Toast Welcome to Hawthorn, Finn Maginness “absolute Hawthorn nuffie” and a Hawk to 2025

[SSSSSS]

In the VFL he is one player who they want using the football.

Not so much in the AFL as we’d prefer it in the hands of Sicily, D’Ambrosio, MacKenzie, Amon, Day, Newc, etc. and he would know that.

Often his first decision at the moment is, “should I give it to someone else to kick?” - which he wouldn’t even bother to consider at Box Hill.

Nash was similar for his first few years, but he slowly grew confidence to back himself with ball in hand, and has improved as a result.

Yesterday Finn had 18 touches whilst mainly running with Daicos, who had 26. Not a great negating job but Finn was involved in some handy offensive plays, and he also had his usual 1%ers.

I actually think there’s a spot for him as a defensive running wingman, who works back to be our 7th defender and helps pressure inside D50. Whilst not quick, he has no issue with spreading on turnover as he has the tank.

I recall a hard working limited player named Brad Sewell who didn’t become a regular until he was 22 years old, and frankly hand balled to his (superior by foot) team mates a lot more than he kicked for his entire 200 games.

He went okay in the end.

Nick got off the chain a bit when we stopped the tag in the second half. Not sure what his stats were like before half time but didn't think he had much impact.

 

[cryptor]

Nick got off the chain a bit when we stopped the tag in the second half. Not sure what his stats were like before half time but didn't think he had much impact.

You can get a quarter by quarter breakdown of a players stats on the AFL app. You can even see a heatmap which shows where they got them.

 

[theiaofseed]

Nick got off the chain a bit when we stopped the tag in the second half. Not sure what his stats were like before half time but didn't think he had much impact.

13 touches in the first half and 13 touches in the second. Granted he had 11 disposals in the third and when Hawthorn started charging he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

 

[Flukey!]

The context is that he has massive capacity to work and cover the ground. He covered more distance than the next most player, and it was all at high speed.

I get all that and we know he is an athlete.

Did he run to create space?
Did he run with an opponent to negate?
Did he run to receive?
Did he run to create options?
Did he run to support?
Did he run to tackle and harass?

I'm not trying to be a smart arse or difficult, im genuinely curious. I suspect the answer is unknown to everyone bar those within the club that set his role each week.

It could very well be that he is just one of the hardest working players on the list and he runs both ways all day.
Not many can do that as you point out.

 

[Iceman!]

That’s his first VFL game since June last year. And most of his time at AFL level has been spent tagging, not developing pure midfield craft.

I’m not saying he’s always a star at VFL level so he must be able to do the same thing at AFL level.

I’m saying specific things he has done at VFL level are AFL quality but for whatever reason he doesn’t attempt it when he is playing AFL. If he can work on getting those better qualities into his AFL game then there’s a lot of scope for improvement when paired with all the other great attributes he has.

To be fair he was turned in to a tagger because his lack of development in other areas of his game.

I just don't agree that his form at AFL is purely down to role or confidence, i have watched him out in the open with time and space almost miss his foot with a kick. Handballs to the feet of team mates under minimal pressure.

He has been the same player in his draft level, for the most part at VFL level and the same at AFL level. I hope he turns it around and surprises me but all signs point to that not happening.

 

[Iceman!]

In the VFL he is one player who they want using the football.

Not so much in the AFL as we’d prefer it in the hands of Sicily, D’Ambrosio, MacKenzie, Amon, Day, Newc, etc. and he would know that.

Often his first decision at the moment is, “should I give it to someone else to kick?” - which he wouldn’t even bother to consider at Box Hill.

Nash was similar for his first few years, but he slowly grew confidence to back himself with ball in hand, and has improved as a result.

Yesterday Finn had 18 touches whilst mainly running with Daicos, who had 26. Not a great negating job but Finn was involved in some handy offensive plays, and he also had his usual 1%ers.

I actually think there’s a spot for him as a defensive running wingman, who works back to be our 7th defender and helps pressure inside D50. Whilst not quick, he has no issue with spreading on turnover as he has the tank.

I recall a hard working limited player named Brad Sewell who didn’t become a regular until he was 22 years old, and frankly hand balled to his (superior by foot) team mates a lot more than he kicked for his entire 200 games.

He went okay in the end.

I didn't mind his game yesterday, it was one of his better ones.

But in those 18 touches he still had no scoring shots, 2 score involvements no clearances, 100 meters gained and only 6 contested possessions. His actual impact on the game from an offensive perspective was minimal.

 

[cryptor]

I get all that and we know he is an athlete.

Did he run to create space?
Did he run with an opponent to negate?
Did he run to receive?
Did he run to create options?
Did he run to support?
Did he run to tackle and harass?

I'm not trying to be a smart arse or difficult, im genuinely curious. I suspect the answer is unknown to everyone bar those within the club that set his role each week.

It could very well be that he is just one of the hardest working players on the list and he runs both ways all day.
Not many can do that as you point out.

What we have is a player with absolutely elite running capacity and in Sam Mitchell’s assessment “highly coachable” and “very disciplined”.

Knowing where and when to run to break open the game for us in attack might not come to him as naturally as it does others, but it sounds like he’s got the right mindset to develop that understanding in time.

However spending his time bouncing between VFL and AFL and playing very different roles in each comp would have to impact him to some degree. It’s a credit to him that he can come in and make an impact though.

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

I get all that and we know he is an athlete.

Did he run to create space?
Did he run with an opponent to negate?
Did he run to receive?
Did he run to create options?
Did he run to support?
Did he run to tackle and harass?

I'm not trying to be a smart arse or difficult, im genuinely curious. I suspect the answer is unknown to everyone bar those within the club that set his role each week.

It could very well be that he is just one of the hardest working players on the list and he runs both ways all day.
Not many can do that as you point out.

I would be interested in the same forensic details for others in the team too. If you find them, I am sure others would like to see them too.

 

[smish]

Finn only tagged him in the first half. Daicos didn’t have a lot of impact with most of his touches in that time. A lot of nothing touches out on the wing boundary.

I counted at a minimum two 1-2s from Daicos and a 1-3. That's 4 extra cheap touches

 

[cryptor]

I counted at a minimum two 1-2s from Daicos and a 1-3. That's 4 extra cheap touches

Looking at the heat map Daicos didn't get a single touch in the corridor or inside either 50m arc until after half time.

 

[HedgeFund]

Looking at the heat map Daicos didn't get a single touch in the corridor or inside either 50m arc until after half time.

Yet they were still up 58-20 when he got basically zero damaging / useful possessions

 

[cryptor]

Yet they were still up 58-20 when he got basically zero damaging / useful possessions

Exactly why Sam said during the week that he doesn’t like to rely on tactics that worked once before. Of course Fly would anticipate the tag for Daicos and they’d come prepared to play in a way that doesn’t rely on him being their key play maker.

 

[MrPremiership]

Is 23, played 35 games and is highly coachable with an elite tank.

Worth a bit more time, but I'm not sure where he fits

 

[christoff91]

One of our better players tonight. Maybe playing as a defensive forward could be his niche? Seems switched on in the forward line.

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

Finn cops it on this forum for the first sign of a terrible kick. And as an AFL footballer you shake your head with some of the shockers. But the one thing you can never question is his desire and willingness to do everything the coaches ask of him. Usually the unglamorous stuff.

He runs all day and tackles and doesn’t avoid body contact. And he should continue to get a game as a result of this until his more skilled teammates show the same desire as he does.

Again.

It is true to say he is more than earning his pay packet. And yet we had them lining up to drop him this week.

 

[Bedi]

Is 23, played 35 games and is highly coachable with an elite tank.

Worth a bit more time, but I'm not sure where he fits

centre half forward it turns out

 

[Brishawk]

I wish the rest of the team had his work rate and willingness to sacrifice.

 

[cryptor]

Didn’t have “Maginness 3 goals” on my bingo card tonight.

 

[Titch3Votes0MooreAA]

In my opinion, he was impressive last night as a forward. And he is the only player from last night for whom I use that word to describe their performance. Easily his best performance in terms of offensive contribution to date.

As Brishawk said above, if only the majority of the team had the willingness to sacrifice and work hard like Maginness does, then we would be a much better side.

We know Finn doesn't have the greatest kicking action or the greatest overall skill level, so playing him as a defensive forward, where he can utilise his defensive skills that he has shown the league’s best cannot overcome, could be the move Finn Maginness needs to become more than a fringe player. The best teams in recent history, in particular Richmond, have shown that in modern football, you need to have elite pressure and defensive acumen from your forward line. And you can see that happening once again at Richmond, as Maurice Jnr, Bolton, and Seth Campbell showed in their miraculous victory two weeks ago against Sydney. As much talent as we possess in our forward line, none of them really seem to possess such traits. Finn would provide much-needed defensive qualities to our forward line. Additionally, his solid frame and reasonable height would give us another marking target to take pressure off Lewis (when he's not injured) and Chol, something we desperately need.

I would like to see him continue in this forward role (except for when he's needed to play as a tagger).

 

[HappyHawk_1]

Finn feels like a bit of a generalist / utility.

He spent time on Weightman in the preseason as a small defender, went forward this weekend and kicked a few goals, and has previously tagged mids.

He has only just turned 23 this year - he has an elite tank and will always do the team thing.

If he can continue to work on his tagging skills and disposal efficiency, he will be a very valuable cog in our best 23 moving forward.

 

[TylerDurden]

One of the few glimmers from last night. He's an average player, yet had 4 shots on goal and was our most potent fwd. There may be something there.

 

[rei154]

One of the few glimmers from last night. He's an average player, yet had 4 shots on goal and was our most potent fwd. There may be something there.

I'm confident Finn will end up playing close to 100 for us, just over a very long career.
One of the blokes to takes everything super seriously and one of the blokes who will relish in an aggressive training block.

 

[MrPremiership]

Has so much heart.

 

[burner1]

Two weeks in a row our best forward has been a non-forward (Hardwick and Finn) - but also two guys who love to compete, contest and be physical.

Most of our forwards look good with easy ball coming in but do they scrap, fight, contest when the delivery is poor or when have to win 50/50 contests?

I think the biggest surprise was that contested mark. Followed but his goal kicking. Reckon he gets another week up forwards.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

Always rated Finn's ability to stand in a tackle and win contested ball tbh. Unique mix with his huge aerobic ability.