Preview Round 7, 2016: Richmond v Hawthorn, 6 May 2016, 7.50pm @ MCG

[Dixie Flatline]

Ins, outs the whole nine yards in here.

 

[rdhopkins2]

In: competitiveness, teamwork & skills & accuracy

Out: fumbles, poor decisions and being second to the ball, turnovers

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

you know that Richmond have set themselves for this one

 

[WWSD]

If Lewis is injured, he shouldn't be playing. Pity Box Hill play on the Sunday.


IN: Schoenmakers, Langford

OUT: Lewis, Duryea


B: Stratton, Frawley, Burgoyne

HB: Birchall, Gibson, Hodge

C: Hill, Mitchell, Smith

HF: Sicily, Schoenmakers, Rioli

F: Breust, Gunston, Puopolo

R: McEvoy, Shiels, Langford

INT: Lovell, Ceglar, Howe, O'Brien

 

[threesixpio]

Is Hardwick a chance?

 

[Baz_hawk]

Frawley will likely miss, concussion is generally a week on the sidelines and since he didn't come back I suspect he failed the test.

IN: Brand
OUT: Frawley

Other changes will depend on some performances from Box Hill tomorrow.

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

Hope Tigers beat Port, otherwise they will be blasted all week in the media

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

Is Hardwick a chance?

Couldnt be worse than Howe

 

[RustyHawk]

Fairly confident we will improve but then again we don't do that well against the Tigers. Then again, the Tigers are crap at the moment so..all good.

Hopefully the idea of using TOB as a backman gets replaced by bringing Brand into the team.

 

[madhawksfan]

In: Brand Schoey Hartung Langford
Out: Duryea Frawley (if injured) Hill Lewis

Clarko needs to make a statement after such a shithouse performance. We need more height down back and to drop underperforming mids. We made Lobb look like Carey tonight.

I suspect that will sting us into action but if we bring the same attitude as we did tonight Richmond will cause as problems.

 

[Thaihawk]

Fairly confident we will improve but then again we don't do that well against the Tigers. Then again, the Tigers are crap at the moment so..all good.

Hopefully the idea of using TOB as a backman gets replaced by bringing Brand into the team.

If Chip doesn't pull up OK, then Brand must play.

Lovell deserves another game, and I hope Langers is back.

Doc and Lewis could do with a run at Box Hill.
Doc doesn't seem to have the confidence of last year, and Jordie could do with a wake up call.

 

[VandoHawk]

Ins: Brand, Litherland, Hardwick, Langford
Out: Duryea, Howe, Lovell, Lewis

Frawley is 50/50 to play but I'll back him in. Players seem to recover from concussions fairly quickly in this day and age.

Team:

B: Gibson Frawley Stratton
HB: Litherland Brand Birchall
C: Hill Mitchell Smith
HF: Breust O'Brien Burgoyne
FF: Rioli Gunston McEvoy
Foll: Ceglar Hodge Langford
Interchange: Puopolo, Sicily, Hardwick, Sheils

•Brand --> Howe: Howe didn't play particularly bad. But we need two things right now: speed in the midfield or height in the backline, and Howe doesn't have either of those attributes even though he was ok today. Brand frees up Gibson while also preventing players like Lobb from playing on a defender nearly 20 cm shorter than him.

•Litherland-->Duryea: Duryea makes some shocking decisions under pressure, and he's not providing rebounding out of the backline effectively. Litherland may be a whipping boy but when he's on his run and carry can visibly be seen.

•Hardwick-->Lovell: 11 possessions and some nice things was a good way for Lovell to start his AFL career. However, I think Blake Harwick should get his debut next week as he's a genuine hard presence at the contest and a pressure player. Allows us to use Poppy/Cyril/Bruest less in the midfield while retaining a marking option (despite his small stature) when we do. Importantly though is that he has a knack of kicking goals, which is always useful.

•Langford-->Lewis: I'm gonna get canned for this, and in reality it's probably not going to happen. Lewis is an important part of our team, but he's not performing and for a player that isn't super-quick or super explosive amassing 15 disposals at something like <60% disposal efficiency isn't cutting it. I remember back in 2013 when Clarkson dropped Sewell-a great at our club who had the same problem Lewis is having now-for the rookie Langford to send a message to complacent players. And I've never seen the Hawthorn Football Club as complacent as that performance tonight.

What these changes do (from my perspective):

1) Free up Gibson and allow him to set up play and play the way that amassed him 44 possessions back in Round 2.

2) Add some extra run off the half backline. Litherland is very quick and Brand is actually quite fast for his size; has a tendency to run the ball out of the backline himself at Box Hill.

3) Allow Hodge and Buryoyne to play predominately in the midfield while resting in other roles rather than being allocated to a singular role to fill up holes e.g. Hodge playing on Stevie J

4) Allow O'Brien, Gunston and Sicily to actually stay and operate together in the forwardline so we actually retain some firepower, while (if we need a spare) allowing us to drop only one of them back rather than two and as a consequence having to forward presence.

5) Allow Rioli/Puopolo/Bruest to play in the midfield for the explosiveness and pace that we lacked while retaining a dangerous goal-kicking player in Hardwick up forward, and vice versa.

6) Put some more contested grunt into our midfield. Langford's disposal may be suspect but he tackles hard and he does win the contested ball. Harwick is another hard nut that constantly tackles and has a big frame, and can be serviceable in the middle. Hodge back into the midfield may not make us quicker, but it adds another hard body and contested ball winner when we were lacking one. Burgoyne also isn't burdened with a 'plug the hole' mentality immediately at the start of the game though he can be moved wherever we need him.

 

[cryptor]

IN: Langford, Brand
OUT: don't care

Need Langers in the guts to give us some heart. Brand to give us the height we are desperately missing down back.

 

[5ammy]

Hope Tigers beat Port, otherwise they will be blasted all week in the media

I hear what you are saying mate but I'd hope we will bounce back regardless after our performance today, if not then we have some serious problems.

 

[Breustiful]

In: Richmond's grand final performance
Out: ?

 

[RustyHawk]

Langers seemed very confident it was a week off only, should be back for Richmond and after tonights performance don't think there will be much doubt about that return.

 

[WWSD]

We will be better when Langford returns. His in and under work around the stoppages will strengthen our midfield.

Roughead back will also make a huge difference both up forward and in the midfield.

Spangher at center half back as the second tall in the next few weeks will free up Gibson allowing him to play a more prominent role.

Schoenmakers at center half forward to give us a leading forward who can free up Gunston.

Our spine will look so much better once we have our best 22 out there.

FB: Frawley
CHB: Spangher
C: Mitchell
CHF: Schoenmakers
FF: Roughead


Despite how we're playing right now, there's plenty of upside to come from Hill, Smith, Breust, Gunston, Shiels, Ceglar, Rioli, Langford, Sicily and co. We were in the same position this time last year and then we managed to belt both Fremantle and Sydney within 8 days. This next month of footy will decide whether we finish top 4 or not. If we can play at our best we really should win 6 of those 8 games leading into the BYE Round. The Sydney and North Melbourne games are 50/50 at best.

Round 7: Richmond - MCG
Round 8: Fremantle - Aurora Stadium
Round 9: Sydney - MCG
Round 10: Brisbane - Gabba
Round 11: Melbourne - MCG
Round 12: Essendon - Etihad Stadium
Round 13: North Melbourne - Etihad Stadium
Round 14: Gold Coast - Aurora Stadium
Round 15: BYE

 

[walhawk]

Hodge, Lewis, Burgoyne a yard slower than 2015. Need them 100% for finals so need to manage workload.
Shiels also struggling with pace of the game.
Can't play Howe while these guys are still in the team. other than Cyril and Pop we are waaaay too slow.
It worked v Crows but a short forward line is not going to win enough games.
TOB was OK but if we need a backman better to play Brand with TOB or Shoe up forward.
Duryea has been found out - no good under pressure.
Out - Howe, Duryea, Lovell or Lewis (managed).
In - Langers, Brand, Lithers

 

[Flukey!]

Langers will definitely play.

 

[dermott]

Hard to be confident about this game. After today's effort we may just play Richmond back into form. Other than Langford I can't see anyone to include who will improve our contested ball and clearance deficit. I hope our guys can show a bit of pride and lift their intensity.

 

[Angus Young]

i'm nervous-if we lose this...

I just want a pasting...i want to see us destroy a team

 

[BigLittleHawk]

Some posters a little harsh on Duryea IMO. 1 bad game? Many good games prior surely gives you insurance against only 1 bad game.
Chip to play next week. Maybe he didn't return to the field due to the result being beyond doubt?

 

[Gene Simmons]

We struggle against the Tiggers even when we've been flying... Much like Leon Cameron, Hardwick knows how to play against us... Luckily Adam Simpson doesn't

It will be very interesting to see how we come out after a 75 point thumping... It's been a bloody long time since we've been humiliated like that.

 

[Spursfan]

if we lose to this mob it really is time for a rebuild

 

[Brant]

Out: Kaiden Brand

Brand was fu**en terrible tonight.


Patton: 198cm / 103kg
Cameron: 196cm / 93kg
Lobb: 206cm / 102kg

Kaiden Brand: 198cm / 92kg

So we know that Clarko is a genius & has never lost at the selection table & that playing Brand was a masterstroke; however, we couldn't have known that Brand would be so ineffective.

I accept that I only saw the game on TV, but what I saw was Brand not getting to a single f'n contest. They played 2x KPF out of the Goal Square, which means that they kicked long to the dangerous spot, 15m out from goal. At that spot they had minimum 2x 196cm+ Forwards, yet Brand was nowhere to be seen. Not only was he absent, but we had to send 4x defenders at each high-ball to kill the contest, leaving GWS with 2x small forwards unmanned, within 25m of Goal. Suffice to say, they kicked 9+ from small forwards whilst Frawley did his job keeping Cameron to 3 goals...

If Brand had made a single contest - like he's employed to do - we could've sent 2x KPD to contests leaving Duryea, Gibbo, Stratton & Burgoyne/Howe on their feet, not lying on their collective backs. Further, we couldn't rebound because Brand screwed us at the contest. Had Brand contested then our smalls would have kept their feet which means they would have been available to rebound. Unfortunately, Brand couldn't get near the bloody contest & as such, we gave up about 9 goals to turnovers in their half, not due to pressure but because we simply couldn't clear.

Frankly, Brand not contributing in the Best 22 is a liability...

Can anyone possibly think of a way of having him contribute to the Best 22??????