Diamond_Jim

Interesting and do not disagree with the premise. Would hope management are doing the analysis on the pros and cons of trading him now and going for Tom Lynch. Would love Hogan to stay but the will he or wont he go scenario is becoming tiresome and distracting. Imagine if the salary cap were just a base and then a bonus pool. Would make it so much easier to reward the right players for the right performance. For every Franklin deal there is also the Tippet and Tom Boyd deal.

agree.. did not look out of place and did some good things... certainly not disgraced and hopefully the next few weeks rewards both him and us with some good demonstrations of his skills. Wish I could be so sure of young Stretch who we all hope makes it as well.

Makes you wonder what it must be like to be a Hawks supporter. "Oh hell we missed the finals one year and we did not get our fourpeat." Perhaps they will be bored into oblivion by success How many down years did they have before they picked up Buddy and Roughead? (3-4)

My thoughts while reading that started with mild amusement before passing onto interest and finishing with depression. Please tell me there were golden highlights to come and we only had to give the players or the coach a chance.

Negativity is just not on this board. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/after-decades-of-failure-how-can-i-raise-my-kids-to-be-demons-fans-20180416-p4z9ut.html "We can choose to pursue excellence and, like the Tigers and the Doggies, draw a line under decades of failure by standing up and showing some character in 2018. Or we can squander all the talent and riches bestowed on us by the draft and continue to muddle through, go missing for quarters at a time (as we do every week), and waste a golden generation of talent. "

In 5 weeks we play Carlton

Tough but true unfortunately George Brayshaw's reasonable return was nice ... would like to think there will be a quick rise in his AFL form as he settles in.

Gawn is the future of the club in the sense that his dominance equals success. Like many I fear that we could look back and say we wasted his skills. Mid fields are so good at roving to the opposition ruckman I despair of finding a tactic to maximise the advantage. If his round the ground performance is the yardstick.... he's good but there are better.

tending to agree with you but out of interest who do you suggest from the VFL and what is that person's role. I suspect the answer is Salem and that his midfield place is taken by Viney but in the meantime any other suggestions. Posted elsewhere that we simply have to play a more defensive game against Richmond if we are to have any chance. Funnily enough I am resolved to a loss against the Tigers but we don't need another thrashing. 67 odd points on a wet day... boy that was bad.

When I first noticed it during Hawks premiership years I thought it was illegal and agree it looks bad. Hawks have always pushed the lines... 1. It was them intentionally pulling down players after a mark to slow the game down that caused the 15m penalty to be extended to 50M. 2. They would rush the ball through for a point thus necessitating the intentional rushed behind rule. On this aspect on reflection I think that if we are going to have the no 5/10m exclusion zone it makes a little bit of a mockery if you can position a player next to the man on the mark. Then again I am getting a little tired of the constant rule tweaking and the over umpiring of games.

Yep.... noticed it in Hawks games a few years back. Thought that any opposition team would know in seconds how to counter it. Remember it does put them one man down further up the field Dare I say it's a match day coaching issue

Last year a few of our wins were because the other team didn't kick straight. This game plan has whiskers to say the least

WB .. it is so obviously the game plan ...we press too high and when it comes out bingo .. off to the races And as one astute poster pointed out on the game thread the affect of pressing so high is that we crowd our own forward line making it harder for us to score

Noticed a hawthorn player racing to a contest today to try and lay a shepherd... so it isn't dead at some clubs!

Hard to argue with you DA but to be fair the game plan does not favour an average defence. Not sure what the solution is as while the defence at VFL level is okay there aren't many bashing the door down. Looking down the track I am hanging my hat on Weideman in attack and T Mac back in defence but I have no confidence whatsoever. Watched Lever a few times today and was severely underwhelmed to say the least. I didn't think he had a great finals series either last year. Hopefully he can turn the corner but f he is to be played as a one on one defender perhaps he needs to learn that skill in the VFL because it is a costly lesson in the seniors. And as many have said his disposal/ decision making when he has the ball is average at best.

wow ... now that could be worth paying money to see... I suspect we would not see Bugg for the next 6 weeks or so afterwards due to suspension

not a silly comment in the sense that perhaps we need to acknowledge that they are a superior side at this stage and play a defensive style. If we go head to head with the current game plan it is a low percentage strategy. As to the ins and outs I tend to agree with Dee Spencer but as many have said you could make a case for the majority of today's 22 to be dropped.

O well at least I can leave early and beat the crowd. This performance just sucks the life out of the club

Is that 8 straight to the Hawks on a wet day. Interesting

That Hawks goal was almost amusing. Definitely suffering mfcss now

Hawk supporters just expect to win. Sickening if I was not so jealous

Hogan going to full forward

Like watching a slow train wreck Who knows what the next half will bring. The only good thing one can say about that quarter is that we missed some easy ones

And here we go again

Mfcss is starting to affect me