Match preview and team selection

[Satyriconhome 10,339]

It's arrogant, and kind of mean, but the guy's not wrong: this club is very lucky to have survived such a downright awful period.

Undoubtedly one of the worst teams of all time. Even Carlton, after "winning" three wooden spoons in the 00s, was able to come back in season 8 to make the finals. They were able to turn their back on a losing, poor culture.

[the grint 71]

Just received the following from a Hawthorn supporter who got it from a Hawthorn forum.

Fun facts:

Of the 22 that lined up for the Fuschias last week, only Lynden Dunn has played in a winning team for Melbourne against Hawthorn. That was his third game, back in 2006.

In the Clarkson era, the cumulative scoreboard reads Hawthorn 203.180 (1398) to Melbourne 134.126 (930), a Hawthorn percentage in excess of 150%. Since that 2006 loss, the figures are Hawthorn 175.159 (1209) to Melbourne 101.99 (705), a Hawthorn percentage of 171.49%.

Since Melbourne won its last premiership, Hawthorn has won ten. Melbourne's current premiership drought extends to 50 years this season.

Melbourne last played finals in 2006, so this year is eight years in succession that they have failed to make the top eight, far and away the longest September drought in the league. Since the end of that season, Melbourne are 38 wins, 2 draws and 132 losses.

Hawthorn has 38 wins from its last 46 games.

Super-mega-hyper-ultra-cyber coach Paul Roos' winning percentage with Melbourne is 22.2%. Melbourne's winning percentage in the previous seven seasons was 22.1%. You can clearly see the improvement.

What a f*&^$*& rabble. I hope they fold. Whilst I enjoy the percentage builder every year, it's a travesty that this joke of an organisation is permitted to carry the name of the city that is the home of football. They should be forced to rename themselves to the Junction Oval Junkies or Casey Catastophes or the University Dropouts or something, anything but Melbourne.

You're a stain on the city, you're a stain on the league, you're a stain on the sport, and you only exist because I voted to keep your 'culture' of losing, blame and a half-century of ceaseless mediocrity out of my footy club. F&^% off Melbourne, you're s*&^.

Gives a pretty clear indication of what the reast of the comp thinks of us.

I really hope we win but fear we will get thrashed.

I a torn between wanting to g to support the boys in what will in all likelyhood be a tough day out, but dont really want to sit through another flogging surrounded by the above types and am not keen on giving my entrance money to a club I hate.

Just n case your interested the following was my reply

This sort of rubbish is not surprising from the Hawthorn membership.

There is no supporter group I have less respect for than Hawthorns. Arrogance borne from recent success without a decent foundation seems to be the culture. True there are a few decent ones still around who have followed the team through the drought from 1873 to 1961 and remained true but the vast bulk have jumped on board since the late 70’s. These are people who bend with the wind and will naturally gravitate to whatever feeds their egos and desire to look down on others. They have no loyalty and no spine. The fundamentals of human decency and all that is true and good in this world is missing from this group who inevitably will destroy this club from the inside out. When the worm turns (and it will) the rats will desert the sinking ship, maybe not the members now but their offspring will. It’s in the genetics you see, they will not stay without success they will not face adversity with strength and stoicism, they will not display the moral courage required to be a Melbourne supporter.

I am happy to read below because it confirms my belief that you are all a pack of soulless arrogant buckets of s&$t.

I will be at the game on Sat without hope and in the knowledge that it will not be pleasant but if the roles were reversed I am confident that the only p^ss and s%^t at the ground will be in bowls and troughs of the MCG sewerage system.

your reply is the best comment ive read on this forum, Bedraggled

[jane02 3,676]

I agree - that was a great response.

I have hated Hawthorn intensely since Gary Buckenara kicked the goal after the siren in 1987.

Every Hawthorn supporter I know is arrogant and condescending. Most of them have only been supporters for the past 20 years - not lifelong supporters like most Demon people I know.

I also hope that if they make the finals they get trounced by another club. I will be supporting whoever is their opponent.

[Deez 298]

Oh;, and the other seventeen team's players aren't, even without Misson to manage their fitness?

think about it before you make yourself look silly.

teams like geelong and hawthorn are seasoned, they aim to peak now for the next 2 months or what ever it is.

We on the other hand, havnt been playing with the intentions of being strong for a finals berth, we needed respect back asap, we were hammer and tongs from the start, and we saw that i think round 2 or 3.

We also have a relatively young list with very limited depth for rotating young players in.

[H_T 3,032]

There are some real doomsday predictions coming through over the last couple of days. I don't think its going to be catastrophic, it'll be a beating but I'm predicting I wont be feeling as bad about it as I was after the Brisbane game.

For the record, I don't think Roos was making excuses for the boys form on Saturday despite the pasting he got for allegedly doing so. I think he was simply searching for an explanation for the mediocrity and that is what he offered. I don't for a second think that he is trying to justify it, I'm certain that once he got behind closed doors he was telling them to harden the f... up or ship out.

He was searching alright. He passed the buck when the buck now firmly stops with him - given they've shown improvement this year numerous times.

[rpfc 28,048]

My god we care too much about what outsiders think of us...

You don't need to go elsewhere to hear we are a terrible team - I can tell you that.

And you don't need to give a sh!t what others think of the club.

You would be making decisions for the wrong reasons if you did them based on what people, who don't care about you, thought about you.

[H_T 3,032]

My god we care too much about what outsiders think of us...

You don't need to go elsewhere to hear we are a terrible team - I can tell you that.

And you don't need to give a [censored] what others think of the club.

You would be making decisions for the wrong reasons if you did them based on what people, who don't care about you, thought about you.

Couldn't care less what outsiders think, but I can't speak for others.

Terrible team? Tell me something I don't know.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

That's because he has a footy brain, but it took Roos and his team to recognise it......if you want to know about footy, sit down with the Jetta clan, I did once, his mum has forgotten more about the game than most of us know, I am not one of the BP bashers, but he actually had a good convo with Nev's mum about a cousin called Lewis but didn't follow it up...sigh

this carp again

from now on we should ignore our professional recruiting team and have in depth conversations with players' mothers, that's where the gold is buried

FMD

[old dee 23,492]

this carp again

from now on we should ignore our professional recruiting team and have in depth conversations with players' mothers, that's where the gold is buried

FMD

You know C and B that would probably have worked better than the 2007 to 2012 period.

[Satyriconhome 10,339]

this carp again

from now on we should ignore our professional recruiting team and have in depth conversations with players' mothers, that's where the gold is buried

FMD

I wasn't having a go C&B, said I wasn't a basher, more of an example of the good footy stock Nev comes from, I first spoke to him at the Family Day out at Casey the year he was drafted, I walked away so impressed my jumper had his number on for that season and all since.......I was only disappointed that BP could have followed up and we could have had both Nev and Lewis....Nev even gave me a heads up on how good Lewis was at that first Family Day...........

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,358]

Nothing would provide me greater joy than seeing hawthorn bundled out in straight sets this year.

[chookrat 4,205]

Oh me too, but I reckon Pedo will be a certain top 10, and I think Jetta would possibly be top 5 if he had played all year

Will be interesting to see where Bail finishes. Could be top 5 given his lead in pressure acts and ability to present, run out games and finish his work

work.

[monoccular 17,320]

I think we will bounce, hopefully give them a bit of a shock, realistically probably a loss in the 30 - 40 mark.

if every one hits their straps we can take it to the line, however the end of the season is nearing and the boys might be running out of steam.

Oh;, and the other seventeen team's players aren't, even without Misson to manage their fitness?

I think the mental toll will be as hard as the physical one for a team that has gone through years and years without success.

Hopefully the mould will start to break next year! a feet a second preseason under Roos with a big list turnover.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

I wasn't having a go C&B, said I wasn't a basher, more of an example of the good footy stock Nev comes from, I first spoke to him at the Family Day out at Casey the year he was drafted, I walked away so impressed my jumper had his number on for that season and all since.......I was only disappointed that BP could have followed up and we could have had both Nev and Lewis....Nev even gave me a heads up on how good Lewis was at that first Family Day...........

Fair enough, but obviously BP and every other recruiter in the game was well aware of Neville Jetta, he went at number 14, while we took Scully and Trengove at 1 and 2 - there is no way in hell anyone would have used 1 or 2 on Jetta, so any kind of finger pointing at the club is totally absurd. It's the same for blaming them for Morton and others, we did exactly what every club would have done so the point is totally moot.

[jazza 1,323]

I'd like to see Watts as a forward target .

So would i my friend.

Reckon i could ping him off from 550 yards,with the old mans 303.

Dees by 3 points

[Satyriconhome 10,339]

Fair enough, but obviously BP and every other recruiter in the game was well aware of Neville Jetta, he went at number 14, while we took Scully and Trengove at 1 and 2 - there is no way in hell anyone would have used 1 or 2 on Jetta, so any kind of finger pointing at the club is totally absurd. It's the same for blaming them for Morton and others, we did exactly what every club would have done so the point is totally moot.

C&B, we could have got him the year before, that is why I was so disappointed, he was overlooked for two years, he only got drafted after tearing it up in the WAFL, which he was persuaded to return to after going home to Bunbury after being overlooked the first time

[Redleg 40,196]

Nothing would provide me greater joy than seeing hawthorn bundled out in straight sets this year.

Amen.

[old dee 23,492]

Nothing would provide me greater joy than seeing hawthorn bundled out in straight sets this year.

Not me I actually like them Brown and Yellow and All.

[Redleg 40,196]

C&B, we could have got him the year before, that is why I was so disappointed, he was overlooked for two years, he only got drafted after tearing it up in the WAFL, which he was persuaded to return to after going home to Bunbury after being overlooked the first time

Correct. We could have rookied him, if only just to have a look at him, the year before he was taken by Sydney.

Nev's mother's comment that Lewis was as good as her son, should have been enough for BP to at least go and speak to his coaches and view any film of him playing, or talk to players who had played with and against him. There was nothing to lose and we had been given a heads up, even if it was only from a player's mum. That is called doing your job, rather than acting like the arrogant [censored] i found him to be in my discussions with him.I could also add incompetent as well when one looks at his results.

[Chook 14,997]

Couldn't care less what outsiders think, but I can't speak for others.

Terrible team? Tell me something I don't know.

To paraphrase the late great Tywin Lannister, "The demon does not concern itself with the opinions of hawks."

[Dr. Gonzo 23,704]

I agree - that was a great response.

I have hated Hawthorn intensely since Gary Buckenara kicked the goal after the siren in 1987.

Every Hawthorn supporter I know is arrogant and condescending. Most of them have only been supporters for the past 20 years - not lifelong supporters like most Demon people I know.

I also hope that if they make the finals they get trounced by another club. I will be supporting whoever is their opponent.

I agree, their supporters are arrogant twats. But I can't hate the club, unlike others who have used money, power or influence to succeed the Hawks have done it through hard work and excellence. They got lucky with some of the zoning but backed it up with their interstate raiding in the 80's.

I hate them but have a grudging respect for the club, unlike clubs like Essendon and Carlton. Hawthorn is the club I want us to aspire to be (Geelong as well of recent years but Hawthorn over the last 4 decades).

Edited August 8, 2014 by Dr. Gonzo

[Moneider96 1,045]

I wish we merged with the Hawks when we had the opportunity.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Moneider96

[chook fowler 19,251]

I wish we merged with the Hawks when we had the opportunity.

Heresy.

[old dee 23,492]

I agree, their supporters are arrogant twats. But I can't hate the club, unlike others who have used money, power or influence to succeed the Hawks have done it through hard work and excellence. They got lucky with some of the zoning but backed it up with their interstate raiding in the 80's.

I hate them but have a grudging respect for the club, unlike clubs like Essendon and Carlton. Hawthorn is the club I want us to aspire to be (Geelong as well of recent years but Hawthorn over the last 4 decades).

I agree with most of that Dr

[Biffen 12,829]

I wish we merged with the Hawks when we had the opportunity.

What does it profit a man if he attains the holy grail(twice)but loses his soul ?