Coach Sam Mitchell's direction for the club and 2024 news

[Strapping Young Lad]

If anyone wants to have a listen about what the data is saying in regards to whether we have actually gotten worse this year have a listen to this from the 9:15 mark.

I know a few people have already touched on it, but the data is also showing that our results this year have been slightly better despite actually putting out a younger team and dealing with some injuries.




And here.

 

[cryptor]

Loving Sam, just a perfect fit for the young rebuilding playing group.

The coaching handover was a real disaster but so glad it is Sam who is at the helm.

Totally agree. Has a great philosophy that makes perfect sense.

We're quite fortunate he spent many years of his playing career knowing he wanted to be a senior coach one day and was able to observe a legendary coach in Clarko in action throughout a period of great success.

Sam knows what it takes to not only win a flag in the modern competition (as a player here and as a coach at West Coast) but also has rare insight into what it takes to build a premiership dynasty and where improvements can be made over what Clarko did.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Losing Lewis really stings because if he was fit, I could see Hawthorn suprising quite a few and finishing around 10th.

Sadly though he wont get a good run at it and goals will be hard to come by without him.

We'll probably lose 4 or 5 games due to it and finish about the same again (possibly lower, he is that important) which only gives all the bobbing heads the validation they crave.

But hey, a top 5 pick this year would be pretty sweet too.

 

[cryptor]

Losing Lewis really stings because if he was fit, I could see Hawthorn suprising quite a few and finishing around 10th.

Sadly though he wont get a good run at it and goals will be hard to come by without him.

We'll probably lose 4 or 5 games due to it and finish about the same again (possibly lower, he is that important) which only gives all the bobbing heads the validation they crave.

But hey, a top 5 pick this year would be pretty sweet too.

This year is pretty much a free swing. Most expect us to finish bottom 4. Either we meet those expectations and get a top pick in a strong draft, or we exceed expectations.

 

[Slainte]

Losing Lewis really stings because if he was fit, I could see Hawthorn suprising quite a few and finishing around 10th.

Sadly though he wont get a good run at it and goals will be hard to come by without him.

We'll probably lose 4 or 5 games due to it and finish about the same again (possibly lower, he is that important) which only gives all the bobbing heads the validation they crave.

But hey, a top 5 pick this year would be pretty sweet too.

The impact of losing Lewis is overstated IMO for the following reasons:
1. Scoring does not depend on a single player. When we lost Franklin, you could say, there goes 70-80 goals but really the issue was where do we find those goals.
2. Melbourne has shown you can be a contender and even enjoy premiership success without a single A-grade KPF - it is not just single players not being the hey too scoring, you can be genuinely weak in a whole category of forwards and still get the job done.
3. We may well finish up getting Lewis back for half or even more than half of the season.

I wouldn't be counting on a top 5 pick just yet.

 

[H00t]

The impact of losing Lewis is overstated IMO for the following reasons:
1. Scoring does not depend on a single player. When we lost Franklin, you could say, there goes 70-80 goals but really the issue was where do we find those goals.
2. Melbourne has shown you can be a contender and even enjoy premiership success without a single A-grade KPF - it is not just single players not being the hey too scoring, you can be genuinely weak in a whole category of forwards and still get the job done.
3. We may well finish up getting Lewis back for half or even more than half of the season.

I wouldn't be counting on a top 5 pick just yet.

I mean we lost Franklin but still had the best forward line in the competition by a decent margin. So we were able to cover his loss.

Melbournes forward line is very below par. But their midfield was head and shoulders above the rest so that they could win by weight of numbers.

We neither have the forwards nor the mids to cover Lewis.

Hence why he’s a pretty big loss. We might still surprise some teams but we’d perform a lot better with Lewis in.

 

[HedgeFund]

The impact of losing Lewis is overstated IMO for the following reasons:
1. Scoring does not depend on a single player. When we lost Franklin, you could say, there goes 70-80 goals but really the issue was where do we find those goals.
2. Melbourne has shown you can be a contender and even enjoy premiership success without a single A-grade KPF - it is not just single players not being the hey too scoring, you can be genuinely weak in a whole category of forwards and still get the job done.
3. We may well finish up getting Lewis back for half or even more than half of the season.

I wouldn't be counting on a top 5 pick just yet.

It does when Gunston walked to Brisbane as well.

The combined effect of Jack leaving and Mitchell going down when we were the 7th lowest scoring team in 2022 is significant.

We have no key forwards who have any decent goal scoring form and our mids don’t kick goals (unlike Melbourne who have heaps, and also still have Fritsch kicking 55 and 59 in the past 2 years)

 

[Topiary]

It does when Gunston walked to Brisbane as well.

The combined effect of Jack leaving and Mitchell going down when we were the 7th lowest scoring team in 2022 is significant.

We have no key forwards who have any decent goal scoring form and our mids don’t kick goals (unlike Melbourne who have heaps, and also still have Fritsch kicking 55 and 59 in the past 2 years)

I have to agree, we are going to find it extremely difficult to kick winning scores. That is unless we try and find something else and succeed.

 

[peetoo]

The impact of losing Lewis is overstated IMO for the following reasons:
1. Scoring does not depend on a single player. When we lost Franklin, you could say, there goes 70-80 goals but really the issue was where do we find those goals.
2. Melbourne has shown you can be a contender and even enjoy premiership success without a single A-grade KPF - it is not just single players not being the hey too scoring, you can be genuinely weak in a whole category of forwards and still get the job done.
3. We may well finish up getting Lewis back for half or even more than half of the season.

I wouldn't be counting on a top 5 pick just yet.

On the other hand our forwards were reasonably efficient which covered up being lacking in the midfield. Gunston and Lewis were part of that.

 

[CHUBBSS]

I have to agree, we are going to find it extremely difficult to kick winning scores. That is unless we try and find something else and succeed.

I think it will balance out, rest of the team will pick up the slack and should be a lot cleaner with the ball

 

[peetoo]

I think it will balance out, rest of the team will pick up the slack and should be a lot cleaner with the ball

Me too, but it will take time

 

[HedgeFund]

I have to agree, we are going to find it extremely difficult to kick winning scores. That is unless we try and find something else and succeed.

No doubt we will look to new options, that’s pretty much the case from the centreline and forward.

Our back 6 needs to settle, but there will be heaps of shuffling across the entire of the rest of the field.

We will be able to experiment heaps with our midfield and hopefully unearth new forward threats. Could be Greene, Meek, Jeka, Kozi, etc. but there’s no logical “plug and play” replacement.

Hence the injury to Lewis is a bit more of a problem than would appear to some.

 

[burner1]

I have to agree, we are going to find it extremely difficult to kick winning scores. That is unless we try and find something else and succeed.

Yep. The game plan intent is pretty clear - super aggressive transition footy to give our forwards a chance. Maybe we execute it better than 2021 but Lewis and Gunston are both very efficient forwards and could win a contest and demand a good opponent. You’d think we’d need a fair bit of midfield / backline dominance (prob unlikely in 2023) to offset the apparent forward line weakness.

 

[Mrzohs]

I Love everything this man has done since taking charge.
The game style, media dialogue, trades and captain choices.
Let's make no mistake we were on a downhill spiral with no end date.
Starting to see some level ground ahead, by no means are we out of it but I can see the path forward.
Hopefully this season doesn't bring to many road blocks (injurys,incidents) and we can continue to move forward as one!

Keep up the good work Sammy!

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

 

[The Chad and I]

Elite core group of leaders under 24: Day, Ward, Mackenzie, MacDonald, Newcombe, Moore, CJ, Blanck, Maginness.

Much talent under 24 like Butler, DGB, Brockman, Weddle etc that I also have high hopes for.
Quite a few between 24-27 too.

It's a young list, but a very good one shaping up.

 

[brad sue well]

Haven't closely followed this thread but know of the connection Sam and Bec have. I wonder how closely their game plans are, recruiting is etc. Didn't Sam call an AFLW player to come to HFC and she has now landed? Bec said she aims to kick 12 goals a game like Sam's 20. It must be so mutually beneficial to have such a strong alliance.

 

[Jet_black]

‘Two years too late’, but Brereton backs Hawks rebuild; Bombers need to get ‘nasty’, says Lloyd

Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton, a champion premiership player and former club board member, hopes Sam Mitchell is given the chance to see the Hawks’ rebuild through. Meanwhile, Essendon great Matthew Lloyd has called on the Bombers to toughen up.

www.theage.com.au

Endorsement from Derm.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[SSSSSS]

The impact of losing Lewis is overstated IMO for the following reasons:
1. Scoring does not depend on a single player. When we lost Franklin, you could say, there goes 70-80 goals but really the issue was where do we find those goals.
2. Melbourne has shown you can be a contender and even enjoy premiership success without a single A-grade KPF - it is not just single players not being the hey too scoring, you can be genuinely weak in a whole category of forwards and still get the job done.
3. We may well finish up getting Lewis back for half or even more than half of the season.

I wouldn't be counting on a top 5 pick just yet.

Lewis impact isn't measured by his goals alone. He commands the respect of two defenders at a bare minimum, such is our lack of strong marking forward options. He has a lot of work rate and can be used as an outlet high up the ground to help get the ball out of the D50.

He'd contribute at a guess 2-3 goals at a minimum just from his presence alone, let alone the 2-3 he'd kick directly himself.

We were able to isolate Gunston so often in a favourable 1:1 purely because of Lewis. Watch the Roo's game. Lewis commanded the attention of McKay and McDonald all game allowing us to isolate Gunston v Bonar. Gunners kicked 6 and we pissed it home early.

 

[MasterSamurai]

Our mids haven't been a scoring threat for a good few years, this is where's we need to up the ante. We ahve enough medium to small frwds to pick up some of the slack as well but for me, our biggest concern has been midfielders who don't hit the scoreboard enough.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

The impact of losing Lewis is overstated IMO for the following reasons:
1. Scoring does not depend on a single player. When we lost Franklin, you could say, there goes 70-80 goals but really the issue was where do we find those goals.
2. Melbourne has shown you can be a contender and even enjoy premiership success without a single A-grade KPF - it is not just single players not being the hey too scoring, you can be genuinely weak in a whole category of forwards and still get the job done.
3. We may well finish up getting Lewis back for half or even more than half of the season.

I wouldn't be counting on a top 5 pick just yet.

You can cover for Franklin when you still have:

• a Coleman winning versatile HOF level forward in Roughead
• two of the three or four best small forwards in Rioli and Breust
• the best third tall in Gunston
• and a team-first workhorse in Puopolo
• one of the better resting rucks in Hale, who was a good contested mark and a great set shot

Never mind the fact we had a dominant defence and the most skilled midfield unit in the league, with the best wing duo since the turn of the century.

Our current team is light years off that.

Kosi is nowhere near Roughead's level. Reeves cannot take a contested mark to save himself (lovely set shot though). Our best midfielder now would sit comfortably behind Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge and Burgoyne. Our backline is solid, but still a long way off our backline in those peak years.

Moore, Wingard and elder stateman Breust are quality smalls though.

 

[Dewnior]

You can cover for Franklin when you still have:

• a Coleman winning versatile HOF level forward in Roughead
• two of the three or four best small forwards in Rioli and Breust
• the best third tall in Gunston
• and a team-first workhorse in Puopolo
• one of the better resting rucks in Hale, who was a good contested mark and a great set shot

Never mind the fact we had a dominant defence and the most skilled midfield unit in the league, with the best wing duo since the turn of the century.

Our current team is light years off that.

Kosi is nowhere near Roughead's level. Reeves cannot take a contested mark to save himself (lovely set shot though). Our best midfielder now would sit comfortably behind Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge and Burgoyne. Our backline is solid, but still a long way off our backline in those peak years.

Moore, Wingard and elder stateman Breust are quality smalls though.

Adding Caddy, a KP FA and a f/s or two will get us a bit closer I reckon

 

[TylerDurden]

 

[xmarksthespot]

‘Strip it back as far as you can’: Dunstall backs Hawks’ scorched-earth plan

Jason Dunstall has strongly backed his old team’s courageous list strategy of off-loading senior players, saying that clubs in Hawthorn’s position are better to pare back their lists as far possible.

www.theage.com.au

Jason Dunstall also putting his shoulder behind the rebuild messaging.

 

[Bedi]

Loving this consensual underdog status from the media. We all saw what an exiting brand of footy we played last year – and though losing Lewis (temporarily) and Gunston really hurts – look out everyone 2023, we're here to mess things up!

 

[Yardie]

A decent article based on some science at least....

Your AFL team's predicted finish for 2023