So many reasons to love last night...

[westdog54]

That first half. I don't think we made any glaring errors for the whole half.

The tackling intensity was unbelievable, the accuracy by foot even more so, and the decision making under what little pressure we had seemed to be spot on every single time.

The back 6 were magnificent. I don't think Harbrow and Hargrave missed a target all night. Gilbee was Gilbee. Lake and Morris gave their respective opponents the mother of all baths. Murphy is getting his mojo back.

Higgins had Hawks supporters around me in awe. Even they think he should be our next captain. How he got to our pick in the draft beggars belief.

Welsh got 3. Didn't have a lot of the ball, but his second efforts just kept coming.

Add to the list. There's plenty more to say.

[LostDoggy]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

Welsh, Ward & Aker creating a 3 stooges epsiode

[AndrewP6]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

Really liked our defensive pressure and tackling... the boys went after just about every ball...including in the last few minutes, which the Triple M boys liked.

The smother (I think by Griffen) which came after a turnover that could've lead to a score

Lake's blanket job on Buddy.

[boydogs]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

Welsh, Ward & Aker creating a 3 stooges epsiode

Made me laugh that one Seriously though they need to talk to Aker about his decision making, last night he didn't know whether to play on or go back, kick on the left or go back around to the right, pass or have a shot. Looked like he rushed things a bit, but a great game nonetheless

Really liked our defensive pressure and tackling... the boys went after just about every ball...including in the last few minutes, which the Triple M boys liked.

The smother (I think by Griffen) which came after a turnover that could've lead to a score

Lake's blanket job on Buddy.

Yep it was Griffen's smother, best game since early in the year from my name sake Needs to work on his left foot though

The chasing was fantastic. I thought the tackling could have been better though as they were continually able to get a handball away to a teammate. There were a couple of passages of play where we laid 3+ tackles in a row and they still took the ball away

Brian should change his name again after last night to Brian Franklin having comprehensively owned Buddy

[AndrewP6]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

Made me laugh that one Seriously though they need to talk to Aker about his decision making, last night he didn't know whether to play on or go back, kick on the left or go back around to the right, pass or have a shot. Looked like he rushed things a bit, but a great game nonetheless

Says a lot for the Hawks that Aker had time to choose from those options!

The chasing was fantastic. I thought the tackling could have been better though as they were continually able to get a handball away to a teammate. There were a couple of passages of play where we laid 3+ tackles in a row and they still took the ball away

Fair point, some of our tackles didn't stick... I liked our endeavour to tackle...

[hujsh]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

That Griff's smother meant that Buddy still hadn't had an effective kick yet.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

Higgins had Hawks supporters around me in awe. Even they think he should be our next captain. How he got to our pick in the draft beggars belief.

And Hawthorn had the nerve to ask for Higgins as a trade when we asked about Tim Boyle.

[Mofra]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

One small thing I noticed last game.

3rd Quarter, Johnson has the ball, Hawks have one opponent who can effect the contest. Griffen runs hard for a handball receive in the F50.

Johnson loops the ball over, Griffen takes his eyes off the ball, scans the F50, then looks at the ball again when it gets to him.

He takes it cleanly, and because he scanned the F50, knows exactly how much time he has to stady & kick the ball. Of coruse, he times it perfectly & kicks the goal.

Situational Awarness is a term stressed to military aviators, it seems Griffen had that innate understanding of how important it was to timing & positioning. It probably sounds like such a small thing to notice but I was very impressed. A lesser player would have watched the flight of the ball, panicked when he got it, rushed the shot and possibly fluffed it.

[LostDoggy]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

One small thing I noticed last game.

3rd Quarter, Johnson has the ball, Hawks have one opponent who can effect the contest. Griffen runs hard for a handball receive in the F50.

Johnson loops the ball over, Griffen takes his eyes off the ball, scans the F50, then looks at the ball again when it gets to him.

He takes it cleanly, and because he scanned the F50, knows exactly how much time he has to stady & kick the ball. Of coruse, he times it perfectly & kicks the goal.Situational Awarness is a term stressed to military aviators, it seems Griffen had that innate understanding of how important it was to timing & positioning. It probably sounds like such a small thing to notice but I was very impressed. A lesser player would have watched the flight of the ball, panicked when he got it, rushed the shot and possibly fluffed it.

Interesting observation.

[Sedat]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

And Hawthorn had the nerve to ask for Higgins as a trade when we asked about Tim Boyle.

Pelchan could have had him if he wanted, but instead went for Dowler. His recruiting record is saved only by Rioli - some of his the other selections have been positively Richmond-esque (bearing in mind the Roughead/Buddy/Lewis draft was the work of Buckenara).

[ledge]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

I cant help mention Gilbee and his mark and play on resulting in a Hawks goal, very comical to look at only because it was game over long before, but seriously what was he thinking, he knew the player was there because he touched him to run off.
Hilarious in the fact it was more of a Lake "Brian" fade!
I just watched it again on HD one and wow a lot of small inspiring things, Akers tackle, Hills tackle, this kid is going to own games in the future.
Lake was just awesome beating Buddy one out every time.
These things really up the confidence of other players.
Looking at our team we have so many players who could win games on their own now.
So many things by so many players it was awesome, welcome to football 2009 style Hawks.

[Cyberdoggie]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

I cant help mention Gilbee and his mark and play on resulting in a Hawks goal, very comical to look at only because it was game over long before, but seriously what was he thinking, he knew the player was there because he touched him to run off.
Hilarious in the fact it was more of a Lake "Brian" fade!
I just watched it again on HD one and wow a lot of small inspiring things, Akers tackle, Hills tackle, this kid is going to own games in the future.
Lake was just awesome beating Buddy one out every time.
These things really up the confidence of other players.
Looking at our team we have so many players who could win games on their own now.
So many things by so many players it was awesome, welcome to football 2009 style Hawks.

Not sure what happened there, Gilbs seamed to speak or hear something from the umpire which perhaps confused him. Still it did look like a brain fade.

[Mantis]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

And Hawthorn had the nerve to ask for Higgins as a trade when we asked about Tim Boyle.

He did some brilliant things on Saturday night and in fairness I should have given him votes such was his effect on the game. Wasn't his fault that he spent almost the entire last qtr on the bench with his feet up.

I loved the left foot goal in the 2nd qtr and the one handed mark when he pushed Campbell Brown out of the contest with ease (I thought he was supposed to be He-Man??). Those two pieces of play just reaked of absolute class.

[Ozza]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

Everytime I thought the night couldn't get any better something else would happen, Buddy dropping an easy mark, (the little sniper) Mitchell getting run down in front of us, Tom Murphy having a goal kicked on him the moment he went to a new opponent. I couldn't think of any team I'd more want to do that to. It was awesome.

Shame TCD was home sick (a notable absence from Aisle 34) - how are you feeling now Barry? That should have eased the ailment a bit surely!

[Ozza]

Re: So many reasons to love last night...

He did some brilliant things on Saturday night and in fairness I should have given him votes such was his effect on the game. Wasn't his fault that he spent almost the entire last qtr on the bench with his feet up.

I loved the left foot goal in the 2nd qtr and the one handed mark when he pushed Campbell Brown out of the contest with ease (I thought he was supposed to be He-Man??). Those two pieces of play just reaked of absolute class.

The left foot goal was jaw droppingly good. He made it look easy - but running flat out and hooking it around on the left - gee thats skillful. A Hawks supporter mate (who is not a typical arrogant Hawks supporter) texted me straight after it - just saying, 'can we have Higgins?'.

He is such a good footballer.