Demons1858

Mahoney has been excellent. Some might think it’s a tad early but he will get there soon enough. We might lose him to another club if we don’t reward him now

Agree. That’s one of the reasons Hawthorn have won flags recently without finishing on top. They time their run to perfection

You have actually highlighted many of the injury mgmt issues last year that caused us issues: Viney should not be allowed to mismanage his recovery out of a determination to help the team - he is our most influential player Gawn himself on refection said it wasn't just his hammy but that he did get fit enough to return Watts was criticised for not getting himself fit for this return and was subsequently dropped. Salem was also unfit and dropped back to VFL Tmac had a set back earlier this year. Lets hope he hasn't had another one.

I think its stupid to ignore stats for injury management and assume sports science are doing a good job just because its a bit of a black box to read

l know that many will disagree with me, but unlike some, I'm not focused just on popularist views .. check the stats for yourself: 2017 injury ladder (and it only got worse as the year progressed and we missed finals) http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/greater-western-sydney-sits-on-top-of-hurt-ladder-by-a-long-way/news-story/260167253f20b80354b15fc8ee3de301 2016 injury ladder: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afls-injury-ladder-hawthorn-gws-not-alarmed-by-luckless-run-20170724-gxhh2x.html Hopefully our sports science team don't derail what has been a good start this season

Your just being naive ... our injury management cost us finals last year ... so it needs to be called out

Should have come through the VFL and slowly built up game time ... foot injuries are tricky and not to be risked. This (if it is a set back) would now be his 2nd for the year

Its not bad luck its bad management ..

Told you so ... should have been eased back ... our long term injury management is pathetic

Maybe we can drag out his retirement by making out that we need even more time to find a successor

Tmac and Viney are always going to be good the 1st week back. It’s weeks 2 to 5 where they tend show a lack of conditioning. Gone are the days of coming straight back in after a long layoff. Should have a more stress free half or so run at Casey first

More of the same player mismanagement for mine. Players need some match practice under less stressful match conditions to build them up for afl level these days..Thought we learned our lesson last year. Tommy Mac should play a half or three quarters at vfl and if he pulls up ok then he plays afl.Playing him at Etihad is idiotic

True. If he is out for the season don't expect to he told until round 23

Holding the [censored] ball!!!!!

We cut spencer for the same reason no club picked him up for free. Can't get on the park for more than a few games in a row

It is round 4 but the inconsistency within games is an old problem. I think that's why we see so much frustration from supporters on this forum

According to Goodwin in his after match interview, they tried a few different things but that they didn't work ... personally didn't notice a lot of changes other than Frost going forward in the last quarter.

Clarkson did what most coaches do when something isn’t working. He changed a few things (nothing innovative) but MORE importantly their players where committed. The biggest difference after the 1st quarter was more about our lack of two way running, and the differential in the tackling and clearance counts. Our players just can’t commit to 4 quarters re game plans or intensity and coaches can’t get a response from them often enough

In: two way running out: simulated running

Jones and Viney often set the tone for us when we are down. Hard to do when you are tagging

Imagine what the final result might have been had Rioli, Frawley and Puopolo not been injured and unwell. All 3 are quality players but it also hampered the Hawks ability to rotate players in wet conditions.

People can be disappointed about our performance today but we shouldn't be surprised as it continues the within game inconsistency we have witnessed so far this season and the last season or two prior. All teams have periods where things don't go perfectly but we go completely missing in parts of all our games. Against half decent sides like Hawthorn and Geelong the game will be taken away from you. Against younger developing side like the Lions and the Kanga's we can still win games with the talented list we have, but it papers over the cracks.

What we should be asking is why we are not doing it? Which comes back to the quality of the coaching.

We have lost our dash down back. Our defensive structure seems to be a mess and Hunt (VFL) and Hibberd are no longer able to use there attacking assets. Lever is a worry but still has time on his side. Starting to worry a little though