Rexy wrote:
Hawthorn have made themselves a destination club through good management. Well done and good luck to them.
Exactly and that's what you need for sustained success: no doubt a good off field model worth following.
How they got to that position since the days thy were in merger mode to their first flag and beyond should be questioned. It has the AFLs mitts all over it. If the AFL help/ collusion is forthcoming to all other teams in the AFL in this era of equalisation then fine, but it hasn't and its not forthcoming. The expansionist clubs is another story. FA another.
Its easy to put a case forward and prove the AFL gave the Hawks a leg up but the same priorities have not been given to all other teams
How can you forget the changes to the rules the AFL have made to help Hawks along in the last decade... condoning all of Hodges illegal head high hits when they warranted suspension; the changing of the rule to allow Franklin to go off the mark even after the siren, and how can any opposition supporter forget after an umps whistle "free kick Hawthorn" ad nauseum. Priority picks gave them 2 players in the top 5, but stopped the rule when Hawks had enough of that advantage...I could go on...Gill and Clarkson's "coffee time"
Gill is a politician, and doesn't have an ear for the general supporters of the game. He's a failure in every way.
He has a monopoly and the game grows organically from TV rights. End of rant.