Autopsy Round 21, 2024 : Hawks snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

[Gaston]

Wasn't searching for it but seen Tom Greene's last goal, what was Weddlee thinking slapping the ball back into the corridor. Little things like this need to be eradicated from our game but that is part of the development and journey of a young team.

 

[humid hawk]

It was a gutting loss but perspective is a wonderful thing. We went into this year with the spectre of a wooden spoon hanging over our heads, a cobbled together forward line, a short backline and a game plan that didn't quite click.

What we've achieved since then has been an absolute pleasure to watch. When we are on there is no better team in the comp for sheer spectacle!

As Sam has mentioned we're probably still missing a couple of pieces of the puzzle in terms of key position personnel. But by all reports the team culture and player-driven standards are strong, and that's much harder to build. It puts us in good stead.

I'm still crossing fingers that we can push into finals this year, but even if we don't, it's been a good year of footy. The lads know what they need to do and will be primed for a decent pre-season.

I don't get back to Australia all that often these days and footy is something that really helps keep a connection back home. Bring on next week!

 

[Threadkilla]

I've moved on after being disappointed yesterday. I always thought that the GWS game was going to be even trickier than the Carlton one. I thought we looked a little off yesterday but still should've won. That says a lot about how far we've improved.

One last one on yesterday, can anyone explain why Frosty was rarely opposed to Hogan? I get that Hogan wasn't always the deepest forward and is underrated in terms of the ground he covers. I just thought Frosty should've given him the glove treatment rather than spending a lot of his time opposed to Cadman.

 

[Mississippi]

He didn’t get the midfield opportunity he previously did, you have no idea why, stop guessing. The result of his performance was not good but there were many others, you’re doing all this after one bad game, calm down.

Mate, you're blinkered by your rose coloured glasses.
Not just "one bad game" from Ward.

He's already been dropped twice to Box Hill this year for being soft and ineffectual.
Yesterday he was very soft and very ineffectual.
It would be a huge risk to play him against Carlton when we have two or three fellas who are burning in Box Hill - particularly Mackenzie.

 

[hardway]

Wasn't searching for it but seen Tom Greene's last goal, what was Weddlee thinking slapping the ball back into the corridor. Little things like this need to be eradicated from our game but that is part of the development and journey of a young team.

He had some of his fair share of Frosty moments yesterday.

 

[Holy Rioli]

Do the ladder predictor. It’s over.

we beat Carlton, we catch them on percentage when we pump North and Richmond, get Port in first final, Sydney in second final, roll the cats in a prelim and and beat Brissy in the GF. Done.

 

[VernonSpots]

we beat Carlton, we catch them on percentage when we pump North and Richmond, get Port in first final, Sydney in second final, roll the cats in a prelim and and beat Brissy in the GF. Done.

Lol I can see bummers somehow winning their last 3 to deny us even if we get ahead of Carlton somehow.

It's something like 200 points we need to make up on Carlton. Given they play eagles...we need to pump them by 60+ to have a chance....those r v long odds.

Our best bet was always getting ahead of giants given their draw but that ain't happening now.

 

[OhhhhhCyril]

Upon reflection of yesterdays game, yes it sucked to loose that and we should have never let it slip, but we could all tell we were a bit off yesterday we had many players below their best, day couldn't shake the tag, and and we were beaten in most areas across the park.

Were a young side and these things happen. Sloppy skills really hurt was very un-hawthorn like.
I have no doubt we will bounce back next week, You could tell from Sammy presser he was already looking towards next Sunday. I back us in to bounce back in a big way.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

Ive got us finishing sixth

Beat blues by 30
Tigers by 50
Roos by 24

 

[MatteeG]

The first 10 minutes resembled the Geelong game, last quarter the Port game, the stuff in between wasn’t some of our best work but had us in a winning position. There were a lot of Frosty moments that didn’t include Frost. More than half the team would put their hand up that they didn’t contribute like they have.

I felt the last quarter yesterday was a bit different. The Port game looked more tactical to slow the game down. Yesterday looked like we were totally gassed in the last quarter. At one point the giants had the highest pressure rating of the year in the second quarter- and yet somehow we were still ahead.
Again we were in a position to win a game. Where we were after round 5 that is a nice improvement.

 

[westhawk]

Wasn't searching for it but seen Tom Greene's last goal, what was Weddlee thinking slapping the ball back into the corridor. Little things like this need to be eradicated from our game but that is part of the development and journey of a young team.

Plus he didn’t jump and spoil when Frost and Hogan were contesting on the line. Hogan marks and goals. Frosty gave him a big spray for it aswell.

 

[MatteeG]

Wasn't searching for it but seen Tom Greene's last goal, what was Weddlee thinking slapping the ball back into the corridor. Little things like this need to be eradicated from our game but that is part of the development and journey of a young team.

Reckon he saw our 2 players there but managed to slap right in the middle of the 2. Given the state of the game an iron fist into next week was what was required

 

[Kanga Commando]

Upon reflection of yesterdays game, yes it sucked to loose that and we should have never let it slip, but we could all tell we were a bit off yesterday we had many players below their best, day couldn't shake the tag, and and we were beaten in most areas across the park.

Were a young side and these things happen. Sloppy skills really hurt was very un-hawthorn like.
I have no doubt we will bounce back next week, You could tell from Sammy presser he was already looking towards next Sunday. I back us in to bounce back in a big way.

Not sure if I heard it right from someone else - did he thought the coaches and medical staff didn't give the players everything they needed to win ?

Interesting comment from him (if true).

 

[Noel Gallagher]

He didn’t get the midfield opportunity he previously did, you have no idea why, stop guessing. The result of his performance was not good but there were many others, you’re doing all this after one bad game, calm down.

You must be new to this forum because I have expressed my concerns about Ward quite few times, not just yesterday. You seriously telling me to calm down? Did actually read my post? Evidently not

 

[MC_9]

Upon reflection of yesterdays game, yes it sucked to loose that and we should have never let it slip, but we could all tell we were a bit off yesterday we had many players below their best, day couldn't shake the tag, and and we were beaten in most areas across the park.

Were a young side and these things happen. Sloppy skills really hurt was very un-hawthorn like.
I have no doubt we will bounce back next week, You could tell from Sammy presser he was already looking towards next Sunday. I back us in to bounce back in a big way.

All of that, and we only lost by 2 points against a pretty good side in the second away game in a row.

Was actually the signs of a loss by a good side.

On Pixel 6 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[toomanysquibs]

Feel we learned nothing if we're blaming the umpires for that. Sure there were bad calls but we never seemed to try not turning it over at half forward constantly, and that's what killed us.

We played the way we wanted to for the first half, and stopped them in their tracks. The petrol tickets got spent, our reliable half forwards went awol, and GWS did to us in the last what we’d done to them for a half.

The signs were there in the third that we were short on defensive run. They ran in a wave from half back and we had no answer by the end.

We went into our shell.

We still could have won, a Meek goal from 50 might have been enough.

But we’re a work in progress, and this was a lesson on what we still need to address. Plus it was 2 interstate away games in succession. We’d been up for a long time, we have exceeded everyone’s expectations of us still.

We’ll bounce back, the year ain’t done yet either.

 

[HoldingThe Ball]

Guys.......

If we beat Carlton and some of the following happen:

Geelong beat Freo

Crows beat Footscray

Suns beat Bombers

Swans beat Pies

The ladder is much different especially if any of these happen the next week:

Swans beat Bombers

Giants beat Freo

Lions beat Pies


And in the last round its:

Dogs Vs Giants

Dockers v Port

Like us, Carlton have 2 easy last rounds.

Beat Carlton,win the last 2 and we make finals IMHO

 

[CrimminsSquad]

I still don't understand taking off our best contest mark forward in Dear. Even when not taking mark he gets it to ground and usually in really clever and predictable position for smalls. When he went off GWS started to mark more across our half forward line and this gave them field position. It also allowed them to double Mabs.

The other error was dropping Finn and having noone on Whitfield. Finn literally perfect matchup for speed and endurance.

 

[Bedi]

Absolutely filthy about this today

 

[fairdinks]

At one point the giants had the highest pressure rating of the year in the second quarter- and yet somehow we were still ahead.

Exactly MatteeG.
It needs to be recognised that GWS had just as much to play for as us and applied a lot of pressure throughout the match. I'm gutted we let the game slip, but proud of the way we handled that pressure for most of the game.....with so many in form players not on song.

 

[hebog]

Have those haircuts finally had an effect? There was no pizazz out there.

 

[OnTheRocks]

If we weren't a sniff for the finals, would the melts be as hard?
We let the game slip at the end, disappointing.
Over the season we are tracking in the right direction, satisfying.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Absolutely filthy about this today

Yeah ruined my Sunday and was restless over night. Hate to think how the players feel. Will be better tomorrow. Haha.

 

[Franko Armani]

Agree.

The whole game wishing for Day to get involved I also couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't have played Finn on Whitfield.

He has developed to be able to kick the occasional goal and Whitfield will always take you to dangerous spots.

Yeah, this was the game for some bigger, stronger bodies. Finn should’ve stayed in and started on field negating Whitfield or Green in the middle.

Was probably the week to give Scaife a game. Their backline really quelled our talls. Yes, Gunston did a great job on Taylor but left Buckley to be prolific.

Sicily didn’t have the strength to limit GWS up forward, he battled well halving a lot of contests despite that.

We are skilful and fast, but the 22 that defeated the Pies and Crows so easily is not the 22 that can defeat the big bodies Giants, Cats, Blues.

 

[H00t]

Personally I feel more disappointed with this being such a must win game that our boys had a pretty down performance more so than the giants having their comeback.

This was a game we really had to get up for. Lots of travel doesn’t make it easy but winning this would have really set us up.

If we had played our best but got beat by a better team there’s hardly any disappointment in that. It’s that we massively underperformed in the first 3 quarters that cost us. At our best this year we would have absolutely thumped them.