Thanks for another terrific summary Mick and the stats on the rolling % and quarters won - more gold from you. Quarters won is seen by many as a key indicator of a side’s overall performance and competitiveness. To have won only 4 less quarters over the season than the minor premier and premiership favourite is an exceptional achievement and is hopefully a marker of the quality of our team.
Once again, our small forwards showed just what a weapon they are, both as individuals and as a collective. What’s so good about this group is not only their current output but there is real upside – Watson is 19, Ginnivan is 21, McDonald is 21 and at 24, Dylan Moore is the ‘old boy’, this quartet has further improvement. Having watched quite a lot of Box Hill, (albeit via streaming), Jack O’Sullivan really has something to offer, but he’s just not going to get an opportunity unless there’s an injury.
The quality of our small forwards highlights the importance of competing aerially in our front half to bring the ball to ground. next week against the Dogs If we can deny Jones and Lobb intercept marks, the boys can then get to work at ground level. We also want Meeky to rip into English from the very start.
As Mick says, if CJ and Day are available, they have to be picked. As good as Harry has been, he’s had the benefit of playing in three games that we’ve won very comfortably and while he’s a good back up ‘soldier’, he doesn’t have the attributes that CJ does. While our midfield was superior on Saturday, this challenge gets tougher each week. My fear is that if Jai is tagged out of the game (which happened most recently at Geelong), without Will Day, we’re suddenly reliant on Worps and Nashy. As good as those boys have been for us this year, they’ll be swamped by Bont, Libba, Richards, Treloar etc. If Day doesn’t play, we need some contingencies for the likely scenario where Jai is heavily tagged.
Was it just me being grumpy or was it disappointing that there was no coverage at all of Liam Shiels farewell (and just the general reaction of our players and coaches post-game), as Fox switched immediately to the Richmond v GCS game. Also, was there any interaction at all between Clarko and Sam post-game, especially when Shiels was chaired off? The fanfare accorded to the three Richmond retirees and to Dyson Heppel seemed disproportionate.
That was also a nice touch from the HI team to nominate Damien Barrett as under pressure. He’ll never come out and admit that the decisions to move Mitchell and O’Meara on and, albeit reluctantly, trade Gunston and ‘retire’ several other older players, including Big Boy and Kyle Hartigan were correct. His suggestion that these list management decisions amounted to tanking was ridiculous and if that was the purpose it was quite a fail as we ‘tanked’ the season to get pick number 7.
Whatever happens from here, it’s been a magical season and we shouldn’t forget that. But right now, it's time to dream.
The only caveat I have on the "quarters won" stat is that we played North and Tigers twice, but given we played GWS & Pies twice as well - I think that there was balancing out on this indicator.
(Perhaps we should just bask in what has been achieved to this point in the season!)
1. Back in the day the season was 18 games long – Going into Round 6 winless and playing North to break the ice, there was a sense of synchronicity, going into Round 24 playing North and needing to win to make the eight. The other aspect contributing to the synchronicity of the games being that the Hawks’ sides were very similar on each occasion with Watson and Dear replacing Serong and Mitchell for the Round 24 match. Whereas the Round 6 result winning by 45 points provided a sense of relief that the team wasn’t the “worst” in the league; in winning the last game by 124 points validated the belief that the team was worthy to be a finalist and a contender for the flag race. Having said that and probably in keeping with the history of the Club, they are looking to it “The Hard Way”.
2. The midfield mix was tested structurally – With Day out, and Nash allocated a tagging role on LDU, it was interesting that Sam went to Weddle as the chop out ruck option, even before Nash was injured. This indicated that Sam wasn’t prepared to further undermine the midfield combination with Nash going into the ruck role. Pre-game the option of playing Weddle as a midfielder was discussed as an option, however it appears that at this stage of his career, Weddle playing forward, and then as a ruck is seen as being more suitable to his skill set. His tap and block in the last quarter to allow Moore to goal from a throw in was exceptional.
3. A good test for the 24th, 25th & 26th option – With Day missing and the injury to Nash, it gave a genuine opportunity for the player 24 & 25 to show their wares in their preferred position. Maginness was able to spend some time as an inside mid as well as a wing option that has been his usual role this season. Watching Maginness, his kicking efficiency remains a concern and to the eye, his decision-making may become a discerning factor as he looked to miss (or ignore) the first/easy option. Reflecting across the season and has been commented by players and coaches as to what distinguished the early rounds to recent great form has been the ability of players to be predictable to each other. When you look at the midfield specifically, aside from the occasional Worpel decision to “don’t argue” rather than give the first option to a player in a better position, the midfielders have looked to move forward with the ball either by hand or foot. For players such as Maginness who come in cold from the VFL level, this may require a level of adaptation. Morrison has benefitted from playing at the level for a couple of weeks to acclimatize. Mackenzie has the stronger kicking efficiency, but at times he still looks to run himself into awkward situations. It will be interesting to see what plays out for Jiath and possibly Ward.
4. Another week to manage the playing time of the group – Even with the likelihood of a week’s break, Mitch still looked to manage the time on the ground for the group, ignoring the sub players, the TOG ranged from 72%-90%.
5. The players do follow the social media – Following the supporters’ reaction to the way last week’s game played out with the early high leading to a sense of "frustration"; this week the players were able to leave the supporters on a high, not only celebrating making the 8, but with the lasting memory of the quality of football played in the last quarter as distinct from just playing out the game.
Observations:
• Newcombe showed that he has leadership qualities with Day out and Nash impaired.
• Chol looked to have addressed the “yips” in his run up in his longer shots at goal.
• The taps/knocks on look to be a feature of forward play that reflects a stronger connection between the forwards.
• When an umpire asks/directs you to keep a metre from your opponent, it shouldn’t be that hard to do it!
• When an umpire says that I told you to give it to him, I think you have the right to ask the umpire to show you who is named as “him” on the team sheet!
• To think that the pundits had the Hawks as being comparable to the Roos at the start of the season!
• The switch kick-in to the fat side will be an interesting watch in the finals as you’d expect the other sides to be more aware of this tactic. This may open up some other options if we can manipulate the match ups.
The last quarter of the H&A season is the first where we didn’t have our recognised ruckman start and the first time where we only had 1 of the Big 4 start in the centre square.
Coach killer
Having given away a 50m penalty via Nash going over the mark, then for Worpel then to drop back off the mark when it had been set further up the ground reflected a lack of game awareness as it allowed the North player to gain an unpressured entry inside 50.
Stat for the week/year:
Scores of 100+ points in a game:
(with the Hawks kicking the sweep for the year)
11: Swans
9: Blues; Dogs
8: Hawks; Port; Cats; Giants
7: Lions
6: Dockers
5: Bombers; Crows; Suns; Saints
4: Demons; Eagles; Pies
1: Roos
0: Tigers
Issue for the fortnight:
Is there a level of “satisfaction” as players have acknowledged in the past week being at 0-5 finals weren’t even in their minds? The capacity of the coaching staff to reset the players to the start of the finals may be aided by the weeks break.
(Note: Having since seen the vision from the club, post the North game - doesn't appear to be a genuine concern.)
don't like to be a knocker but I would be disappointed if Maginness is in the 23 for the first final. Even in that low pressure game his skills let him down a few times and as you say decision making. He just struggles at AFL level.
Despite AFL.com.au no longer making march replays available to its Canadian fans (BOOOOOOO!!!!), this game being moved up a bit enable me to listen to the afl.com.au radio broadcast. The mini-match replay (which is, thank Mafouze* the god of all sport, still available to us Canucks) gave a pretty decent look at the Hawks in full flight. (I don't know what a group of Hawks but it should "a predatpor of Hawks!).
Loved your recap and credit being spread around so copiously because so many Hawks players played some of their absolute best footy.
Next up, Hawks vs. Doggies - with the Hawks in same sport from which the Doggies won their latest premiership.
Kinda gives a guy added hope, doesn't it?
The Cherry on top? TSN (The Stupid Network) will air their very first Hawks game of the season (which means I get to see it. HUZZAH!). I hope they air three more. (Say it with me brothers and sisters! Four more games!)
Some of your finest work gents. Captured the joy of the season and the game.
Looking forward to you carrying your form into the finals
Thanks for another terrific summary Mick and the stats on the rolling % and quarters won - more gold from you. Quarters won is seen by many as a key indicator of a side’s overall performance and competitiveness. To have won only 4 less quarters over the season than the minor premier and premiership favourite is an exceptional achievement and is hopefully a marker of the quality of our team.
Once again, our small forwards showed just what a weapon they are, both as individuals and as a collective. What’s so good about this group is not only their current output but there is real upside – Watson is 19, Ginnivan is 21, McDonald is 21 and at 24, Dylan Moore is the ‘old boy’, this quartet has further improvement. Having watched quite a lot of Box Hill, (albeit via streaming), Jack O’Sullivan really has something to offer, but he’s just not going to get an opportunity unless there’s an injury.
The quality of our small forwards highlights the importance of competing aerially in our front half to bring the ball to ground. next week against the Dogs If we can deny Jones and Lobb intercept marks, the boys can then get to work at ground level. We also want Meeky to rip into English from the very start.
As Mick says, if CJ and Day are available, they have to be picked. As good as Harry has been, he’s had the benefit of playing in three games that we’ve won very comfortably and while he’s a good back up ‘soldier’, he doesn’t have the attributes that CJ does. While our midfield was superior on Saturday, this challenge gets tougher each week. My fear is that if Jai is tagged out of the game (which happened most recently at Geelong), without Will Day, we’re suddenly reliant on Worps and Nashy. As good as those boys have been for us this year, they’ll be swamped by Bont, Libba, Richards, Treloar etc. If Day doesn’t play, we need some contingencies for the likely scenario where Jai is heavily tagged.
Was it just me being grumpy or was it disappointing that there was no coverage at all of Liam Shiels farewell (and just the general reaction of our players and coaches post-game), as Fox switched immediately to the Richmond v GCS game. Also, was there any interaction at all between Clarko and Sam post-game, especially when Shiels was chaired off? The fanfare accorded to the three Richmond retirees and to Dyson Heppel seemed disproportionate.
That was also a nice touch from the HI team to nominate Damien Barrett as under pressure. He’ll never come out and admit that the decisions to move Mitchell and O’Meara on and, albeit reluctantly, trade Gunston and ‘retire’ several other older players, including Big Boy and Kyle Hartigan were correct. His suggestion that these list management decisions amounted to tanking was ridiculous and if that was the purpose it was quite a fail as we ‘tanked’ the season to get pick number 7.
Whatever happens from here, it’s been a magical season and we shouldn’t forget that. But right now, it's time to dream.
The only caveat I have on the "quarters won" stat is that we played North and Tigers twice, but given we played GWS & Pies twice as well - I think that there was balancing out on this indicator.
What was learnt:
(Perhaps we should just bask in what has been achieved to this point in the season!)
1. Back in the day the season was 18 games long – Going into Round 6 winless and playing North to break the ice, there was a sense of synchronicity, going into Round 24 playing North and needing to win to make the eight. The other aspect contributing to the synchronicity of the games being that the Hawks’ sides were very similar on each occasion with Watson and Dear replacing Serong and Mitchell for the Round 24 match. Whereas the Round 6 result winning by 45 points provided a sense of relief that the team wasn’t the “worst” in the league; in winning the last game by 124 points validated the belief that the team was worthy to be a finalist and a contender for the flag race. Having said that and probably in keeping with the history of the Club, they are looking to it “The Hard Way”.
2. The midfield mix was tested structurally – With Day out, and Nash allocated a tagging role on LDU, it was interesting that Sam went to Weddle as the chop out ruck option, even before Nash was injured. This indicated that Sam wasn’t prepared to further undermine the midfield combination with Nash going into the ruck role. Pre-game the option of playing Weddle as a midfielder was discussed as an option, however it appears that at this stage of his career, Weddle playing forward, and then as a ruck is seen as being more suitable to his skill set. His tap and block in the last quarter to allow Moore to goal from a throw in was exceptional.
3. A good test for the 24th, 25th & 26th option – With Day missing and the injury to Nash, it gave a genuine opportunity for the player 24 & 25 to show their wares in their preferred position. Maginness was able to spend some time as an inside mid as well as a wing option that has been his usual role this season. Watching Maginness, his kicking efficiency remains a concern and to the eye, his decision-making may become a discerning factor as he looked to miss (or ignore) the first/easy option. Reflecting across the season and has been commented by players and coaches as to what distinguished the early rounds to recent great form has been the ability of players to be predictable to each other. When you look at the midfield specifically, aside from the occasional Worpel decision to “don’t argue” rather than give the first option to a player in a better position, the midfielders have looked to move forward with the ball either by hand or foot. For players such as Maginness who come in cold from the VFL level, this may require a level of adaptation. Morrison has benefitted from playing at the level for a couple of weeks to acclimatize. Mackenzie has the stronger kicking efficiency, but at times he still looks to run himself into awkward situations. It will be interesting to see what plays out for Jiath and possibly Ward.
4. Another week to manage the playing time of the group – Even with the likelihood of a week’s break, Mitch still looked to manage the time on the ground for the group, ignoring the sub players, the TOG ranged from 72%-90%.
5. The players do follow the social media – Following the supporters’ reaction to the way last week’s game played out with the early high leading to a sense of "frustration"; this week the players were able to leave the supporters on a high, not only celebrating making the 8, but with the lasting memory of the quality of football played in the last quarter as distinct from just playing out the game.
Observations:
• Newcombe showed that he has leadership qualities with Day out and Nash impaired.
• Chol looked to have addressed the “yips” in his run up in his longer shots at goal.
• The taps/knocks on look to be a feature of forward play that reflects a stronger connection between the forwards.
• When an umpire asks/directs you to keep a metre from your opponent, it shouldn’t be that hard to do it!
• When an umpire says that I told you to give it to him, I think you have the right to ask the umpire to show you who is named as “him” on the team sheet!
• To think that the pundits had the Hawks as being comparable to the Roos at the start of the season!
• The switch kick-in to the fat side will be an interesting watch in the finals as you’d expect the other sides to be more aware of this tactic. This may open up some other options if we can manipulate the match ups.
Starting 4:
1st Qrt: Newcombe (28), Worpel (29) Nash (15)
2nd Qrt: Newcombe, Worpel, Nash
3rd Qrt: Newcombe, Worpel, Nash
4th Qrt: Newcombe, Mackenzie (23), Maginness (6) & Chol (7)
(Meek 29, Moore 7)
The last quarter of the H&A season is the first where we didn’t have our recognised ruckman start and the first time where we only had 1 of the Big 4 start in the centre square.
Coach killer
Having given away a 50m penalty via Nash going over the mark, then for Worpel then to drop back off the mark when it had been set further up the ground reflected a lack of game awareness as it allowed the North player to gain an unpressured entry inside 50.
Stat for the week/year:
Scores of 100+ points in a game:
(with the Hawks kicking the sweep for the year)
11: Swans
9: Blues; Dogs
8: Hawks; Port; Cats; Giants
7: Lions
6: Dockers
5: Bombers; Crows; Suns; Saints
4: Demons; Eagles; Pies
1: Roos
0: Tigers
Issue for the fortnight:
Is there a level of “satisfaction” as players have acknowledged in the past week being at 0-5 finals weren’t even in their minds? The capacity of the coaching staff to reset the players to the start of the finals may be aided by the weeks break.
(Note: Having since seen the vision from the club, post the North game - doesn't appear to be a genuine concern.)
don't like to be a knocker but I would be disappointed if Maginness is in the 23 for the first final. Even in that low pressure game his skills let him down a few times and as you say decision making. He just struggles at AFL level.
Despite AFL.com.au no longer making march replays available to its Canadian fans (BOOOOOOO!!!!), this game being moved up a bit enable me to listen to the afl.com.au radio broadcast. The mini-match replay (which is, thank Mafouze* the god of all sport, still available to us Canucks) gave a pretty decent look at the Hawks in full flight. (I don't know what a group of Hawks but it should "a predatpor of Hawks!).
Loved your recap and credit being spread around so copiously because so many Hawks players played some of their absolute best footy.
Next up, Hawks vs. Doggies - with the Hawks in same sport from which the Doggies won their latest premiership.
Kinda gives a guy added hope, doesn't it?
The Cherry on top? TSN (The Stupid Network) will air their very first Hawks game of the season (which means I get to see it. HUZZAH!). I hope they air three more. (Say it with me brothers and sisters! Four more games!)
Great win.
"It was only North" but 20 goals and the way we did it by strangling them was strong
We are playing the right brand and very hard to stop.
Keep that up = scary.
The bye helps. A lot.
Get over the Dogs and its downhill after that
4 matches left
Coaches' votes
5. Newcombe Newcombe
4. D'Ambrosio Sicily
3. Ginnivan* D'Ambrosio
2. Watson* Impey
1. C. Macdonald Watson*
*Interchangeable
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%
23 116 63 184.76%
24 124 59 210.54%
Across the season, almost doubled the for average and reduced the against average by 40%.
On quarters won across the entire season (92), the ladder was:
1. Swans 57 (62% of all quarters)
2. Lions 56
3. Cats 55
4. Hawks Giants Port Dogs 53 (58%)
8. Blues Pies 49
10. Freo 48
11. Saints 46
12. Suns Crows 42
14. Dons Dees 41
16. Eagles 26
17. Tigers 23
18. Roos 20