Hawthorn will be playing off for a Grand Final birth this season

[Bird of Prey]

Firstly, I know it's a bit late, but New Year to all.
Back Flank, I think you summed it up pretty well. I'm not sure whether we'll play in the GF this year, but I think we'll be a top 4 side, and I find it interesting that you continually call us overrated Brades, considering you follow probably THE most overrated side in footy. But then again, you also said that Sam Mitchell was overrated, and he went fairly close to a Brownlow last year and has been close to BOG in the first two games of this season. You must remember mate, we beat you in Perth, where you probably would've penciled in 8-9 wins this year.
And remember, we have Crawford, Williams, Croad and Jordan Lewis to come back into this side.

[Brades]

Come back to me when you win a final without umpires.

[Back Flank]

Originally Posted by Brades

No, I'm basing it on their general play over the last two seasons. Who cares if they have rapidly improved? The Kangas rapidly improved but I don't see anyone saying 'GF 08'. Their forwardline is very stoppable, Franklin was well held last night by McPharlin in the first half and was gifted a goal by the umpires (he dropped the mark but got paid it). Roughead was well held early by Grover and Boyle was barely spotted at times. If we can stop them, anyone can.

Their impeccable list? Please, there are 5 lists that are better than theirs. StKilda, Geelong, Brisbane, Sydney, Collingwood.

They are very easy to shut down at beat. Simply being over rated at the moment by taking a huge win over a team that is nonexistant then playing Freo who are very disappointing at this stage of the year.

Back Flank, if you truly new Footy, you would have already known this. Alas, you don't and that is why I continually have to educate you.. I mean you do go for the Tigers.

Well held? They kicked 4 each! That's a good game for any forward. Ridiculous comments. Get passed your bias.

[Brades]

Did you even read those statements or did you glaze over them? How about you go read what a respected journalist wrote about Buddy Franklin. He was well held, got one goal late, one goal from a mark that wasn't a mark (Jason Dunstall spotted that before I did) and did not feature in much play. Roughead was well held EARLY but then hurt us in the final quarter. If a weaker defense like us can hold them for that long, a decent defence can hold them.. hence why the teams they lose to have good defences.

[ALI-G]

I thought Freo had one of the better defences in the comp??

[bender]

Originally Posted by Brades

No, I'm basing it on their general play over the last two seasons. Who cares if they have rapidly improved? The Kangas rapidly improved but I don't see anyone saying 'GF 08'. Their forwardline is very stoppable, Franklin was well held last night by McPharlin in the first half and was gifted a goal by the umpires (he dropped the mark but got paid it). Roughead was well held early by Grover and Boyle was barely spotted at times. If we can stop them, anyone can.

Their impeccable list? Please, there are 5 lists that are better than theirs. StKilda, Geelong, Brisbane, Sydney, Collingwood.

They are very easy to shut down at beat. Simply being over rated at the moment by taking a huge win over a team that is nonexistant then playing Freo who are very disappointing at this stage of the year.

Back Flank, if you truly new Footy, you would have already known this. Alas, you don't and that is why I continually have to educate you.. I mean you do go for the Tigers.

freo was flattered by the scoreline, harvey even said so himself, what was it 38 inside 50's for freo? how can u expect to be competitive with that? just goes to show how much more dominant the hawks midfield was compared to what was considered by many a premiership threat this year. and how can u say frankin and roughead were kept quiet, 4 goals each, any coach in the afl would be happy with that as a return from his 2 key forwards.

u add to that the improvement of young players tuck and ellis, with ellis he seems to be improving faster than dale thomas and marc murphy who were the 2 guys picked in front of him in the draft, jordan lewis and crawford to come back from suspension and williams in the forward line. hawthorn have some of the strongest depth of any team in the afl.
oh and also freo was gifted 2 goals during that match from the umpires compared to the 1 from franklin(so u say, i didn't notice it)

[Brades]

Originally Posted by bender

freo was flattered by the scoreline, harvey even said so himself, what was it 38 inside 50's for freo? how can u expect to be competitive with that? just goes to show how much more dominant the hawks midfield was compared to what was considered by many a premiership threat this year. and how can u say frankin and roughead were kept quiet, 4 goals each, any coach in the afl would be happy with that as a return from his 2 key forwards.

u add to that the improvement of young players tuck and ellis, with ellis he seems to be improving faster than dale thomas and marc murphy who were the 2 guys picked in front of him in the draft, jordan lewis and crawford to come back from suspension and williams in the forward line. hawthorn have some of the strongest depth of any team in the afl.
oh and also freo was gifted 2 goals during that match from the umpires compared to the 1 from franklin(so u say, i didn't notice it)

Just shows you how much you know about AFL when you say Ellis is improving faster than Marc Murphy who is already 18 times the footballer Ellis is. Oh and Any coach? so why is it that Clarkson was unhappy with Franklins effort. Nuff said, I win yet again.

God, my awesomeness and knowledge of football is becoming a burden - get back to me.

[Bird of Prey]

Yeah, I also wouldn't put Ellis in Murphy's class yet, but in regards to Franklin, even if you take away his 'gifted' goal, he still kicked 3 more, and I'd take 3 goals from a forward that was held any day of the week

[madcat]

Originally Posted by Brades

Hawks arent that good.

Just a bit better than the Dockers

hehehe

[bender]

i said ellis is IMPROVING faster than murphy, didn't say he's better. he's played less than half the games murphy has played, played most of his games coming off the bench with limited game time and barely played in his first year. before murphy got injured in his debut season his stat numbers were better than judd's in his debut, his last 2 games have been good but he did nothing last year. i stand by my statement that ellis is IMPROVING faster than murphy