1. The “Big 4” came to play – For the first time this season, the Big 4 – Day, Newcombe, Worpel and Nash – played at their individual best as well as combining in the stoppages, clearances and linking the forward half with the back half. It was the first time that they all worked with clean hands and their disposal by foot was consistent across the group. One concern going into the game was the Eagles may be able have a midfield impact with Kelly, Yeo & Reid playing at home, however from the opening bounce, it was evident that the Big 4 were not going to allow them to have any impact on the game or for the home side to gain any momentum in their ball movement. The other aspect of their performance was that they hunted in packs as well. The other aspect to this has been the gradual integration of Mackenzie into the inside mid rotation as evidenced by his goal in the last quarter where he was in the beginning of the chain to end up kicking the goal.
2. The team is playing “complementary football” – Some NFL analysts use the term “complementary football” where in their game, the offense and defense play complementary to each other, particularly the offense. An underlying starting point to an NFL game is that each side should have 30 minutes in offense and in a game with automatic handover of possession if your team isn’t effective in attack, it can create issues for your defense. If an offense can maintain possession of the ball for more than 30 minutes, say 32-35 minutes, this not only allows them to have a greater opportunity to score, but also means that their defenders only must play 25-28 minutes of defense, which allows the defenders to remain fresh and better able to pressure the other team when they have the ball – this is “complementary football”. For the Hawks, being able to start from the midfield clearances going forward, this not only gives the forwards a cleaner opportunity to create a scoring chance, but when the forwards don’t capitalise on the opportunity, as happened in the first half, they work hard to keep the ball in our forward 50. This then allows the back six and defensive midfielders to set up the wall to keep the ball forward of centre. It was noticeable how often Hawthorn players were able to push back to create the outnumber when the Eagles did come forward as their mids were coming from very deep in their own back half and even some of their forwards had pushed too far forward to help out their defence.
3. Meek made his mark – Since having the chance to press his claims, Meek has made the most of it with his ruck work and impact on the ground ball contests in support of his other mids. The area of his game that has been a watch has been his marking and for the first time this year, it was important to see him take the marks he set himself for. Too often this year, he has either misjudged or had “hard hands” in marking contests which meant that his impact on games whilst solid was still a watch. This game demonstrated that he can impose himself in this important area of the game for a big man.
4. When looking at Box Hill games, watch for AFL standards/values and not VFL stats – With the selection of Morrison as sub, who slotted into the team seamlessly and more than effectively, it would appear to be mindful when watching BH games to look for players exhibiting AFL standards/values rather than racking up the stats. Leaving aside direct replacements due to injury on a like for like basis, players at BH who work within the game plan and don’t make unnecessary/unforced errors appear to be the next in line when you also consider that Maginness went across as the emergency cover.
5. Watson needs to work within his limitations – This is not a knock on him, because when you consider that Rioli and Breust rarely took shots for goal from 50+ metres out, it may be better for him to work within his current skill set rather than placing himself under undue pressure. As his body develops and he strengthens his core strength, Watson’s capacity to kick from 50+ metre may well develop, but for the moment, his capacity to work to his strengths would be the sensible approach.
6. Why the time and resources were put into Jiath – If the first half demonstrated anything else, it was that it can be seen as to why the club put so much time and effort into the rehabilitation of Jiath and to get him on the park. Since his return, some supporters have been judging Jiath on his disposal stats, his contribution has been more nuanced than that to this game. In terms of disposal stats, this was his breakout game and from the TV coverage, when Hardwick went forward in the 3rd quarter, he looked to be the one to go back, possibly in a rotation with D’Ambrosio & Morrison. Jiath is another who has the capacity to work well in close quarters with dancing feet.
Observations:
• Again, the tackling and pressure on the Eagles when they had the ball was first class, particularly I50 where we had 12 tackles.
• If we are having a shot from 50m out, Hardwick is our man to take it. Similarly, if we are having trouble kicking it between the big sticks, Dimma has to go forward and get on the end of it.
• The best four quarter performance by Mackenzie, which as noted earlier, had a more significant inside role.
• The drive off half back from Impey and Weddle again had a significant contribution to the ball movement throughout the game, more particularly in the second half.
• Use of left foot by Mackenzie and Newcombe would’ve been handy at times. In Mackenzie’s case, Gunston had a good break on his defender.
• Nash’s capacity to break even in the ruck contest is underplayed externally e.g. thrown in contest in the 3rd quarter in their forward pocket which was nullified as was the following ball up. I don’t think that it is a sustainable strategy in the longer term – see below.
Starting 4:
1st qrt: Newcombe (15) Nash (10) Day (16)
2nd qrt: Worpel (14) Newcombe Day
3rd qrt: Newcombe Nash Day
4th qrt: Mackenzie (9) Nash Worpel
(Meek 21; Moore 2; Chol 1)
Play of the Day:
10:05 to go in 3rd quarter – Moore’s goal
The lead up to this demonstrated Points 1 & 2 in “What was learnt” where Amon was able to win a free kick in the Eagles forward half, Newcombe was able swoop on the spillage, take the advantage to a running Worpel, who connected by hand to Nash in the centre square; who hit up Gunston wide out; from where he took a couple of bounces to hit Moore who was able to get out the back at the top of the goal square.
Issue for the week:
Given that the focus of the club and team has moved to a performance focus rather than a development one, I think it may be time for Dear to be given a managed rest, particularly with Lewis now being able to play four quarters. There is no doubt that Dear has exceeded expectations, however his core body strength, particularly in one-on-one marking contests, is an area still to be developed. When he can run at the ball or float in from the side, his marking skills are up to AFL standard, however when standing under the high ball landing on his head, his ability to stand his ground is understandably a work in progress. In high intensity games, it is more likely that the high balls into the forward 50 will become more the norm. For this reason, I would bring Lewis in for the run home. This is not to say that Dear may be part of a rotation with Gunston through this period.
The other aspect of this switch should also provide a structural improvement to the team as it would allow Chol to become the around ground ruck option rather than Nash when giving Meek a chop out. In the run home, if we want to improve the capacity of the team, I’d suggest that this would be one way to do it.
Thank you Mick, the rolling ladder is fascinating - you'd think that over the past 5 weeks, we would be sitting on top, if not second. The turnaround in both attack and defence is remarkable. It was interesting listening to David King on Monday - he didn't consider the Hawks to be a threat and said that other than pressure and stoppage, we were average. It's the sum of the parts though that is making us a pretty good team.
Watching on tele just doesn’t give the perspective that watching live does. To see the boys live was absolutely beautiful. I’m cautious not to read too much into the win as the opposition was awful but watching us play, we looked like a good team. We often outnumber, have a nice balance in our game between attacking from stoppage and going quickly from half back and the diabolical errors that plagued us for 2023 and the early stages of 2024 have reduced significantly. It will be a great challenge this Saturday and fascinating to see what Chris Scott throws at us. Beating Geelong at Geelong would be a very sweet victory.
There is an evenness about our team that is a real feature – while we have Sicily in defence and Will Day in the middle who we'd classify as our 'stars', there isn’t a reliance on two or three players to really play well and there isn’t a steep drop off in quality. It’s very difficult to pick our bottom five players – it’s possibly Nash, Frost, Watson, Mackenzie and CJ but each is making a good and consistent contribution (Nash was excellent on Sunday, Frosty would be top 5 in the PCM, Watson is quite incredible for an 8 game player, Mackenzie is developing very nicely, and CJ is only getting better with continuity).
Not that it matters, but is our midfield under rated. We went into that game against Kelly, Yeo, Reid, Flynn and Ginbey ,which on paper, most analysts would have viewed as an even contest against Day, Nash, Worpel, Newc and Lloyd. Well, we took them to the cleaners. Mick, I know you've described Lloyd as a meat and potatoes ruck, but I think he's better than that and his record against all comers suggests that is the case. The trade with Freo to acquire Lloyd now looks like an inspired decision.
Our small forwards are a major asset. Each player offers a point of difference, but each is high quality. It is rare for a team to have multiple high quality small forwards and we have four who will play many games together. With the value of the high quality small / general forward now rivalling that of the key position forward, having four such players is an enormous advantage. In time, this will become a defining characteristic of our team and if we are to have success, it will in large part be underpinned by this quartet.
We often seem to have an issue in dealing with opposition intercept marking defenders. Weight of numbers eventually told, but in the first half especially, too many of our forward 50 aerial contests were neutralised by McGovern and Barass. The addition of the big-bodied Lewis may help in this regard.
Watching Sicily live is quite something. He always seems to be going half pace, but appears to always be in control and is generally in the right place at the right time. If he is unavailable, it will obviously be a significant loss and it’s hard to know what to do replacement wise. For this week against Geelong, it would make sense to bring Seamus in and get Scrim to play the Sicily role, assuming that Weddle will take Cameron.
While a little under sized, the whole back line works very well together – they are very effective in killing off the aerial ball and are very composed when the ball hits the ground, regularly able to foil what looks like a dangerous situation with short kicks and handball combinations to exit.
CJ may not be racking up huge numbers, but he covers an enormous amount of ground and it was noticeable how hard he would work to provide support in our defensive 50. Mick, you're dead right - the basis of the investment in CJ was there to see on Sunday, just as it was in Q3 against GWS.
Mick's point about the lack of a left side was noticeable several times on Sunday, in particular Mackenzie, who several times had good options on his left side, but had to do the big U turn to get back on his right foot.
What was learnt:
1. The “Big 4” came to play – For the first time this season, the Big 4 – Day, Newcombe, Worpel and Nash – played at their individual best as well as combining in the stoppages, clearances and linking the forward half with the back half. It was the first time that they all worked with clean hands and their disposal by foot was consistent across the group. One concern going into the game was the Eagles may be able have a midfield impact with Kelly, Yeo & Reid playing at home, however from the opening bounce, it was evident that the Big 4 were not going to allow them to have any impact on the game or for the home side to gain any momentum in their ball movement. The other aspect of their performance was that they hunted in packs as well. The other aspect to this has been the gradual integration of Mackenzie into the inside mid rotation as evidenced by his goal in the last quarter where he was in the beginning of the chain to end up kicking the goal.
2. The team is playing “complementary football” – Some NFL analysts use the term “complementary football” where in their game, the offense and defense play complementary to each other, particularly the offense. An underlying starting point to an NFL game is that each side should have 30 minutes in offense and in a game with automatic handover of possession if your team isn’t effective in attack, it can create issues for your defense. If an offense can maintain possession of the ball for more than 30 minutes, say 32-35 minutes, this not only allows them to have a greater opportunity to score, but also means that their defenders only must play 25-28 minutes of defense, which allows the defenders to remain fresh and better able to pressure the other team when they have the ball – this is “complementary football”. For the Hawks, being able to start from the midfield clearances going forward, this not only gives the forwards a cleaner opportunity to create a scoring chance, but when the forwards don’t capitalise on the opportunity, as happened in the first half, they work hard to keep the ball in our forward 50. This then allows the back six and defensive midfielders to set up the wall to keep the ball forward of centre. It was noticeable how often Hawthorn players were able to push back to create the outnumber when the Eagles did come forward as their mids were coming from very deep in their own back half and even some of their forwards had pushed too far forward to help out their defence.
3. Meek made his mark – Since having the chance to press his claims, Meek has made the most of it with his ruck work and impact on the ground ball contests in support of his other mids. The area of his game that has been a watch has been his marking and for the first time this year, it was important to see him take the marks he set himself for. Too often this year, he has either misjudged or had “hard hands” in marking contests which meant that his impact on games whilst solid was still a watch. This game demonstrated that he can impose himself in this important area of the game for a big man.
4. When looking at Box Hill games, watch for AFL standards/values and not VFL stats – With the selection of Morrison as sub, who slotted into the team seamlessly and more than effectively, it would appear to be mindful when watching BH games to look for players exhibiting AFL standards/values rather than racking up the stats. Leaving aside direct replacements due to injury on a like for like basis, players at BH who work within the game plan and don’t make unnecessary/unforced errors appear to be the next in line when you also consider that Maginness went across as the emergency cover.
5. Watson needs to work within his limitations – This is not a knock on him, because when you consider that Rioli and Breust rarely took shots for goal from 50+ metres out, it may be better for him to work within his current skill set rather than placing himself under undue pressure. As his body develops and he strengthens his core strength, Watson’s capacity to kick from 50+ metre may well develop, but for the moment, his capacity to work to his strengths would be the sensible approach.
6. Why the time and resources were put into Jiath – If the first half demonstrated anything else, it was that it can be seen as to why the club put so much time and effort into the rehabilitation of Jiath and to get him on the park. Since his return, some supporters have been judging Jiath on his disposal stats, his contribution has been more nuanced than that to this game. In terms of disposal stats, this was his breakout game and from the TV coverage, when Hardwick went forward in the 3rd quarter, he looked to be the one to go back, possibly in a rotation with D’Ambrosio & Morrison. Jiath is another who has the capacity to work well in close quarters with dancing feet.
Observations:
• Again, the tackling and pressure on the Eagles when they had the ball was first class, particularly I50 where we had 12 tackles.
• If we are having a shot from 50m out, Hardwick is our man to take it. Similarly, if we are having trouble kicking it between the big sticks, Dimma has to go forward and get on the end of it.
• The best four quarter performance by Mackenzie, which as noted earlier, had a more significant inside role.
• Disposal count by quarter:
1st: 101/72; 2nd: 108/73; 3rd: 117/56; 4th: 110/77
Inside 50 count by quarter:
1st: 17/8; 2nd: 13/9; 3rd: 16/7; 4th: 14/9
• The drive off half back from Impey and Weddle again had a significant contribution to the ball movement throughout the game, more particularly in the second half.
• Use of left foot by Mackenzie and Newcombe would’ve been handy at times. In Mackenzie’s case, Gunston had a good break on his defender.
• Nash’s capacity to break even in the ruck contest is underplayed externally e.g. thrown in contest in the 3rd quarter in their forward pocket which was nullified as was the following ball up. I don’t think that it is a sustainable strategy in the longer term – see below.
Starting 4:
1st qrt: Newcombe (15) Nash (10) Day (16)
2nd qrt: Worpel (14) Newcombe Day
3rd qrt: Newcombe Nash Day
4th qrt: Mackenzie (9) Nash Worpel
(Meek 21; Moore 2; Chol 1)
Play of the Day:
10:05 to go in 3rd quarter – Moore’s goal
The lead up to this demonstrated Points 1 & 2 in “What was learnt” where Amon was able to win a free kick in the Eagles forward half, Newcombe was able swoop on the spillage, take the advantage to a running Worpel, who connected by hand to Nash in the centre square; who hit up Gunston wide out; from where he took a couple of bounces to hit Moore who was able to get out the back at the top of the goal square.
Issue for the week:
Given that the focus of the club and team has moved to a performance focus rather than a development one, I think it may be time for Dear to be given a managed rest, particularly with Lewis now being able to play four quarters. There is no doubt that Dear has exceeded expectations, however his core body strength, particularly in one-on-one marking contests, is an area still to be developed. When he can run at the ball or float in from the side, his marking skills are up to AFL standard, however when standing under the high ball landing on his head, his ability to stand his ground is understandably a work in progress. In high intensity games, it is more likely that the high balls into the forward 50 will become more the norm. For this reason, I would bring Lewis in for the run home. This is not to say that Dear may be part of a rotation with Gunston through this period.
The other aspect of this switch should also provide a structural improvement to the team as it would allow Chol to become the around ground ruck option rather than Nash when giving Meek a chop out. In the run home, if we want to improve the capacity of the team, I’d suggest that this would be one way to do it.
Coaches' votes
5. Worpel Worpel
4. Newcombe Newcombe
3. Moore Sicily*
2. Meek* Moore
1. Impey Meek*
* interchangeable
5 week rolling average ladder
ROUND For Against %
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%
Note: Approx. 6 goal turn around in both attack & defence since the start of the season.
Thank you Mick, the rolling ladder is fascinating - you'd think that over the past 5 weeks, we would be sitting on top, if not second. The turnaround in both attack and defence is remarkable. It was interesting listening to David King on Monday - he didn't consider the Hawks to be a threat and said that other than pressure and stoppage, we were average. It's the sum of the parts though that is making us a pretty good team.
Watching on tele just doesn’t give the perspective that watching live does. To see the boys live was absolutely beautiful. I’m cautious not to read too much into the win as the opposition was awful but watching us play, we looked like a good team. We often outnumber, have a nice balance in our game between attacking from stoppage and going quickly from half back and the diabolical errors that plagued us for 2023 and the early stages of 2024 have reduced significantly. It will be a great challenge this Saturday and fascinating to see what Chris Scott throws at us. Beating Geelong at Geelong would be a very sweet victory.
There is an evenness about our team that is a real feature – while we have Sicily in defence and Will Day in the middle who we'd classify as our 'stars', there isn’t a reliance on two or three players to really play well and there isn’t a steep drop off in quality. It’s very difficult to pick our bottom five players – it’s possibly Nash, Frost, Watson, Mackenzie and CJ but each is making a good and consistent contribution (Nash was excellent on Sunday, Frosty would be top 5 in the PCM, Watson is quite incredible for an 8 game player, Mackenzie is developing very nicely, and CJ is only getting better with continuity).
Not that it matters, but is our midfield under rated. We went into that game against Kelly, Yeo, Reid, Flynn and Ginbey ,which on paper, most analysts would have viewed as an even contest against Day, Nash, Worpel, Newc and Lloyd. Well, we took them to the cleaners. Mick, I know you've described Lloyd as a meat and potatoes ruck, but I think he's better than that and his record against all comers suggests that is the case. The trade with Freo to acquire Lloyd now looks like an inspired decision.
Our small forwards are a major asset. Each player offers a point of difference, but each is high quality. It is rare for a team to have multiple high quality small forwards and we have four who will play many games together. With the value of the high quality small / general forward now rivalling that of the key position forward, having four such players is an enormous advantage. In time, this will become a defining characteristic of our team and if we are to have success, it will in large part be underpinned by this quartet.
We often seem to have an issue in dealing with opposition intercept marking defenders. Weight of numbers eventually told, but in the first half especially, too many of our forward 50 aerial contests were neutralised by McGovern and Barass. The addition of the big-bodied Lewis may help in this regard.
Watching Sicily live is quite something. He always seems to be going half pace, but appears to always be in control and is generally in the right place at the right time. If he is unavailable, it will obviously be a significant loss and it’s hard to know what to do replacement wise. For this week against Geelong, it would make sense to bring Seamus in and get Scrim to play the Sicily role, assuming that Weddle will take Cameron.
While a little under sized, the whole back line works very well together – they are very effective in killing off the aerial ball and are very composed when the ball hits the ground, regularly able to foil what looks like a dangerous situation with short kicks and handball combinations to exit.
CJ may not be racking up huge numbers, but he covers an enormous amount of ground and it was noticeable how hard he would work to provide support in our defensive 50. Mick, you're dead right - the basis of the investment in CJ was there to see on Sunday, just as it was in Q3 against GWS.
Mick's point about the lack of a left side was noticeable several times on Sunday, in particular Mackenzie, who several times had good options on his left side, but had to do the big U turn to get back on his right foot.
Nice work guys
This was a dominant performance and while it was slightly frustrating to see the goal kicking issues...the result just never looked in doubt.
157% is the Hawks % over the last 5 rounds.
That's all you need to know.