Autopsy The Grand Final - Take it apart here

[Hauker]

Jack Gunstons goal kicking routine / technique to be drilled into every player for the entire off season. Same old crap kicking cost us dearly, not good enough.

 

[AFLQLD]

You guys will be disappointed obviously but you were only just beaten in a great game by a good team. You should feel a lot of pride in your team and the season even though there will always be what-ifs after a game like that.

I have no doubt the Hawks will be right up there next year. Congratulations on a great season, commiserations about the very narrow loss today, best wishes for next year.

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

We had 3 good players today who lifted to try and get us over the line, Franklin, Sewell and Mitchell. We just didn't get enough from our next 3-6 players and our bottom 6.

Roughead/Poppy I thought were terrible today and had horrible finals series. Is playing Rough in the ruck hampering his ability to play as a foward?

 

[hodgeysleftfoot]

Gunston missed an easy set shot in the last quarter as well!!

 

[Hawkforce]

Look, we smashed them in every key indicator except tackles. We went hard enough for long enough. We just happened to play a very very good team who kicked straighter and took their chances better.

So certain soft-**** "supporters" should just take a good hard look at themselves before getting stuck into a team that spend the year training their guts out to finish top rather than making a dickhead of themselves on Bay 13.

Well played Hawks. Well played Swans - cold hard light of day that was one awesome game of football. Franko's 3rd quarter just unbelievable. Hale enormous. Sewell brilliant.

 

[muff73]

Shattered but one set of supporters was always going to be.

Inaccuracy kills us. Never mind the snaps, it's the set shot kicks that we miss, that's the ones.

Too many of our top end players had shockers and some of the bottom end too. I'll name names because these re only my opinions, people casn disagree if they want.

Roughy - After last week I wasnted you to grab this one by the neck, I really did. But you had a shocker, I appreciate you tried to lift, but you werent there mnetally today, take it and fire up for next season

Lewis - same as above

Hodgey - just not 100% the lack of season fitness with the other injuries meant he couldnt afford 2 weeks in a row off.

Cyril - Sorry, but Jetta showed you up as the flashy small forward. You can turn a game in 5 minutes, this week we only saw 2-3 of those minutes

Mitch - was always going to get a hard tag, what can you do?

Birch, Young, Suckling, Puopolo went missing for too many patches. Xavier did ok while on, but was never going to see out the game, most injury prone player on our list. Tom Murphy (whilst not a midfielder) you have permission to feel screwed over.


On the other side, the positives:

Buddy - some will disagree, he kicked points and that Out on the full, but the big man lifted us onto his shoulders at one point and brought us back into it. Tried hard all game, leading goal scorer (wasnt he? I'm avoiding the news and highlights right now), just too much left to one man

Bruest - Under-rated by no team anymore, and showed why

Schoey - No one can say a thing this week. Killed Reid, who got some cheapy marks and cant blame Schoey for the goal he kicked.

Sewell - Now a premier midfielder if you didnt already think it.

Hale - battled manfully. In my opinion can hold head high, but geez that miss in the first qtr dead in front from 30 out...

Let me finish by asking this:

Now that Sydney have won 2 out of 3 Grand Finals from the last 7 years, do you think the AFL can make them play on a level playing field by cutting off their extra nearly $1Million in their salary cap for the "Cost of Living Allowance"????? It is crap. Per the ABS (Aust Bureau of Statistics), its now actually more expensive to live in Perth than Sydney by a fair bit, and only 5% more than Melbourne to live in Sydney and that's 100% on Real estate, so live outside the inner suburbs and Melb and Sydney same cost of living.

They did it to Brisbane when they took advantage of it and payed in 4 in a row, now it's time to say enough is enough. How do you think Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne, Richmond, Fremantle, feel about not playing in Grand Finals because they are disadvantaged by not being able to throw money at players like Mumford, Kennedy, Richards, and in past seasons a Marquee player like Hall or Lockett.

They boast about never bottoming out, well why would you when you can top up with experienced players that clubs would keep on their lists if they could afford to match what Sydney offer.

Would be at least more honest in the AFL just called it the "We want to make Sydney Successful for marketing reasons allowance" ratehr than the cost of living allowance.

Yep, I'm mad as hell and seem to be the only one who gives a damn about it (and sadly also Eddie Maguire).

The extra day off wasnt the only major advantage that the Swans took to the field with today.

 

[FancyNancy]

The following players effectively cost us the flag.

Roughead
Did alright in the taps, the rest of his game was absolute rubbish. Perhaps its just as well he didn't receive that AA nod going on his last few months of footy.

Lewis
His ordinary second half of the year continued. Fumbled far more than I'd expect of a senior player. Didn't win enough ball and didn't present a target inside 50.

Suckling
Kicking aside, horrible footballer. Scared of physical contact. Reminds me of Clinton Young but without the ability to break the lines.

Young
See above. His "abilities" in one-on-one physical contests have always been poor, but his drive has really dried up to make matters worse. Playing injured?

Gunston
Young player with lots of promise, but hasn't done a whole lot since Franklin's come back - I blame Clarkson and his Gunner's teammates more than anything.

Hale
Bailey not getting up this year may well have cost us a flag because this bloke will always be an ordinary ruckman not to mention a shit kick for goal. He's not the answer we need.

Franklin
Needs to pull his head in and learn how to kick straight. We direct far, far too many forward attacks through him and its laughingly predictable - Ted Richards had a field day in the last quarter!

Puoplo
His forward pressure dried up in the second half of the year and he offers very little else. I would love to see a younger bloke take his spot next season because he's extremely limited.

Rioli
Another virtual no-show from Cyril. Doesn't seem to be capable of playing at his best for more than ten minutes are a stretch. Fitness issue or work ethic problem?

Your needed on bay 13

 

[Teamwork Talks]

Our recognised problems in the ruck and the backline came back to haunt us.

We need to:

Recruit a top notch ruckman and put Roughead in forward line and have Hale as pinch hitter.

Recruit and tall heavy backman that can compete in the air and won't get monstered like Shoey does.

Until we do that we won't win grand finals

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Sydney were the better team on the day so they deserved it. Dissapointed but it could be worse

 

[ACTion Hawks]

I am shattered!

First impressions are that we lost fair and square! Swannies took their opportunities and we didn't. I am not going to blame individuals as it is a team game.

I AM shaat off with the afl, as the days rest could have made a difference. I also wish the posts were less magnetic when we aimed for goals!

I am stil shattered!

 

[Roddy27]

The following players effectively cost us the flag.

Roughead
Did alright in the taps, the rest of his game was absolute rubbish. Perhaps its just as well he didn't receive that AA nod going on his last few months of footy.

Lewis
His ordinary second half of the year continued. Fumbled far more than I'd expect of a senior player. Didn't win enough ball and didn't present a target inside 50.

Suckling
Kicking aside, horrible footballer. Scared of physical contact. Reminds me of Clinton Young but without the ability to break the lines.

Young
See above. His "abilities" in one-on-one physical contests have always been poor, but his drive has really dried up to make matters worse. Playing injured?

Gunston
Young player with lots of promise, but hasn't done a whole lot since Franklin's come back - I blame Clarkson and his Gunner's teammates more than anything.

Hale
Bailey not getting up this year may well have cost us a flag because this bloke will always be an ordinary ruckman not to mention a shit kick for goal. He's not the answer we need.

Franklin
Needs to pull his head in and learn how to kick straight. We direct far, far too many forward attacks through him and its laughingly predictable - Ted Richards had a field day in the last quarter!

Puoplo
His forward pressure dried up in the second half of the year and he offers very little else. I would love to see a younger bloke take his spot next season because he's extremely limited.

Rioli
Another virtual no-show from Cyril. Doesn't seem to be capable of playing at his best for more than ten minutes are a stretch. Fitness issue or work ethic problem?

Bosk- you've had your ridiculous vent in your own thread.

Not only are your posts disgusting and vendictive against your own team, but it is patently obvious you know nothing about football.

I have long held my tongue in regards to your posts- but you seriously lack intuition when it comes to critical analysis, and at the end of the day it is plain sad to see you behave the way you do, especially on grand final day. I get your disappointed, but to label people as those who cost us (or just you hey?) the flag, and refer to guys as horrible footballers, and then tack on crap about limitations and work ethic as though that's great insight- is all a pile of horse shit mate.

You need to pull your head in.

 

[hodgeysleftfoot]

Was Cyril playing injured today?Sick perhaps?
I have never seen him get beaten in so many one on ones

 

[Bremner20]

There are watershed moments in every GF ,for me today i thought when Jetta made our quickest player look slow ,did Rioli's head in IMO.It's not the end of an era and the window is still open (maybe starting to be wound closed) but i think after today a few players need to have a red line drawn across their name.Young ,Ellis ,Shoenmakers for starters with Roughead to be put on notice.Work on bringing Hill in for more games next year (we looked slow)and FFS we do need a quality KPD not just a 3rd man up professional spoiler.

 

[Off The Couch]

Gutted but swans deserve the win. Longmire coached to perfection and some of our guys just didn't bring it. When you fail to kick a goal in a quarter of football in a grand final it's all over red rover. Don't want to hear any injury excuses the swans had them too.


Shit happens - hope they learn from it and bring on 2013

 

[JustKickIt]

HFC..... Thanks for a great year, just tripped up at the end! I have appreciated the efforts of all the players and coaches at the club and have seen many great performances. Good luck for next year!

 

[Goldnbrown]

The following players effectively cost us the flag.

Roughead
Did alright in the taps, the rest of his game was absolute rubbish. Perhaps its just as well he didn't receive that AA nod going on his last few months of footy.

Lewis
His ordinary second half of the year continued. Fumbled far more than I'd expect of a senior player. Didn't win enough ball and didn't present a target inside 50.

Suckling
Kicking aside, horrible footballer. Scared of physical contact. Reminds me of Clinton Young but without the ability to break the lines.

Young
See above. His "abilities" in one-on-one physical contests have always been poor, but his drive has really dried up to make matters worse. Playing injured?

Gunston
Young player with lots of promise, but hasn't done a whole lot since Franklin's come back - I blame Clarkson and his Gunner's teammates more than anything.

Hale
Bailey not getting up this year may well have cost us a flag because this bloke will always be an ordinary ruckman not to mention a shit kick for goal. He's not the answer we need.

Franklin
Needs to pull his head in and learn how to kick straight. We direct far, far too many forward attacks through him and its laughingly predictable - Ted Richards had a field day in the last quarter!

Puoplo
His forward pressure dried up in the second half of the year and he offers very little else. I would love to see a younger bloke take his spot next season because he's extremely limited.

Rioli
Another virtual no-show from Cyril. Doesn't seem to be capable of playing at his best for more than ten minutes are a stretch. Fitness issue or work ethic problem?

Almost everyone else comes on here and talks about how dissapointed they are and what we did wrong as a team... You bag the players.... Bad form.... Amd btw did you actually watch the game.. Sime of the players you bagged almost dragged us over the line..

 

[mrcurly]

He kicked 1 lucky goal and unsurprisingly did nothing else then got subbed. Utterly useless and Murphy would've given the team the boost to win the game.

I no longer have any time whatsoever for Xavier Ellis.

I thought his first ten minutes were excellent, and he lasted longer than I expected, but to be quite honest we did not have enough depth to have any better option than playing him. Whitecross or Goo would have been great to have - but thats footy.

IMO Cheney has been the man that has been overlooked by the selectors at the teams expense. They made their decision to get as much gametime into X and Murphy as possible, at the expense of giving any experience to Cheney. So when Goos hamstring goes bang, its too late in the season for the man most likely to be a good like for like replacement to get a run.
Would it have turned the GF - dunno. The main thing that cost us this GF was bad kicking, they were kicking goals out of their backsides in the H&A games, the rot started to set in against the pies (though we arrested it), then it nearly cost the Crows game... unbelievable really that the goal kicking wheels can collectively fall off that quickly. Not just Roughead and Franklin goal kicking efforts either, some of the more experienced guys field kicking skills seem to have deserted them at the point end of the season. We were getting plenty of the ball and just burning it.

For 2013 i am hoping for some shrewd recruiting, and development in our second tier players. At one point this season we had almost 30 players that could have played in the 1s, in the end it was mainly injuries that shaped the final 22.

Ellis is still a fringe player, and despite having talent he is too unreliable physically to persevere with in the long run. I certainly do not think he was the reason we lost though.

 

[Bojangles17]

Commiserations, simply didnt make enough of your chances, sydney were never going to go away, has been there trademark all year, i really thought a close finish might favour them in the end....I'm sure you guys will reload with a top 4 berth in 2013 for another crack

 

[SSSSSS]

We are a club blessed with success and demand it as such and I am absolutely gutted that we didn't get it today. That said I'm hoping Clarko demands that we step up in the pre-season. I want our team coming out from the blocks breathing fire and doing everything to vindicate our loss. If they aren't hurting then they don't deserve to be out there. If they aren't hurting they should be gone. If the boys aren't hurting then they aren't Hawthorn.

Soak up and embrace the pain and let it drive you to win next year. Go Hawks.

 

[mrcurly]

I should add too that despite the fact i think we self destructed in the last few games of the season plenty of kudos should go to the Swans.
They are not the most talented team in the comp but they have the guts and determination to keep chipping away at the contest, many sides would have wilted under the pressure of being a couple of goals down in that last quarter, they hung in there and got the rewards.

 

[offtherails9]

Surprised nobody has mentioned how good Shoenmakers was today, don't think he lost a 1 on 1.

 

[Hawkforce]

Our recognised problems in the ruck and the backline came back to haunt us.

We need to:

Recruit a top notch ruckman and put Roughead in forward line and have Hale as pinch hitter.

Recruit and tall heavy backman that can compete in the air and won't get monstered like Shoey does.

Until we do that we won't win grand finals

I dont get this. Hale was one of the best on ground. He dominated.

 

[hawkheart]

I don't think hawthorn can exist without arrogance - you have never suffered for success in any of your supporters lifetime. As a pie u never doubt success and u believe flags are a Devine right of being a hawk.

I count seven spelling errors in two lines.

 

[Roddy]

Gutted. Devastated. Out of my mind with grief right now.


But still SO SO SO proud to be a supporter of the magnificent HAWKS.

 

[Smedts_2]

The fightback in the third quarter was seriously impressive. Kudos to the Hawks - it was a good effort.

You'll be back.