is pure negligence.

I got slammed on here for questioning Ward’s output earlier in the season and he’s basically been in the VFL ever since.

Blind faith in underperforming players is not going to win us games and questioning a player’s form is not ‘bashing’.

 

[The hands of stone]

Can someone explain why we played the far side of GMHBA all afternoon.

We couldn't find space yet played the tighter of the two wings constantly.

Geelong new exactly where we were going before we even went there.

They were forcing us out there and we weren't able to break there defence to open it to the open side.

Yes they planned it and we would have known it was coming , we just weren't good enough or ready yet to handle it .

 

[Lickmesocks]

If you want to know where Breust & Lewis are at, Worpel running through the guts and both forwards behind their defenders. Are they footballers or dogs smelling their masters backside?

Man, don’t get me started . I was screaming at them both to lead up to the ball carrier and stop trying to get a soft kick out the Fn back.

 

[RobHawk]

Perhaps the team needs an easy week on the training track. Those numerous basic skill errors plus lack of zip against the cats suggests a side that is mentally exhausted. Playing the last six weeks on maximum adrenaline and enthusiasm has taken its toll.
Lessen the training this week and see the spark return.

 

[Billyc]

Finals are still in play. Chin up

They are. But what we faced was the first occasion of finals like pressure, both on the field from Geelong who were absolutely ready, and internally and externally with a week of hype and expectation. It was the first test of that kind and we weren’t up to it yesterday.

The hope is that like the Port game, the lesson is learnt quickly enough to remain in the hunt this year.

 

[PenAndPaper]

Perhaps the team needs an easy week on the training track. Those numerous basic skill errors plus lack of zip against the cats suggests a side that is mentally exhausted. Playing the last six weeks on maximum adrenaline and enthusiasm has taken its toll.
Lessen the training this week and see the spark return.

We did have a week off in that time.

 

[hawksfan71]

That's what is killing me. Absolute soft effort. Just no excuse for it.

yes we needed to at least make them feel we were there so many tackles didn't stick we should have smashed them physically I'd not on the score board I want unsocial hawls back!

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Skill errors. Our first touch was really poor.

Tough fixture. Back from Perth then to a ground no one has played at. I wonder if the club had any IP from when we last played there. It looked like we were poorly prepared for the ground and didn’t think about what the game would be like at the selection table.

 

[mustang]

Think Dear comes straight back in once fit, if you listen to Mitch press conference when he says something like we were missing Dear and Jack front half pressure, to say that about a 8 game player is great, but will be interesting to see who drops out for him

 

[pattymalone00]

Think Dear comes straight back in once fit, if you listen to Mitch press conference when he says something like we were missing Dear and Jack front half pressure, to say that about a 8 game player is great, but will be interesting to see who drops out for him

I assume Lewis if he’s injured or else maybe Gunners?

 

[Baz_hawk]

The ground down at Geelong may be the worst in the AFL. Haven't missed having to watch games down there where they forgot to add the final third of the ground before building a stand on the wing.

Onto the game, honestly not too concerned about the result. We've had a strong last 2 months but our last few weeks were against weak opponents. The step up was going to be a challenge but our game is based on using the space to create and GMHBA lacks any space. Geelong played it better and we failed to adapt.

Felt like the selection of Mitchell was the wrong call, honestly he seems to have dropped off this year, overcommitting to contests, poor disposal and allowed Rohan to look like he was actually half decent at footy. Sicily's absence was telling, just seemed as though our defence for lost a lot and failed to structure up fast enough.

Ginni missing from the front end also meant we had roles shifted a bit and this also didn't seem to work well for us. This isn't too surprising, young teams are good when everyone knows there role, when the magnets are moved and players injured it's often where it all breaks down and it felt that way yesterday.

Plenty to learn, sad for Lewis after finally getting back into the side. The man can't catch a break.

 

[Back Pocket Rocket]

Think Dear comes straight back in once fit, if you listen to Mitch press conference when he says something like we were missing Dear and Jack front half pressure, to say that about a 8 game player is great, but will be interesting to see who drops out for him

Gunston goes out for Dear and Bruest for Ginnivan. Jiath for Ward is the other one I'd do.

 

[Blackhawk42]

Where is the thread for next week's match? I think it's the most I've anticipated a game all year. Cannot wait to see the response!

 

[BobHawk]

One more thing. This team needs to toughen up. Big time. Want to be careful that they don't get a reputation of being soft because, as good as they may get, opposition teams will go after them physically. And beat them every time. History says... and all that. As someone posted earlier, Day was putting it all on the line with his body from the get go (injured himself as a result of it in the end) but the team didn't follow. This is another aspect of Sicily's game that is important too, if we recall all the argy bargy he got into in the win against the Bulldogs. It was important. The end result is that I still don't think the team quite gels as a unit at this stage because good teams rally and play hard for each when under intense pressure, in crisis, under siege etc. They respond and put it all on the line. Duke was under intense attention. The pressure on him was so high for the entire game because Geelong knows he is our main cog in the midfield. We needed players to get around him and get physical. Start giving it to his opponents. Instead, what happens is that everything goes out the window and they panick, complete loss of composure and it all falls apart. The team was completely spent at the end of the game and that was due to the reactive, panick riddled game they played.

 

[Bedi]

Gunston goes out for Dear and Bruest for Ginnivan. Jiath for Ward is the other one I'd do.

Gunston has been instrumental in many of our wins in the past 8 weeks, so reckon he stays

 

[Yardie]

I hate been taught a lesson from that mob. They had our measure from the first bounce. Chris Scott maybe Sam’s kryptonite.

Let's not look ahead next week then........

 

[Yardie]

Gunston has been instrumental in many of our wins in the past 8 weeks, so reckon he stays

He'll stay cause Lewis will most likely be out. But you can't start the game with both him and Breust on the ground.

 

[NetworkNerd]

One step at a time. Geelong in Geelong is about 8 steps down the track.

Realistic steps for the rest of the year:
Beating an interstate side not named West Coast away from home. Has not happened since 2022
Beating Fremantle. Has not happened under Sam Mitchell.
Beating Carlton. Has not happened under Sam Mitchell

 

[Flamin Joe]

Think Dear comes straight back in once fit, if you listen to Mitch press conference when he says something like we were missing Dear and Jack front half pressure, to say that about a 8 game player is great, but will be interesting to see who drops out for him

100% There was a moment (I can't remember exactly when) where Lewis brought the ball to ground in a marking contest only for his opposite number to win the ball and run it out of defence with Lewis lagging behind. I remember thinking to myself in that moment that had this been Dear he would of put up a much better chase potentially even caught him or at least put enough pressure on him to force an error.

The Chol/Dear combination has proven to be a great combo in not only providing a tall strong marking contest but also there ability to not make it easy for the defender to run the ball out when it hits the ground. When your down to just one out of three talls being able to do this Geelong were able to run the ball out with eaise all night long.

Dear coming back into the side is a must.

 

[Stevie80]

Worst game for the Hawks in a long time but needs to be put into context. Missing key outs off a six day break coming back from Perth. Always a recipe for disaster.

Also let’s not forgot the Cats smashed the now top of the table Swans by 90 points there last season. We won’t be the last team to lose at GMHBA.

We were 0-5 and now are 8-8. Nobody would have expected that after the terrrible start to the season.

I’m still confident we can win the flag in 2028.

 

[hawkermart_09]

Well that was shit. From the start, nothing went right. Spun back into reality after that. Still need to win 5 of the next 7 to really have a good finals shot. Hope Day, Lewis are okay for next week. We need Sic and Ginni back urgently. Our backline is terrible without Sic, Forward line hardly got a chance the whole night, when they did they fumbled it badly. Watson was a highlight, pressure from him next level. We’re lucky we didn’t lose by 100+, and that their accuracy wasn’t amazing. Next up, Freo at home. We really ****ing need that win to get our confidence back and keep our September hopes alive. At this point I don’t know what to think. Next week will help decide whether or not this year is gonna end well or not. All we can do is train so hard, take our mouth guards to Waverley, and hope for the best.

 

[grumbleguts]

One step at a time. Geelong in Geelong is about 8 steps down the track.

Realistic steps for the rest of the year:
Beating an interstate side not named West Coast away from home. Has not happened since 2022
Beating Fremantle. Has not happened under Sam Mitchell. Justin Longmuir
Beating Carlton. Has not happened under Sam Mitchell

fixed. Yes it's been that long

 

[GinniAndTonic]

Imagine the uproar from cats fans if this was played in Tassie

 

[Noel Gallagher]

You edited your post but still left the casual racism in there.

I edited my post to include to include Scrimshaw in my best players. Still trying to push the narrative as me being racist hey STY? Poor form from a so called moderator, but hey no surprises coming from you