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.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

I'm not on GG's side here but the "yet to beat a side with a winning record" point isn't quite as telling about where we're at as you're making out. Geelong are 6th and have only beaten one team with a winning record, Essendon are 2nd and they've only beaten one, Melbourne and Collingwood have only beaten 2.

It's the nature of footy, the sides that lose are generally more likely to lose again. Sydney are the only side with a proper winning record over winning sides, and Richmond beat them.

Fair point. But we are also 4 and 7 and we were 0-5 IIRC and coming off a disgraceful performance against the Gold Coast when I made those comments. People have quickly forgotten that we beat both grand finalists last season so I am not sure how anybody can claim with certainty that we have improved, or improved significantly. I absolutely acknowledge that there are green shoots but my comments at the time were entirely justifiable given how were were playing.

And again, I have no issue with people disagreeing with me. My issue is with people who trawl old comments and throw them back at the person making them when they think they've caught them out for getting something wrong. This is not Bay 13. Intelligent people reserve the right to change their opinion as the facts change. I am not yet of the opinion that we (or Sam) are on the right path. I hope that I come around to that position. We have beaten a few teams lately that are struggling, and we should have beaten Port Adelaide. We would have won that game if not for one very bad quarter of coaching (3 good quarters of coaching also to be fair) so that is something of a positive.

But until I see us beat a couple of proven teams I will reserve my judgement.

 

[Bugs1977]

Adelaide, GWS, Richmond, West coast. Win 3 of our next 4 and we will be sitting 7-8. Will make the run home interesting...

Win 3 of the next 4 games and then our advertisement for pending free agents sky rockets

 

[scrim reaper]

When I look at our current midfield, I don't see any absolute standouts. I don't see a Cripps, Daicos, Bont or Fyfe/Danger at their respective peaks. Day is probably the most likely to get to that level, but I doubt it (hope he proves me wrong). What I do see is grunt, skill and evenness (which I think is a trait worth having in a midfield). I see someone stepping up when one of the others is having a bad day, or a run of down form. I think that evenness will stand us in very good stead for the future.

If we can get them all playing well at the same time, we're well on our way to our next lot of silverware....

Enter Bailey Smith. One tier below the types you've mentioned but Smith, Day, Newcombe is a top 5 midfield in 2025. Also could see Smith having a Chad Warner style breakout year under Sam Mitchell.

 

[Bugs1977]

As all the short-sighted whiners sent themselves into frothy-mouthed hysterics about our form early in the season, I just sat there quietly, three words ringing in my mind: we'll come good.

It was only a matter of when.

All that said, we're not there yet, by a long shot. We're improving, absolutely, but it doesn't mean we're going to win every game for the rest of the season and play finals. If we finish on 9-10 wins I'll be pretty happy.

One things for sure in that we've come a long way since that disastrous intra-club game where Blanck did his ACL and CJ did his hammy. That game was on top of Moore being diagnosed with glandular fever the confirmation of Will Day's foot injury.

At the time it felt like the world was ending but it's times like that where it can really galvanise a club. Bumps with a grin as they say.

 

[Roddy]

Enter Bailey Smith. One tier below the types you've mentioned but Smith, Day, Newcombe is a top 5 midfield in 2025. Also could see Smith having a Chad Warner style breakout year under Sam Mitchell.

On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that Smith gets to Hawthorn?

 

[play2win]

Fair point. But we are also 4 and 7 and we were 0-5 IIRC and coming off a disgraceful performance against the Gold Coast when I made those comments. People have quickly forgotten that we beat both grand finalists last season so I am not sure how anybody can claim with certainty that we have improved, or improved significantly. I absolutely acknowledge that there are green shoots but my comments at the time were entirely justifiable given how were were playing.

And again, I have no issue with people disagreeing with me. My issue is with people who trawl old comments and throw them back at the person making them we they think they've caught them out for getting something wrong. This is not Bay 13. Intelligent people reserve the right to change their opinion as the facts change. I am not yet of the opinion that we (or Sam) are on the right path. I hope that I come around to that position. We have beaten a few teams lately that are struggling, and we should have beaten Port Adelaide. We would have won that game if not for one very bad quarter of coaching (3 good quarters of coaching also to be fair) so that is something of a positive.

But until I see us beat a couple of proven teams I will reserve my judgement.

May be going early here (from your perspective) but for me the improvement from last year is evident from our last 6 weeks and having the injury list that we have. Last year we would have struggled to win without Sicily and Lewis but are now finding a way to stay in games when missing key players. I’m hoping this remains and is a sign of our list developing much needed depth.

 

[peetoo]

Fox noted that we have beaten teams we beat last year anyway. With the exception of Collingwood west coast whom we get later in the year.
BUT is that we have achieved the same thing in less time in 2024?

When I look at our current midfield, I don't see any absolute standouts. I don't see a Cripps, Daicos, Bont or Fyfe/Danger at their respective peaks. Day is probably the most likely to get to that level, but I doubt it (hope he proves me wrong). What I do see is grunt, skill and evenness (which I think is a trait worth having in a midfield). I see someone stepping up when one of the others is having a bad day, or a run of down form. I think that evenness will stand us in very good stead for the future.

If we can get them all playing well at the same time, we're well on our way to our next lot of silverware....

Day is massively under rated compared to some of those names. Pipe couldn’t get his name right the other day.

 

[DogDaySonny]

On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that Smith gets to Hawthorn?

 

[Roddy]

Fox noted that we have beaten teams we beat last year anyway. With the exception of Collingwood west coast whom we get later in the year.
BUT is that we have achieved the same thing in less time in 2024?

Day is massively under rated compared to some of those names. Pipe couldn’t get his name right the other day.

Day is 'underrated' because he's only played 50-60 games....

 

[Roddy]

Love it! That made me lol.....

 

[peetoo]

Day is 'underrated' because he's only played 50-60 games....

Pipe doesn’t get JHF or Harley’s name wrong.

 

[KermitJagger]

Fair point. But we are also 4 and 7 and we were 0-5 IIRC and coming off a disgraceful performance against the Gold Coast when I made those comments. People have quickly forgotten that we beat both grand finalists last season so I am not sure how anybody can claim with certainty that we have improved, or improved significantly. I absolutely acknowledge that there are green shoots but my comments at the time were entirely justifiable given how were were playing.

And again, I have no issue with people disagreeing with me. My issue is with people who trawl old comments and throw them back at the person making them we they think they've caught them out for getting something wrong. This is not Bay 13. Intelligent people reserve the right to change their opinion as the facts change. I am not yet of the opinion that we (or Sam) are on the right path. I hope that I come around to that position. We have beaten a few teams lately that are struggling, and we should have beaten Port Adelaide. We would have won that game if not for one very bad quarter of coaching (3 good quarters of coaching also to be fair) so that is something of a positive.

But until I see us beat a couple of proven teams I will reserve my judgement.

From my perspective, the difference between our best and worst is better this year. We've won a few games in a row, should have won more than we have, and against competition we were generally losing to last year. The fact that we're beating other middle of the road / bad teams is a good thing. It's great to win the ones you're not expected to win out of the blue, but to my mind it's even better to win the ones you're expected to win. To me that's improvement - particularly given the players we've been without for a few of those wins.

 

[Roddy]

Pipe doesn’t get JHF or Harley’s name wrong.

'Will Day' is kind of an innocuous name....

 

[humid hawk]

The forward line is a huge area of excitement for me.

Last year it was the veteran Breusty doing most of the heavy lifting - as he has for so many years. We had Greene trying his best early in the season, and it wasn't until Mitch Lewis came back in that we had a semblance of a spine.

We've now got some real weapons up forward who have only started playing together this year in Chol, the Wiz, Ginnivan and Dear.

Dylan Moore

13

Dylan Moore

Age

25

Ht

177cm

Wt

77kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.9

3star

K

5.1

2star

HB

6.7

4star

M

4.4

4star

T

2.9

4star

G

0.3

3star

No current season stats available

D

12.2

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

6.2

4star

M

5.4

5star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

knows how to slot them, Croc will be handy for 1-2 a game (so long as he gets his radar right) and Frenchie is starting to gain real confidence as a goal kicking mid. This is all without our #1 key monster forward on the park.

Once this group gets a bunch of games together we'll be able to start piling on some big scores.

 

[Roddy]

The forward line is a huge area of excitement for me.

Last year it was the veteran Breusty doing most of the heavy lifting - as he has for so many years. We had Greene trying his best early in the season, and it wasn't until Mitch Lewis came back in that we had a semblance of a spine.

We've now got some real weapons up forward who have only started playing together this year in Chol, the Wiz, Ginnivan and Dear.

Dylan Moore knows how to slot them, Croc will be handy for 1-2 a game (so long as he gets his radar right) and Frenchie is starting to gain real confidence as a goal kicking mid. This is all without our #1 key monster forward on the park.

Once this group gets a bunch of games together we'll be able to start piling on some big scores.

And that's not even mentioning the bloke who snagged 5 last week....

 

[scrim reaper]

On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that Smith gets to Hawthorn?

Personally I have no connections or no idea but between rehabbing away from the club, his upcoming trip to Europe, the Draper comments, it seems as if he has one foot out the door.

• Hawks fan growing up
• We're a team on the rise
• Big personalities and marketable players such as CJ and Ginni have the freedom to flourish as players and people
• Won't get parked on a HFF
• Our coach isn't Bevo

I think we're certainly in with a chance.

 

[cryptor]

Fox noted that we have beaten teams we beat last year anyway. With the exception of Collingwood west coast whom we get later in the year.
BUT is that we have achieved the same thing in less time in 2024?

Day is massively under rated compared to some of those names. Pipe couldn’t get his name right the other day.

I think beating the same teams as last year (who are above us on the ladder) is a really good sign. You'd think they'd be the teams who would be the least likely to underestimate us and would put extra work into not dropping games to us again.

 

[cryptor]

Personally I have no connections or no idea but between rehabbing away from the club, his upcoming trip to Europe, the Draper comments, it seems as if he has one foot out the door.

• Hawks fan growing up
• We're a team on the rise
• Big personalities and marketable players such as CJ and Ginni have the freedom to flourish as players and people
• Won't get parked on a HFF
• Our coach isn't Bevo

I think we're certainly in with a chance.

• His hairstyle fits in with our list better

 

[HawthornHawk]

Personally I have no connections or no idea but between rehabbing away from the club, his upcoming trip to Europe, the Draper comments, it seems as if he has one foot out the door.

• Hawks fan growing up
• We're a team on the rise
• Big personalities and marketable players such as CJ and Ginni have the freedom to flourish as players and people
• Won't get parked on a HFF
• Our coach isn't Bevo

I think we're certainly in with a chance.

Good points, I reckon everyone trying to nab Smith will be selling the vision of him maximizing his abilities as an explosive clearance mid in the Dangerfield mould. Geelong and Hawthorn are probably the most realistic options for him to reach that level.

You'd hope the cats recent form line without their experienced stars should serve as a bit of a warning to him.

 

[peetoo]

I think beating the same teams as last year (who are above us on the ladder) is a really good sign. You'd think they'd be the teams who would be the least likely to underestimate us and would put extra work into not dropping games to us again.

Brisbane said as much

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Fair point. But we are also 4 and 7 and we were 0-5 IIRC and coming off a disgraceful performance against the Gold Coast when I made those comments. People have quickly forgotten that we beat both grand finalists last season so I am not sure how anybody can claim with certainty that we have improved, or improved significantly. I absolutely acknowledge that there are green shoots but my comments at the time were entirely justifiable given how were were playing.

And again, I have no issue with people disagreeing with me. My issue is with people who trawl old comments and throw them back at the person making them when they think they've caught them out for getting something wrong. This is not Bay 13. Intelligent people reserve the right to change their opinion as the facts change. I am not yet of the opinion that we (or Sam) are on the right path. I hope that I come around to that position. We have beaten a few teams lately that are struggling, and we should have beaten Port Adelaide. We would have won that game if not for one very bad quarter of coaching (3 good quarters of coaching also to be fair) so that is something of a positive.

But until I see us beat a couple of proven teams I will reserve my judgement.

The idea that this is some safe space where you can post a tirade that should never be questioned or rehashed is a complete falsehood.

You posted what you did and other posters who post here with much more frequency called you out on it then and will continue to do so.

The Hawthorn board has never been a place for part time posters to tee-off with impunity, and it never will be.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

The idea that this is some safe space where you can post a tirade that should never be questioned or rehashed is a complete falsehood.

You posted what you did and other posters who post here with much more frequency called you out on it then and will continue to do so.

The Hawthorn board has never been a place for part time posters to tee-off with impunity, and it never will be.

Thanks for setting me straight Chairman.

You really are nothing more than a keyboard bully.

 

[Sixpence]

Thanks for setting me straight Chairman.

You really are nothing more than a keyboard bully.

It's a discussion forum, if you want to post your unhinged, overreactive rant where you take aim at players, coaches, recruitment staff and even other posters, then other posters are in turn going to call you out for being a clown.

It's extremely ironic for you to call SYL a "Keyboard bully".

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that Smith gets to Hawthorn?

10.

Unless he doesn't, then it's 0.

It's fluid remember.

Seriously, I want him bad. Would be immaculate with our squad

 

[Strapping Young Lad]