Autopsy Round 3, 2022: Hawks go down to the Blues

[Off The Couch]

I’m a little surprised by the comments on JOM - I thought he went to Cripps and nullified his game after having a field day in the first or am I mistaken

I was more disappointed in Titch’s and Chads game

 

[Davo23]

I got criticised for my summary last week; also because it was 4 days after the game.
Easy, BigFooty members, it takes time to create poetry.

1. Huge crowd, 60,000+ it was hard to find a seat. Lots of Blue fans, long, long queues for food, the roar was like a final. The first time for a while I haven’t been able to get a latte at the MCG.
2. Was stunned in the first quarter, can’t remember the last time another team put on a 7 goal spot so early. But I always felt we were in the game, just too many errors and turnovers and gifted them goals, and they couldn’t miss.
3. I expected a fightback, this club always does it. Also just thought we needed to get close to get them nervous, and it did happen.
4. Thought we hit the front too early; with young players, it’s hard to hold on in a close game, and also to fight back and win when headed. You need to know how to win, Clarko’s teams always practised that. Just a turnover or 2, a couple of errors, otherwise the game could have been ours.
5. Still early times, young players showing promise, we just need to win more than we lose, and stay in touch

And Ward with the over-the-shoulder, backwards handpasses, what’s that about?
Straight to a teammate every time too.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

The 2020 loss to Essendon was when I wanted Clarko moved on. Or at least the wheels to be set in motion. Once Minchington was selected over Dylan Moore the band-aid needed to be pulled swiftly IMO.


Also, Finn again struggled for consistent impact today, but his composure and desire to take the game on was better than any of his previous games. He's a strong lad and not easy to take down. I'm convinced at this point that he'll be one of those players who suddenly explodes overnight.
Can win it on the outside due to his tank, but provides genuine fight and strength inside the contest. It will all come together at some point.

I am a huge believer in Finn. I think if he were to play in his natural position he would look 100x better.

 

[Dewyyyyy]

I’m a little surprised by the comments on JOM - I thought he went to Cripps and nullified his game after having a field day in the first or am I mistaken

I was more disappointed in Titch’s and Chads game

Titch had 23 a goal (goal assist and 7 score involvements which were equal most on ground) went at 70% had 12 contested possies and 6 clearances.

If that's a disappointing game..

 

[OsakaHawk]

I'd like to point out that I never complain about this stuff because I feel it's a myth, however the media reports into this game are sickening.

AFL.com have treated it as if Carlton were playing a relegated side from the VFL and almost 'blue it'. Pretty much nothing about the impact of our young players to fight back and hit the front. Or Sam Mitchell's plan of attack after giving up 7 consecutive goals in the first quarter.

Easy fix, don’t read the news. Watch the game and make your own decision. Who cares what other people think

 

[Steven Tyler]

I think having to play Nash ruck really hurt our defensive set up at stoppages. Playing tom Mitchell on Cripps was just a nightmare. He tried but he was far too small.

I think Reeves only playing 64 percent TOG is the real killer for the game. Nash has to play far too much ruck and our rotations are all out of whack. As some others have said, we needed Nash standing next to Cripps and their big mids to keep that physical pressure up.

Pretty easy fix as we could only select 1 ruckman this week due to injuries

 

[Pessimistic]

Maybe the AFL is seeing an opportunity to win back all those gutted Azzurri fans

 

[The hands of stone]

Was reading 6-10

I missed 12 with one ......hopefully his recupative powers are way better than mine

 

[Off The Couch]

Titch had 23 a goal (goal assist and 7 score involvements which were equal most on ground) went at 70% had 12 contested possies and 6 clearances.

If that's a disappointing game..

Well you were obviously at the game and in a far better position to make a call but sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story - I didn’t say he had a bad game btw

 

[Dewyyyyy]

Well you were obviously at the game and in a far better position to make a call but sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story - I didn’t say he had a bad game btw

I mean i expect better, but that was a pretty good game, especially with the fact he had 12 CBAs.

Sam trying things, don't mind it too much.

But there's a few things especially in the midfield i haven't liked, forwardline/backline looking good tho.

 

[chopflop]

Pretty easy fix as we could only select 1 ruckman this week due to injuries

Indeed. If Lynch is available has to play for mine next week. Nash goes back to the midfield rotation. Day goes from the bench to scrimmers spot and Phillips or Finn as the sub

 

[hk89]

Carlton had a younger team on the park today, but ok.

Not according to these stats:

AFL Match Statistics : Carlton defeats Hawthorn at MCG Round 3 Sunday, 3rd April 2022

Carlton defeats Hawthorn at MCG Round 3 Sunday, 3rd April 2022 AFL match statistics

www.footywire.com

What you had was a very slightly less experienced team on average, because you had no players with more than 150 games experience. We still have a couple of flag heroes playing in the side, because unlike Carlton we have a semi-recent flag, and they and a couple of others prop up our average game experience numbers.

I feel sorry for all those Carlton players that retired recently without even the smallest sniff of success in their careers. In any case, when you look at the overall distribution, despite a few experienced outliers on our behalf, your core group was not just older, but also a good deal more experienced. You had 15 players in the 50-150 game bracket compared to our 8. That is because we had 11 players in the <50 game bracket (so half our starting side). When a few more of our players migrate into the 50+ bracket we'll be sitting a lot better than we are now, especially if we can keep the 28 and unders like Wingard, Mitchell and Sicily in the group while that happens.

As I've said elsewhere, the fact that Carlton nearly lost to a younger team, who are closer to the beginning of their rebuild than the end speaks pretty clearly to the fact that Carlton have ****ed up their own rebuild, and have basically built a list that is never going to leap above the the logjam of teams that sits around 12-5 for most of their shelf life. They'll then drop back down for, what is the 4th, 5th or is it 6th non-productive rebuild? (sorry I've lost track, there has been so many). There is a reason Clarko said no, and you ended up with Crazy Voss.

 

[myblueroan]

Gifted 3 crucial dropping the ball

Pretty sure it evened out with the,way the umps treated Harry McKay.
Good game.
You guys are impressive. Don't know how you seem to skip the rebuild stage. No 9 killed us all day.
See you in the finals I guess.

 

[SSSSSS]

Oh my mistake. But can we stop with all the younger team crap. BOTH teams are young and inexperienced. The Hawks will get younger over the next couple of years as those 150 gamers begin to retire.

Both teams have similar experience/age but it's the way the ages spread.

We are very top heavy with 4 players having played > 150 games compared to 0 from Carlton.

Much less experienced in the 0-100 game mark.

Just at two stages of list management. We have just entered our rebuild and you are coming out of it.

 

[hawkman]

The backline was brilliant after quarter time. To concede 47 entries and only let them score 4.7 was immense.

If we could fix the midfield we would be a genuinely good team this year. Unfortunately, that is probably a 1-2 year project

 

[westhawk]

I’m a little surprised by the comments on JOM - I thought he went to Cripps and nullified his game after having a field day in the first or am I mistaken

I was more disappointed in Titch’s and Chads game

Totally agree. Plays a unselfish game JOM that a lot of people don't notice. Does the grunt work that some other players like the 2 you mentioned should look at doing.

 

[WWSD]

The backline was brilliant after quarter time. To concede 47 entries and only let them score 4.7 was immense.

If we could fix the midfield we would be a genuinely good team this year. Unfortunately, that is probably a 1-2 year project

There’s a very simple solution to fixing the midfield…

 

[hawkman]

There’s a very simple solution…

He was cramping a minute into the last quarter, he is still 2-3 weeks away from full fitness. Even then we have no idea how he will go as a mid

 

[almuz]

Finn’s got rough edges but I hope we persevere with him.

Look at Kennedy from the Blues - between the Giants and the Blues he looked like an almost player for years and now in his 7th or so season it’s clicked for him.

Hopefully it doesn’t take Finn that long but his good attributes outweigh the bad - we don’t lose much by playing him each week now anyway

 

[Judd2Sewell]

There’s a very simple solution to fixing the midfield…

Which one? All three of those players would help fix some midfield issues.

We know what Wingard can do when he's fit and playing there. Steele is a gun. We need Day fit and getting a whole season under his belt.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Oh my mistake. But can we stop with all the younger team crap. BOTH teams are young and inexperienced. The Hawks will get younger over the next couple of years as those 150 gamers begin to retire.

Got a draft pick by team analysis?

 

[MightyHawks]

That Sicily rushed behind late where he looked dumped in the marking contest turned out to be significant.

No way that a forward wouldn't have been given a free for that

 

[Linda CRS]

I thought we were outstanding today, amazing effort to get back with Nash 2nd and 3rd efforts a brilliant example. We are not far off but we need composed ball coming through the corridor. Bring on next week.

 

[Baz_hawk]

Felt that we were one ruckman short today. Nash handled himself well as the second ruck but it was more when we needed a down the line option we didn't have that big target to draw in the defenders. Reeves tried hard but did get ignored a number of times.

Midfield is still out concern, with clearances being something we are still not getting enough of. I'm not really concerned though, this midfield is very young and whilst they've trained for months, it really takes game time together to get the dynamics right. Carlton have a experienced midfield group who have been together for a number of years now and it showed with their understanding. That is something we'll see in the next few months as the boys grow in confidence.

 

[Hawk88]

We shouldn't win a game when we were so far behind so it was a great effort to get back into the contest and nearly steal it

The real worry is some senior players being absolute no shows for much of the first 3 rounds. We pay big dollars to these boys and their disposal efficiency for parts of the game have been absolute woeful

I am almost at the point where I would prefer another player playing instead of JOM just to give them game time. For a senior player who is suppose to be an A grade midfielder, his simply just not giving us enough to warrant auto selection. His down on almost every metric compared to his career averages so far

Would we be upset if we gave Duke his midfield minutes and include Bramble when his fit? Defs not and we investing in the future