This is the best HI Main Recap for 2024. So much positivity and every player contributing on the weekend which is the most pleasing aspect. Thankyou to the entire HFC for making every Hawthorn person on the planet soooooo happy.
I can't get enough of the hawks content this week. I wasn't able to go to the game. I was in yhe cbd with my kids and was avoiding the score so i could watch later. When I started seeing loads of Carlton supporters flooding through the city before the game had ended, I knew it was a good day!
1. The team is resilient – Whilst this aspect of the team’s make-up hasn’t really been in question since Round 5, once again the evidence in coming off a difficult loss was taken in stride as they put the Blues to the sword. As the year has progressed, this aspect of the team’s mentality is a credit to the coaching and support staff. After a game where there had been a “coincidence of quietness”, there looked to be commitment for every player to step up to the contest this week.
2. The team has buy-in to the mission – With the late change to the team which was probably the first one where there hadn’t been any early news on a potential change indicates that the team has buy-in on two levels. The first being the capacity for Jiath to understand the need to be 100% to play and decide to withdraw from the team; and secondly, the capacity of Morrison to come in and play the wide wing role in line with the game plan – pushing deep forward and deep back. The other indicator was the willingness of the forwards to share the final kick for goal with a couple of “Joe the Goose” opportunities taken.
3. The midfield were on their own mission – Having been beaten out around the contest last week, particularly in the last quarter, they weren’t going be beaten by the same aspect of the game this week. Whilst Meek won the around ground contests, Pittonet looked to give the Blues better access from the ruck contests, however the Hawks’ midfielders weren’t going to allow the Blues to gain any significant ascendancy in this part of the ground which would’ve provided better opportunities for their forwards. With Day looking to be impacted by the rigors of the season on his body, the role played by Nash particularly from the 2nd quarter on, provided the opportunity for the run & carry game plan to be established. Another example was late in the 2nd quarter, where Cripps and another Blue had pressured fumble on the outer half forward flank Punt Rd end, then Nash was able to take the ball and carry the two of them over the boundary to get a stoppage.
4. Best (combined) game from the 2023 draftees – As we enter the last weeks of the season to have the two draftees from last year’s draft to play their most impactful games for the season is a credit again to the coaching and support staff. Dear definitely played his best four quarter game for the year, whilst Watson may have played as good a game earlier in the season, this game matched that performance. For Dear to play four quarters is important for the forward structure when Chol is needed to take the 2nd ruck role evenly briefly. To have two tall targets forward of the contest certainly assists those breaking away from these contests. Looking at Dear and Watson when they are involved in one-on-one marking contests, you can see the difference between a player who has been in the junior system for a number of years as against one who arrived late to the system. Watson has a greater capacity to use his body in these contests than Dear does at the moment and is no doubt an area for the next pre-season. Dear’s strength is his ability to crash the pack as he does take off from unusual spots with his leap and flexibility that makes it hard for defenders for defenders to “block” or time their own run.
5. The role of our intercepting defenders is a key – One of the differences between this and last week was the capacity of Scrimshaw and Impey to be able to be 3rd man in either as a spoiler or intercept marker in the back half. For the coming weeks, it will be a watch as to how other teams may look to manipulate the match ups for our floating defenders. Having said that not all teams have the forward half structure of the Giants.
6. In game time management is a key to the run into September – If finals are now clearly on the agenda, the fact that no player had more than 89% time on the ground reflects that the coaching staff are looking a couple of weeks ahead. It would be the first time this year Frost had played less than 95% of any game. Equally, Day played 54% of the game which also reflects how he has been managed in training over the past couple of weeks.
Observations:
• This was the game plan that was evident in the pre-season up until the injuries hit in the practice matches period!
• There is a fabled story in the Hawk’s history as to how a shark can be killed, equally this game showed that when there is “blood in the water”, the similarly predatory instincts of the team were there to be seen.
• There has been much debate about the “best” position for Weddle, however if he can play a high half back role, with some short spells on ball, this may be his role for the foreseeable future. (Having said that the trade period may alter this.) He has certainly earned his goal kicking licence from 50+m.
• The experience of Morrison is not to be questioned as demonstrated by his positioning that allowed him to kick his goal near the goal square from the marking contest. He put himself in a dangerous position that his opponent failed to respect.
• The reverse applied to D’Ambrosio who allowed Holland to sit on their goal line taking the mark to kick his goal.
• The win was without Chol having a “dominant” impact as the main key forward, although he took his opportunities when they came his way. (He lost his routine/rhythm in the shot he missed from 30m which has been unusual for him in recent weeks.)
• Early in the game, Worpel reprised his actions from early in the year where he attempted 40-50m kicks into the F50 that were repelled and then as the game progressed, he reverted to lowering his eyes for the 20-30m option that were much more productive.
• In taking the 50m penalty, I wonder if Day would have his time over again in trying to hit up Impey on the fly – small things matter!
• Newcombe’s disposal distribution – 5/18 – was indicative of the wave running across the ground.
• This was probably Mackenzie’s best four quarter performance for the year. Being prepared to trust his left foot would be good to see. It was interesting that during the week, he did an extra running session with Nash.
Starting 4:
1st Qtr. Day (11) Newcombe (19) Worpel (21)
2nd Qtr. Nash (15) Day Newcombe
3rd Qtr. Day Newcombe Worpel
4th Qtr. Nash Newcombe Worpel
(Meek 21; Mackenzie 9; Chol 3; Moore 1)
Still a relatively small spread of CBAs, particularly with the TOG % of Day.
Issue(s) for the week:
Having moved from “the hunter” to “the hunted” with a spot in the 8 to defend, it will be interesting to see whether there is a change in focus across the group this week. The last quarter this week did look to have some lapses of “showtime”, but given how hard they’ve worked since Round 5, I think they were entitled to it.
The other aspect of this issue is a point of reflection as to some of the “observations” being put out there back at Rounds 6-7 such as “X” can’t play or not in our best 23; “Y” can’t coach; why did we recruit A, B & C? There are some truisms in a football season, and none are more accurate than:
1. It’s a marathon and not a sprint; and closely followed by
2. The process must be assessed and not just by the outcomes.
The first game for the year where the same 5 Hawthorn players took the votes - given the depth of performance across the ground, I thought that this was an interesting point of consensus.
After reading Nat Martin's article a couple of days ago and these posts today, I feel so lucky and proud to be a Hawthorn supporter.
My Dad, who is a life member, turned 90 recently and when in Melbourne to celebrate, he talked about what a huge part of our family the HFC has been. On the same night, I was asked what the best thing was my Dad did for me – ensuring I support the Hawks was a no brainer of an answer. It really is special to support the Hawks.
I can only imagine what it would have been like at the ground, but watching on tele from the other side of the country was electrifying. You could feel the anticipation and just sense that something big was coming. What unfolded was breathtaking. Mick’s unparallelled analysis was wonderful reading and the joy and pleasure that comes through in the other posts is truly invigorating. I’ve spoken with family members who were at the game, and they said that they’ve never had a better day at the footy, which is some statement considering the amazing success we’ve enjoyed.
Mick refers to it in his opening point about the resilience of our boys. Having watched Q4 last week, I honestly thought it was quite likely that we’d hit the wall and beating the Blues in yet another cut throat game was just a bridge too far. Yes, plenty went our way, but as Sam said, we had to capitalise on the opportunity and we did that emphatically.
My only criticism was that our entries inside 50 didn’t get the value we should have. This could have been a 20 goal win in reality. At times, it seemed that our three talls were perhaps too close together at the top of the goal square and there’s often a willingness to bang it long, rather than hit up a shorter lead (Gunston was burned twice by that early in the game). That’s definitely something to tidy up.
While we definitely can’t take Richmond or North lightly, especially North, who you’d think Clarko will have primed to rain on our parade in the final round, if we have players that are sore or carrying injuries, I see no reason not to selectively rest them and / or carefully manage game time. Lloyd Meek received some attention from the trainers, and there’s no harm in giving Ned Reeves a game over the next fortnight, same with Will Day, this could be an opportunity to give Josh Ward some real midfield game time. And we could do worse than give Frosty a rest and see Phillips have a run and of course there the skipper’s shoulder with Jai Serong a well-suited replacement. This is a young group that's been going flat strap in high pressure games for several months now and perhaps some player management is worthwhile.
I'm going to watch the replay of Q3 tonight.
Thanks to all at HI for helping to add to what was a memorable day.
This is the best HI Main Recap for 2024. So much positivity and every player contributing on the weekend which is the most pleasing aspect. Thankyou to the entire HFC for making every Hawthorn person on the planet soooooo happy.
I can't get enough of the hawks content this week. I wasn't able to go to the game. I was in yhe cbd with my kids and was avoiding the score so i could watch later. When I started seeing loads of Carlton supporters flooding through the city before the game had ended, I knew it was a good day!
What was learnt:
1. The team is resilient – Whilst this aspect of the team’s make-up hasn’t really been in question since Round 5, once again the evidence in coming off a difficult loss was taken in stride as they put the Blues to the sword. As the year has progressed, this aspect of the team’s mentality is a credit to the coaching and support staff. After a game where there had been a “coincidence of quietness”, there looked to be commitment for every player to step up to the contest this week.
2. The team has buy-in to the mission – With the late change to the team which was probably the first one where there hadn’t been any early news on a potential change indicates that the team has buy-in on two levels. The first being the capacity for Jiath to understand the need to be 100% to play and decide to withdraw from the team; and secondly, the capacity of Morrison to come in and play the wide wing role in line with the game plan – pushing deep forward and deep back. The other indicator was the willingness of the forwards to share the final kick for goal with a couple of “Joe the Goose” opportunities taken.
3. The midfield were on their own mission – Having been beaten out around the contest last week, particularly in the last quarter, they weren’t going be beaten by the same aspect of the game this week. Whilst Meek won the around ground contests, Pittonet looked to give the Blues better access from the ruck contests, however the Hawks’ midfielders weren’t going to allow the Blues to gain any significant ascendancy in this part of the ground which would’ve provided better opportunities for their forwards. With Day looking to be impacted by the rigors of the season on his body, the role played by Nash particularly from the 2nd quarter on, provided the opportunity for the run & carry game plan to be established. Another example was late in the 2nd quarter, where Cripps and another Blue had pressured fumble on the outer half forward flank Punt Rd end, then Nash was able to take the ball and carry the two of them over the boundary to get a stoppage.
4. Best (combined) game from the 2023 draftees – As we enter the last weeks of the season to have the two draftees from last year’s draft to play their most impactful games for the season is a credit again to the coaching and support staff. Dear definitely played his best four quarter game for the year, whilst Watson may have played as good a game earlier in the season, this game matched that performance. For Dear to play four quarters is important for the forward structure when Chol is needed to take the 2nd ruck role evenly briefly. To have two tall targets forward of the contest certainly assists those breaking away from these contests. Looking at Dear and Watson when they are involved in one-on-one marking contests, you can see the difference between a player who has been in the junior system for a number of years as against one who arrived late to the system. Watson has a greater capacity to use his body in these contests than Dear does at the moment and is no doubt an area for the next pre-season. Dear’s strength is his ability to crash the pack as he does take off from unusual spots with his leap and flexibility that makes it hard for defenders for defenders to “block” or time their own run.
5. The role of our intercepting defenders is a key – One of the differences between this and last week was the capacity of Scrimshaw and Impey to be able to be 3rd man in either as a spoiler or intercept marker in the back half. For the coming weeks, it will be a watch as to how other teams may look to manipulate the match ups for our floating defenders. Having said that not all teams have the forward half structure of the Giants.
6. In game time management is a key to the run into September – If finals are now clearly on the agenda, the fact that no player had more than 89% time on the ground reflects that the coaching staff are looking a couple of weeks ahead. It would be the first time this year Frost had played less than 95% of any game. Equally, Day played 54% of the game which also reflects how he has been managed in training over the past couple of weeks.
Observations:
• This was the game plan that was evident in the pre-season up until the injuries hit in the practice matches period!
• There is a fabled story in the Hawk’s history as to how a shark can be killed, equally this game showed that when there is “blood in the water”, the similarly predatory instincts of the team were there to be seen.
• There has been much debate about the “best” position for Weddle, however if he can play a high half back role, with some short spells on ball, this may be his role for the foreseeable future. (Having said that the trade period may alter this.) He has certainly earned his goal kicking licence from 50+m.
• The experience of Morrison is not to be questioned as demonstrated by his positioning that allowed him to kick his goal near the goal square from the marking contest. He put himself in a dangerous position that his opponent failed to respect.
• The reverse applied to D’Ambrosio who allowed Holland to sit on their goal line taking the mark to kick his goal.
• The win was without Chol having a “dominant” impact as the main key forward, although he took his opportunities when they came his way. (He lost his routine/rhythm in the shot he missed from 30m which has been unusual for him in recent weeks.)
• Early in the game, Worpel reprised his actions from early in the year where he attempted 40-50m kicks into the F50 that were repelled and then as the game progressed, he reverted to lowering his eyes for the 20-30m option that were much more productive.
• In taking the 50m penalty, I wonder if Day would have his time over again in trying to hit up Impey on the fly – small things matter!
• Newcombe’s disposal distribution – 5/18 – was indicative of the wave running across the ground.
• This was probably Mackenzie’s best four quarter performance for the year. Being prepared to trust his left foot would be good to see. It was interesting that during the week, he did an extra running session with Nash.
Starting 4:
1st Qtr. Day (11) Newcombe (19) Worpel (21)
2nd Qtr. Nash (15) Day Newcombe
3rd Qtr. Day Newcombe Worpel
4th Qtr. Nash Newcombe Worpel
(Meek 21; Mackenzie 9; Chol 3; Moore 1)
Still a relatively small spread of CBAs, particularly with the TOG % of Day.
Issue(s) for the week:
Having moved from “the hunter” to “the hunted” with a spot in the 8 to defend, it will be interesting to see whether there is a change in focus across the group this week. The last quarter this week did look to have some lapses of “showtime”, but given how hard they’ve worked since Round 5, I think they were entitled to it.
The other aspect of this issue is a point of reflection as to some of the “observations” being put out there back at Rounds 6-7 such as “X” can’t play or not in our best 23; “Y” can’t coach; why did we recruit A, B & C? There are some truisms in a football season, and none are more accurate than:
1. It’s a marathon and not a sprint; and closely followed by
2. The process must be assessed and not just by the outcomes.
Where does Josh Weddle play?
"Anywhere he damn well pleases!"
Free Range Weddle baby
Yeah baby !
Rolling 5 Week Average ladder
RD FOR AG %
5 64 98 64.84%
6 70 91 77.04%
7 71 96 73.85%
8 76 93 82.29%
9 73 88 83.60%
10 78 82 95.12%
11 75 83 90.41%
12 88 76 116.62%
13 86 73 116.89%
14 94 73 128.93%
16 97 63 152.85%
17 88 70 125.93%
18 84 69 122.32%
19 94 67 141.14%
20 99 68 145.32%
21 97 79 123.41%
22 108 64 167.60%
7 goals better in attack than the first 5 games & 5 goals better in defence over the same period.
A statistical coincidence that our current average defence equalled our capacity to score in the first 5 weeks.
A stronger point of analysis?
This was the 6th game where we had scored 100+ points as against conceding 100+ points in 5 games.
Rounds scoring 100+ points: 6 (Roos), 11 (Lions), 12 (Crows), 19 (Pies), 20 (Crows), 22 (Blues)
Rounds conceding 100+ points: 1 (Bombers), 3 (Cats), 5 (Suns), 7 (Swans), 17 (Cats).
The obvious difference between the two lists?
Coaches' votes:
5. Moore D'Ambrosio
4. D'Ambrosio Moore
3. Sicily Sicily
2. Weddle Weddle
1. Impey Impey
The first game for the year where the same 5 Hawthorn players took the votes - given the depth of performance across the ground, I thought that this was an interesting point of consensus.
Nice work guys
This game reminded me a little of the 1983 Grand Final
Very hard to play against this
Could Jack Ginnivan be a premiership player in back to back years with different clubs?
Anyone ever done that before?
Best day at the footy since 2015. Felt like 08 GF all day.
After reading Nat Martin's article a couple of days ago and these posts today, I feel so lucky and proud to be a Hawthorn supporter.
My Dad, who is a life member, turned 90 recently and when in Melbourne to celebrate, he talked about what a huge part of our family the HFC has been. On the same night, I was asked what the best thing was my Dad did for me – ensuring I support the Hawks was a no brainer of an answer. It really is special to support the Hawks.
I can only imagine what it would have been like at the ground, but watching on tele from the other side of the country was electrifying. You could feel the anticipation and just sense that something big was coming. What unfolded was breathtaking. Mick’s unparallelled analysis was wonderful reading and the joy and pleasure that comes through in the other posts is truly invigorating. I’ve spoken with family members who were at the game, and they said that they’ve never had a better day at the footy, which is some statement considering the amazing success we’ve enjoyed.
Mick refers to it in his opening point about the resilience of our boys. Having watched Q4 last week, I honestly thought it was quite likely that we’d hit the wall and beating the Blues in yet another cut throat game was just a bridge too far. Yes, plenty went our way, but as Sam said, we had to capitalise on the opportunity and we did that emphatically.
My only criticism was that our entries inside 50 didn’t get the value we should have. This could have been a 20 goal win in reality. At times, it seemed that our three talls were perhaps too close together at the top of the goal square and there’s often a willingness to bang it long, rather than hit up a shorter lead (Gunston was burned twice by that early in the game). That’s definitely something to tidy up.
While we definitely can’t take Richmond or North lightly, especially North, who you’d think Clarko will have primed to rain on our parade in the final round, if we have players that are sore or carrying injuries, I see no reason not to selectively rest them and / or carefully manage game time. Lloyd Meek received some attention from the trainers, and there’s no harm in giving Ned Reeves a game over the next fortnight, same with Will Day, this could be an opportunity to give Josh Ward some real midfield game time. And we could do worse than give Frosty a rest and see Phillips have a run and of course there the skipper’s shoulder with Jai Serong a well-suited replacement. This is a young group that's been going flat strap in high pressure games for several months now and perhaps some player management is worthwhile.
I'm going to watch the replay of Q3 tonight.
Thanks to all at HI for helping to add to what was a memorable day.
I'm of Ash's age vintage so this is from the start of the 1980s and I have to say it's my favourite win over Carlton outside of finals wins
Where do we start with this match? I'll just say Weddle high-fiving fans epitomizes the sheer joy and exuberance during that afternoon.