Autopsy Round 5, 2024 - Suns destroy hopeless Hawks

[Goatie]

I’m feeling a bit flat. I’m extremely concerned about the regression of our leaders, younger players and game plan.

I’m not sure what happened over the preseason but it has not worked. My expectations are very low now. I just want to see improvement even if it doesn’t equate to wins.

Would like to see Serong come in.
Weddle onto a wing.
Move Hardwick back and just bring pressure and at least be hard to play against.

 

[Delecate Des]

Mass, Scrim, Meek, Worpel, Ginni and Finn (3 goals) all had a crack.

First time in ages I have been able to watch a a full game, I would love to isolate the free kicks against Scrim vs the non frees against Ginni and big Chol.

A few observations if I may

So far we have played

Injectors: Kick straight and we win
Scats: 2022 Premiers
Dees: 2021 Premiers
Pies : 2023 Premiers (Had a chance to win it despite not playing four quarters)
Cold Toast: AFL franchise with multiple first and academy picks. Coached by a handpicked triple premiership coach

Start of the year we had the second youngest list inflated by Breust , Gunston, Frost and Chad. Before anyone says "But THEY are not the future" its about experience and depth. Add in injuries vs games played: Day (0/4), Blank (0/4), DGB (0/4), CJ (0/4), Wingard (0/4), Lewis (3/4), Watson (3/4), Breust (3/4). If these guys are playing, it releases Scrim, Scis or Frost and its the same with the forwards and the mids.


FFS, young sides take time and Sam first full year in charge was 2022!!!! He is building a side without the benefits of charity picks and academy rorts. If building a premiership contender was easy, Cold Toast and GilWS would have multiple flags by now.

More than few poster need a cuppa and good lie down

 

[extractasam]

As shit as it is seeing us be so soft yesterday, the bonus is we know exactly where our improvement starts.
Just wish it was something that came more instinctively for this group.

We are a good team when we’re winning it at the source, we’ve seen it, we know how move the ball when things are on our terms. Just gotta be a hell of a lot better at accepting the fact physicality isn’t optional

 

[TheFourPillars]

You sadistic bastard!

If the players can do it i can brave it lol

 

[westhawk]

Sicily looks shot. His last quarter fwd was absolutely putrid. He just gave up. When your best player and captain is doing that, what hope do you have?

Sam looked absolutely shattered. You hope we've bottomed out. Next week will tell us.

Spot on, plus seeing him smiling and sharing a laugh after the final siren pissed me off even more.

 

[westhawk]

Has Sam lost the players? Lots of apparent disinterest and half hearted attempts. Is his message missing the mark? I remember someone here mentioned the other week that maybe he's being too intellectual?

Wouldn’t take much to be too intellectual for this group.

 

[zacattack]

One thing worth remembering is that EVEN in our premiership years with Rioli, Hardwick always knows how to beat Hawthorn.
He is fair dinkum our 'bogey coach', all these years, when competing against us...could it be his years as assistant coach with
Hawthorn in our golden years?

 

[FB19]

Sorry Tops , dont agree
I would argue we have timed this as well as you could .
Teams on the down over the next few seasons will be greatly affected .
We should miss that curve so to speak

The strategy is right and agree timed best it could given the timing of Clarksons departure, but the execution is the question. We haven’t taken a huge volume of early picks it’s one more top 30 than we would have had with our natural draft hand with a few 2nd round pick upgrades. I’m not as worried re Tasmania as they won’t build like GWS Suns and skew the top end of the draft. The AFL will force them to trade early picks for players to be competitive straight away. Topiary is right though we need to be exploring how to get more high picks not giving them up in trade. Hard to see how we make the case with our start anyway which may be a blessing in disguise and force us to keep drafting.

 

[SSSSSS]

One thing worth remembering is that EVEN in our premiership years with Rioli, Hardwick always knows how to beat Hawthorn.
He is fair dinkum our 'bogey coach', all these years, when competing against us...could it be his years as assistant coach with
Hawthorn in our golden years?

Hardwick is one of the best game day coaches in AFL history.

He was responsible for a lot of our game day moves when he was an assistant to Clarkson.

Clarko better for an entire season but Dimma is the guy I'd pick to dismantle a single side over one game.

 

[humid hawk]

Culture and mindset comes from the top. I'd prefer Newcombe, Moore or Day as captain tbh.

At this stage of our development we need an onfield general who can take charge when things are going against us. Love Sicily as a player but I don't think the captaincy is doing him any favours this year.

 

[Turly]

He is undersized so umpires are always going to look at the grabs and pushes. There were plenty of issues with the umpiring last night didn't think the umpiring of Scrimshaw was one of them. Needs to be better at competing without infringing

Disagree completely. Not sure what you were watching.

Even the commentators were confused by a couple of them which says something.

 

[bigmaxi]

One thing worth remembering is that EVEN in our premiership years with Rioli, Hardwick always knows how to beat Hawthorn.
He is fair dinkum our 'bogey coach', all these years, when competing against us...could it be his years as assistant coach with
Hawthorn in our golden years?

yeah 2008 the Tigers, with 4 or 5 rounds to go at the MCG, smacked us hard. Then we didn't lose another game and touched up the cocky Cats bea-ut-iful-eeee.
Better days will come.
Just ask Des!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Just for some added context as to what we’re seeing out there there, both Nash and Newcombe are averaging 6 disposals less a game in 2024.

Add Will Day’s 25 ave disposals to that and we’re essentially 40+ disposals(+ associated clearances and 1-2’s) poorer through the middle in each game so far this year.

It’s not a good starting point at all.

 

[hardway]

No more rewarding games to players that have offered zero and not going when it’s their turn.

Bennetts ,O’Sullivan and Serong get a game for the efforts they have put in.

Nash,McDonald and Butler have been too poor to get another game this week.

 

[Noel Gallagher]

No injuries is the positive. Probably some sore bodies. Meek copped a nasty hit.

We've got some very important players coming back soon.

Lewis, Day, CJ, Wiz and Wingers are 1-2 weeks away now.

Important absolutely - Big issue though is that all of Lewis, CJ and Wingard are consistently injured. I would hate to see how many games of footy all three have missed on the last 3 years. Day is a star but has also copped a significant amount of injuries that have stifled his development

 

[grumbleguts]

Defenders can't be giving away 6 free kicks

He didn't. His opponent was GIVEN 6 free kicks, not sure Scrimshaw had much to do with them, the umpire on the other hand had a fair bit to do with the majority of them.

 

[Newmo89]

Last night the amount of times we refused to go lower and harder than an opponent and then they would get the ball out was really disappointing.

The past fortnight at training, due to numbers, the match simulation has been non contact - if you don't train like you're going to play, what do you expect will happen?

I do want to point out two things that stood out in the last quarter more so cause it showed something from a few players that aren't viewed as willing to do the work or be tough when needed.
Scrimma gave away a free kick, was manning the mark and his opponent took off. Scrimma dived to smother and did so - Jack often cops criticism for refusing to do the hard stuff.

The second one was in the goal square - it was Nick Holman against Massimo D'Ambrosio and Massimo refused to let Holman get in front and kick an easy goal - Frosty patted him on the back, but was the only team mate to get around him and applaud the effort.

 

[nelk boys]

How do you move on??
This List lacks AGrade talent. Who do we consider trading to get at least three first rounders.Recent drafts have masked where we are at.
With TAS coming in, we are going to be down a long, long time.
You can forget about Roughy’s role. FA and out of contract players and their managers want success.

What's your view on our talent tops?

I think we are building nicely. Day, Newk, Weddle, Watto, Moore I'm confident will all be A graders. Frenchie and Ward are too early to tell.

Just need another elite mid, a KF and an key back. Reckon we'll click sooner than people think.

 

[becalm]

I'm going to forget that game.

Early on we had chances to put some scoreboard pressure but we fluffed our chances.
The ball was greasy and some of our players tried to do to much in those conditions.
As the game went on you could feel the confidence falling.
There was a big difference in the number of possessions.
Gold coast continually chipped the ball around in our half to get loose players which they did because we did not man up at any stage.
This was why they had so many possessions.
I am curious, were the players instructed to play this way, their coach did not coach this way at Richmond. If the continue to play this way they won't go very far.
Gold Coast received 6 goals from free kicks.
Gold Coast are 3 from 3 at home.
I'm not blaming the umpires but I concerned at the number freebee goals teams are receiving.
Essendon won their match from the charities they received.

I believe our game against Collingwood was a true reflection how we can play.

The number of list changes we have had of the past few years has been incredible.
It takes time for a team to gel from that amount of changes.

I still confident we are not that far away as some have indicated.

 

[CHUBBSS]

Last night the amount of times we refused to go lower and harder than an opponent and then they would get the ball out was really disappointing.

The past fortnight at training, due to numbers, the match simulation has been non contact - if you don't train like you're going to play, what do you expect will happen?

I do want to point out two things that stood out in the last quarter more so cause it showed something from a few players that aren't viewed as willing to do the work or be tough when needed.
Scrimma gave away a free kick, was manning the mark and his opponent took off. Scrimma dived to smother and did so - Jack often cops criticism for refusing to do the hard stuff.

The second one was in the goal square - it was Nick Holman against Massimo D'Ambrosio and Massimo refused to let Holman get in front and kick an easy goal - Frosty patted him on the back, but was the only team mate to get around him and applaud the effort.

No contact at training dear lord.

The brains trust have cooked it, easy way to launch a full club review

 

[Dipper Here]

Last night the amount of times we refused to go lower and harder than an opponent and then they would get the ball out was really disappointing.

The past fortnight at training, due to numbers, the match simulation has been non contact - if you don't train like you're going to play, what do you expect will happen?

I do want to point out two things that stood out in the last quarter more so cause it showed something from a few players that aren't viewed as willing to do the work or be tough when needed.
Scrimma gave away a free kick, was manning the mark and his opponent took off. Scrimma dived to smother and did so - Jack often cops criticism for refusing to do the hard stuff.

The second one was in the goal square - it was Nick Holman against Massimo D'Ambrosio and Massimo refused to let Holman get in front and kick an easy goal - Frosty patted him on the back, but was the only team mate to get around him and applaud the effort.

Hi Newmo89

I'm interested to know about how you acquire your insights into the club. Do you go to training regularly or are you involved with the club at some level?

Cheers and thanks for your posts/insights.

 

[grumbleguts]

We're not North, We're not North, We're not North, We're not North, We're not North

 

[SammyC]

bring your mouthguards to training boys - time for an old fashioned flogging.

unacceptable effort and just not hard enough. We laugh at the essendon edge but they brought it friday and won.

sam was seething. Conditions required no nonsense, tough in and under footy, and we got flogged - on the inside and the outside.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[Noel Gallagher]

Agree. Had big concerns about Chol during the preseason games. A Richmond supporter mate of mine warned me about him and not much has changed. Will show some flashes of brilliance then goes missing for long durations. For a big athletic body he goes to ground far too easily, with the slightest body contact. Granted he's been ok in the first 4 rounds, but was atrocious yesterday. He certainly isn't the key forward we would like at this stage. I've got Vickery vibes about him. And unfortunately Lewis is made of glass.

Agree - Dont care how GC or the media try and spin it, as soon as Hardwick got the GC gig his first port of call was get Chol out of the side. Our staff were genuinely shocked by how unfit he came to us. Forget about the PCL injury, you can still work hard in the gym which he clearly didn’t do

Some home truths about him and a few other player

Chol - Is unfit and lazy, Max Andrew and Collins ran rings around him yesterday

C McDonald - poor defensively is soft at the contrst far too often and for someone who has achieved two fifths of stuff all, struts around the ground like he is Christian Petracca

Butler. Had high hopes for this kid, but was way off. Doesn’t understand running patterns or reading the play

I have never seen two midfielders regress so much as Nash and Newcombe have. Absolute bulls last year but completely lost this year. Are they carrying injuries??

Sicily - I feel for him having to play taller each week, constantly getting targeted physically each week. He needs help down back and quick

Sam Mitchell. Warning signs galore. Is he starting to loose players, is he Stevie Gerard mark 2 ( champion player, dud coach? ) not writing him off yet but has to re-engineer his game plan quickly or face some serious flogging