Round 16: Sydney v Hawthorn

[Industrial Fan]

Don't get me wrong - that's the closest I've come to leaving before full time. Very few positives even scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Just don't think that means both season over and a certain flag for the Hawks.

[annew]

Don't get me wrong - that's the closest I've come to leaving before full time. Very few positives even scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Just don't think that means both season over and a certain flag for the Hawks.

Call me delusional but I think this too. We need West Coast to win all their games so Freo and WC finish 1 and 2 but that means beating us too. What did Richards do and who else will get suspended?

[DamY]

I'm seen worse games at SCG ANZ and Gabba tbh

[snajik]

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......

I think that was because he wanted to keep him away from the ball

[wolftone57]

Don't get me wrong - that's the closest I've come to leaving before full time. Very few positives even scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Just don't think that means both season over and a certain flag for the Hawks.

Sorry but I think you are wrong. We played by far the best AFL team tonight. The Hawks WIL win the Premiership by a long way. It wouldn't matter what team plays them they are always going to fall short. I'd love to know how they fit all their players into that salary cap but... They are cheating somehow but they, like Cats & Essendon before them get away with it. They are Victorian after all. When Buddy was with the Hawks he got tons of endorsements from subsidiaries of Hawk sponsors. Technically that is a breach of the salary cap but the AFL ignore it because they know every Victorian side can and does do that.

but as to toinight. We we murdered by a far better side. We were outcoached incredibly. I could not believe Longmire kept the same centre and outside square set ups for the whole match. What a total fool. All night tonight Clarkson had one of Burgoyne, Birchell, Litherland or suckling on their own at the back of the square. We chose to play an extra winger. Really @@@@ing smart to leave the most dangerous Hawk disposers all on their lonesome to waltz into the centre square take a handball and pass the ball 60 metres to a player in the forwardline. @@@@ing Einstein stuff Longmire. All bloody night! no wonder we lost with coaching like that.

Ok the players have to take responsibility but the coaches are the ones who design the game plan and ours has stunk all year. Get the ball and bomb the @@@@ out of it, bloody period. not a thinking man's game plan obviously.

longmire has no idea how to beat Clarkson. He is nonplussed. He is cactus. Get a new coach because this bloke is clueless.

[ASSASSIN]

Pretty pathetic performance by the boys - they have issues when they come up against the Hawks and Hawthorn knows this. No difference to how NSW doesn't really believe they can defeat QLD in the state of origin. it's all between the ears.

[Hotpotato]

When I watched the two teams warm up , the Hawks with their clever criss cross drill practising lace out bullets to each other , I thought this mob will eat us alive . If you were a Hawks fan it's all poetry in motion , finding space before the opposition know what the hell happened.
It doesn't matter who wins the taps , they scrap harder , get it to someone on the outside and the drill set is repeated like a metronome and is quite boring because nothing happens to stop it .
If the other team do manage to get it , the Hawks man their opposite like gloves .
They sure look unbeatable again this year , all opposing coaches are clueless how to do it , not just Horse. Ross Lyon couldn't find any answers .
I didn't enjoy watching such a one sided contest , so it's going to be a very boring Granny .
Actually watching 36 players around the ball much of the games is really dulling it down for me as well .
Thank God for the cricket on the radio in bed .

[MattW]

There's been a lot of chat this year from Swans players and Longmire about arresting momentum. They couldn't do it against Richmond, nor here.

The defence is shot. Richards and Shaw are sliding rapidly, and the Reserves seem bare of effective replacements. Unfortunately, Reid isn't the solution - he's only effective as a loose defender. I wouldn't mind seeing Xavier replace his suspended brother.

The problems in defence were the catalyst for the capitulation last night. We were on the way to winning the second quarter by 4 goals to 1, but let in two soft ones late. Same in the third quarter. We toiled in possession for a couple of points, then let in 5 goals from 6 inside 50s.

The forward line will look a lot better with McGlynn, Heeney and Rohan in it. The problems in defence have less evident solutions.

Nankervis was a bright spot - I thought he got better as the game went on.

[Cosmic Wizard]

There's been a lot of chat this year from Swans players and Longmire about arresting momentum. They couldn't do it against Richmond, nor here.

The defence is shot. Richards and Shaw are sliding rapidly, and the Reserves seem bare of effective replacements. Unfortunately, Reid isn't the solution - he's only effective as a loose defender. I wouldn't mind seeing Xavier replace his suspended brother.

The problems in defence were the catalyst for the capitulation last night. We were on the way to winning the second quarter by 4 goals to 1, but let in two soft ones late. Same in the third quarter. We toiled in possession for a couple of points, then let in 5 goals from 6 inside 50s.

The forward line will look a lot better with McGlynn, Heeney and Rohan in it. The problems in defence have less evident solutions.

Nankervis was a bright spot - I thought he got better as the game went on.

Agree but also our game plan is totally wrong.

We have no crumbs up forward, and the hawks always had space players a kick behind the pack in defence.

Will Longmire make changes to senior players who are failing: absolutely not.

And that the real worry: does Longmire and the coaching staff get it; that their game plan is totally shot???

Nope, it will be put down to a bad night, and lets try again next week.

[Auntie.Gerald]

If Longmire was coaching the Hawks the Hawks still would not have lost

The Hawks on their day are the best team by a country mile

[Scottee]

There's been a lot of chat this year from Swans players and Longmire about arresting momentum. They couldn't do it against Richmond, nor here.

The defence is shot. Richards and Shaw are sliding rapidly, and the Reserves seem bare of effective replacements. Unfortunately, Reid isn't the solution - he's only effective as a loose defender. I wouldn't mind seeing Xavier replace his suspended brother.

The problems in defence were the catalyst for the capitulation last night. We were on the way to winning the second quarter by 4 goals to 1, but let in two soft ones late. Same in the third quarter. We toiled in possession for a couple of points, then let in 5 goals from 6 inside 50s.

The forward line will look a lot better with McGlynn, Heeney and Rohan in it. The problems in defence have less evident solutions.

Nankervis was a bright spot - I thought he got better as the game went on.

Amidst the suffocating oppression of the game it was a breath of fresh air to see us with a ruckmen that actually knows the craft. Can actually tap to advantage, do the important little things in close to give the mids an advantage, has a sharp left boot. His inclusion goes some way to filling the skill deficit in the side. Very impressive for a 20 year old and will be a required player next week. Coming up against the freaks will be great experience for him.

[Swansinger]

I knew it was over when Rioli took a mark in the 2nd quarter - and Nankervis attempted to spoil on Christmas Eve.
Still , what do you do in your D50 when Hawthorn has such a tall player , eh ?

I was getting ready with the positives well before full time , such as "ah well , at least we didn't lose to them by as much as Freo".Ooops - try again !!

I finally found a positive this morning : it was a + sign on my torch battery.

I hope Tippet improves over the next few weeks , so we can get something for him in the next trade period.

Absolute disaster and if we have to play Hawks again this season , we will lose badly , again.
Might have to accept , with the probable retirements of Goodes and Shaw , plus blooding of youngsters in recent weeks , that we are in a re-building phase.

[Swanny40519]

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

I did the same. I honestly cannot remember the last time I left before the final siren, but after sitting through last years GF and being taunted by the terrible Dawkes supporters and told to F^*&^** off back to Sydney, to watch a worse effort last night was just demoralising.

It was a shocking coaching effort and even worse by some/most players. There was no heart, no drive, no passion that I could see from the boundary line.

I agree with some other RWO's we must start as rebuild. Our defence is stuffed, our so called midfield is too slow and our forward structures that Horse has set up just don't work. How can Buddy try and out mark 2-3 defenders and when we kick slow high kicks to our forward line. When the ball hits the ground we now don't have any small forwards (hopefully when McGlynn, Rohan and Heeney get back we will) at the moment to keep the ball in.

There was no atmosphere last night, the team did not come to perform and the ground conditions even though they looked better than other times, to leave 4 bolts exposed is pretty bad.

[liz]

If Longmire was coaching the Hawks the Hawks still would not have lost

The Hawks on their day are the best team by a country mile

This.

I haven't read any of this thread other than this last page, but I don't feel that awful about last night. I just think the Hawks are that good when they play at their best. Although the final margin was worse than the GF, I think the team played a little better last night. It was disappointing they completely gave up the ghost in the last term, but I thought the effort and intensity around the contest was reasonable for three quarters. It's just that when the Hawks won possession we had no way of getting it off them. Our defence did look disorganised but the Hawks forwards were brilliant too. Oh, and stating the obvious, we couldn't score.

To beat the Hawks I believe
a) you have to hope they are a little down on their best; and
b) start well

In the MCG game we started well, and were able to convert goals. It meant we were able to hang in there over the middle quarters when they were rampant, and take advantage of their errors at the end. At the contest we were reasonable last night to start. But just couldn't move the ball cleanly. That Lloyd miss was a killer. And when the Hawks get a head of steam up, their confidence feeds their skill level, and their skill level feeds their confidence.

I also think that, unlike sides like us and Freo, their brand of football is less physically taxing because it doesn't rely on applying intense pressure. That's why teams have a chance of getting back into a game against us or Freo, but much less so against the Hawks when they get going. I'm not sure about West Coast yet - certainly their pressure seems to be a key part of their game this year, but their skills have looked crisp too. Not yet sure which is the key factor for them.

Oh, and because I've not read the thread and didn't spot whatever happened at the game yesterday, what did Ted do that has everyone certain he'll be suspended?

[ugg]

His bump on Mitchell collected him high.