Adam The God

Reckon it's a mixture of confidence and being played out of position, but he simply has to add more versatility to his game. Oliver and Petracca are too good not to be starting mids now and if Viney finds his mojo, Gus is going to have reduced minutes in there.

It's essentially Richmond's game plan with a bit of 2018 Melbourne thrown in. We're finally seeing the plan A and B. The ability to play tempo when necessary. But the zone we played today was a high press, but then it had about a 20m gap again between the next reinforcement. We set up beautifully today. It's definitely built for finals, but unlike Richmond, if Gawn, Oliver, Petracca and Viney get going, it's too much for an opposition to counter and I think if they can find a level of consistency, in many ways we've got a greater ceiling than Richmond. What we have lacked that the great Hawthorn sides had and Richmond over the past 3 seasons, is that cleverness and creativeness around the stoppages and the forward half to create scoring chances and keep the ball moving forward. That ability to keep the pressure high on the opposition and capitalise when there's a chance to score. This is why I love the inclusion of Kozzie and Bennell, and even Jackson. They're clever, crafty, clean players that have great awareness and if they can stay fit, this will really give us another string to our bow.

I stand by those comments mate. He's an ordinary kick, I'm surprised that's up for debate, but each to their own. And I said he shouldn't play forward, but rest on the bench or across half back. Fortunately they didn't crowd our forwardline by playing him forward and instead crowded Hawthorn's by playing him as sweeper. That's absolutely his go.

Yep, I reckon having two presenting tall targets and Gawn roaming around as well enables us to go a lot slower. I was impressed by how we went quickly when it was on, but played tempo to contests and got the required runners to those contests where required. It really was the most full performance we've put together, potentially ever under Goodwin.

It's the sort of kick he's been trying his entire career and it has rarely come off. But everything's coming together for Trac now, which is great.

I'm pretty sure the only ground as big as the MCG is Optus Stadium.

Think playing on the smaller grounds is really going to suit our game style this year.

Still want us to go and get Ross Lyon?

That was very good to watch. The opposition weren't much chop and the early O'Brien injury definitely helped us, but: - our ball movement was excellent. - our defensive zone was the best it's ever been (first time we've had the double wall up with so much space between the two zones - the double press, loved it). - our forwardline pressure and energy was good (need to stick more of those tackles), but very 2018. That was one of Max's best games. He's so much better floating across half back. Good support from Jackson and Weideman in the air too. Oscar played one of his best games too. Spoilt everything and was always in the right spot. May panics a bit for my liking, and the defensive chemistry isn't quite there yet, but it's definitely getting there. Lockhart may well be a replacement for Nev afterall. Petracca obviously so clean and in everything. I'm not sure what's happened to Oliver's field kicking between the arcs, but I was happy with his game as well. He's so pivotal to so much of what we do. One of the other things I really liked was our ability to set up around stoppages and marking contests. It was very Richmond and the first time I'd seen us do it so consistently within game. Our big guys were just concerned with bringing the ball to ground for our smalls to go to work and we really ran well in waves. Gus is still a big worry for me, but was involved in some good play too, but sides often play through his opponent when he's on the wing and they exploited this early in the game. Kozzie and Bennell really excite me. Kozzie has that awareness of Cyril and very Hawthorn in the way he taps it forward and to advantage. Langdon's running and cleanness was important too and overall, I think our team balance was the best it's been for a long time. We're a lot less predictable without McDonald and Jackson should definitely stay in next week.

Happy to discuss, just disagree. Freedom of speech and all, Biffboy.

We went for the understandable defensive post to end the puzzle. It seemed like a reasonable idea at the time. As @Fifty-5 has said, I think it we win a flag or go close in May's time, it was worth it.

They tried the same with Lynch.

Gawn is also a horrible field kick and kick for goal. I'd rather they played him in the ruck and then rest him on the bench or across half back.

BT is useless. His vocabulary is so limited that in order to emphasise a particular moment in the game, he'll repeat the same phrase over and over again. That's his go for me too, mate. Still reckon Charlie will be alright.

It completely depends on how it comes out. I held the view for years that it was important to let loose at the footy, but it depends how it manifests. You can just as easily release pent up emotions by exercising and channelling frustration into healthier pursuits. For years, I found friends didn't want to come along to games with me and my wife rarely wanted to either. I was brought up with my father screaming and shouting, and it rubbed off. Over the past 3 or so years I've made a concerted effort to calm the [censored] down a bit because I don’t like the aggression that comes out. I still shout a bit but nowhere near as much. Letting loose is fine but there are constructive ways of letting loose that don't impact as heavily on others around you. That said, if you can't raise your voice at the footy like some people seem to think in the MCC, then you may as well stay at home and watch it on the TV.

Rowell will come back to Victoria, so will King. And Rankin will probably pop off to Adelaide too.

At this stage, I'd trade Gus, but intrigued to hear what others think.

Yeah, totally, mate. He has had the luxury of crippling their young talent stocks over the last 3-4 years by trading out of the first round, but I wonder if he's going to leave Hawthorn in a Ross Lyon-like situation, with an aging list of inconsistent players (Wingard, Frost, Frawley, Scully etc) and little good young talent. If it back fires, they might spend some time in the wilderness, which would be great. You can never rule out Hawthorn though, they are the modern football club to aspire to in terms of onfield success and list management, and FD structure. I hope you're right about the result too. We have a knack of losing games that we dominate and should win. It's frustrating, because as I've said before, I reckon there are a lot more average teams this year than good and a flag really was for the taking. I just can't see it happening this year for us.

It doesn't. I think Jones is midfield depth this year. I wouldn't have kept him on the list personally, but he may prove to be good cover in the back stretch of the season.

I don't think many have glorified that year. I think most people on Demonland remind others when they're putting us down, that we did actually make a prelim and so it was not a failed year. And despite us not being able to beat a top 8 team until a depleted West Coast in Round 22 and GWS in Round 23, we still managed to beat Geelong and Hawthorn under enormous pressure in sudden death games to packed MCGs. It was a very good year of progress and for mine nobody is glorifying it, just pointing out that we made a [censored] prelim.

Look, I agree that Clarkson is easily the greatest coach of the modern era, but in the case where his team isn't capable of being able to execute his plan consistently, it would mean he hasn't been that masterful. If you know your team's not up to it to play the style you're promoting, it's idiocy IMO to continue with it. Does Clarkson have another plan? Because the thing about his game style is that's it's very similar similar to Guardiola's at Man City in the EPL. It's about stretching the opposition's defensive formation by moving the ball quickly around the neutral or defensive zone and then exploiting the gaps in the zone with pace and precision. But it doesn't work in soccer either if the players aren't capable of consistently hitting targets either. Guardiola's sides often have unlimited money to spend on the best players, but when their better players have been injured, they've really relied on fast attackers and blistering counter attack, but Clarkson's side, as you and others have noted, doesn't have the leg-speed to exploit this either, so for mine, I'm not really sure what Clarkson is aiming to do with his current team and the system they play. It's too easy to combat against and without weapons in any of the playing thirds, Hawthorn's current team will struggle over the course of a full season.

Money and they probably pitched the idea of live sport being free to the masses, instead of pay per view. It's never about merit in these things, it's always about money. Oofa doof. That's a dangerous idea. Gunston way too clever for Smith. And they may well play Smith down back in place of Jetta, but I wouldn't be playing May forward. The backs need continuity together, not the shuffle of the deck chairs every week.

He's too slow for that role. They'll run off him.

I'm definitely on the King train too mate if we could convince him, but who would you be happy to trade to get him?

Whilst I generally agree it's too early to comment on Jackson, you cannot dismiss that our tall blokes (with the exception of Hogan) seem to take longer than some other teams. Oscar and Weideman are two very good examples of players who may well make it, but have taken much longer than say Curnow or even King to come on.