Bit nervous about starting a topic but thought this might be interesting. Just talking to my Hawk loving brother who has had witnessed so many premierships and eras. The Hawks are expert at identifying when a golden run ends and making the right decisions to get back and start another era. They don’t do much focus on it being a rebuild but a new chapter in their history. From afar it seems they also have a blueprint of the most important playing positions, player types and strategies to succeed

I'd take rebuilding advice from my long-suffering Blues-loving brother before I took advice from anyone Hawk-loving.

Hawks had 11 wins in 2019, so a very tight analogy to our 2024.

In fact, they also went out of finals in strait set sin 2018 and 2016, with a 10-win 2017 in between.

If you're going to tell me that the magic blueprint for success is spending the next four seasons lurking around the bottom four and having our next serious run at being a contender be 2031, I'm politely telling you to check your compass hasn't been magnetized.

Also, they're Hawthorn, so they can get taxidermed.

Their drafting has been good, to be sure. But in fairness the one thing I will definitely credit Hawthorn for is a really good, really consistent record of picking out players they can trade for who will fill set roles very well. Their recruiting from trade/free agency is as strong as Jason Taylor's draft record. Our trading hasn't really caught a bubble in a few years now.

Anyway, I still feel there's something a little bit fragile about the Hawks. Weird to say, given that they'll very likely be 8-0 or 7-1 by the time we face them.

The Hawks made some really poor decisions towards the end of their era as they tried to keep things going, decisions I wouldn't call expert at all. Ty Vickery? Jaeger O'Meara? Urgh...Tom Scully? They took a long time to hit the draft by trying to avoid bottoming out, and they failed.

I know plenty of Hawthorn supporters who weren't happy about those decisions, admittedly from a position of having the privilege of a stack of premierships and an expectation of continued success. Funny bit is they're all envious of how Geelong handled things.

We never had a modern era.... just one premiership and MANY LOST CHANCES

1 hour ago, Standard Deviation said:

The Hawks made some really poor decisions towards the end of their era as they tried to keep things going, decisions I wouldn't call expert at all. Ty Vickery? Jaeger O'Meara? Urgh...Tom Scully? They took a long time to hit the draft by trying to avoid bottoming out, and they failed.

I know plenty of Hawthorn supporters who weren't happy about those decisions, admittedly from a position of having the privilege of a stack of premierships and an expectation of continued success. Funny bit is they're all envious of how Geelong handled things.

Just like Collingwoods ability to win close games in ‘22 where we all thought it wouldn’t continue in ‘23.

The only way Hawks don’t dominate for another decade is if the game changes back to a form of contest / stoppage game. If that happens they are well and truly ******.

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

We never had a modern era.... just one premiership and MANY LOST CHANCES

Was going to post similar

We wasted a second chance if not more

It does suck to see the team struggling and seemingly unlikely to regain contender status after what many predicted would be a longer premiership window, but at least this team did win a flag.

Easy to say it was "only one" but some Melbourne fans had to wait a very long time to see it.

There's also quite a few highly regarded young players on the roster, more than you'd normally see for a team two years removed from three consecutive top four finishes, so there are some silver-linings in all of this.

21 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Was going to post similar

We wasted a second chance if not more

2022 we should have rested our best players as Geelong were doing as we often looked spent in the home & away

Finals ... ran out of legs. The one that got away

2023 ... ended up with a D Grade forward line in the finals. Our midfield & defence nearly got us over the line in both finals

2024 Decimated Midfield with a still, dysfunctional forward line. Never a chance

4 hours ago, 48 Year Now said:

Bit nervous about starting a topic but thought this might be interesting. Just talking to my Hawk loving brother who has had witnessed so many premierships and eras. The Hawks are expert at identifying when a golden run ends and making the right decisions to get back and start another era. They don’t do much focus on it being a rebuild but a new chapter in their history. From afar it seems they also have a blueprint of the most important playing positions, player types and strategies to succeed

I'm not sure what you're referring to. Hawthorn had an amazing run from 1983 to 1991. Even their 2 previous flags in 1976 and 1978 were arguably part of the same era. Then they waited 17 years for their second era to start, i.e. an average 'drought'. Now they're 9 and a half years into a mini-mini-drought. Maybe they win another flag soon but there's no guarantees. Hawk fans would be beaming ATM but with no actual proof yet of an astoundingly fast rebuild it's all speculation and assumptions.

Is it more kudos to the recruiters than to decisions to move along ageing stars about 8 years ago ? Is the Hawks resurgence because the direct replacements are now fully realising their potential?

5 hours ago, Macca said:

2022 we should have rested our best players as Geelong were doing as we often looked spent in the home & away

Finals ... ran out of legs. The one that got away

2023 ... ended up with a D Grade forward line in the finals. Our midfield & defence nearly got us over the line in both finals

2024 Decimated Midfield with a still, dysfunctional forward line. Never a chance

2025, all of the above plus more!

Sorry, but way to early to be calling it at this point. Yes we've been puss the last two weeks, but I have some faith that with a few players back, a bit of consistency within the team and a bit of confidence back that we will claw our way back to competitiveness this season.

8 hours ago, Macca said:

2022 we should have rested our best players as Geelong were doing as we often looked spent in the home & away

Finals ... ran out of legs. The one that got away

2023 ... ended up with a D Grade forward line in the finals. Our midfield & defence nearly got us over the line in both finals

2024 Decimated Midfield with a still, dysfunctional forward line. Never a chance

How i see it. Ive never seen our team challenged so much as they were in 2022. Its true what they say, everyone brings their best to play the premiers and the season simply was a few games too long. 2023 we had almost no forward and still lost close finals. Matthew Lloyd and others said it yesterday, premierships are hard to win so one is still a great achievement. That said I still have belief they turn it around this week and we get injured players back quickly, who knows!

yeah everyone thought collingwood were finished in 2021 then they got a new coach and went prelim flag with the same players. pendlebury went from cooked to superstar again. same with sidebottom. etc etc.

The last two games have been awful for sure, give the team some time to adapt. I’ve tempered my expectations a lot, will see how we’re going round 11 or 12. If senior players by then haven’t lifted their intensity/application/desire, then we’ll know where we stand.

The only way is through.

It’s always difficult to convey full meaning to a football topic. I stand by what I say.

We win a magnificent Premiership, one I doubted I would ever see.

It looked like an era of success, the media thought so too. It has t been . No finals wins since the flag. So one flag in four years means an era is over, unless we win this year.

2 hours ago, biggestred said:

yeah everyone thought collingwood were finished in 2021 then they got a new coach and went prelim flag with the same players. pendlebury went from cooked to superstar again. same with sidebottom. etc etc.

I think that is one great observation re Pendles and Sidebottom. They were well and truly on the express train to retirement. It is amazing what McRae did to that list. Well and truly reinvigorated the club overnight.

I see Bucks in the same way I see Goody. Disciples of outdated , unexciting brand of footy. They belong to the halls of history that tried to change and adapt but failed. We need to think about transitioning from Goody in a way that doesn’t pull the rug out from underneath the players feet. I

11 hours ago, burnthefushias said:

It does suck to see the team struggling and seemingly unlikely to regain contender status after what many predicted would be a longer premiership window, but at least this team did win a flag.

Easy to say it was "only one" but some Melbourne fans had to wait a very long time to see it.

There's also quite a few highly regarded young players on the roster, more than you'd normally see for a team two years removed from three consecutive top four finishes, so there are some silver-linings in all of this.

Many Melbourne supporters were born and passed away before seeing a premiership. We should be grateful but an opportunity was lost as well.

14 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

I'd take rebuilding advice from my long-suffering Blues-loving brother before I took advice from anyone Hawk-loving.

Hawks had 11 wins in 2019, so a very tight analogy to our 2024.

In fact, they also went out of finals in strait set sin 2018 and 2016, with a 10-win 2017 in between.

If you're going to tell me that the magic blueprint for success is spending the next four seasons lurking around the bottom four and having our next serious run at being a contender be 2031, I'm politely telling you to check your compass hasn't been magnetized.

Also, they're Hawthorn, so they can get taxidermed.

Their drafting has been good, to be sure. But in fairness the one thing I will definitely credit Hawthorn for is a really good, really consistent record of picking out players they can trade for who will fill set roles very well. Their recruiting from trade/free agency is as strong as Jason Taylor's draft record. Our trading hasn't really caught a bubble in a few years now.

Anyway, I still feel there's something a little bit fragile about the Hawks. Weird to say, given that they'll very likely be 8-0 or 7-1 by the time we face them.

Hawks have won 16 of last 18 games. Far from fragile sadly Goffy.

They are also damn good to watch as hard as that is to say out loud.

8 hours ago, picket fence said:

2025, all of the above plus more!

Not feeling the love Mr Fence?

3 hours ago, Front and centre said:

Many Melbourne supporters were born and passed away before seeing a premiership. We should be grateful but an opportunity was lost as well.

Absolutely

Just looked at 21 team

Missing

Hibberd. Tough experienced ( not replaced)

Brayshaw. Heart and soul (Langford one game in)

Neil Bullen Hard at it (Thorstrup long way to go)

Jackson Our trump card ( JVR)

Ben Brown one of our best recruits of all time (Turner)

Harmes solid back up ( Windsor)

Jordan solid back up. Lindsay)

1 hour ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Not feeling the love Mr Fence?

Um Nope!

It’s the end and beginning of era’s. If you look at our list objectively it’s stronger now than when we won our Flag.

We’ve lost Hibberd, Brayshaw, Jackson, Harmes, ANB, Jordan and Brown and have added McVee, Langford, JVR, Windsor, Lindsay, Tholstrup and Turner.

It’s about gameplan, coaching and finding synergy. Thats what we’re working towards. There’s going to be bumps in the road. I for one expect Goodwin to gone at season’s end. I’d love the best assistant in the land to come or in my dreams, Kent Kingsley. Tough, smart and protective.

Edited April 1Apr 1 by Roost it far

Edited April 1Apr 1 by Roost it far

5 hours ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

Hawks have won 16 of last 18 games. Far from fragile sadly Goffy.

They are also damn good to watch as hard as that is to say out loud.

yes this is my least favourite bit