Round 16: Sydney v Hawthorn

[rojo]

They really have been out coached and out played. See where Teddy was taken in the 3rd quarter, right up into the forward line. He is just not in the back line when the ball came in, no one was much, and the Hawks just ran towards the goals en masse. Then up the other end our forwards had no space at all. Our ball movement forward is slow theirs is fast.

When Brisbane stifled our game for three quarters last week the response from Horse was that the most important thing was that we got the 6 points! We have to get better, we have to improve!! Why would it be acceptable for us to play so poorly against Brisbane! Look at the way we started this game, Reid, Lloyd, and Jack, no composure, no appearance of grit or determination. What is the bet that Horse will come out and say something like, 'We were beaten by a better team. We have to get better, there are things we have to work on."!!!! etc. Well time is running out. Surely McGlynn, Rohan and hopefully Isaac will make a difference - but we already have Buddy, KT, Hanners, Kennedy etc - why are we so pathetic with the 22 we have on the park now?

[neilfws]

How bad is it? In 13 seasons I've never left a game before the final siren. Until tonight.

[WauchopeAnalyst]

Were are the 'Rose Coloured Glasses' Brigade. All claiming 11-3 is great. Haven't heard from them tonight.

[Markus26]

This team with this game plan and this skill set will not beat the Hawks in the near future, nor will we win a GF.

[Faunac8]

Were are the 'Rose Coloured Glasses' Brigade. All claiming 11-3 is great. Haven't heard from them tonight.

Well congratulations its great to see you were right and we are a crap team. That must make your support even more tenuous possibly try switching to the Giants . By the way what team could have beaten the filthy rotten mongrel Hawks tonight?

[Bloodthirsty]

Well congratulations its great to see you were right and we are a crap team. That must make your support even more tenuous possibly try switching to the Giants . By the way what team could have beaten the filthy rotten mongrel Hawks tonight?

Uhhh...Sydney? If coached and drilled correctly.

[goods78]

Only thing worse than a loss, is the commentary from BT & Darcy.

Goodes best game this year - particularly the first half.

[707]

Goodes was very good tonight against top opposition. Next week no Richards Jetta Tippett Bird. Will give a few ressie players a game in the wild west!

[Ludwig]

Yes and not only this but we are being PUNISHED and SANCTIONED via trade bans for even having them. So we are being PUNISHED because on PAPER we are supposed to be good. But we are terrible and must be PREVENTED ILLEGALLY from recovering because the VFL have decided to call time on our competent management of recent times, and LAUD and REWARD fat morons who have run Vic teams into the ground for years. "You can't have everything." What a transparently heinous comment.

I certainly agree with the general sentiment, but those things had very little to do with the way are playing at the moment.

The score and performance tonight is a fair reflection of where we are at. It was obvious to number of us after some of our recent performances, but we had to play Hawthorn to see just how bad we really are. Now the veil is off and the realization that we are team in rebuilding mode is clear to see. We have problems are over the ground, although our midfield runs deep with young talent, which should help in what I hope is a rejuvenation over the coming years. I hope our coaching staff can make the right assessment and start to work on getting games into our younger players and come up with a more attacking game plan. The future starts now.

There's no easy solution. Our skills are generally poor. We need a complete revamp of our defence which will talk some time to accomplish. It's doubtful that we even have the personnel capable to play at AFL level, but we have to try something. Except for Buddy, we really don't have a forward line (I'm excluding Goodes for this analysis, due to his age).

Given the new bidding system, a lower ladder position works in our favour. There's no point in trying to finish in a high position. We all know who the premiers are.

My new mantra: 'Rebuilding is Fun"

And here's one for our head coach:

[aardvark]

Oh well at least the last 20 years has been fun. Time to play the kids.

[WASwansFanatic]

Disappointing would be the understatement of the year.

Didn't think we would ever serve up something as bad as the GF again, let alone worse.

Too many players appear not willing to do the hard things and our backline is almost laughable.

Jetta should be dropped for the tory alone.

On a positive Zak Jones looks good.

Finally what the hell was Longmire doing putting Shaw at FF in the final quarter? Really......

[troyjones2525]

I certainly agree with the general sentiment, but those things had very little to do with the way are playing at the moment.

The score and performance tonight is a fair reflection of where we are at. It was obvious to number of us after some of our recent performances, but we had to play Hawthorn to see just how bad we really are. Now the veil is off and the realization that we are team in rebuilding mode is clear to see. We have problems are over the ground, although our midfield runs deep with young talent, which should help in what I hope is a rejuvenation over the coming years. I hope our coaching staff can make the right assessment and start to work on getting games into our younger players and come up with a more attacking game plan. The future starts now.

There's no easy solution. Our skills are generally poor. We need a complete revamp of our defence which will talk some time to accomplish. It's doubtful that we even have the personnel capable to play at AFL level, but we have to try something. Except for Buddy, we really don't have a forward line (I'm excluding Goodes for this analysis, due to his age).

Given the new bidding system, a lower ladder position works in our favour. There's no point in trying to finish in a high position. We all know who the premiers are.

My new mantra: 'Rebuilding is Fun"

And here's one for our head coach:

So how are we supposed to rebuild when the AFL put trade restrictions on us...What a disgrace!

[goods78]

Any chance of a frank analysis on where we sit from Longmire in the presser?

My expected quote:

"We were disappointing tonight, but the great thing about football is that we get another opportunity to test ourselves against West Coast in 8 days"

[dimelb]

We lost tonight for the two usual reasons where Hawthorn are concerned. The first is that they position themselves so well, whether in attack or defence, so that there is nearly always someone ready to receive the ball. The second is that they are the best attacking team in the comp by a fair margin, and have been for the last three seasons. So much is this the case that even their defence is attack oriented: numbers round the ball, attack on the ball carrier, determination to wrest the ball from any opposition player, players out by themselves ready to receive and attack. You can add individual brilliance e.g. Cyril, Mitchell,Roughead and one or two others, but the basic item is their relentless running and positioning, something on which we used to pride ourselves.

Our structure by comparison is muddled and stuttering, unable to maintain any flow, often ending in kicks to marked players and very rarely to someone clear on a lead. Even our defence, one of the best in the comp, is picked apart by the Hawks' precision and speed of ball movement, which is not the same as speed of foot - but they have a fair bit of that too. It frustrates me to see Hawks sitting on our players when defending while we zone off and give them the space to do their thing.

We can beat them on our day, but we have to (1) maintain pressure for a full four quarters and (2) create room to move when we have the ball. We have the players, but we need to improve our accuracy and learn to work with a more open structure in attack to complement our tightness in defence.

[aardvark]

I hope we play them in a prelim final. I'd hate to sit through another GF like last year.