binman

I wasn't far off this one, though it was a pretty easy get. My KPI for Jack was 30-35 goals and he has met that. Still want him to get his average disposal up to 20 per game. Incredibly not only did he easily get his 11 games he's a chance to play every game of the season. Signed a new contract as well.

Random thoughts number 6 It has been said by many here already. Jack Watts has been really terrific all season and again was a really key factor in our win. Three first half goals were important of course as where his many score involvements (watch the all the goals clip to see how often he i was involved in scoring chains - as a side note the weed was involved in his fair share too). But i thought his competitiveness, will to win and one per centers were equally important. And who would have thought that would have been the case thee years ago. Another critical element - and one that could easily be missed is is chop out of Gawn in the ruck. That hsa been an inspired move by Roos. in the last quarter Gawn was able to go off and get a rest for almost 8 minutes or so i reckon. In that time we kicked two goals. Then a rested Gawn could come back on to finish the job. I also wonder if pro dee has pulled a swifty on me. I had jack for my avatar for a while and he must of recognised jack was about to come of age and now he has one of our our most important player as his avatar. well played sir

I couldn't agree more. it does no one any good having one side as crap as the Lions are now. look what is happening in terms of their crapness shaping the finals. Clubs at the top who are desperate for percentage and are lucky enough to play them now when they are tired and have had enough (eg Crows on the weekend just gone) get a massive advantage over their rivals. That said as a mate has pointed out the lions were arguably the most strident and vocal opponent of us getting a priority pick

Agree, terrifc runner. and not only can he kick well when running he really gives it a roost. His kick to Watts against GC and the one on the weekend to Weed traveled all of 60 metres. A player who can run and carry and then deliver the ball accurately over 50 metres is a critical in our game plan and indeed the way all teams are trying to play therse days

Great gif. No doubt about it, he's a complete gun. Was amazed at the stats in the casey game last week. 33 disposals, of which 22 were contested! What i love about his handball - and the above is a terrific example - is he sizes up the options and makes great choices. So many players in that situaltion would have flicked it out as soon as he gets he but Oliver didn't panic and allowed himself to be turned all trge way around before giving it to Stretch. I suspect if there was not a good handball option he would have held onto it and allowed himself to get taken to ground rather than lose control of the ball in a dangerous area as so many players would have done. By the by it was also brilliant play by stretch. He is really coming along

Random thought 4 Yet no free paid in either situation. Go figure.

Random thought 4 Loved the kick from Kent to Watts. Blimey that was low and hard and gave the defender no chance.

Missed this comment but yes it was strange wasn't it

Random thought 3 The Hawks drop to their knees all the time, particularly Gibson. Mitchell and Rioli. Jetta didn't do so or duck his head. Incredible it wasn't paid a free kick, made all the more galling when rioli did duck a few minutes later and was paid. Whilst i'm on this theme i find it so annoying how Mitchell carries on when he thinks he deserves a free kick and how some of their players give stupid wry smiles or shake their heads when they have a free kick paid against them, regardless of how obvious or blatant the free is. Case in point from the game was Burgoyne doing both after getting Weideman high. By the by that free kick, which was there every day of the week, was an example of one paid by the central umpire (who was some 40 metres away) not the umpire right next to the contest

Random thought 2 We were switched on right from the get go. Brilliant first goal. I find it amazing that at round 19 they can still manafacture set plays like that. Gawn to Jones to the player running to the contest (hand balling to players on the move makes such a difference), Hunt in this case who has the courage to keep running and authorisation to have the shot from outside 50. Great stuff.

Haven't had any time to post my thoughts on the game, and still don't really. So i i'd thought i post some random thoughts: Random thought 1: I don't really hate any other side and truth be known i admire the Hawks as a club and team. However i hate losing to them and hate how smug their supporters are (some wally near me kept yelling patronising comments like 'keep up the effort dees and you're a chance of playing finals next year'). I also hate how until the last couple of years the Hawks have bullied us and smashed up our young players, particularly during the brief Neeld period. If someone had asked me at the start of the year which game i would most like us to win this would have been it. A dry day in perfect conditions at the G with a chance to hurt the hawks chances of finishing top 2 which if they don't will likely mean playing their first final interstate against Sydney, GWS or Crows.

And to be honest if GNF were to leave DL it wouldn't be as much fun. I find it hilarious the response of some here to his posts. I mean who cares if he is wrong or right. Loved his use of the word confirmed in both recent posts, which was no doubt deliberately used to fan the flames of those inclined to go into a frenzy. Well played sir. Saty who also likes to fan some flames could do worse than taking some pointers on how to be more subtle in his efforts to fire up other posters (í talk to the players, you don't, they trust me blah blah). Anyway as i have noted before i won $100 on the Roos tip so that is $100 more value than any other poster has provided me.

He played well but i dont think omac will be our next skipper

I tend to agree. I mean no doubt there will be back and forth but he has the whip hand. In any case lets' hope it happens. It would be huge for the club. This is a big statement but i don't think there has been a more important signing for the dees. Ever.

Love your work GNF. The haters will post in due course

I'm away (at the snow funnily enough - particularly seeing i have't ben to the snow for 20 years) the weekend of the port game but otherwise i would def go to the event at the Wharf. great value and would be fun to watch the game there

Kent is a terrific kick usually and i love the fact that he has great penetration when he connects. I was sitting in line with the set shot he kicked to the city end and it went gun barrel straight and that kick to Petracca was a gem. My issue with Kent's kicking is when shooting for goals he often rushes the kick and is not balanced as a result, leading to some shocking shanks.

Because has been pointed out a number of times it's not our call. Yes we can low ball them or flat out refuse to offer a trade. But hibberd would then have to go through the process of challenging that and arguing for a breach of contract. And really he is unlikely to want to do that, if for no other reason than i'm sure he has had enough legal drama and stress to last a lifetime.

Again this is a spurious argument. of course if DE is taken in isolation, for one player it can throw up misleading examples, such as with Dawson and as some here on DL have said Grimes. Its usefulness as a stat is aggregating it across the team and comparing sides and setting benchmarks. Clubs also no doubt use it conjunction with other stats not in isolation to provide analysis. For example looking at a combination of DE and score involvements would highlight how effective jack Watts is and reflect his value to the team in a way that looking at those two stats in isolation. Further they would never look at players DE without also looking at the data they have on where disposals occur, in what circumstances and what the outcome of the disposal is. in addition the footy department and coaches also 'use their eyes' both during the game and in the in the incredibly forensic post game analysis where every disposal is analysed. So looking at the DE in isolation is something that only happens on footy forums and by dullards in the media. However even looking at DE in isolation reflects that for all the outliers like Dawson the opposite is never true - that's to say the bets users of the ball (think Watts, Gunston, etc etc) have high DE across their careers.

I have read this argument many times here on dl. You say DE is a flawed measurement and spell out your reasons why. I say that is a flawed argument. It is useful as a comparitive stat when aggregated. Why? Because all clubs now use variants of the hawks template of keepings off. The difference between the best teams and the teams down the ladder is the best teams do the simple things well and consistenltly hit targets - both the easy ones chipping around the balk half, the 20 metre chips to forwards and the high risk ones to the corridor. As evidence that it is a good measure is the best sides have the best de. Again it is one of the key elements of the hawks dominance

Of course stats are useful and taken together are an important tool to understand the game. All coaches rely on them. And all clubs employ people to colelct the and analyse them in and out of games. Whilst individual coaches emphasis the importance particular stats (eg Clarkson being keen on score involvements) all are important. I would argue DE is one of the more important as it so often is the difference between winning and losing. The Hawks have won three flags on the back on their outstanding DE and accuracy at goals. You could see with your eyes that both GC and the dees were poor with their disposal, but the stats supported it. We won the game with our second quarter when our DE was 72% to their 50%. Coincidence? Of course not. As if roos would not have had the DE stats at hand at the quarter time huddle.

Agree buck. I said the same thing to my mate yesterday at the game. It all but cost us the game. Their last three or four goals were all of that variety and we couldn't get one despite the innumerable contested packs in our forward line as a result of our bomb it to the top of the square tactic. And as you say this is why Garlett and players like Kent are in the side.

Until this year. Whilst still no contested marking beast he is really improving in this are. Of his match high ten marks at least 3 were good strong contested grabs, albiet against smaller opponents. I think now he is a permanent forward he seems to have improved his core strgth and he is no getting to the age where he is strong as he is likely to get.

Yep. An extraordinary number of mistakes. Neither side really took full toll of the other team's errors though.

It drives me friggin insane that professional footballers can't kick both sides. Yesterday there were a number examples on both sides of the impact of one sided players. One was bizarre - two in fact. Tyson used his right foot running off the half back line and missed his target with 20 metre kick. What was bizarre was it didn't appear like he had to use his right foot. He could have done the same kick left footed or even better go long to the half forward line as the short kick was to congestion. The other one was Grant from GC. Running at goal he tried to kick a banana goal instead of using his left foot. What was bizzare was it went out of bounds and they called deliberate! ridiculous, Special mention to Hogan and Kent.