Noticed this as well and it invariably led to the Hawks whisking the ball away and generating an overlap, as though the Carlton players up the ground had relaxed a bit expecting the tackle to stick before being caught flat footed when it didn't.

Are the Hawks players exceptionally good at the fend off or are we just really poor at defending it?
I don't recall any other games so far this season where it was as obvious.

Are the Hawks players exceptionally good at the fend off or are we just really poor at defending it?
I don't recall any other games so far this season where it was as obvious.

There was one stage in the game where LOB got absolute dictionary definition ragdolled

Good observation Sidefx.

It was so obvious, we all can question why it lookd easy for them to fend off.

Cyril would have grabbed the arm and dragged it in. My 14yo has been doing that for a few years now, but at this level its easier said than done.

I don't think they have trained for this TBH.

I woke up this morning feeling good that we won but more concerned by the way we won.
On one had we are showing really good resilience and defensive capabilities with belief that we can get the job done.
On the other had and in the words of Sam Mitchell we are playing an unsustainable brand of football, which we can see by the quarters we have won. 5/12
As I refuse to watch the game again I'm only going on memory, but these are the things that stood out to me:
- When we were on and scoring we were kicking the ball deep into the 50 (0-30m) from around the 50-65m zone.
- The Hawks noted this and loaded up that area so we couldn't hit a target and rather than having patience to chip around to find one, we just bombed it long for a shallow entry and it rebounded straight back out.
- Our small forwards were not at the feet of the talls for the rebound entires because most of the time they were still in the defence/middle which is good to stop the scoring, but it came at a cost of no scoring for us also.
- The amount of times their players and the same Hawk players easily fended of our players was embarrassing, surely we train for this.
- Our fending in return is only done by a couple, Cripps and Cerra. This is something we need to bring into our game.
- I also noticed that when they got the turnover they spread and opened up the ground with plenty of targets going forward.
- When we got the turnover the players forward of the ball looked like witches hats, I assume this was because they were all gassed.

In order to combat some of the above we really need to work on hitting targets, clean pick ups, smart spreading on turnover so we don't get too gassed, tackling when being fended off and fending off players.

There was a lot to learn in the sustainable way they played, if we could bring some of that to reduce the fatigue as well as periods of our burst play for 4 quarters...............#17.

The other promising part of yesterday was the 2's wining comfortably, it shows we have some good depth and pressure on the seniors.

There is a lot to work on but we also have a good foundation and the right head space amongst the players.

Some of the old problems hanging around with a dysfunctional forward line holding us back. 64 Inside 50's to 46 is a great effort. But scoring from only 30% of entries is not good enough. Even if the ball goes in along the ground, our forwards should back themselves in to score from close to 50% of entries.

The mids are performing well. Especially centre clearances (18-7). That's a smashing. Our inside 50 tackles are good again and our backs are holding up OK despite the disruption to personnel. But if we want to play 3 1/2 balls up forward, we need more from them to lock the ball in.

I don't understand the idea of Kennedy starting as the bench midfielder. Our first 5 minutes or so was average yesterday but when Kennedy comes on we win several consecutive centre clearances and his additional kicking penetration is far more valuable than our other mids out of the centre. He should be a starting centre square midfielder. His form definitely warrants it.

As Voss said, if you can learn as you go and still bank the 4 points in the process, it's a bloody good outcome. Plus another huge bonus is a highly competitive 2nds team. When was the last time we saw that?

We just didn't react to Hawks loading the backline to take away our advantage. Does Voss have a Plan B or are the players just dumb?

Probably no plan B in round 3. Maybe give him time?

Agree. Boyd reminded me of a Carlton player of the 2015-2019 era. Jason Tutt kind of vibe. First game so not going to write him off yet but he’ll need to keep developing in the 2s. We’re infinitely better with Saad in the team


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Some of the old problems hanging around with a dysfunctional forward line holding us back. 64 Inside 50's to 46 is a great effort. But scoring from only 30% of entries is not good enough. Even if the ball goes in along the ground, our forwards should back themselves in to score from close to 50% of entries.

The mids are performing well. Especially centre clearances (18-7). That's a smashing. Our inside 50 tackles are good again and our backs are holding up OK despite the disruption to personnel. But if we want to play 3 1/2 balls up forward, we need more from them to lock the ball in.

I don't understand the idea of Kennedy starting as the bench midfielder. Our first 5 minutes or so was average yesterday but when Kennedy comes on we win several consecutive centre clearances and his additional kicking penetration is far more valuable than our other mids out of the centre. He should be a starting centre square midfielder. His form definitely warrants it.

As Voss said, if you can learn as you go and still bank the 4 points in the process, it's a bloody good outcome. Plus another huge bonus is a highly competitive 2nds team. When was the last time we saw that?

Very inefficient going forward after quarter time

Clean up entries ie as BV said scoring from 30 percent of entries would have won easily

Not sure that Hawthorn style of rebound from backline and conceding centre breaks is sustainable over the season

Melbourne Brisbane Geelong being 40 points up half way through second quarter would have won by 80
We aren’t there yet but need to start getting ruthless