Tom Mitchell

[stevoswan]

Amazing that Gibson 'had no case to answer', after his victim went off and played no further part in the game! On Mitchell, he is under a bit of pressure at Hawthown yes, but we still miss him big time at the moment. The remaining mid's have not stepped up enough in his absence. We're getting smashed in clearances this year......

[Mug Punter]

For anyone getting too smug about the Hawks' position just remember they won 4 flags in 8 years, I think we would all be quite happy to change shoes.

They are, however, IMO in a world of pain with their list and I think they are in a 5 year rebuild phase. Not a bad time to be starting one as we could be about to see GWS make a mockery of the comp for that period.

If you look at their list it is awfully unbalanced and I can see why as they chased flags but it presents a huge issue. Hodge, Gibson, Burgoyne, Puopolo and Roughy will all be 30 or more this year and way beyond their best. And Smith. Birchall, Cyril, Frawley and MceEvoy are 28-30 and also on the decline.

And their youngsters who looked good around a team of stars now look average, think Gunston and Sicily who look rubbish at the moment. Flat track bullies.

Making it better is, unbelieveably, their first pick is a third rounder this year on top of not drafting any decent youngsters this year. That leaves a monumental hole in their pipeline of new players coming through

Plus the mature players they have recruited are dodgy at best. O'Meara is unproven and injury prone. Vickery is just plain average and Mitchell is a good but not elite AFL player.

I know we didn't really give Mitchell a chance to stay and I know it's bad to wish this but I would laugh if the Hawks fans started to turn on him.

It will be really interesting to see how Clarko can survive this and if he has the stomach for a rebuild. Personally I'd back him to the hilt but we do live in interesting times.

[Markwebbos]

Reminds me of the Saints list right before Ross-the-Boss jumped ship to become Freo's saviour

[Mug Punter]

Reminds me of the Saints list right before Ross-the-Boss jumped ship to become Freo's saviour

I can see them really really bottoming out as they will lose a third of their best 2015 18 in two years, with another batch in serious decline and a realisation their bottom six maybe cannot make the step up. Gunston is the one that stands out for me with two goals in four games.

Personally I think they have gone down the wrong track. They would have been better off keeping Mitchell and Lewis for this and next year and rather develop their four first and second round picks to come on stream in 2018. Missing out on picks 1 and 19 (they are seriously looking bottom 3) at this years draft will just be so hard to stomach. The fact the traded out their B&F Quinella for a bag of crisps is just really hard to understand when you see the way those two are going at their new clubs.

[Nico]

Not much brown and gold in the crowd. The have or will jump ship very quickly.

[ScottH]

Not much brown and gold in the crowd. The have or will jump ship very quickly.

I noticed that too.
There was a shot from behind the Hawks CS, very sparse in there.

[longmile]

Well the swans may be losing the heart and effort seems to be there, cant really say the same about the hawks

[YvonneH]

Not much brown and gold in the crowd. The have or will jump ship very quickly.

Hope the same can't be said of us going forward.

[Aprilbr]

Tom Mitchell

I was at the Hawks game too and they were woeful. Mitchell was one of their best in a poor team effort. As usual he gets plenty of the ball but generally does not hurt the opposition with his disposals and he does not have the speed to break the lines. He did give off one handball that resulted in a goal but other than that his efforts did not hurt Geelong.

Having said all of that, our midfield has struggled in the season to date so we do miss his ball getting ability to some extent.


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[S.S. Bleeder]

For anyone getting too smug about the Hawks' position just remember they won 4 flags in 8 years, I think we would all be quite happy to change shoes.

What really grinds my gears is that they didn't deserve all of those flags. They wouldn't have won in 2008 without legally breaking the rules of rushing the behinds. Geelong were by far the better side. Two of the grand finals they won they wouldn't have even been playing in had it not been for the bias and/or incompetence of the umpires.

[Wardy]

I was never a fan of him - couldn't see what the fuss was about (was it the whole father & son thing ?? Coz he's not a patch on his dad I don't think) and let's face it - his head was elsewhere most of last year anyway.

[Velour&Ruffles]

What really grinds my gears is that they didn't deserve all of those flags. They wouldn't have won in 2008 without legally breaking the rules of rushing the behinds. Geelong were by far the better side.

Sorry, but there was nothing wrong with the Hawks' 2008 win. They were big underdogs and richly deserved it. Geelong stuffed many opportunities and did not deserve to win. We need to be a bit rational, otherwise the (many) good points we can make about the crap the Swans have been subjected to in recent years will be dismissed as the same sort of bitter hysterical nonsense as this comment. Let's not devalue ourselves.

[Nico]

BOG yesterday. Big loss. Might not be quick but has no trouble getting to contests.

[Markwebbos]

BOG yesterday. Big loss. Might not be quick but has no trouble getting to contests.

And wins the ball 6 clearances 19 contested possessions yesterday. We are really missing him

[RogueSwan]

We are really missing him

... and Parker and Kennedy and Hanners :-)