Rather than blame Ratts, or debate Hawhorn's injured backline - do we need to think about our recruiting?

The days of no draft picks are gradually fading into the distance... do we still use these as an excuse for our list? Or are we happy with the list (#1 picks aside)?

Just curious but do people think our recruiting team has done as good a job as Hawthorn?
Do we need to trade Fev in order to build a premiership team, just as they traded Hay and Thompson?

Always love this topic

The Hawks actually didn't make out like bandits in those trades.

Picks 10 and 26 for Thompson
10 and 37 to C'wood for Bo Nixon and pick 7
Pies traded 37 to WCE for Chad Morrison

Pick 7 - Jordan Lewis
Pick 26 - Matt Little (delisted zero games)
Nixon - dud trade

Pick 10 - Woods got Egan
Pick 37 Eagles got Le Cras

Eagles Win
Pies Lose big
Hawks broke even on the whole deal.

2005

Jon Hay - Pick 18 from North

Pick 18 Max Bailey
Hasn't done anything yet due to injuries. Talented ruck never on the park. It's a win because he might still play, whereas Hay was a total disaster.

The Hawks' success has been built on 2001 "superdraft" (Hodge, Ladson, Mitchell, Brown) and 2004 (Buddy, Roughie, Lewis, Murphy, Taylor) in a very weak draft hit the jackpot.

The trade the Hawks would be stoked about is 2005 - Pick 14 for N Lonie = G Birchall


2003 Rookie Sewell
2006 PSD Guerra
2005 Rookie Gilham

2007 Draft - Rioli and Dew (and Whitecross) - Imagine drafting the premiership matchwinners the year before the GF

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but I don't recall the Blues using the stupid hold the ball up with one hand to slow the game down signal for the whole game?

I think we kicked more than one or two goals in the last couple of minutes as well.

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I think we were behind for most of the match so slowing the game down wouldn't have been in our best interests.

Funny how the team in front often coughs up goals in time-on when they play defensively.

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"One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds." - Frank Zappa

we just lost to them by 4 points and we know we are still improving so I'd say yeah, our recruiting has been pretty bloody good.

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Clokeys the main culprit.
Perhaps the fact he didn't get a kick explains it.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

After having watched the replay again - I can put it down to:

- Composure - there were crucial passages of play where a bit more composure and surer ball handling would have allowed us to really punish the errors that Hawthorn made - in particular the 2nd quarter.

Many have put down our loss to Team Selection and others to the fact our bottom 6 players (and I wont name them) let us down - this may be the case but despite those factors we only lost by 4 points.

Our playing group and match committee need to learn this lesson and in the burning coalface of that game last Saturday would be the best place and will hold us in good stead for the season.

We would have won this game with more composure despite the fact we got very little output from our bottom 6 players - we need to bring in the players to remedy this situation and trust that the rest of the playing group will back themselves in at critical times and not make those crucial decision making errors and ball handling skill errors and keeping their feet at critical times (which even Chris Judd fell victim too very late in the game).

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

nah we attacked thre game rolled the dice and went for broke and we got rewards,

Move the ball quick.. take a chance.. and Army isolated Fev oin a one on one contest...

Move the ball slow against the organised teams... youre playing right into their hands.

We need to be more brave... i reckon teams are so used to playing a kind of chess.. (some do it better some not so good) that when that mould is broken they have no clue... (Collingwood vs Essendon*...)

More Armfields less Russells ...

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Gotta play to our strengths we continually get the game taken to the oppositions strengths.
Dew... the fattest most unprofessional footballer with dodgy hammies is allowed to run onto a loose ball with noone on the defensive side...(Anyone at all.. it happens every week)
Why wouldnt this bloke be run ragged up and down up and down up and down....???

Anyone playing on him should have a field day getting him buggered in 5 mins....

With us they take Hadley out to a wing away from the centre where we need hi and let Judd do it all on his own in the hot spot..(Ling/Kirk role ).. and have him outside where is exploited...

Why wouldnt just play Hadley and just tell him to use his bulk to protect the corridor for the likes of Judd.... Im opretty sure a Hadley playing a hard man role in the guts and Judd running through him is better than having Hadley being dragged all over the park...by some useless opponent...

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And if there is a doubt on Jamos shoulder... and he cant play Roughie.. give him a proper rest.. we dont need him playing on Williams who takes him away from Roughead and allows Thornton who is looking for cheap stats.. (great for my dream team.. even though he was crap at that too this week...) instead of REALLY playing on Roughead...
Why would you play througfh Thornton....????
Noone takes as long to move the ball on...

And why oh why isnt Bower doing what he had been doing???

Moving forward onto the front foot and providing run ... this year?
He used to do it.. doesnt anymore... though he did do it in the last quarter and it was great...

Cos we are trying to play chess.... Ratts saw some other team doing it and we have to do it now too....

Ill tell you what!!!.. you dont want that taen out of Bowers game!!!

Heart in mouth stuff.. like Armfield.. but in a day where teams like to have time to rganise defensively... thats exactly what you need to be doing... stopping them from organising....!!!

and when something your used to isnt working.. thatsd when you can take a team apart..

Sure it has risks... but bloody exciting to watch which makes players play on adrenalin in a game thats being turned to gridiron....and flower boring... and just like in soccer.. you ahve teams that play defensively and teams that play attacking.... and Brazil has won the most World Cups just being better than the opposition no matter what style they play...

They dont fiddle with that to much cos it works and thats why everybody loves them.

I agree there is a time to go into defensive possession mode.. and you should always have 3 or 4 gameplans and being able to shift between them .. but you still will ony win if youve scored more than the oppositon... no matter how you look at it...

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Perhaps you should ask Bomber Thompson? You know he is the bloke who has coached his team to 47 victories in 50 games and let the fat bloke rip his team a new one in last years Grand Final.

Was Thompson wise?

Would have won 2 not 1

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Look I totally agree that it was all Ratts fault. We have the best list in the AFL that is only being held back by the coach.

I mean there couldn't be other reasons as to why we aren't 6-0?

A lot of what you say has merit but I still think our players can only do the real 'team' things when they have played together for at least 3-4 years... That isnt a cop out, its the reality...
They will get smarter at reading the mood of the game and playing to each others strengths--
Like your point re: Hadley but heard him and Ratts have a really strained relationship... (I dont post crap)

Ratts doesnt have to sleep with Hadley he just has to help Judd get a chop out!!!
Ratts is a moron if he has problems with Hadley.. he gave up alot for Judd...and then took Hadley to help Judd out.... and now Ratts has problems with Hadley??

Laughable..

and if people dont sdee Judd like a Kirk but more like a Voss... i see Judd as a Judd... that can break lines and be a game breaker not someone who is inside being jumped on by 10 blokes... and then get strangled in a sea of octopus arms tackling him before he miraculously gets an arm free to get a handball out to someone who cant do what he does well enough...

Not only is it pathetic.... but also..... hes killing him.....!!!

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Ok we can be 3-3 and lost to gun sides Essendon* and Swans.. and ran an understrength underprepared Hawks close...

Yeah???

Maybe 2015?

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Stop being so dramatic

I don't totally disagree with you, but putting it all on the coach without recognising the limitations of our list isn't going to get us very far.

Disposal wasn't a priority with our recruiting until recently, especially with our later picks.

It's pointless having players galloping up the ground if they are more often than not going to turn it over and have it kicked back over their head to the bloke they have run off. We just don't have enough elite kicks who can do a job defensively in the back half yet.

You can't just expect a team that was taught to kick long to compensate for poor skills for a number of years to suddenly pick up modern football without hitting a few speed humps. Not to mention that lack of a winning culture that you just can't turn back on with a flip of a switch.

We still lack medium forwards who are a threat offensively which could compensate for our lack of a genuine second tall target. Our backline especially isn't exactly full of elite kicks, we could also do with a couple of hardnuts. It is hard to break the years of kicking it to Fev that many of our players have been indoctrinated into doing. We still have a number of areas to improve in.

It's a very even year and there will be a number of so called upsets..so I for one will be happy to just make the finals.

Agree - but is Judd really able to play 2006 style? Or is he missing that extra spark because he's slogging it out inside too much? which come first?

That's so disappointing to hear (about the relationship, that is - I'm glad you don't post crap Josh ). What's the issue? Might explain the seemingly bizarre Bentley selection. What explains the massive drop in Hads' form between rnd 2 and 3? FFS sort it out Ratts. You too Hads A productive Hadley can make a massive difference.

Thompson is not wise because it is all very simple.
You would have 2 because all that needed to happen was to tell someone to run fat boy around until he blew up. Oh by the way it took him 9 years to get there.