I watched this game with no expectations of the scoreboard being too pretty at all.
I just wanted to watch the new blokes, and look for differences from the last few years.
I was not expecting to see a remarkable improvement in skills and decision making or all the bad habits disaspear like magic.
These things will take time and for some players it just wont happen. You can practice something new all you want, but when the pressure is on people generaly revert to what is already ingrained. It takes a long time to replace one ingrained habit with another, and the more you are exposed to pressure , hopefully the sooner this will happen.
What I did notice was a change in the way players deal with the ball carrier. In the past once the opposition had posession, or even looked like they would take possesion , the closest bloke would peel of to a short distance from the ball carrier and basically stand the mark.
Last night the bloke closest to the ball carrier closed in on him, putting him under at least a hint of pressure. Sometimes up to three blokes would turn and move towards him. On a number of times this caused that man to turn sideways or even backwards. This is what sides like hawthorne are so good at making us do, which sends most of us mental.
The difference is Hawthorne have been doing this as a unit for a while, an even won a premiership doing it, so they are also pretty good at absorbing that pressure untill eventually someone finds space and getting the ball to them. But at least that pressure was being applied.
Out third goal was probably even due to this. The hawthorne player should have taken posseion in the goalsquare. Last year Hislop would have stood where he was about 15 meters away with his hands in the air. Last night as hislop started to crowd him, he fumbled , Hislop, already moving hit the accelerator and a goal resulted. Last year the fumbler would have had time to recroup or at least be able to rush a behind
So there is a start, just a little basic step, but 1 little improvement
Most times there was always some one chasing the ball carrier, the problem was they were often so far away to start with they were never going to get them, but they still chased. I watched the game again this morning and did not notice 1 single occasion where the ball carrier ran away from someone who stood there with hands on his hips. Even if they were 15 meters away, there was someone always chasing. As sides like hawthorne dont make to many unforced errors, these energy draining 1%ers raley have any obvious impact, but it's a pretty good mindset.
I also noticed the workrate on these things dropped off towards the end of the quater. Match fitness and maturing for the kids will help that.
The willingness to make body contact was so much better than I have seen for a long time, even allowing for any passengers. Nason put a beautiful hit about midway through the second term. It opened the ball up for us but a skill error caused a turnover, but you dont need a crystal to know that was still going to happen. Martin goes in hard. Thompson nearly got killed backing up eyes on the ball. Thompson (Farmer?) hit the ball and franklin hard.. and hurt him. Nahas hit the ball and ??(Roughhead??) hard. Ill bet that Hawthorne are the sorest today that any side has been after a first round NAB cup game against Richmond for a long time. Thats probably not saying much but its still an improvement.
They never stopped trying to play how they are told, its just that Hawthorne never allowed them to untill the last quarter. Hawthorne forced them wide and kept them wide. In the last quater , when hawthorne eased off, things started to work, we could see how they wanted to play. Yeah they were junk time goals if you want, but in the past such a game becomes party time for the opposition in the last quarter. Because these guys till kept trying to do what they are told to do, when the opposition eased off we could step up, rather than mess your nappies so badly the game starts looking a training drill for the opposition done at half pace.
Hawthorne were just a better side for most of the first three quarters. Basically we were trying to beat them at their own game, but we we not good enough. No real surprise really, but got a good lesson.
The only thing that will stop Martin from being a star is between his ears, he has everything else. Surprised me with the number of unforced errors he made but hell, first game ever played at that pace and intensity
- I hope they dont ever give him the captaincy if he is not a natural leader.
Yeah, I still see some of the same old poo, but I also can see some subtle improvements, things that will hopefully build the foundation for a team that can carry some average players, as all goods sides do, because of their work ethic. It's going to be a long season but there will be some times we get so sing the song. I really hope Footscray treat us with the contempt they normally do round 2.
To me the biggest disappointments of the night are that I have to wait until the real stuff starts to see them again, and that one of the stretchers called onto the ground wasn't for Campbell Brown.
