Hawks have basically no tall forwards 

Just Chol tonight 

Small fwds and mids kicking goals seems to be the way footy is moving 

wretched dingley

good to watch, the poostains

32 minutes ago, DeelightfulPlay said:

You're telling me!  Was watching the game and enjoying the new dimension of rain before it fi ally clicked that I live down the road from the SCG and I rushed off to collect my newly wet washing 😅

Body in Sydney, heart in Melbourne 🥹

Sydney’s backline tonight on the team sheet:

Blakey Melican Wicks

Roberts Rampe Paton

That’s incredibly weak. Blakey is a gun, Roberts and Rampe are good and the others are plodders. Hawks looked good but won’t be getting too worried about them yet. Also, very short injury list. Hate them so I really don’t want them to be good again. 

Will be interesting to see how we kick our goals 

Will  be likely watching less footy on TV. I can’t stand that whiny snivelling Gerard Whateley. The archetypical wet sponge.

32 minutes ago, godees said:

Sydney’s backline tonight on the team sheet:

Blakey Melican Wicks

Roberts Rampe Paton

That’s incredibly weak. Blakey is a gun, Roberts and Rampe are good and the others are plodders. Hawks looked good but won’t be getting too worried about them yet. Also, very short injury list. Hate them so I really don’t want them to be good again. 

When you look at it if you take the Lizard out of their back 6 it's looks very workmanlike.

Gulden will be a huge out for the Swans in the 1st half of the year.

On reflection, it was the difference tonight and Hawks played the conditions better.

Swans in for a tough year.

and how about the fella they call Grundy? what a waste of space.

Thank the lord that cash is off our books.

 

Sydney pretty much reflected how we played last year without Petracca and bringing in underdone players.

Without Gulden and Mills and playing an injured Grundy it just proves how vulnerable a side can be without their A graders.

Adams, Grundy and Rampe all looked cooked last night and they were too heavily reliant on Heeney and Warner. Hawthorn overwhelmed them around the stoppages and on the outside as well.

McCartin is not a forward and I still have question marks over Logan McDonald so I feel they are a bit vulnerable up forward as well.

Hawthorn looked bloody good though. Barrass and Battle could be the difference in them winning a flag this year.

Hawks looked good and it reminded me how much I hate them and how smug their fans are. I bet they'll all show up again now having disappeared into the ether for the last decade. 

11 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

They’re there. I didn’t wanna quote anyone coz I’m so not up for a bunfight (whatever that is). Granted, there’s not as many as usual but they’ll come as the weeks go by. As sure as the sun rises in the east etc. they’ll come. ☹️

edit: I just dictionary.com-ed Bunfight. I prefer its synonyms: free-for-all and rough-and-tumble. They almost sound like fun 🤩 

A bunfight (noun):

A seemingly innocent gathering that quickly turns into an all-out, pastry-fueled battle for dominance. Often disguised as a formal event or meeting, but in reality, a chaotic scramble where elbows are sharp, voices are loud, and decorum is optional—especially when free food is involved.

Example:

“The office party turned into a full-blown bunfight when someone spotted the last cream puff on the buffet table.”

16 hours ago, daisycutter said:

 

If you're going to begin bringing facts to the table @daisycutter, you are immediately suspended from 'Land.

13 hours ago, DubDee said:

Is the Wizard the sub?

No. He retired in 2008 after seven glorious seasons and 259 goals at the Deez.

Interesting how similar our method against freo was to how the hawks played - particularly in terms of the uncontested marks and chipping it sideways in the back half until a good option to go forward appears.

My read of the game was that both sides had long 'tails' of players who didn't contribute a whole lot. Sydney has the factor of missing a couple of absolutely top players and a couple more best-22. Hawthorn missing a couple but their overall injury might even be the shortest in the league right now.

It wasn't an especially tightly played game for the most part. Certainly not 'finals like' in round 1!

Interestingly, neither team which took the field last night were particularly young. It'll be interesting to see how they progress over the season - will they find growth in their depth or will sore veterans and overworked kids fall away badly later in the year.

My mental note for both these teams is something like 'At some point the eventual premiers will need to overcome a challenge from these teams, but they are not, in themselves, premiership contenders.'

Watching Hawks win made me feel sick

1 hour ago, Little Goffy said:

My mental note for both these teams is something like 'At some point the eventual premiers will need to overcome a challenge from these teams, but they are not, in themselves, premiership contenders.'

just like imo it's too early in the calendar year for an afl season, it's too early in an afl season imo to make that call

bloods were missing two key players and looked seriously underdone; dingley play a very easy-on-the-eye game

sicily is going to be a game saver when behind the ball / winner when in front of it this year

Edited March 8Mar 8 by whatwhat say what

Nick Watson, Ginnivan, Macdonald with Sicily…

I say this as someone who isn’t too much younger than Sicily.. but I can’t stand this “younger generation” mob. 

Hopefully Essendon bring them back down to earth because the media jerkiest is only just heating up, we haven’t even come close to the peak.

If we have an ordinary year again and they are back up there with Collingwood and/Or Carlton by mid season, I may have to stop watching and call it quits for 2025. 

23 minutes ago, VNightCityLegend said:

Nick Watson, Ginnivan, Macdonald with Sicily…

I say this as someone who isn’t too much younger than Sicily.. but I can’t stand this “younger generation” mob. 

Hopefully Essendon bring them back down to earth because the media jerkiest is only just heating up, we haven’t even come close to the peak.

If we have an ordinary year again and they are back up there with Collingwood and/Or Carlton by mid season, I may have to stop watching and call it quits for 2025. 

If it’s all the same to you VNCL, can we wait the extra week and let Carlton bring them down to earth instead?

TIA! 

1 hour ago, whatwhat say what said:

just like imo it's too early in the calendar year for an afl season, it's too early in an afl season imo to make that call

bloods were missing two key players and looked seriously underdone; dingley play a very easy-on-the-eye game

sicily is going to be a game saver when behind the ball / winner when in front of it this year

Agree

the season is so long the only relevance these games have is end of season ladder position.

One thing you can do is look to trends either at team or player level but after one game not so much.

I thought that THB against the Swans player with about 6 minutes to go that definitely decided the game was ridiculous. When the whistle blew I thought it was a free to the Swans player as the Hawks players jumped onto his head and back.

With no football today this opening round is a fizzer even if no fault of the AFL

1 hour ago, Fritta and Turner said:

Watching Hawks win made me feel sick

Spare a thought for me I got dragged up to Sydney by my Hawk supporting wife and had to sit through the whole show, pretending to support the Hawks and  then getting drenched in the last quarter. Then it took 2 hours to get back to our hotel! Even with the tram and only 40,000 crowd, it’s a schmozzle getting out of that ground and home. 

3 hours ago, biggestred said:

Hawks looked good.

I must with respect disagree!
To me they looked like denizens of a sewerage treatment plant, in town for a night of filthy fun!

What about the 'insufficient intent' nonsense we were treated to last night.   A player in wet conditions kicks it along the ground over 40 metres and it eventually slides out therefore he wasn't intent enough to keep it in.  

I can't wait for it to be applied  to all areas of the game where the ball goes out.

Any kick to a pack along the boundary line shows insufficient intent to keep the ball in since the player must know there is a high probablility it will go out one way or another. If the player gave priority to keeping it in, he should kick it to an oponent 30m from the boundary.

6 minutes ago, sue said:

What about the 'insufficient intent' nonsense we were treated to last night.   A player in wet conditions kicks it along the ground over 40 metres and it eventually slides out therefore he wasn't intent enough to keep it in.  

maggots super hot on that and 'not 15' from what i saw

some of the not 15s were ridic; went nearly 30m!

5 hours ago, binman said:

Interesting how similar our method against freo was to how the hawks played - particularly in terms of the uncontested marks and chipping it sideways in the back half until a good option to go forward appears.

Big difference was the precision in delivery forward and conversion 

1 hour ago, whatwhat say what said:

maggots super hot on that and 'not 15' from what i saw

some of the not 15s were ridic; went nearly 30m!

Their interpretation on not 15 often seems to depend on the vector of the kick …. backwards seems to need to go longer.  
 

If this is an instruction from HQ, have the courage to go the whole hog and keep the game moving by not paying any mark for a backwards kick at any time at least not in the defensive half or 50. 

This is my gripe with umpires. There is a whole book of rules but why do they decide to only focus on a couple at any given time. This year the focus is obviously "Not 15m" a couple of years back it was the stand rule and then dissent rule.

Last night when the ducks got close, the Dingley players were absolutely in the umpires faces dissenting like ejits but no 50m penalty given

It is like they can't chew gum and walk