Player Ratings: Hawks vs Suns
The Reeves and Greaves show.
The Hawks lost to the Suns for only the third time in history, starting slow and going on to register 11.10 (76) to the Suns’ 17.11 (113) at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Which of the kids will be part of our rebuild? And which senior blokes need to lift? Find out as we review every players’ performance on a dismal night in Sydney.
Luke Breust – 3.5/10
Just could not get into this game. It was probably summed up in the final quarter when the ball came over the back of the pack, he got into a great position to dribble it through, but fumbled the footy and it went out of bounds. One goal with minimal impact.
Shaun Burgoyne – 3/10
Will give a week or two grace period given he was coming back from injury, but Burger had few highlights in this game. He looked like his old self in the first minute when deep in defence he took on three players with poise, skill and all the time in the world. However, a number of fumbles and errant kicks (four clangers from 16 touches) made that a distant memory.
James Cousins – 5.5/10
Tried hard and was certainly one of our better midfielders, but we would have liked to see more from him on the night. He ended up with 23 possessions including eight contested, and his work rate was excellent. Has the second half of the season - and every opportunity, to show the club he should be part of its long-term plans.
Sam Frost – 4/10
Every time the ball came in long to the Suns’ forward line, you just wondered if Ben King would take a mark. Early in the game it was evident that Kyle Hartigan was recruited to replace James Frawley for a reason - and that reason is Frosty is simply not a full back. A couple of his trademark shockers disposing of the ball, and another performance that despite his best efforts, has him losing allies.
Damon Greaves – 6/10
Fair effort from Greavesy given the task of taking down Izak Rankine. Despite the three early goals from the Suns forward pocket, Damon did an okay job (doesn’t sound right does it?). Another player that needs to play all season. He made good decisions, went at 88 percent disposal efficiency, and kicked his first goal for the club near full-time in what was one of the highlights for the evening.
Blake Hardwick – 7/10
Another solid contribution with 15 of Hardwick’s 18 disposals effective, and registering nine rebounds from defensive 50. Has become the rock and unheralded general of our defence, and once again did a great job taking the kick outs to good effect.
Daniel Howe – 5/10
Still not sure where Dan Howe fits into our rebuilding jigsaw. Had 20 touches and took seven marks, but was hardly an influence on the game. Not really earmarked as a pure midfielder, he has spent a bit of time off half-back. But despite being in the top-seven ball winners for our team on the night he wasn’t really noticed.
Jarman Impey – 4/10
Jars just didn’t seem his normal self on the night - particularly in the first half. He came into a bit more in the second half but like CJ, wasn’t given much room for his trademark run and carry that we’ve become so accustomed to. A couple of uncharacteristic fumbles as well meant it just wasn’t a performance he would have been too happy with.
Changkuoth Jiath – 4/10
See above. Maybe the expectations over the first few weeks of the season were unrealistic, but the number of runs, bounces, ball carries and intercept marks have definitely waned for CJ. Wasn’t given the room, time or space to go at the high level he set in the early rounds.
Jacob Koschitzke – 2.5/10
Six disposals and two marks from Kosi. That output is simply not good enough from one of our tall forwards, but equally at his age it’s going to happen now and then. Was forced into the only lead any of our forwards made on the night when Dylan More put the ball out into space in front of him. Missed the subsequent shot at goal - his only impact on the scoreboard and the story of our night.
Mitch Lewis – 2/10
What has happened to this kid that promised to be the next key forward we could build a dynasty around? High hopes for sure, but with this sort of output surely we’d be better off with Emerson Jeka having a run at it in the team? Finished with two goals; the first from his only possession in the first half (a free kick after he dropped a mark he should have taken). Part of what has become a truly dysfunctional forward line.
Ben McEvoy – 7/10
Was one of the only players that made an impact in the first half, and given his role up forward you could comfortably say he was our best forward on the night. Rucked quite well and was a much needed presence, leading from the front in a real dour captain's performance.
Tom Mitchell – 5/10
A pass mark and only just. Twenty-two disposals - 10 of which were contested, but really missed his mate Jaeger in the middle. Not his usual industrious self and a shadow of the player that stepped out onto the MCG against the Blues the week prior.
Dylan Moore – 8/10
If you didn’t think that Dylan Moore was our best player on the ground against Gold Coast, then you surely had him in the top handful. Worked hard all over the ground both as a high half-forward and through the middle at times as well. Took eight marks, had 18 disposals (16 of which were effective), had a team-high eight score involvements, and kicked two goals as well. Another player pushing hard to prove he’s up to the level and more performances like this will certainly help his cause.
Josh Morris – 3/10
His rating gets a boost due to his chasing and pressure at stages, but the young forward was rarely sighted throughout the evening. Unfortunately couldn’t turn his wonderful Box Hill form into anything meaningful in Sydney, but deserves another chance to go round again.
Tim O’Brien – 2/10
[To the tune of hokey pokey] “You put him deep up forward, you put him deep down back, you put him deep up forward, he can’t mark but has a crack. You do the Tim O’Brien, drop the ball on the ground. And that’s what it’s all about. Whooooaaaaaaaaaa. Tim O’Brien. Whoooooaaaaaahhhhhhh Tim O’Brien.”
Okay - lost myself a bit there. He’s no defender, and was obviously in as a reinforcement for Hartigan. But not sure he really knew what he was doing down back, often attempting to go for marks instead of really killing the ball with a spoil. Not sure how much longer the TOB experiment will last, but this was certainly not an advertisement for it.
Tom Phillips – 5/10
Just another so-so game from our off-season recruit. Finished the game with 19 touches at a sloppy 52 percent efficiency rating, but did manage a goal being in the right place at the right time to kick off the ground in the goal square. We just want to see the Tom Phillips of 2019.
Ned Reeves – 8/10
The shining light on an otherwise dreary night. Reeves backed-up his outstanding debut with an even better performance second time around. Was given a fair bit of time in the ruck with McEvoy deployed forward, and showed that he already has so much ruck-craft ability which is clearly something to get excited about. Kicked his first goal in league footy after taking as strong contested grab in the forward line and kicking truly.
Jack Scrimshaw – 8/10
Another Jack Scrimshaw-like performance, went to town mopping up plenty of the footy across the half-back line. Has been a model of consistency in 2021 and would probably be top three in the best and fairest to the halfway mark of the season. Calm under pressure, Scrimma again would have had supporters confused thinking the number 14 belonged to none other than Grant Birchall. Ninety percent disposal efficiency and seven marks on the night.
Liam Shiels – 5/10
Pass mark as Pup got plenty of the ball, but he didn’t appear to be damaging. He’s probably symptomatic of our current midfield unit in that he was just chugging along. Perhaps the most harsh of these ratings as he collected 27 touches, had seven inside-50s and the most metres gained for the Hawks. However, he was also our fourth worst user of the ball.
Chad Wingard – 6.5/10
Tried really hard all night, and ended up with a fair bit of the footy (24 disposals). Gave an extra element of class when he did go into the middle, but lacked support from the other mids around him. Ran his way all over the SCG to impact the contest, and still showed elements of the Chad that we paid such a high price for.
James Worpel – 5/10
Saved himself with a pass mark due to his hard work in the second half of the game. Had one disposal to 1/4 time and failed to have any sort of impact through the first hour of footy. Finished the night with 20 touches with 11 of them contested so worked himself into it, but again struggled to find any sort of rhythm working in tandem with Titch.
Fair game by Ned, Moore was solid. Greaves was ok. Wingard ok. Kosi and CJ are kids. They are not going to stand up every week. Nor should they. Morris is a kid. He cant step up when the old hands are terrible. The rest were garbage. This is going to be reality in '21 and '22. There is hope, they have some talent and more draft picks coming...but it will take time. Dump Lewis and Obrien. Not worth it. Need more speed. A lot more. And bigger bodies around the contest.