Despite a barnstorming game by Matthew Pavlich, the Hawks played their old voodoo tricks on the Dockers.
Mitchell Cleary will be taking a break from round reviews for a while to catch up with school work – he is only in year 10 folks, give the lad a break, he’s been a trooper! – so I’ll be doing these wraps for a while. I’ll break them up into smaller chunks though, so you won’t have to wait to discuss each match.
Okay, so this one is just about Hawthorn’s 22-point victory over Fremantle at Subiaco. How many more games like this are we going to see before someone picks out exactly why it is that Hawthorn’s opponents seem to choke in front of goal, especially in the third quarter? The primary example was the 2008 grand final of course, but it also happened to the Eagles this year, and the yips even got to Brendan Fevola a fortnight ago. Well, maybe it’s drawing a long bow to say Fev missed that kick because he was playing Hawthorn, but there’s a definite trend in many of Hawthorn’s close wins that the opposition can’t seem to find anyone who can kick accurately inside forward 50. To the extent that a Hawk fan is allowed to make a claim about such matters, I would contend that apart from luck, some acknowledgment should be made of the Hawk defenders having enough structure to be able to force a lot of shots from difficult angles. Brent Guerra, for instance, had a pretty poor night on Friday but at least he got himself into the right positions to block some of the more dangerous forward channels. Luke Hodge and Campbell Brown have also put in sterling work in this area on otherwise anonymous days.
Apart from that, what this does prove yet again is that Fremantle doesn’t have a forward line worth spitting on without Pav. Ideally, Freo would have Ryan Crowley and Rhys Palmer running through the midfield so that Pavlich wouldn’t have to trot through the guts like a Clydesdale. Injury has robbed the Dockers of that luxury, so Pav’s mighty game was wasted. Pavlich should really be playing full forward, no question, as he may have toned his musculature down but he’s still got the frame of a gorilla. He was let down by his team mates who couldn’t buy a goal: Luke McPharlin, Michael Johnson and Paul Duffield were among the miscreants – notably all backmen. Ryan Murphy kicked two but didn’t offer much from only five kicks. The Dockers need more options, which means that the injured Hayden Ballantyne and Michael Walters will be rushed in as soon as they are fit (no, I don’t know when), and will become fantasy favourites, along with Chris Mayne.
Also on the Dockers, the midfield match ups were interesting. Paul Hasleby was soundly beaten by Ben McGlynn for most of the match, which not only made Purple Hase owners angry, but also made Travis Tuck owners’ blood boil. McGlynn has most definitely stolen most of his midfield TOG from Tuck, making the latter a non-entity for fantasy purposes in the current structure. Tuck should be sold. Now. Go on, hack into VirtualSports’ servers and trade him out at this very minute. As for Hasleby, he showed in the Swans game that he can suffer under a hard tag, but this was not a particularly hard one since McGlynn was getting a lot of the ball. Then again, so did Brett Kirk in the first half of the Sydney game when he was squashing Hasleby. Hase tends to get lost in games if he can’t link up with Aaron Sandilands at stoppages. His status as a fantasy keeper is most definitely under question. Those who sold him two weeks ago will be feeling a little better about all those lost points during rounds six and se7en now.
Elsewhere in the midfield match ups… Garrick Ibbotson was set up to play much the same role he did last week against Chris Judd, in lining up on Jordan Lewis and trying to exploit him the other way, though it didn’t work as well with Ibbo not having nearly as good a night. Brad Sewell tackled Pav like a madman and looked early as if he was a chance to break the tackle record of 15 in a single game, held by multiple players including Max Rooke and Luke Ball. Byron Schammer seemed to be on Cyril Rioli in many contests, though I’m not sure it was a genuine match up – Schammer’s SC score suggests he had the better of it though I think those who watched the game would suggest Rioli’s smaller number of touches were more influential. Though admittedly that could just be a Hawk fan licking his lips at the deliciousness of it all.
On the rookies: Stephen Hill and Matthew DeBoer bad; Nick Suban and Garry Moss (who were matched up on each other) average; Brendan Whitecross, Beau Dowler and especially Greg Broughton good. Dowler and Whitecross got more halfback rebound work with no Hodge, while Broughton had an excellent first half but was asked to play roles in the second half and stopped to virtually nothing in the stats sheet.
I don’t think I’ll write nearly as much as this for every game, but I owe you guys a bit more blogging so we’ll see how much I can pump out. 😉
WorstDreamTeamer4Life
May 16, 2009 at 3:52 am
Hard on
Michael
May 16, 2009 at 7:11 am
Monty, your analysis on AFL is second to none
torress
May 16, 2009 at 9:05 am
not that it matters but i’d say this is the 1st write up i’ve seen, involving the hawks without mention for either buddy or roughy!!!
had broughton since rd 1 and im stoked with a 76!!
Brad
May 16, 2009 at 9:39 am
525 from 6 players. Pav, Sandi and Sewell awesome. Broughton and Dowler making some good money. Maybe time to cash in on Hill. Chance of Grimes being a keeper? If so Hill to Grimes looks tempting.
Gerry
May 16, 2009 at 10:21 am
Mitch was great and did was fantastic job on the match blog last night.
I think it is a great idea that you’re now doing these in smaller chunks it gives us more to talk about over the weekend.
deekhead
May 16, 2009 at 10:59 am
Feeble attempt to try and recover after maintaining a poor site for the last 2 months
M Pavlicovic
May 16, 2009 at 11:32 am
Barnstorming! Thanks m0nty. I put it down to my impeccable coiffure, week after week.
noffle
May 16, 2009 at 11:43 am
Pfft, who does work in Year 10.
Cleveland Steamer
May 16, 2009 at 11:47 am
Great write-up Monty.
What are your thoughts on Buddy? In the last 2 weeks he’s kicked 5 goals and 4 goals but still putting up underwhelming DT scores…
If the Hawks start to hit their straps do you think he can return to his premiership DT form?
u mad?
May 16, 2009 at 12:03 pm
holy crap i just came. m0nty delivers.
very happy with broughton, cant wait for his big price rise.
disappointed with hase, prob gonna trade him out this week to catch the cooney train.
u mad?
May 16, 2009 at 12:04 pm
btw, who here has hodge and is prepared to wait out 4 weeks?
m0nty
May 16, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Well said on Mitch, Gerry.
Cleveland Steamer: Buddy is turning in decent scores even when he’s reasonably well held. In a similar game last year he would have scored 40 or 50. If his basement score is now 70s that will increase his overall average.
the dud
May 16, 2009 at 1:47 pm
keep up the good work mitch
Josh
May 16, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Love the write up 🙂
Definatelly time to cash in hill, only does well when freo win and it doesnt happen enough to keep him.
deekhead
May 16, 2009 at 2:02 pm
why delete the post about the gambling thread?
Richard
May 16, 2009 at 5:20 pm
what a surprise that when monty, who hasn’t made a real post for a looooong time, finally does post something it happens to coincide with a hawthorn win.
m0nty
May 16, 2009 at 5:45 pm
deekhead: the same post was made in another thread, he had made his point.
simonoz
May 17, 2009 at 1:35 am
U Mad…..
Have Hodge and will wait.
Have had him from the start alas….a captain always goes down with his ship. Was a keeper IMO from day one…though in hindsight probably shouldnt have been.
Still – for those that have him I’d guess most will hold.
Disco (UK)
May 18, 2009 at 7:15 pm
[em]”Those who sold him two weeks ago will be feeling a little better about all those lost points during rounds six and se7en now.”[/em]
Doubt it. I don’t think anyone would be proud of trading a player that scores 2 tons just after you trade him and for less money than he is now.
Great move splitting the Round reviews up, I always keen to read up on the DT aftermath of a Friday night game. It also keeps the dickhead commenters occupied (distracted) with a higher frequency of blogs.
As a Hawks fan, I don’t mind you writing a thorough blog for Hawks matches, its the team you know best – good work m0nty!
@noffle – get there and you’ll find out.
@Cleveland Steamer – 2008 Buddy owners were seeking more consistency from him and he’s doing that this year. When he gets the tons coming again it will be all good.
@Richard – So what!
ckson
May 19, 2009 at 5:34 pm
will u all stop sucking up its disgusting
benno
May 20, 2009 at 12:52 am
just tuned in. didn’t realise there’d be so much new here. what’s with the gambling ad?
Disco (UK)
May 20, 2009 at 1:23 am
@benno – advertising generates income for this website so it can be maintained.
benno
May 20, 2009 at 12:59 pm
thank you disco. the ads are those colourful flashing boxes to the right of the comments box and up the top of the page.
what worries me is the blog posted by a company that appears to be an advertiser – it’s set up and formatted just like m0nty and mitch’s blogs. this kind of cash for comment i have not seen before here or on any similar site, and to make matters worse it’s for a gambling company!
Disco (UK)
May 20, 2009 at 7:04 pm
@benno – The blog shows it was written by ‘Betfair’, not anyone else (plus Mitch is a bit too young to gamble!). Its just advertising, not ‘cash for comment’, John Laws style. Its just a case of take it or leave it.
ah well, we get this website in the end, pretty fair trade off, don’t you think?