Keeping in mind it is only February and it was only a glorified practice match I was none the less disappointed.
Not so much with the result but with the mistakes. The poor skills and the shocking decision making. The number of times someone would run and then handball it off to someone surrounded by 2 Dawks was amazing (and shocking). Then there was the apparent lack of talk that resulted in blokes getting run down. And I just didn't think our forwards worked hard enough in putting pressure on the Dawks backmen when they had the ball.
I agree with MT, simply Hawthorn wanted it more than we did and they were rewarded.
Why we didn't attempt any 9 pointers has me utterly confused, mystified you name it. We have the likes of Lids, both Bowdens and even Ray Hall who can kick 50+ mnetres on the run and none of them took a chance why ???
I think there were a few blokes out there that were there solely to see what they could do, to see how much they've improved and where they are at.
With that in mind I thought Schulz was fantastic - he's been set a challenge pre-season and he appears to have worked hard (he looks the fittest he's ever been
) and has accepted the challenge and yesterday it worked and worked extermely well. I am not naive enough to think he is now a champion CHB but you can only beat your opponent(s) and help your team and he did that so IMV that's a huge positive.
Andrew Raines was another who played well and looked great, made a few skill errors but gee he looked so much more comfortable out there than he did in the games he played in last year. Running of the half back line seems to be his go and I just hope the coaches persist with him and give him a real chance to settle because I think he can be a very good option there for us.
I thought Rodan did OK for a bloke that hasn't played for 12 months. Granted he had some dumb turnovers (as did Hartigan) you have to wonder how many were caused from lack of support from teammates.
I liked White's game he seems to have footy smarts. And although the media has sung the praises of Humm - I have to say I wasn't that impressed only because a couple of times when he needed to go in help a teammate he stood back waiting to receive.
And I am sorry X, with the exception of the final quarter I thought Krak had a shocker - he just seemed to lack all intensity which is usually one of his strengths.
As I said it is only February and I'd rather lose by 10 points to the Dawks in Feb than win by 10 goals and then be as flat as a tack in round 1.
IMO it's not the end of the world or the season just an indication that we still have a lot of work to do between now and round 1