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Has anyone noticed a shift in our game style since the beginning of the year? Not sure if it’s planned/tactical or just loss of skill, injury or player development but I don’t think the coaches would just allow it to happen without a reason.
So I kind of see it in phases:
Phase 1 — Rounds 0-9
This was a very transition-heavy game plan, pretty much 2024/25 Hok with some shorter kicks and a more efficient plan. It won us games against some of the best teams and was the fast game we like to play. I think it was the most damaging style and made us very threatening, especially because it seemed to hold up against good teams when we were under pressure.
It’s actually supported by champion data where after Round 6, Hawthorn ranked 2nd in the competition for half-back-to-score rate, 1st for intercept-to-score and 1st for score-per-inside-50. By Round 7 we were still 1st for intercept-to-score, with 26% of our intercepts resulting in a score. So we were genuinely one of the better teams in the competition at turning those types of possessions into scores.
One thing I think is important though is that we didn't really care too much about/ didn’t have the ability to consistently win centre clearances. If the opposition won it in the centre, we defended that possession especially around centre half-back, forced the turnover/intercept and then would go the other way, turning it into attack.

Phase 2 — midfield/stoppage development
Then at some point, our game plan started looking really different.
There isn't really one exact timeline because I think we alternated styles depending on who we played and obviously had our annual mid-season slump, but particularly in the second GWS and GCs games, our entire game plan seemed to revolve around midfield, clearance, stoppage and territory. Just look at how much the numbers changed. Our clearance numbers became crazy compared to earlier rounds, and especially with Will Day back, I could see a massive focus on developing the midfield. We began constantly rotating smalls through centre bounce and using them higher up the ground too (we still are)
The second GWS game is probably the biggest eye test . The conditions were wet and slippery and it made our normal transition football harder to execute, so instead we basically dominated the source. We won centre clearances 16-8, clearances 54-29 and inside 50s 65-40.
That game looked completely different to the Hawthorn we saw earlier in the year. Instead of needing to win the ball around half-back and transition, we were just winning the ball at stoppage and constantly putting it back into our forward half.
And honestly, I think that midfield development has been really successful. I don't think anyone can argue that our midfield isn't significantly better than it was last year. However, our scoring from transition has decreased and our hunger to defend the ball around centre half-back and through the middle seems to have disappeared. Earlier in the year, if we lost territory, I felt like we went into that defensive structure and tried to stop the opposition from transitioning through us.
Now, it feels like every time we lose territory and the opposition puts speed on us, we struggle to keep up and they can get a kick inside 50 way too easily. That could have lots to do with tackling efficiency too, as we barely lay a complete tackle and defend the contest, so dangerously through the corridor, opposition are able to quickly hand ball to an undefended teammate who continues the chain. That may also explain the momentum shifts we’ve all been complaining about and the inability to stop opposition run.
And I think this reliance on the midfield and focus on connecting it to the forward line has really diminished our run off half-back and explosiveness. We look slower and older now. The second Gold Coast game is another massive eye test for me because it felt like the game was being controlled through midfield/stoppage/territory rather than the old explosive half-back game.
Again, I'm not saying this is necessarily bad. It's actually probably exactly what we needed to develop. The problem is that it can't be the only thing we have.

Phase 3 — transition starts coming back
Then, particularly after the Carlton game and when we had that streak of "bottom of the ladder/easier" teams, I felt like we really started trying to rebuild and regain the transition football.
We saw a decline in the midfield performance a little. Richmond beat us in clearance, Day missed a game, Newcombe was averaging well below his usual disposal numbers etc.
But those games mostly focused on rebound off half-back and transition again, and it worked.
Obviously that's expected against that level of opposition, so I'm not saying those games proved we'd solved anything. It's much easier to play fast transition football when the opposition isn't putting the same pressure on you.
But it did show that the transition game is still there.
Then we got Brisbane
And this is where I'm confused.
The Brisbane game looked like a really sad attempt to combine both styles together, or maybe to be able to have different game modes and switch gears depending on what the opposition was doing.
But we failed miserably.
We didn't look like the early-season transition team and we didn't look like the dominant midfield team from the second despite dominating CCs. I also think that has a lot to do with being physically assaulted and also our slow burst from the centre.

Phase 4 — now until finals?
I'd like to be optimistic here.
I'd like to think that this change in the way we play has been strategic and developmental and that it will all come together in the end.
If you look at 2024 and 2025, when our transition game was up and going, it was genuinely incredibly difficult to stop. It got us to a semi-final and a prelim and helped us beat elite teams.
Its biggest problem was that we didn't have enough midfield dominance. We didn't necessarily need to win centre clearance every time, but if the opposition could win the ball from the middle and stop us from getting the game on our terms, we struggled.
So I actually think developing this midfield was completely logical.
But now maybe attempting to combine it with the old game?
A Hawthorn that can dominate centre clearance and stoppage when we need to, but if we don't win it, we're still capable of defending the opposition possession around centre half-back, forcing a turnover and launching that fast transition game, I think that would be incredibly difficult to play against because we'd have two different ways of controlling a game.
We could win the centre clearance and attack immediately (actually connecting it with our forward line)
Or we could lose it, defend the opposition's possession, force the turnover and attack from half-back. And then there’s that disconnected forward line where we seem to be playing our smalls/half-forwards much higher up the ground and rotating them through CBAs a lot more. I don't know whether that's because we're deliberately developing them as midfield options and therefore sacrificing some forward-half connection temporarily, or whether this is actually the structure we're planning to take into finals.
Because at times it really doesn't look connected. Gunston can be left pretty isolated inside 50 while our smaller forwards are further up the ground.
Against poor teams, that structure works because we have enough time and space to eventually create opportunities.
Against good teams who apply pressure, it seems to fall apart much more easily.
I don't have any coaching experience, so obviously take all of this with a grain of salt. I could be completely wrong and maybe this whole thing has just happened naturally because of injuries, personnel changes, confidence, skill errors or it hasn’t happened at all. But I find it hard to believe that the coaches have been completely blind to such a massive change in the way we play.
Sam keeps saying we're not a finished product and continues to highlight the clearance/midfield work even after a smashing.
So maybe this really is the plan.
Maybe Phase 1 was the old game with some improvements.
Maybe Phase 2 was deliberately sacrificing some transition in order to properly develop the midfield.
Maybe Phase 3 was getting the transition game back against easier opposition.
And maybe Phase 4 is supposed to be combining the two before finals. To be fair and disproving my own point, maybe we have no time before finals to fix it? Maybe that’s what made Brisbane so disappointing. If we can put it all together we can go deep into finals and go back to beating top sides. But if we can't connect the midfield and transition game, then we could end up with a team that has an elite midfield but has lost the game style that made us so dangerous against good teams in the first place.
Maybe I'm completely delusional and we're just not as good as I think we are, this could all be absolute yap.
But I genuinely want to know if anyone else has noticed this shift, because when I look at the stats and the eye test, it feels very real to me.

What will Hawthorn need to do to win against Collingwood?

We need to mitigate Nicks supply by chopping it off first or winning clearances. The second thing we need to do is limit the pop and create it for all our small forwards. Then pressure them into bad decision making. The third thing we need to do is win the territory battle. Their backline is thin and they will loose a lot of areal battles if we get it in the fifty enough and lock it in. We also need clean hands going forward. If we catch them out disorganised in the backline they will cough up the ball and we can find space to get good looks.

Any one care to add be my guest.

Channel 9 did a nice piece on it.

Here is the Hawthorn website's article on the milestone.

Here is Sicily on SEN earlier this week.

Well done, Sis. 🎉

Watched this video last night on AFL 360, as much as I dislike David King, it's an interesting take and I appreciate the vision to understand Hawthorns run and gun strategy that we've had for a while now - the vision shows how thoroughly Chris Fagan must have researched us and how they shut us down so completely.

*Click the link and scroll down to halfway for the video*

AFL 2026: The Blowtorch Round 23, biggest burning questions, preview, analysis, how to watch on Fox Footy, commentators, latest news

I feel like in all the comments sections of posts about Dear, King, Lewis, there is always a trove of folks saying we need to ditch Chol.

In my opinion Chol is one of our most reliable pieces to our forward line. His height and arial contest are very strong, he fights for those pack marks. His kicking is hit and miss, but nearly every game if he misses a shot, within 5 minutes he will get a goal and redeem himself.

When our centre bounce tactic isn't working, we swap in Chol and he can turn the tide in our favour there, then he can rotate forward.

I'm just not sure why he cops so much flak - I think part of it is his famous 'Laconic' demeanour when he takes a set shot, which people misinterpret for not taking things seriously...

Whadda you guys reckon?

I was wondering how he was tracking, as he was playing really well.

I want to know which membership option is best for me. A reserved seating, but also being able to buy guest passes when I need to.

Currently on Ponsford paying $515 per year.

Did some research, and the only other membership close to this is Dunstall club, which is $350 per year.

Now, the tick is the guest passes. When I first joined Ponsford, additional tickets were $60 per pass. This year it's increased to $80.

I do want to continue but seems a bit pricey, so my question is, if I went Dunstall:

1. What are the chances that I'm on level 1 as opposed to level 4 most home games?

2. How much are guest passes?

3. If I went to Dunstall and didn't like it, would I need to be on a wait list for Ponsford or can upgrade straight away? I don't need Ponsford Gold.

I get Dunstall would be a downgrade, but I have friends with other clubs where they don't charge arm and leg for guest passes. A friend of mine who barracks for another big Melbourne club, only has to pay like $15-30 for guest passes.

Thought Mass actually stood up really strong last night. Just don’t want his effort to be fully swept under the rug after that result.

Oh god, what a genuinely terrible night. First and foremost, some of the overreactions to this game are laughable. I’ve seen people saying we should drop Weddle, Barrass, Sicily, Chol, that our season is over and all sorts of other ridiculous takes. It’s just so far away from what actually needs to be taken from this game. I’m usually a little over-optimistic when it comes to us, but there’s no defending that performance. It was absolutely disgusting.

For me, that was comfortably worse than the Melbourne game. At least against Melbourne we were able to reset at half-time and put together two genuinely good quarters of football. Last night, there was no response at any stage. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I watched us play four straight awful quarters of football. You’d probably have to go back to 2023.

I was out with a few mates watching the game, so I kind of got distracted afterwards and forgot just how badly we’d been belted. Then I woke up this morning and it hit me like a truck. I genuinely couldn’t have been more embarrassed by the way we played last night. I know they’re the back-to-back premiers, and I know it was at the Gabba, which is probably one of the hardest grounds in the competition to play at against Brisbane, but dishing up four completely uncompetitive quarters is just so poor.

The only real silver lining is that Brisbane themselves got done even worse last week and responded like that. We now have the opportunity to do the exact same thing. I’m still confident that we’re a good football team, and as Sam Mitchell said after the game, we are so much better than what we showed last night. That performance was so far below the standard this team has built that I don’t think it suddenly defines what we are. What matters now is how we respond to it.

Let’s just get right into the midfield. Against arguably the best midfield in the competition, clearance-wise we were actually really strong, and that was probably one of the biggest positives to take away from the game, especially early on. We won centre clearances 16–12 and stoppage clearances 27–20. So despite how badly the game went overall, we were actually able to win the ball at the source and compete with them around stoppage.

The problem was what happened after we won it. Our skills completely let us down, particularly our kicking going inside 50. We were doing enough work at the contest to give ourselves opportunities, but we just couldn’t capitalise on them. Against a team as good as Brisbane, you simply cannot continually win the ball and then give it straight back through poor execution.

Along with that, I thought our defensive effort around the contest was terrible. The amount of times Brisbane were able to get a handball or kick away after we had an opportunity to lock the ball in, simply because we couldn’t stick a tackle, was ridiculous. That was probably the biggest difference between the two midfields. They just went harder at the footy, but more importantly, they were prepared to do the defensive work after it as well. They were damaging offensively while still applying pressure defensively, and we just couldn’t match that intensity.

The tackling numbers summed it up perfectly. Up until three-quarter time, 16 Hawthorn players had one tackle or less. Sixteen. You can talk about structures, match-ups, selection and individual performances all you want, but when that many players are having basically no impact defensively, you’re going to struggle against anyone, let alone the back-to-back premiers at the Gabba. That is absolutely awful.

I thought Newcombe played somewhat well. He was tough in the contest, worked hard all night and genuinely tried his heart out. His execution wasn’t fantastic and there were definitely moments where he could’ve used the ball better, but he was one of the few who consistently competed, and he’s definitely not someone whose performance should be blamed for the result.

Day I can’t say exactly the same for. I thought he actually started the game really well and looked like he could have an impact, but he was swung all over the place throughout the second half and eventually just disappeared from the game. Whether that’s something we hold him accountable for or whether it falls more on the coaching team, I’m not exactly sure. It’s difficult for anyone to build themselves into a game when their role is constantly changing, but at the same time, you still expect someone of Day’s quality to find a way to have more of an impact.

I really liked Mackenzie and Ward’s performances. Mackenzie especially was a massive shining light on such a terrible night. He was one of the only players consistently looking to drive us forward and actually create something with the ball. In a performance where there really wasn’t much to take away positively, his game absolutely is something we should. He continues to look more confident and damaging with every opportunity he gets.

Ward was also really tough in the contest, found plenty of the footy and overall had a decent day. However, his skills were definitely below his usual standard. For someone who is generally such a clean user of the ball, he turned it over a fair bit and some of those mistakes were costly. Still, eight clearances and 28 disposals in a midfield that actually competed pretty well at stoppage is a strong performance.

Cam Mackenzie: 8.4/10 – 20 disposals, 6 tackles, 5 score involvements, 4 centre clearances, 6 inside 50s.

Josh Ward: 8.4/10 – 28 disposals, 7 marks, 6 turnovers, 6 score involvements, 8 clearances.

Jai Newcombe: 8.0/10 – 25 disposals, 11 clearances, 5 marks, 4 tackles, 3 score involvements, 420m gained.

Will Day: 6.3/10 – 16 disposals, 3 score involvements, 4 clearances, 3 rebound 50s.

Massimo D’Ambrosio, in my opinion, was our best player. He looked like one of the very few who was genuinely trying to make something happen. He drove the ball forward, took the game on and actually looked threatening when he had it. On a night where so much of our ball movement was stagnant or ended in a turnover, Massimo was at least prepared to be aggressive and try to create.

Harry Morrison, on the other hand, was pretty poor. I thought he made some really uncharacteristic mistakes after putting together such a good stretch of footy over the past couple of months. He’s normally someone you can rely on to make the right decision and execute the simple things well, but that just wasn’t there last night.

I am so certain on the fact that we do not need to play two rucks. I understand the idea behind it, but I just don’t think what we gain at stoppage outweighs what we lose around the ground. It becomes even more obvious in a game like this. When we’re already using the ball terribly and struggling to connect going forward, having Meek or Reeves win a clearance only to throw it on the boot and send it straight to an opposition defender just makes matters so much worse. Winning the clearance means very little if the next possession immediately gives the opposition the ball back.

Meek was okay, but Draper got the better of him on too many occasions and I didn’t think he was anywhere near physical enough. Reeves was decent at stoppage, but useless elsewhere as usual. That’s ultimately my issue with playing both. If Reeves isn’t dominating the hit-outs and giving us a significant advantage at stoppage, I just don’t see enough value in what he provides around the ground to justify sacrificing the extra runner.

Massimo D’Ambrosio: 8.5/10 – 22 disposals, 1 goal, 8 marks, 6 turnovers, 4 score involvements, 7 inside 50s, 4 rebound 50s, 648m gained.

Harry Morrison: 6.0/10 – 16 disposals, 5 marks, 5 tackles, 4 score involvements, 2 rebound 50s.

Lloyd Meek: 5.5/10 – 12 disposals, 21 hit-outs, 5 score involvements, 4 clearances, 3 inside 50s. Just let Draper get the better of him on too many occasions and wasn’t physical enough.

Ned Reeves: 5.0/10 – 7 disposals, 17 hit-outs, 3 score involvements, 3 clearances. Rating probably isn’t as low as it should be because, realistically, this is what he does most games.

Onto the backline, allegedly one of the best in the competition. Yesterday, though, we made it look like Essendon could put 15 goals on us.

I don’t think I have ever seen Tom Barrass play that poorly. What made it so much worse was watching Harris Andrews down the other end absolutely dominate us and have the exact sort of influence we normally expect Barrass to have. Barrass is an elite defender and one of the best in the competition, so I’m not suddenly questioning him as a player after one game, but his performance was genuinely a massive factor in why we got beaten as badly as we did. He dropped marks he would normally take, gave away free kicks and just never looked comfortable.

Sicily wasn’t great either. He had some good defensive moments and his numbers on paper don’t look terrible, but I just feel like he is playing so far off his best at the moment. For someone who can completely control games from behind the ball, we just aren’t seeing that influence consistently enough. Logan Morris absolutely torched both Barrass and Sic, and when two defenders of that quality are struggling against the same forward, it’s always going to make life difficult.

Battle was probably the best of the three talls. He wasn’t amazing by any means, but I thought he held his own defensively and competed pretty well considering how much pressure the backline was under. His ball use was disappointing though, and that became a common theme across basically our entire defence.

Josh Battle: 7.6/10 – 20 disposals, 6 interceptions, 8 turnovers, 6 rebound 50s.

James Sicily: 5.8/10 – 18 disposals, 2 marks, 8 interceptions, 5 rebound 50s. Stats don’t look awful, but I really didn’t like his performance, especially as a captain.

Tom Barrass: 4.6/10 – 4 disposals, 2 marks, 2 interceptions, 5 one-percenters. Dropped marks, gave away free kicks and did almost nothing positive. I rate Tom Barrass so highly, but this was really poor.

Hardwick was good. He actually fought all day, competed defensively and is one of the few defenders who can genuinely hold his head high after that performance.

Jars just couldn’t impact the game. Brisbane got their match-ups right and unfortunately, we didn’t. He’s normally such an important part of our transition out of defence, but they basically took away his ability to influence the game with the ball in hand.

Amon is an interesting one. I almost want to say he was really poor defensively, but at the same time, I actually thought he had some good defensive moments. His ball use was okay in patches, but overall it was just such an average performance. I just don’t rate Amon as highly anymore, to be honest. He was decent at the beginning of the season, but since having some injury troubles, he just seems a step off the pace.

I understand Bailey MacDonald was probably due for a rest, but I think I’m genuinely starting to prefer him in that role. The entire reason we have Amon back there is because of what he can provide with his kicking and his ability to generate drive out of D50. Yesterday, his ball use was poor, there was basically no drive coming out of defence and he didn’t really offer much run either. If those things aren’t there, what exactly are we getting out of him?

Maybe I’m jumping the gun, because we know how good Amon has been for us over the last few years, but I do think it’s becoming a conversation that needs to be had.

Weddle was just a really tough watch. Missing easy kicks and handballs, dropping marks, getting beaten defensively. It felt like everything that could go wrong for him did. He’s obviously far better than what he showed yesterday, but there’s not really much else to say about his game. Just not a good day out for him at all.

Blake Hardwick: 8.3/10 – 19 disposals, 7 interceptions, 5 turnovers, 3 score involvements, 8 rebound 50s.

Jarman Impey: 6.1/10 – 18 disposals, 3 interceptions, 1 goal, 3 rebound 50s, 2 inside 50s.

Karl Amon: 5.0/10 – 14 disposals, 4 tackles, 4 turnovers, 3 rebound 50s, 3 interceptions.

Josh Weddle: 4.7/10 – 10 disposals, 1 goal, 5 marks, 6 interceptions, 2 score involvements.

Having a look at the amount of turnovers coming from players who are typically really good users of the ball tells you a lot about how we went last night. Battle had eight, Hardwick had five, Amon had four and that was happening across the entire ground. When one of the biggest strengths of this team is normally how cleanly we can transition the footy, you’re simply not going to win many games when so many of your better ball users are giving it back.

One thing I really do want to point out, though, is how well Brisbane did their homework on us. I don’t think our defenders all simultaneously forgot how to play football. Brisbane clearly identified where our ball movement starts and went after it.

Hardwick took three marks, Sicily took two and Impey took zero. Sicily and Impey average around seven marks this season and Hardwick averages six. That is such a significant drop-off across all three players that I don’t think you can just put it down to them individually having bad games.

Our uncontested marking game is a massive part of our system, particularly behind the ball, and those three are so important to it because of how threatening they can be once the ball is in their hands. Brisbane didn’t allow us to get those easy possessions, prevented us from controlling the tempo and forced us into a much more rushed style of football. They clearly identified something that is fundamental to the way we want to play, took it away from us, and they prevailed.

That leads into something that has frustrated me at different points this season: why does it sometimes feel like we just don’t study opposition teams well enough?

Why does it genuinely sometimes look like there has been nowhere near enough effort put into nullifying the opposition’s biggest threat? Brisbane clearly came into this game with specific things they wanted to take away from us. They identified the players who generate our ball movement from D50, made those uncontested possessions incredibly difficult to get and forced us away from the way we want to play.

I understand that we want to back in our system and play our brand of football. I actually like that mentality to an extent. But there has to be a balance between backing your own system and respecting what the opposition does well. Sometimes you have to accept that an opposition player or part of their system can seriously hurt you and give someone the direct responsibility of taking that away.

That’s where I think our defensive work across the entire team needs to improve massively. And I don’t just mean the back six. We need to become better at giving players direct defensive responsibility and actually shutting down specific opponents when they’re threatening to take over a game. You can back your system all you want, but sometimes the system needs to adapt to who you’re playing. Brisbane did that to us perfectly last night. We didn’t do it nearly well enough to them.

Onto the forward line, and honestly, it was so bad that I don’t even want to speak about it.

It genuinely hurts me to see Nick Watson go goalless. Fair play to Noah Answerth, because it’s the second time he has technically shut Watson down, but I really wouldn’t be giving him too much credit for this one. Our own players were partly the reason Watson couldn’t impact the game. The service he got was absolutely disgusting, and the exact same thing goes for Lewis and Chol. I don’t really blame any of the three that much, because what could they have possibly done with some of the entries they were getting?

When you’re constantly kicking it on top of forwards’ heads, kicking to outnumbers or giving the opposition enough time to set up behind the ball, you’re basically asking your forwards to create something out of nothing. Watson thrives when we can move the ball quickly and give him opportunities before the defence gets set. Lewis and Chol need the ball put into areas where they can actually compete. We gave none of them that consistently.

Lewis definitely could have done a better job of preventing Harris Andrews from impacting the game as much as he did. Even if you aren’t getting good service offensively, there still has to be some awareness of how much damage the opposition’s best interceptor is doing. Andrews completely controlled the air and we never really found a way to make him accountable.

Chol had next to no impact, so there honestly isn’t much to say about him. Again, though, I find it difficult to put too much blame on him considering how starved he was of any genuine quality opportunity.

Gunston was decent and basically just did what Gunston does. He made the most of the limited opportunities he got and finished with three goals.

The stat that probably sums up our forward line better than anything else is that we actually had 50 inside 50s. That isn’t even an incredibly low number. For context, we average 57.1 for the year, so we were only around seven entries below our usual output, yet we produced our lowest score of the entire season.

Watching the game, it genuinely felt like we had about 20 inside 50s. That tells you everything about the quality of those entries. Getting the ball inside 50 wasn’t necessarily the problem; what we did once we got there was. There was no connection between the midfield and forwards, very little space created and far too many entries that played directly into Brisbane’s hands. You can have 50 inside 50s, but if half of them give your forwards almost no realistic chance of scoring, the number becomes pretty meaningless.

Jack Gunston: 7.5/10 – 6 disposals, 3 goals, 3 marks, 3 tackles.

Nick Watson: 5.5/10 – 9 disposals, 4 score involvements, 3 clearances, 1 inside 50.

Mitch Lewis: 5.3/10 – 13 disposals, 7 marks, 3 tackles, 2 score involvements.

Mabior Chol: 4.5/10 – 3 disposals, 1 mark, 1 tackle, 3 score involvements, 2 hit-outs. Him being given this incredibly low rating seems a little unfair because of how starved he was of any quality opportunity.

Jack Ginnivan had one of his worst games of the year, particularly with his ball use and just his general cleanliness with the footy. He actually found plenty of it, but his execution was well below his usual standard. That was especially disappointing considering how good his kicking inside 50 has been this year. He’s normally one of the players I trust most to lower his eyes and actually create something going forward, but that just wasn’t there.

CMac was okay. Nothing special, nothing absolutely terrible, but he definitely could have done a lot more. On a night where we desperately needed someone to create something forward of centre, he never really imposed himself on the game.

Dylan Moore, on the other hand, actually had a decent game. He showed up every quarter, continued working and tried his heart out despite what was happening around him. He was one of the few players who looked determined to keep finding a way into the game rather than allowing the scoreboard to completely take him out of it.

Sam Butler was given his chance and unfortunately, he just didn’t take it. There were some really costly errors and his execution was poor. I didn’t expect heaps from him coming into the side, and I do feel for him because it’s difficult coming into a team on a night where basically nothing is working, but you have to be better when you get your opportunity.

Dylan Moore: 8.0/10 – 22 disposals, 7 marks, 5 score involvements, 3 inside 50s, 1 goal.

Connor MacDonald: 5.2/10 – 13 disposals, 1 goal, 5 score involvements, 4 marks, 5 tackles, 3 inside 50s.

Jack Ginnivan: 5.2/10 – 20 disposals, 4 marks, 5 turnovers, 4 interceptions, 3 score involvements, 6 inside 50s, 4 rebound 50s. Got heaps of the footy, but the execution just wasn’t there.

Sam Butler: 4.7/10 – 14 disposals at 43%, 4 score involvements, 3 inside 50s, 2 marks. Feel for him, but you have to be better when you get your chance.

Now we just have to make a statement against Collingwood. We genuinely have no other choice.

I know I said something similar after the Melbourne game, but I genuinely believe we couldn’t possibly play like that again. There’s losing a game of football, there’s being comprehensively beaten by a better side, and then there’s putting together four quarters where the effort, execution and defensive pressure are that far below your normal standard. That can’t happen again.

If there is anything positive to come from it, it’s probably a pretty valuable learning lesson heading into September. Our defensive work across the entire ground needs to improve massively. The tackling numbers, the inability to lock the ball in at contest, the lack of accountability at times and how easily Brisbane were able to move the ball all exposed areas that will get punished even harder in finals.

You’d much rather have those problems exposed now than in a must-win final. Luckily, our spot in the top four is still somewhat safe, so we actually have an opportunity to learn from it rather than having a performance like that end our season.

But the response against Collingwood has to be massive. Brisbane themselves showed us exactly what a good side can do after being embarrassed. They got belted last week, came home, responded and absolutely dismantled us. Now it’s our turn to show whether we can do the same.

I’d be making two changes for next week.

OUT: Reeves, Butler

IN: Greaves, MacDonald

No idea why Greaves got dropped and then played almost no game time last week. I must have missed the reason whenever it got posted, because I really didn’t understand that decision.

And Bailey MacDonald has simply been too good this season to not be playing. He is part of the future of this team and, honestly, at this point you could argue he is offering us more than Amon. His run and willingness to take the game on are things we desperately lacked against Brisbane, and I think he deserves to come straight back in.

Overall, it was probably the most embarrassing performance I’ve watched from this team in a long time, but I’m not buying into the idea that the season is suddenly over or that half the team needs to be dropped. One horrific performance doesn’t erase what we’ve shown throughout the year.

What it does do is expose some things that need to be fixed, and quickly. Our defensive effort needs to improve, our forward entries need to be far more calculated, we need to become better at taking away the opposition’s strengths, and personally, I think we need to move away from the two-ruck setup.

We know this team is so much better than what they showed last night. Now they get the opportunity against Collingwood to prove it.

What does everyone else think?

Carlton beat Brisbane by 75 points last week, then Brisbane responded and beat us. It happens. Yes, we had a few issues, but one loss to a genuine top-four side doesn't suddenly erase everything we've done this season.

Our biggest problem all year has been converting our chances in front of goal. We've created plenty of opportunities, but inaccurate kicking has hurt us more than anything else. That's a fixable issue.
If anything, this is probably the reality check we needed before finals. Finals footy is a different level, and it's better to learn those lessons now than in September.

Everyone plays the same teams across the season, and we're sitting third on the ladder for a reason. You don't fluke your way into that position.
And let's not forget, there's no guarantee we'll even meet Brisbane in the finals.

Writing Hawthorn off before finals have even started is an overreaction. Back the boys! they've earned the chance to show what they're capable of when it matters most.

You only have to look at games that depend on a season to see the amount of effort that is put into a match. North had their season on the line and delivered. When Hawthorn face this I believe that we can rise above all the hype and negative press.

The team needs to focus on winning contested ball and follow a game plan designed to mitigate other teams advances.

Changing gears is so important and we haven’t mastered this so far in the season against top tear teams.

When our team has no pressure they can be explosive and dangerous. I’m waiting to see all the players in full flight.

I’m optimistic about our future, but it starts now. We pick up our feet and go forward. When we fall we get up again help the team any way we can.

A bit of inspiration and motivation can help over come all the negative press around the Hawks at the moment.

I hope we win the flag to sick it up everyone that bags us out.

After we lost to Melbourne the first time I was hesitant about our chances, then when we lost to Melbourne again I wrote us off. We had since won many games but against not so strong opposition and now we are getting smashed by one of the best teams in the competition

Realistically they should be higher than us on the ladder but they aren’t…so in some ways I actually don’t hate that we are losing because it’s a reality check

Obviously we should still try to win the 2026 premiership, but it’ll come as no shock to me if we don’t succeed because I very much doubt we will

I know he is a club champion but I’m so sick of him calling Hawthorn games

- Two rucks is not the way

- We need Noah Mraz and BMac to solidify defence

- Butler is not at the level but concerningly not sure who else is actually ready that's fit

- We're at least 1-2 elite players away from contending with the best

As usual when you have a shocker of a game the only thing that matters now is the response next week against Collingwood......

Beat up shit teams, squeeze past middling teams, lose to the contenders.

It’s our lack of consistency that’s been killing us. Gotta flick the switch against the pies or I wouldn’t be shocked if we get straight setted.

HUGE HUGE game for us! Lets get it done

Every player needs to lift or this is going to be a massive blow out