We were also in front at half time and our midfield wasn't the same dynamic in Round 2 as what we have today.

i forgot that!

My posative spin would be; Roo's beat the dogs, Bombers beat the cats, no reason why we cant beat the Hawks

Jurrah to kick 5 on whoever they try to match up against him

Lets make it simple for our players, our main strategy is to kick more goals and points than Hawthorn

Was Bartram emergency against Port? Noticed that he didn't play for Casey, and if he wasn't in the Top End....curious.

Must replicate the forward line pressure the Dees showed against the Tigers. Must not be intimidated and kick the ball quickly into our forward line, playing watts and jamar/martin deep.

Just heard Brad Sewell could well be available (I had previously posted could be tested/unlikely). The Hawks have some big ins then if that is the case: Rioli, Lewis, Sewell and maybe Bateman.

My biggest and important match-up for mine this Sunday is Sam Mitchell who has been white hot this season. Got to have someone tight on him. Having Sewell back in the middle will make the midfield task even greater.

Just heard Brad Sewell could well be available (I had previously posted could be tested/unlikely). The Hawks have some big ins then if that is the case: Rioli, Lewis, Sewell and maybe Bateman.

My biggest and important match-up for mine this Sunday is Sam Mitchell who has been white hot this season. Got to have someone tight on him. Having Sewell back in the middle will make the midfield task even greater.

And the other big surprise maybe Cam Bruce....

Simple stategy

DO

Get the ball first

Dish it off to a teammate

Move it forward through between the goalposts

DON'T

Turn it over

Kick it backwards

Simple stategy

DO

Get the ball first

Dish it off to a teammate

Move it forward through between the goalposts

DON'T

Turn it over

Kick it backwards

No wonder we haven't won a flag since '64!

Kick it backwards

Kick it forwards in to a 3 on 1 instead?

You're right we weren't up to it, particularly in the second half. Had much to do with leadership and application when required. But still, I sense some negativity here.

We were also in front at half time and our midfield wasn't the same dynamic in Round 2 as what we have today.

We need the team (and probably the supporters in terms of support - be loud people) to go in with the right attitude, intensity, pressure and hardness for four quarters to get a good measure of where we are at.

We know that Hawthorn have been a better form side, a more experienced side. We need to play like one.

Sometimes you've got to fake it, until you make it.

Inject some positivity, it's contagious.

We were 27 points up with 10mins togo in the 2nd quarter. Bruce kicked a goal that started a run.

They had 21 shots on goal in the 3rd quarter FFS. We'd be happy with that for the whole game.

Was Bartram emergency against Port? Noticed that he didn't play for Casey, and if he wasn't in the Top End....curious.

Bartram was up in NT with the rest of the team.

I also heard he had surgery this week on his hip, but no mention of him on the injury list.

Frawley goes to Franklin without a doubt. In his current form he stands half a chance, too.

Nicholson to Rioli I think. Has the pace to keep up with him and has given us good drive off half back. Always good to push Rioli defensively. Shouldn't be overawed if/when Rioli goes into the middle either.

McKenzie to run with Mitchell. Big job there, Mitchell is in Brownlow form.

You'd hope for Jamar and Martin to win the ruck contest pretty easily, which will give our mids their best shot against a far superior midfield. If we can get enough inside 50s to put their flaky defence under pressure then who knows. But in all likelihood we'll get killed on the rebound and their midfield will dominate the stoppages.

Absolute spot on with everything you said. Would be awesome if Jordie could go even close to shutting down Mitchell. The Ruck will be very important as long as the taps are to advantage (ie down Beamers throat) and Beamer really has to be on.

I also like Nicho on Rioli regardless of whether his is running in the mid or forward line.

But unfortunately I too think unless we are super efficient in our forward line they will rebound and hurt us badly.

Huge game for our leadership group, Brad Green needs to step up!

Huge game for our leadership group, Brad Green needs to step up!

Second that.

I have no faith in Green, Rivers, or Moloney in big games like this. I know that is unpopular but Brent has been terrible in the thrashings we have endured.

Jones has been far more consistent than those three and I expect him to continue that form.

What we have to do is something I have never seen us do - TAG MITCHELL!!!!

We need someone who will spend the whole day shoulder to shoulder with Mitchell; where is Stephen Newport when you want him?

Glad someone else can spot the problems.....

What do Mitchell, Cassisi, Harvey and Giansiracusa have in common? Yep no-one on their shoulder when we played them......forget about all the other matchups touted on these threads. We have the right players to cover them.

But if we let an opposition mid-fielder get 30+ possessions in a quality side, then we will be belted (again)

I doubt the coaching staff have learned the lesson from the last time we played the Hawks, because we were doing the same thing against Port. Fortunately it was Port.

Glad someone else can spot the problems.....

A-hem..

Glad someone else can spot the problems.....

What do Mitchell, Cassisi, Harvey and Giansiracusa have in common? Yep no-one on their shoulder when we played them......forget about all the other matchups touted on these threads. We have the right players to cover them.

But if we let an opposition mid-fielder get 30+ possessions in a quality side, then we will be belted (again)

I doubt the coaching staff have learned the lesson from the last time we played the Hawks, because we were doing the same thing against Port. Fortunately it was Port.

George -excellent point you raise-Jones or McKenzie surely could do that role-Are you saying West is not doing the job right in the coaches box?

George -excellent point you raise-Jones or McKenzie surely could do that role-Are you saying West is not doing the job right in the coaches box?

Not sure who is the problem.

Jones has been played on the wing all season, and unfortunately is not a runner so gets cut to pieces at times. If he were played in the middle he wouldn't be exposed and he would be ideal to tag.

Unfortunately we have only 1 Jordie McKenzie, and he can't be accountable for all of them. Fact is, there are others in the midfield who aren't accountable for their opponents, and while it looks good to get 20+ touches, it is of no value if the opposition get 30.

Tag Mitchell ,Bateman ,Rioli(if possible).

Frawley on Franklin (the best contest around)

We have a Chance if we stop the Chance .

The biggest problem I have with our team this week is balance, in that we have for mine too many mid size marking forwards:

Howe, Petterd, Green, Dunn, Bate

Beyond Petterd whose taken his second efforts up a notch the past month, none of them offer us terribly much when the ball

is on the deck and heading the other way.

I wouldve preferred to have Gawn and a smaller player to the combo that came in, try and push the Dawks for height in defence given

they have so many talls out with injury.

Maybe Dunn will play a tagging role on either Hodge or Sewell. Has had good tagging games on bigger/slower mids like Jobe.

I'm of the opinion that we need to stretch Hawthorn so we need to bring in Big Max Gawn he deserves another go

Tag Mitchell ,Bateman ,Rioli(if possible).

Frawley on Franklin (the best contest around)

We have a Chance if we stop the Chance .

Chance Bateman is not playing...

So we don't have a problem in stopping Chance.

2 things. They were happy to bomb and hope for a score against us last time because they knew if they kicked a point that our kick out plan was suspect and they could cause a turnover and reload. Must have better kickout plan. Lewis was subbed on and killed us as per usual. Was interested to read G. Lyons article today regarding Hawthorns Lacrosse gameplan and would suggest a lacrosse stick may be the best way of dealing with this mulleted pain in the backside. At the least no way should he be given any chance of running back into any form. Col you owe him one.

Play with the desire of a Demon (or Cadel Evans) and we will be a good bet.

We all know that MFC are capable of winning. The big question is, do the players believe as i do? Do they have the deisre AND application?

I say yes.