Autopsy The Grand Final - Take it apart here

[hebog]

We had one of the hardest fixtures the AFL could come up with. Despite that we won the minor premiership. we won the next final then had the week off. I think that break meant psychologically the players could not get going again. That is why they looked flat both in the prelim and the grand final. In the end the FIXture got us.

 

[ash84]

Piss Off

dry your eyes mate, no need to be a sore loser.

 

[chaddles]

Gutted, that's all I can say. Even after drinking all night instill can't believe that was my team that was out there in the second quarter.

Still love the Hawks, unfortunately the road to retribution is still 6 months away.

 

[Phil McCreviss]

I saw two things in the disastrous second qtr that had me very worried. When Sydney kicked a goal to get 16 points up, our backmen dropped their heads (Gibson, Lewis, Smith). It was like that completely sapped the energy out of us.

Then at the halftime siren Sydney sprinted off and we walked off. No cohesion, no energy and no positive attitude. I said to my mate "look at that, we are in massive trouble". And so it came to pass.

 

[Hva sher a]

That would have to be one of the worst feelings sitting at the ground and hearing the siren go and hear the roar of thousands of swans fans. Just sat there in disbelief for a good 10 minute trying to work out what had actually happened. They outplayed us and deserved to win. They were great all over the ground today especially in defence, getting back in numbers and helping each other out (something we didn't do enough of!!!). I thought we were great in the first quarter finished it off strongly but then don't know what the hell went wrong in the second. Kicking was all over the place and our pressure and tackling was not up to a GRAND FINAL standard!
Great comeback in the third got us all excited but boy did that brain fade from Mitchell cost us. Stupid things like that let down a team especially since we worked so hard to get back the lead, not having a dig at Mitchell i love him to bits and always seems as one of our more composed players but that little mistake i believe was a turning point.
Last quarter I thought we had them but again they proved to be to strong. When Buddy marked and we were only 7 points down (correct me if I'm wrong) and he passed it to Gunston it was the wrong decision. Buddy is a leader at our club and he needs to take the role to kick that goal and put us within a point with 5 minutes to go. Not pass it 15 metres over the top to Gunston. If buddy kicks that goal our whole team lifts as one of our leaders has kicked a goal to put us right back in the contest instead he passed off he didn't want to take the responsibility and gunston missed.
Anyway thats how it went in the end im very proud of the boys, disappointing not to win but we will be right up there again next year.
GO the hawks!!!

Really? Gunston is one of your more accurate kicks and I actually thought it was a great percentage decisionby Buddy. As it was, Gunston only just missed. Like everything else its hard to pinpoint individuals but I thought Clinton Young's decision not to rush the behind cost you more

 

[MightyHawks]

That would have to be one of the worst feelings sitting at the ground and hearing the siren go and hear the roar of thousands of swans fans. Just sat there in disbelief for a good 10 minute trying to work out what had actually happened. They outplayed us and deserved to win. They were great all over the ground today especially in defence, getting back in numbers and helping each other out (something we didn't do enough of!!!). I thought we were great in the first quarter finished it off strongly but then don't know what the hell went wrong in the second. Kicking was all over the place and our pressure and tackling was not up to a GRAND FINAL standard!
Great comeback in the third got us all excited but boy did that brain fade from Mitchell cost us. Stupid things like that let down a team especially since we worked so hard to get back the lead, not having a dig at Mitchell i love him to bits and always seems as one of our more composed players but that little mistake i believe was a turning point.
Last quarter I thought we had them but again they proved to be to strong. When Buddy marked and we were only 7 points down (correct me if I'm wrong) and he passed it to Gunston it was the wrong decision. Buddy is a leader at our club and he needs to take the role to kick that goal and put us within a point with 5 minutes to go. Not pass it 15 metres over the top to Gunston. If buddy kicks that goal our whole team lifts as one of our leaders has kicked a goal to put us right back in the contest instead he passed off he didn't want to take the responsibility and gunston missed.
Anyway thats how it went in the end im very proud of the boys, disappointing not to win but we will be right up there again next year.
GO the hawks!!!

Gunston has been the most accurate set shot in our team this year. Passing to him was an absolute no brainer

 

[gohawkz1]

Youngs decision not to throw his body at the ball cost us! Other players were in disbelief!

 

[phreeze77]

Young's effort isn't a one off for him ... he just collapses when their is body pressure from behind.. like a convenient slip .. yet everyone in the footy world knows the true meaning of it. It was like a nightmare come true .. all my gut feelings during the week came true yesterday .. the game played out exactly how i thought it would if we play our best.

I'm disappointed but not gutted ... in perspective it is just a game .. to the victors go the spoils everyone else can just dream about it.

 

[Commando]

A couple of points...

Bad kicking will always be bad football
Aside from a few genuine stars you have a lot of good ordinary players, very few winners on the day
Extra days rest makes no difference, sydney have the travel factor
Don't just think it will all happen again next year, no doubt about it HUGE opportunity missed

I hate you but I bloody respect you as well ... See you in 2013

 

[Gene Simmons]

Didn't need to lose one before 2008.

Exactly!! And all the players took it for granted and we played like shit in 2009 and it didn't even make the finals!!

The Prelim Final hurt big time last year, but nothing is going to sting as much as a GF loss, players will carry that feeling with them for the rest of their careers!! Luckily, we are still right in the middle of our premiership window!!

Bigger & better in 2013.. Go Hawks

 

[sohsam]

Unpopular as this will be -trade Roughead for GWS pick 1 - Lachie Whitfield

could whitfield play next year or needs to develop more? why would gws do that? they are in developing stage and have good strong fwd.
Did anyone else think it looked alittle awkward yesterday, with kennedy senior with our boys at the end and kennedy (player) keeping low profile, must be eating him, his grandfather's statue up at hawthorn. We need an A grade midfielder, if he desperately wants to come back to hawthorn, then yes, can look at trading either of roughead,rioli,lewis or see who they want. I know alot of their supporters want roughead.

 

[Dragz]

Strangely, just disappointed, not gutted. The end of the world hasn't occurred.
Sydney have been a damm good team all year and tbh, I can cope with them winning a premiership.

At the end of the day, it was a great game to watch and if we'd kicked just that tad straighter we could of had it.

Out of the mids, thought Lewis was poor. But as a whole, in that third quarter, we had a lot of contested ball and grubbed a kick 25 metres which always ended up with a swans player.

Outside running mids just couldn't get into it. Thought Shoey was very good. Puopolo, like Roughead, has had an ordinary month too.

Next year

 

[A Diakos]

A couple of points...

Bad kicking will always be bad football
Aside from a few genuine stars you have a lot of good ordinary players, very few winners on the day
Extra days rest makes no difference, sydney have the travel factor
Don't just think it will all happen again next year, no doubt about it HUGE opportunity missed

I hate you but I bloody respect you as well ... See you in 2013

"good ordinary players"...go through the swans list and you will see a half a team of such...we did not win the flag because we are not mentally strong enough or hungry enough...your free advice is not welcome, if you "respect" us than you wouldn't be insinuating that we are making excuses about our kicking, the umpires, the fixture or the 1 day less rest. The vast majority of hawthorn supporters call it the way it is. We are not Geelong, we don't sook about steals and flukes 4 years on. This is hawthorn, know your place and understand who you are talking too.

 

[J0NNY B]

A couple of points...

Bad kicking will always be bad football
Aside from a few genuine stars you have a lot of good ordinary players, very few winners on the day
Extra days rest makes no difference, sydney have the travel factor
Don't just think it will all happen again next year, no doubt about it HUGE opportunity missed

I hate you but I bloody respect you as well ... See you in 2013

A lot of people that don't know much about football think we have a lot of good ordinary players. These people, over the next few years, will talk about how much our good ordinary footballers improved. In reality it just takes the good ordinary football spectators a few years to catch on. I look forward to the Swans and Hawks having some fierce contests over the next couple of years. Two teams that have a lot of respect for each other.

 

[Glasgow Hawk]

Going to be a very flat next 5 months! If we had of taken our chances today (and kicked straight) we would be holding up a premiership cup right now. At least we know know how Geelong felt in 2008 when we stole their cup. Sydney were the best team. Rd1-8. Us from 8-23.... Then Sydney were the team of the finals. They deserve there win and congratulations to them. On a side note was in the media corporate tent after the game (chan 7/triple M / SEN / etc) and out of everyone in there the nicest and most approachable guy was Nic Nat. For a 20-21yo kid the bloke is all class. Was more then happy for a photo with the fans (more then I could say about the other flogs) and was very approachable. Won me over and I now have a bit of a man crush and look forward to him dominating the 2013 season!

Mate, f**k off, we didn't steal anything in 2008 anymore than Sydney stole the Premiership yesterday. On the day the better team won.

 

[Glacier]

Geelong flogs over on their board taking great delight in yesterday's result
Carrying on like it was they who won the flag
Pretty disrespectful to Sydney IMO, this should be their time to enjoy success

 

[Commando]

The difference is Sydney's good ordinary players play to a structure and shoulder the load across the entire 22.
It's the classic champion TEAM line.
For the record I never said anything about the umpiring either but seeing as you've mentioned it you got the rub of the green there as well.

So much for a civil discussion... But I guess you are hurting

 

[J0NNY B]

Geelong flogs over on their board taking great delight in yesterday's result
Carrying on like it was they who won the flag
Pretty disrespectful to Sydney IMO, this should be their time to enjoy success

Being gracious in defeat is something most Geelong people don't understand. Some do, and some are. But to understand how most Geelong people react to being beaten, you need to look at the history of the town. Not surprised at all about their recation to us winning in 2008. Kind of ironic that it took a great Hawthorn person in Jeff Kennett to fix up Geelong. Thanks Jeff.

 

[mac_cat]

Commiserations to all you Hawks fans, I know the gut-wrenching of losing a grand final that you felt your team should win, and the Hawks were clearly still in this game right to the end, unlike the Cats in '08.

If you want any advice on how to cope in the aftermath of the loss, I would suggest you completely avoid all newspapers/radio/TV news for the next week, watch replays of the 2008 GF, and then focus on trade week as the start of something better for next year.

I truly think Hawthorn has the talent to compete at the highest level next year again. And I think yesterday's close loss will burn in the guts of your players, and they'll use that next year to become mentally harder.

So please don't judge all Cats fans by the few idiots who are gloating now. I think you show your character by being gracious in both victory and defeat, and given that our team wasn't even competing in the GF, schadenfreude is an ugly emotion. So good luck for next year, and hopefully we'll see you in the 2013 finals.

 

[Southern Urchins]

Speaking a the Hawks' Grand Final dinner at Crown, Clarkson said: "(This) isn't a true tragedy. True tragedy, as I said to the players after the game, is what happened to that poor lady in Brunswick last week.

"True tragedy is what happened to Jarrad McVeigh's daughter last year. "True tragedy is what happened to my brother-in-law earlier this year when he died of a brain tumor," Clarkson added.

"That's what brings a genuine tear to my eye. "We're in the theater of sport."

Total class and respect to Clarkson. No "Bad day at the office" bullshit. No "rushed behinds" etc. Just take the loss like a man, put it in perspective and have another crack next season. There's a message in this for our supporters too. Don't become what you hate. Don't troll the bay, carry on like flogs and bring disrespect to the rest of us. I've been so proud of how we have conducted ourselves in defeat, please continue to do so and remember to conduct yourselves the same way as Sydney supporters the next time we do salute. Al Clarkson, you are one classy bloke.

 

[Southern Urchins]

So please don't judge all Cats fans by the few idiots who are gloating now. I think you show your character by being gracious in both victory and defeat, and given that our team wasn't even competing in the GF, schadenfreude is an ugly emotion. So good luck for next year, and hopefully we'll see you in the 2013 finals.

Thanks for your kind words and the same goes the other way for the dickhead Hawthorn supporters who give the rest of us a bad name. To steal a quote from Al Pacino " On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose...the point is can you win or lose like a man".

Took comfort in watching the game again last night and reading the quotes from Al Clarkson. The sun still came up, I'm still so proud of our team and their year and I know that Al Clarkson is already got something cooking for next season after he finds a replacement for the new Port Adelaide coach. Life goes on and good luck to you next season as well..

 

[glenferry23]

Class words from Clarko. Very very true.

 

[diggydig]

Now that I have calmed down.

Thanks Hawks for a great year and a great effort on the day - know you guys are way more gutted than any of us will ever be!!!!

Think we were short two or three players with the judgement to know when to attack the ball, and with the body to cause some damage or force the ball forward: Guerra is number 1 on this for the hawks, and I think we missed Gilham's attack because he was playing too deep; Whitecross is becoming this type of player, so we missed him as well and injury/illness affected Hodge's season. For this reason, I suspect Cheney is almost a certainty to be spending more time in the firsts next year, and I hope Guerra continues and Whitecross makes it back.

Though Shoe played a great game but, if Bailey gets up next year, think we could see a different setup with Shoe forward and Roughie back. Think this suits both players better. Hale would be unlucky - he did a great job this year, but having to put a third man up a lot of the time is too much to ask of the other players, especially Lewis, diminishes their output, and gives them one man up for the clearance.

I fear Xav's career may be over - the injuries prevent his body doing what he was born to do. Thanks for a great 2008 GF!! Would be unsurprised to see him straight into coaching.

 

[Bremner20]

You are quite simple aren't you? He is talking about how Geelong claim they were the better team on the day in 2008 and lost to an inferior team. Bigfooty should close down over school holidays to stop clowns like this posting.

Can't disagree though Phil, Geelong like we are doing now maintained they were the better team and love them or hate them ,they won two more flags since, and have refused to concede defeat to us ,kind of proved their point i think.We need to go along similar lines over the next few seasons as well to have an argument and to avoid going down in history as one of the greatest bunch under-acheivers in the game.

 

[BigMick1]

Thought I would wait till this morning to post, went to the game and obviously very dissapointed. It is a fine line sometimes in big games and we just didnt take our chances when the time was there to step up, some clutch moments

• Whole second quarter- Thought they worked harder, we were ground level, could sense it, they spread harder, tackled, pressured etc.. We looked tired.
• Buddy Last term- Thought the great man was enormous all day, had a chance to put us 3 goals up early in the last, missed.
• Young last quarter fumble - Been picked apart already on this thread, but he will need to live with that, hope he can be better than that if in that sitiuation ever again.
• Sam mitchell 50m- As above been discussed, bet he would love to have that 10 seconds again!!

Been privilged to go to many grand finals and have watched all of them since 76', this is a great club and we have the list to be a force, for the next 3-5 years, hope we can learn from yesterday and if we are in that position again take our chances.

BTW,listened to the talk back on the way home and couldnt believe most of the callers were Geelong supporters rejoicing, their club has been mighty over the last 5 years but their supporter base are extremely disrespectful and unintelligent, they are on the bottom rung supporters and their time will come, they could be in for a very lean few years I think, thank the big guy in the clouds "We are Hawthorn", as much as this hurts we will be back.