Where are we at?

[Hawkk]

The results suggest that we are well and truly a contender for the flag - possibly along with West Coast and Geelong the 'it' team of the competition at the moment. But given our youth and inexperienced it doesn't really feel like we should be a legitimate premiership threat - as our results suggest.

Where do we stand in the overall scheme of things?

To be frank the last 9 weeks has really come as a shock to the system, are the last 9 weeks an indication that we have arrived as a football club or just a preview of an exciting future?

 

[Roughie]

The Hawks has stunned the AFL community, and their own fans with their performance this season. In the first half of the year we have over shot expectations.

At the moment were just the red hot team and with our inexperience its highly unlikely that it will last. We are a serious final contender but not yet a premiership contender. I still think our depth isnt the best and some key position injuries could really hurt us but we are in great nick at the moment.

I Believe a 4th-8th finish would really be an incredible result for the season.

 

[Hawkk]

Agree but to put it into perspective a win against Sydney this weekend would mean that we've knocked off the last 3 premiers in successive weeks.

I'm not sure that's ever been done before...let alone by a club with a list as young as ours.

 

[Philhawk]

Agree but to put it into perspective a win against Sydney this weekend would mean that we've knocked off the last 3 premiers in successive weeks.

I'm not sure that's ever been done before...let alone by a club with a list as young as ours.

I've bottled my excitement too long.

I don't care if this comes back to bite me, but I smell another 'Baby Bombers'.

 

[f4gp4nts]

Even if we fall over to the Swans at least now we can be confident that they are gonna put in 100% which has been questionable, prior to Clarko anyway.

Very close season folks.. few injuries, lack of concentration and bam we are out of the 8. Hope they keep it up and that the torch is still applied to everyones back side to work hard, competition for spots in the team is a very good thing

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

Hawthorn is going great I reackon, one of the 4 main teams for the flag with eagles, geelong and collingwood. As long as the eagels or sydney dont win im fine. Continue the great form.

 

[Hawkk]

Even if we fall over to the Swans at least now we can be confident that they are gonna put in 100% which has been questionable, prior to Clarko anyway.

Very close season folks.. few injuries, lack of concentration and bam we are out of the 8. Hope they keep it up and that the torch is still applied to everyones back side to work hard, competition for spots in the team is a very good thing

We've had a fair bit of luck with other results over the last 2 weeks. Essentially if we lose, the lowest we will go is 4th on the table with a winnable match to follow against Carlton.

I'm of the feeling that if we win this week we will lose to Carlton, but if we lose this week we will smash Carlton.

We are due for a letdown, it'll either happen this week or the next IMO.

If we can hold our nerve and go into the break at 8-4 (and in the top 4) I will be ecstatic.

 

[xellis]

Yeah i got a bad feeling about carlton next week...

I don't think we are playing above ourselves, just some really solid form and what appears to be a united team! When you get a tight group of players like we have at the moment well... results speak for themselves

 

[Heropsychodreamer]

I'm really so happy with the way we play, and the spirit that we are fighting these games out against quality opposition.

But remember, barely any teams carry winning form all the way through the yr... and we are still able to have a bad patch... as we are still young. Aiming for the top 8 is a fairly achievable goal now... i think our next goal once we get closer is to aim as high in the 5-8 mark. Obviously it would be nice to go higher though... but i think if we can finish 5 or 6... i will be stunned

 

[Hawkk]

Yeah i got a bad feeling about carlton next week...

I don't think we are playing above ourselves, just some really solid form and what appears to be a united team! When you get a tight group of players like we have at the moment well... results speak for themselves

If we beat Sydney this week, I really like the odds of Carlton bursting our bubble in round 12. However if we lose against the Swans this weekend, I'm confident we can get the job done against the Blues. One hallmark of our season so far has been the lack of back to back losses.

 

[Philhawk]

Just as long as we don't lose to the Tigers ...

We'll never heard the end of it if that eventuates ...

 

[xyakks]

I don't think many of us thought we'd be this big a chance of playing in September at the start of the season. The boys have done a fantastic job so far and have us in a position to challenge for a top 8 spot.

We can't forget however that we're still only a game ahead of teams outside of the 8 and that can be turned upside down in just 2 weeks.

This season there are 4 teams that can say "the flag is ours to get", teams like West Coast, St. Kilda, Adelaide and Sydney, they know where they're at. The rest of the teams (the other 12 teams) are still trying to sort out where they stand in relation to the rest of the competition.

With St. Kilda seemingly crashing and burning so early in the season and Adelaide and Sydney struggling for a bit of form it leaves the competition even more even and open than normal.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a team that's seen as a bit of an unknown shaking things up a bit in September. Let's hope it's us that's doing the shaking.

 

[ricta]

I've bottled my excitement too long.

I don't care if this comes back to bite me, but I smell another 'Baby Bombers'.

Baby HAWKS! will run riot!

 

[jase]

I've bottled my excitement too long.

I don't care if this comes back to bite me, but I smell another 'Baby Bombers'.

too right phil, Ive been "keeping a lid on it" around my mates all year, but the last two weeks Ive been simmering & the lids about to boil over

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

God its so hard to say.
Part of me is waiting for an inevitable loss of form and reality bite, but then, another part sees a young, fit, enthusiastic bunch just roll on all the way to serious september action.
Eagles are a cut above. Geelong are playing a cut above. There is so little b/w the next 8-10 teams. Anything could happen.

Must also admit to dreams of baby bomber factor.

 

[PADJUAN]

This season might be a bit early to talk premiership but with what we are showing if we play finals i think we could cause an upset n knock a premiership contender out of the race and leave our mark on the finals series.. possibly the next best thing after winning a flag..

 

[MinerBoy]

The Hawks has stunned the AFL community, and their own fans with their performance this season. In the first half of the year we have over shot expectations.

At the moment were just the red hot team and with our inexperience its highly unlikely that it will last. We are a serious final contender but not yet a premiership contender. I still think our depth isnt the best and some key position injuries could really hurt us but we are in great nick at the moment.

I Believe a 4th-8th finish would really be an incredible result for the season.

Agree. The sky is the limit in terms of hopes and there is no reason why we can't achieve a "Baby Bombers" win against expectations.

However, we can't be overly disappointed if the bubble burts to a degree. I expect to play finals and will be shattered if we don't but will certainly happily accept anything in the 4-8 range.




Disclaimer: All claims to happiness may be proven void upon the loss of a final.

 

[kirbatron]

as todd viney said, every week presents itself with a new test and i dont see it letting up - sydney, carlton, adelaide (over there), collingwood.

the exciting thing now is that we are being tested and we keep coming through the other side a better team for it.

we are breaking the mould of the last 10 years imo and its this change throughout all aspects of the club that is finally making me realise that we are onto something special. i lived through the success of the 80's but was far too young to appreciate it.. i wasnt ready for it this year but have taken the success of the team on board and am ready to rock out in 07!!

 

[yogie2space]

The results suggest that we are well and truly a contender for the flag - possibly along with West Coast and Geelong the 'it' team of the competition at the moment. But given our youth and inexperienced it doesn't really feel like we should be a legitimate premiership threat - as our results suggest.

Where do we stand in the overall scheme of things?

To be frank the last 9 weeks has really come as a shock to the system, are the last 9 weeks an indication that we have arrived as a football club or just a preview of an exciting future?

I think we need to be carefull as things can change pretty quickly! I do think we have created some new demisions to our game and really we haven't had the injuris that other clubs have had (Melb). But saying that I think we have won games that we need to and it has given us a chance to make the 8 (Very Happy with that)

 

[Hawkk]

I think we need to be carefull as things can change pretty quickly! I do think we have created some new demisions to our game and really we haven't had the injuris that other clubs have had (Melb). But saying that I think we have won games that we need to and it has given us a chance to make the 8 (Very Happy with that)

Disagree to an extent regarding injuries. We haven't had alot of injuries but of the injuries we have had most would be in our starting 22.

Bailey, Williams, Vandenburg, Clarke and Croad + Jacobs (for different parts) would in the majority be in our starting 22 if fully fit.

Imagine how potent our forward line will be with Williams playing our of a pocket as well?

 

[Bennycoff]

It's too hard to say to be honest.

The Blues are playing really good footy and could easily beat us. We have to play like their is no tomorrow each week, we can't lose concentration or we will be out of the top eight.
I can't see Sydney, Freo and the Dogs outside the 8 for long...

 

[Lord_Espos]

It's okay to be positive and have dreams about the Hawks making the finals. We are a chance to win it all, just like any team. The higher up we are the better placed we are. We are certainly very strong all around the ground with one of the best midfields in the comp.

We have to be careful about doing a St Kilda, in the sense of saying we are building towards a flag (for 3 years they did that) and then suddenly you've misssed the boat. St Kilda don't look like they are going to contend this year or any time soon, and you look at their missed opportunities whilst they were "building".

Essendon always has the mindset that they are going to win the premiership so when the players get in the position to win it all they are not thinking about how they are a "developing" team. Otherwise as Phil referred to with the Baby bombers, they would have never won it all with such a young list.

 

[cs61]

You have to realistic but it is anyones race at the end of the day. The finals don't belong to a few teams just because they've been there before, anyone who makes the finals can realistically win the flag, just the odds are against certain teams.

Adelaide won two when both years you wouldn't have predicted it to be the case. Those years everyone thought the finals belonged to St Kilda then the following year the Roos, but they have an empty cupboard from those two years, it still takes some winning. That's what makes the sport great, its unpredictable.

Of course we shouldn't be expecting it, but when you're third on the ladder you obviously would try to do everything in your power to finish as high as possible. Whether that means finishing top 4, or scraping into the 8, or if the wheels really fall off, missing the 8, I don't know.

But you have to keep going and see where you finish. If we scrape top 4 we'd be massive contenders, as the top 4 these days are really the most likely to win it with the double chance.

Top 8 and we'll get finals experience and hopefully knock someone out.

Miss out would be disapointing from here, but still massive steps have been taken by beating sides who we considered unbeatable only 12 months ago.

Think some got into this mode where we keep thinking 'development, development, development' now suddenly we are playing all right and not sure how to take it. Almost apologetic of the situation.

Our time is now.

 

[phillm1]

I think that you cant say that we wont win the flag this year, I cant see us falling from the top 8, we had 6 of our starting 22 out on sun vs port and we smashed them,but things can turn very quickly, but this group is not like previous hawks teams they dont like to lose and they dont give up.I penciled in 5 wins at this stage so 7 wins is a bonus, and a team so young, come round 15 to 22 will tiring, but then again the last 4 rounds last is when we started to blossom, and this time they are hungrier,fitter,older,smarter,faster. so all in all we are a top 8 team on its way to a top 4 team very fast.cheers !!!!!!!!!!

 

[macdaddio]

we are hungrier , faster, tougher, more determined, more focused, smarter, more depth, hate loosing


all these factors compared to previous years and you will find that you can see just were we are at


this young new breed of hawks are guna be a force to be recon with


we will beat sydney and blues

and honestly i dont see us loosing for a while

i,m not being over confidant, but these kids just simply have the

eyer of the tiger