Autopsy Round 7, 2024 : Hawks get pecked by Swans

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Pretty sad day for the club our kicking into F50 has been pretty pathetic- was at the game Gunners multiple leads ignored, and the forward line pretty non existent.

Anyway we have all seen it no point going over the stuff everyone else has seen as said but the worse thing is unless we turn it around and start playing the brand of footy we were last year we are not going to be attracting the free agents etc, I think Hardwick might be coming out of contract also and really need him to sign on.

Anyway that’s my say on this one and we move on.
 
Just a note on F50 entries. Carlton had 66 to Geelong 45 yesterday. The tackles inside 50 were Carlton 24 to Geelong 8. Carlton also won the clearances. Carlton lost. There is nothing odd about any of this. It is the way the game is played today. It is all about speed and efficiency. You can blame your forwards etc. etc. but the real issue is being too slow going inside 50. Player holds the ball thinking, thinking, still thinking what to do with it and by the time he kicks it the opposition is all back there and set up. So what happens? There is no space, the ball gets intercepted and then gets danced out and with quick ball movement all the way to the other end. And remember Carlton has Curnow and McKay.
 
Is the selection committee trolling at this point? Some baffling decisions.

Another ruckman/KPP as a sub.
Subbing off a young kid to let Gunston who was nowhere near it play as a half back distributor.
Going in as Chol as the sole KPP and wondering why we can't kick a score when we dominate the I50s.

Gunston. I love you mate. Champion forever but I can't see how we can play him. Offers absolutely nothing on the footy field.
Seconded.....wtf?
 

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With a bit of time to think it over, a few more comments:
  • our needs remain the same as per the start of the year. KPF, KPD, x-factor mid. Nothing has changed in my mind over the first couple of months.
  • we won clearances - so there’s something going okay.
  • senior players ala Sicily, Impey, Amon, Gunston etc. have all been well below their best. Hard for a young team when your senior players aren’t on.
  • goal kicking accuracy is terrible. 17 scoring shots to 28. They kicked well, we kicked poorly.
  • ball use around the ground and going into the F50 is poor.
  • the other primary issue other than goal kicking & ball use is our pressure / effort around the ground.

Specifically on the pressure / effort issue:
  • 11 Hawks had 1 tackle or less (I.e. half the side). Conversely only 5 Swans players had the same.
  • I’m uncertain to what extent the pressure / effort issue is mindset or personnel.
  • I haven’t seen anyone comment on this, but we seem to get tackles inside the F50, however across the rest of the ground we’re just poor, and teams still seem to be able to waltz the ball down the ground.
  • As such, I think it must be something more to do with gameplan / player mindset in the contest and around the ground - coaches need to address this immediately.

I can see a few things they can actively work on to improve:
  • goal kicking practice. 5.12 is woeful, but turning that to 12.5 is a little better.
  • get the runners / good users to actually work on getting the overlap run.
  • work out how to handball - including how to get the forward handball going - such a useful tool when the opposition is planted facing away from their goal. Our backwards handballing & handballing to a player about to be tackled is just something that must be fixed.
 
I honestly think we're not playing him to his strengths. His effort is fine, but he's not built for bash and crash forward craft.

He has shown all year that his best football is when he plays loose up and down the ground. He doesn't seem to have big forward one on one craft or leading to space (although the slowness of F50 entries doesn't help) which is why he tends to be out bodied and so tends to go for the big grab from behind. I think he was given more freedom in the second half when Ramsden came on which resulted in much better output from him.
 
It's mind numbing some of the supporters ganging up on Chol, of the three key talls up forward he was far and away the most effective.

Chol was not brought in to be the #1 forward he was brought in to be a foil to Lewis and match up on the 2nd or 3rd key defender like Riccardi at the Giants.

He showed when Lewis played against Essendon & Geelong he can do that role really well.
 
90% of the time our ball movement is so slow.. by the time we do get it down our end the only option is to bomb it in long because there is zero room for our fwds to lead into...
This did my head in today. We would wait to "pull the trigger" and then there would be a flood of Swans.
 
At one point in the last we were

+1 inside 50’s.
+6 clearances
+25 contested possessions

70pts behind.

Diabolical ball use.

At least Day got through? Didn’t he?
we were +10 in the inside fifties not +1
 
Gunston had 1 disposal in the first half. FFS you have to sub him off the back of that.

It was a disturbing watch. The stats say otherwise, but if I'm an oppo fan, I'm saying they're not playing for the coach.

The white flag went up the minute Chol reversed that Hardwick goal. Game over at that point.

How mentally fragile are this group??

Where is rock bottom??? I'm afraid we're not there yet.

I'm retiring Gunston now and taking 2 picks in the MSD. The only thing to look forward to are high picks in any of the drafts.

Play Phillips next week.

The only positive of the day was seeing Buds kids in our colours.

A truly dark day for the club.
Gunston cannot jump anymore and has lost his yard of pace. He isn't adding anything and taking game time away from others that are the future.
 

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Pull your head in. For one it’s not vitriol, it’s criticism. He is playing poorly and everyone knows it. Biggest issue is his work rate which is poor. It has nothing to do with his skin color. To even bring that into the conversation is just bullshit

Don't think his work rate was an issue at all today he had 4 tackles and chased well.
 
The criticism I heard today is that he is too easily moved off the contested ball ,
Well, he has hurt the opposition physically at contests, I know of two players that have copped the Mabs hurt. Who else has hurt any opposition this year from us? (edited)
 
Can't help but think the vitriol thrown at Chol wouldn't be as bad if he was white
Chol is copping vitriol because his opponent (McCartin) took god knows how many contested marks against him as though he was competing with thin air. I don't think anyone believes big Mabs is the second coming of Stewart Loewe but someone of his height and athleticism should have a physical presence. He was uncompetitive today which is almost the worst thing you can say about a footballer imo.
As for the skin colour aspect Frost has copped it more than anyone on this forum and his complexion is...(checks colour chart) dulux antique white
 
Genuine question

Are we worse then West Coast now? Given they got a lot of their players back now they ran with GC for 3 quarters today, we couldn't get near them

Their kicking inside 50 is making Waterman look like Carey while our skill has fallen off a cliff
 
Rather than lay the blame the performance at the feet of a few players it’s more the team performance where it all falls apart.

All our players are trying hard there’s just not the synergy needed to compete with the top teams.

Our players aren’t providing the right options and when they do our players take the wrong option.

Some time is what the teams needs to gel so each player can perform closer to their potential.

Was obvious how much better the team looked against North. It’s the same players next week just against stronger opposition.
 
Adamant we are better off just kicking it into space in the forward 50 and backing in the smalls to crumb the ball. No point trying to kick to a contest, the ball will just come back over your head.
I was thinking about this the other day. Which coach will have the vision to adopt a strategy to kick long grubbers to space as a tactic?

I mean it could happen.
 
Chol is copping vitriol because his opponent (McCartin) took god knows how many contested marks against him as though he was competing with thin air. I don't think anyone believes big Mabs is the second coming of Stewart Loewe but someone of his height and athleticism should have a physical presence. He was uncompetitive today which is almost the worst thing you can say about a footballer imo.
As for the skin colour aspect Frost has copped it more than anyone on this forum and his complexion is...(checks colour chart) dulux antique white
Well said mate. Pretty much sums it all up
 
I was thinking about this the other day. Which coach will have the vision to adopt a strategy to kick long grubbers to space as a tactic?

I mean it could happen.

I mean not quite Grubbers but Dimma at Richmond loved his players to go for the torp to grass and let the smalls chase it down.
 

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