Hawks have won a lot of games by small margins last season.

The thing about Lewis - and one of the things he's disliked for by fans of other teams - is that when Hawks are under pressure, he's always in the thick of it, helping to pull the game out of the fire. Him & Mitchell & Hodge. This is what Hawks are going to miss - who's going to will them across the line when it's tight?

This is the aspect of leadership we really need - how to find a way to win when we're really up against it. So for that quality to soak into the likes of Petracca, Oliver, Tyson, Viney, Hogan et all for 2 or 3 seasons will be just what we need to deliver on our talent & "potential".

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Yep, can confirm this about Abe.  Via pm he has told me that Watts would stay, the Trengove and Tyson deals and a few others.  More recently about the Hogan contract. 

Abe is well connected in the industry.  But you won't see him blurt stuff on forums before they are official.  He just hints at things, so folks need to read between the lines or just trust him.

Which is why I don't like that Steve had to get him to even hint at his sources. Ask via PM, otherwise it may well be that we don't get those nuggets for much longer from Abe's sources. I can also concur. I trust him more than I trust any other poster when it comes to breaking news.

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

I think you can only have one very slow player in the midfield but not two in modern football. (Ideally you would prefer to have none.) Tyson is that player for us at the moment. Both Lewis and Tyson in the middle would just leave us to exposed on the spread and both are pure inside midfielders and both would be in our best 22 on talent.

Barlow produces similar numbers possession wise to Lewis and more tackles. He is not as good a kick or overly penetrating. But his salary would be half that of Lewis, so I just see him as better value if we are going down this track. And he has also shown good ability to play a defensive role on speedy midfielders like Robbie Gray.

I see inside midfielders as our lowest priority need at the moment. And our depth in this area means that we have inside midfielders who have to play on the outside and are not that well suited to it. i.e. Brayshaw on the wing.

This is just rubbish, Tony. Hannebery, Jack, Kennedy and Mitchell were all slow in Sydney's midfield. The Bulldogs midfield isn't particularly quick either. And then you have Hawthorn's midfield that won three flags in a row. This is just patently untrue. 

27 minutes ago, Ricky P said:

Do we really believe the board stepped in and overruled the footy dept? That's extraordinary if true.

It's possible. It's also possible that the FD are the ones that changed their mind after the Mitchell deal had been settled.

15 minutes ago, Ricky P said:

Do we really believe the board stepped in and overruled the footy dept? That's extraordinary if true.

Does sound pretty crazy, maybe a the deal was close to being done and they got told to at least fight for him to make the club look better. 

But surely if he's determined to go then they'll let him go, history has shown clubs don't like holding onto players who have stated an intention to leave regardless of contract status. 

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

I think you can only have one very slow player in the midfield but not two in modern football. (Ideally you would prefer to have none.) Tyson is that player for us at the moment. Both Lewis and Tyson in the middle would just leave us to exposed on the spread and both are pure inside midfielders and both would be in our best 22 on talent.

Barlow produces similar numbers possession wise to Lewis and more tackles. He is not as good a kick or overly penetrating. But his salary would be half that of Lewis, so I just see him as better value if we are going down this track. And he has also shown good ability to play a defensive role on speedy midfielders like Robbie Gray.

I see inside midfielders as our lowest priority need at the moment. And our depth in this area means that we have inside midfielders who have to play on the outside and are not that well suited to it. i.e. Brayshaw on the wing.

 

 

I share those same views. But the Hawks game plan was based around slow inside mids with great skills to distribute to speedy outside mids and super fast forwards with great defensive pressure to cover the other way. 

The Dogs probably aren't as quick outside but rotate heavily through the midfield and forward line to have full ground pressure and spread.

If we got Lewis I think we'd have to shift to a lot more on ground rotations. Lewis + Jones: back/mid. Vince: wing/back/fwd/mid. Tyson: mid/wing/fwd. Viney + Oliver: mid/fwd. Salem + Stretch: Wing/back/fwd. Petracca+ Brayshaw: fwd/mid/wing.

Part of the conditions I'd put on recruiting Lewis would be telling him that his role will include tagging and playing half back or half forward as Daniel Cross did when we got him. He has to be adaptable and complement what we have in place. Sure there'd be some games where he would be the main man in the middle but Nath Jones has probably earned his right to play in the guts and Viney, Tyson and Oliver are the future around the ball as well. 

3 hours ago, picket fence said:

In 1 -2 years we just might do a doggies and pinch a premiership!!!!

It's better to be an optimist who is sometimes wrong than a pessimist who is always right.   ?

I'm happy to overpay for him for his experience. Jordan Lewis experience not Shannon Byrnes or Gary Moorcroft experience.

I got sick and tired of Roos blaming our youth and inexperience as the reason for most of our losses this year.

Lewis, Melksham and Hibberd will hopefully get us out of the bottom 4 of youngest teams.

Edited October 14, 20168 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

7 hours ago, Demonetta13 said:

any truth to the rumour Vandenberg may be heading to the Hawks in the deal?

hard to tell mate, i'd say unlikely, i was told there was interest and the Hawks weren't one of the clubs mentioned, but this is the silly season. 

i'd have thought more likely to be part of the Hibberd deal, but that's really just a guess.

Are we only excited by the fact that a quality player has nominated us or simply because it would be beneficial to us? You only have to look at when we traded for Ben Holland. Totally different players, I understand. Admittedly Holland came to us as a 26-27 yr old and gave great service for 4 years but these players with supposedly a lack of leg speed do not get any slower and Lewis's CV speaks for itself.

You can never have too many class midfielders and this bloke is inarguably one. I expect to make the eight next year and Lewis could make a couple of positions difference. 

Third round would be a steal and second round (28-30ish) would be not ridiculous either. 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, A F said:

Which is why I don't like that Steve had to get him to even hint at his sources. Ask via PM, otherwise it may well be that we don't get those nuggets for much longer from Abe's sources. I can also concur. I trust him more than I trust any other poster when it comes to breaking news.

This is just rubbish, Tony. Hannebery, Jack, Kennedy and Mitchell were all slow in Sydney's midfield. The Bulldogs midfield isn't particularly quick either. And then you have Hawthorn's midfield that won three flags in a row. This is just patently untrue. 

It's possible. It's also possible that the FD are the ones that changed their mind after the Mitchell deal had been settled.

Agreed.

The trust is well deserved.

57 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I'm happy to overpay for him for his experience. Jordan Lewis experience not Shannon Byrnes or Gary Moorcroft experience.

I got sick and tired of Roos blaming our youth and inexperience as the reason for most of our losses this year.

Lewis, Melksham and Hibberd will hopefully get us out of the bottom 4 of youngest teams.

Yup, i'd go as far as saying the season Lewis had this year with the Hawks, he would have been top 3 in our B&F if not winning it, he was second in a top 3 side so it's not like the guys form has dropped off. 

still a jet.

happy to offer pick 47

We need speed and Lewis is slowing down, but you can create speed by moving the ball quickly and hitting targets in space and Lewis has always been an elite kick, he's also a lefty. He can also help us develop our own unsociable brand of footy with a bunch of left footers.  For the Hawks to gift away their top two finishes in this years b&f is very brave by Clarkson, he can see the future and he needs to regenerate.  I imagine that the Hawthorn medicos will be crossing their fingers and toes on O'Meara.

57 minutes ago, Abe said:

hard to tell mate, i'd say unlikely, i was told there was interest and the Hawks weren't one of the clubs mentioned, but this is the silly season. 

i'd have thought more likely to be part of the Hibberd deal, but that's really just a guess.

gee that's huge if the case, maybe my views are being seen through rose tinted glasses but Hibberd surely isn't worth AVB. 

Just now, Demonetta13 said:

gee that's huge if the case, maybe my views are being seen through rose tinted glasses but Hibberd surely isn't worth AVB. 

It's a needs thing, Hibberd is EXACTLY what we need, an experienced, elite skilled running defender to set up from half back

Sorry if I'm repeating others, but this seems to be among the most credible reasons why Lewis would chose to play for us:

It's understood Lewis' link to the Demons stemmed from a strong relationship with former Hawks assistant and now Melbourne player personnel manager Todd Viney. Lewis mentored Viney's son, and now Demons star Jack Viney during Jack's days playing in the TAC Cup.

From an article in Fairfax online written by Daniel Cherny and Michael Gleeson:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/afl/hawthorn-hawks/afl-trades-2016-hawthorn-say-jordan-lewis-wants-to-stay-despite-melbourne-hopes-20161014-gs2lnm.html

The two big differences with most contracted players in the Lewis case, are that he has given great service and that they are telling him this will be his last year with them. 

It is very hard to keep a player you are telling you don't want the following year.

Edited October 14, 20168 yr by Redleg

there's no reason why he'll only play one or two more years.

 

he's always been fairly durable, he's always been a hard-nosed midfielder, and he's always been a leader.

 

we could just as easily get four good years out of him, let alone two.

 

apart from jones and vince, do we have a single mid aged more than 23 years old? lewis will step right in and provide leadership and guidance for a young group. much as brayshaw latched onto jones to learn from, petracca could learn a lot from lewis.

They are going to have to offer him a second year now or he goes.

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I'm happy to overpay for him for his experience. Jordan Lewis experience not Shannon Byrnes or Gary Moorcroft experience.

I got sick and tired of Roos blaming our youth and inexperience as the reason for most of our losses this year.

Lewis, Melksham and Hibberd will hopefully get us out of the bottom 4 of youngest teams.

Don't forget the Daniel Cross experience.

He was instrumental in keeping our 2014 season afloat, and I was disappointed we didn't extend his contract.

Notwithstanding his second in the B&F this year, Lewis' definitely started getting exposed around the outside of contests. Not often, but it started happening.

That said, he'd improve us as a side, so he's well worth securing for a year or two.  

We're in the middle of a culture change and a player like Lewis can only help in that regard.

Pickers on the radio at the moment sounding very coy, and saying the dialogue is very much open between the clubs, and MFC would be looking at a 2-3 year contract for Lewis if it happened. 

How many years at trade periods have we been sitting on this forum talking about trying to get an A Class player and we end up with D & C class players at the end of it?

We finally have an A Class player nominating to come play with us and people on here don't want him because his past his prime?!? Beggars can't be choosers, at least we are finally at the stage where an out of date A Class player wants to play with us.

Next year we will land an In date A Class player!! ?

Jordan Lewis must leave Hawthorn and join Melbourne to prolong AFL career, says Brian Lake

41 minutes ago, Milesh said:

Don't forget the Daniel Cross experience.

He was instrumental in keeping our 2014 season afloat, and I was disappointed we didn't extend his contract.

First we got Cross and was terrific for us.

Then we got Vince and he's also been very good.

Lewis is a supercharged Cross/Vince. I don't like him but I'm not blind to his virtues.

20 minutes ago, The Song Formerly Known As said:

Pickers on the radio at the moment sounding very coy, and saying the dialogue is very much open between the clubs, and MFC would be looking at a 2-3 year contract for Lewis if it happened. 

Probably means he'll end up at St Kilda. If you asked Pickering how he was and he said "good", you'd call an ambulance.

Get him.

imagine Rd 14 next year, we are 7-6 coming off a tight loss at the G and heading to Sydney to play the swans. It's raining. We must win to stay in the 8.

who gets picked from our list for this game before Lewis?