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Welcome Welcome to Hawthorn: Ethan Phillips. 2024 SSP.
- Thread starter Strapping Young Lad
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- Nov 12, 2014
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Darcy is going to kick a bag I can see it now. Do not understand why we went out and got Phillips and were happy for him to run around at BH when we have an uber short backline. Pies are playing Frampton who's nothing more than an honest battler because they need his size back there. Coaches must be seeing something im not clearly. Getting pretty sick of seeing blokes back there playing out of position when we haven't really tried all options.
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Darcy is going to murder us.
Not sure why Phillips isn't getting picked. You'd think this was the week for him to debut, given the Doggies KPF options.
hawker79
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- May 15, 2021
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Completely Agree. I just dont get it either. Why did we pickup a mid aged recruit that fills a positional and size need we desperately need and to cover long term injuries and we dont play him? If we play him for a stretch and he is definitely not up to scratch then ok, at least we know. But he took 17 marks a few weeks ago if i not mistaken? If he is fit, then he simply has to be given a chance. I really would like to see an explanation from the coaching staff why he is not being played when we so badly need defenders with height and experience, both of which he has.
H00t
Norm Smith Medallist
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I can only assume it’s either that Mitchell and co. don’t think he is ready and will get exposed at AFL level.
Or that the only two players he could realistically replace at AFL level are Frost and Scrim both have been in really good form this year. Those two with Sicily are our tall defenders and Mitchell seems to prefer playing more running defenders out of defence as opposed to lots of talls.
It’s probably a mix of both though.
This was classic Clarko pre threepeat.
But then we brought Brian in to great effect and strategy changed.
Maybe Sam doesn't seem Phillips as the answer, or there's a big hole in his game that's keeping him out of the side.
Or we worry about having book ends who are debutants.
Carrier Pigeon?
- Nov 12, 2014
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He doesn't need to be the answer he needs to provide stability and to free up the others back there. We seem to have this thought process that unless we have Steven May or Jacob Weitering we just go with what we have currently even if we're losing other parts of our game that can help us win more often. It's not really about the fact both Scrim and Frost are both doing well. We need multiple options to intercept to provide more slingshot not just have our main intercepting options locked down on talls. It's a strong explanation why Sic is struggling ATM he's in no man's land regularly back there not knowing whether to lockdown or free wheel. Ive reserved my judgement about this till now but I'm tired of it happening every week. Were not doing everything we can to support Sic, basically telling him to ride it out and find his own way to impact on games like we know he can.
Let me re-phrase things, I'm not sure you fully understood the point I was trying to make.
Sam thinks other players are the answer, and that we'll get more out of them than Phillips.
Never said that I agreed with that idea, or mentioned May or Weitering.
We're all well aware of Sic's struggles so far this year, and the subsequent struggles we're having with little to no bounce from our formerly springboard like back six.
Also aware that in a game that requires team defense, it's asking a lot to plug in two first gamers in key posts.
HedgeFund
Norm Smith Medallist
The position Phillips would be playing is simply anchor defender (ie. play on the deepest key forward and be the last player in the defensive setup).
So it’s not rocket surgery.
I agree that it’s a bit odd we haven’t chosen him this week if he’s fit enough.
He appears to be playing okay at the lower level - and playing on a young Darcy wouldn’t hold any fears, given they both played VFL last year. It’s not like he’d be playing on Curnow or Cameron in his first game.
SSSSSS
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Cue the melts in this thread when we see Amon being dragged to the goal square by Darcy.
- Jun 4, 2016
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I'm also a little confused as to why he hasn't cracked a game yet given our massive hole down back for a KPD.
He's 24 years old, physically developed and is playing well at VFL level.
We chucked a 18 year old DGB in as our full back when he probably weighed a massive 78kgs and had the aerobic capacity of an unfit ammos player.
If nothing else I would pick him just to free up Sicily. He's out number 1 weapon and we need to do everything we can to get him back to the level we know he is capable of.
He's 24 years old, physically developed and is playing well at VFL level.
We chucked a 18 year old DGB in as our full back when he probably weighed a massive 78kgs and had the aerobic capacity of an unfit ammos player.
If nothing else I would pick him just to free up Sicily. He's out number 1 weapon and we need to do everything we can to get him back to the level we know he is capable of.
It’s not brain science either though is it?
If he's playing the role above, and he gets drawn up the ground on say Naughton, he can pretty easily get lost in transition or burnt off on a fast turnover, because the pace is a little more severe at AFL (and he's limited in the speed department).
Run though the many variations of that and you begin to understand there's something not quite right there yet, and the club has him working on something. If there wasn't, blind Freddy is picking him every week, for the reasons discussed on here and everywhere else Sicily's form has been mentioned.
HedgeFund
Norm Smith Medallist
The point being - he wouldn’t follow Naughton if he played up high and the instruction would be to “hand over” to the more experienced and fleet of foot in Scrimshaw or Frost.
They would follow Naughton and Phillips would stay back to pick up the new opponent which Frost or Scrimma were playing on.
All academic anyhow, he isn’t playing and we look like we are sticking with Weddle as that other taller defender again.
Smells like late change to me. Is this the first time he has been named in the squad?
Newmo89
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- Jul 27, 2021
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Den named an emergency three times so far this season.
. Thanks
stevehawkington
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Does bh use the same defensive structures? Could be he isnt confident with where he needs to be or what to do in certain situations.. Hows his kicking ?
- Jun 4, 2016
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It is unusual.
Its not like he is replacing Brian Lake, he surely can't be that far off Blank in terms of overall ability.
You can just see how adding him would release the strain on Sic, Scrimmers and Frost and let them (Sic and Scrimmers especially) play more of their natural attacking game.
- Mar 21, 2017
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İf Philips was picked to debut, then frost moves to chb which allows Sicily to play with more freedom as he likes, as scrimshaw would be taking over the best third tall.
I got the outside word
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- Aug 14, 2019
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If Phillips comes in it’s to free Sicily up to get 35 intercept marks and launch the offense. Not to play forward. Sicily being free in the backline is what got him one AA and robbed of another. I have personally not seen anything to suggest Sicily should play forward, even from watching him actually play forward.
8 marks in the first half 
11 in 3 qtrs.8 marks in the first half
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