The season reports are in ladder position they finished so first up we had Melbourne Demons who finished 16th, then Richmond Tigers, Fremantle Dockers, North Melbourne, Sydney Swans and the West Coast Eagles. Last Thursday we had Port Adelaide and today we have Hawthorn, rounding out the bottom eight. If you would like to do up a report on any other team, please contact us and give us your thoughts below on what you think of the review.
The last two weeks just highlighted the season it was for the Hawks this year. One to forget!
The Year It Was
- Finished: 9th with 9 wins and 92.55%
- Kick2Kick Season Prediction: top 4
What Went Right
Injuries and form impacted the Hawks big time but Beau Dowler, Josh Kennedy, Travis Tuck, Ben McGlynn & Gary Moss (off the Rookie list) developed from bit players to players that will challenge for the starting 22 next year.
The other benefit of injuries is that Ryan Schoenmakers, Liam Shiels, Beau Muston, Shane Savage, Riley Milne, Matthew Suckling and Brendan Whitecross all debuted for the Hawks a year or two earlier than they would have thought.
What Went Wrong
Everything went wrong and it all blew up in the last two weeks of the regular season with the infamous Buddy suspension & Lloyd bump and the reactions from players, coaches and officials.
We all knew that the Hawks would start of slow with several key players having late pre seasons but most expected them to still finish in the finals. However the Hawks are the first team in over 10 years to miss out on the finals after winning the premiership the year before.
On top of injuries, player management was a problem where Croad missed the whole year and they delisted their back up key defender in Zac Dawson. Another issue that no one focuses on is when Roughead went in early for season ending knee surgery after the untimely suspension of Buddy Franklin.
Player(s) that Stepped Up
Buddy may have kicked 40 less goals than last year but his importance can ever be underestimated. Rioli stepped up from a promising first year player to being a future star in just his second year, injury tried to stop the year but he bounced back to give every Hawks supporter a smile.
Hodge had an indifferent year going by the stats but his importance standing up in the backline could never be over looked. He and Sam Mitchell literally held the club together.
Trade Bait/ Goodbye’s
Stuart Dew may have only played two seasons for the Hawks but his importance was enormous & Tim Boyle’s career was cut short with injury after his break out 2007 year.
Croad‘s injured foot may never come good so the Hawks will try and add to their defense. They have highlighted Kangaroos Josh Gibson, so expect them to place either draft picks and the following for the trade starting in October.
- Max Bailey – Needs a third knee reconstruction
- Josh Kennedy – May look elsewhere for more opportunities.
- Mitchell Thorp – Has played two games in two years and while has promise, may need to show it at a new club.
Improvement Needed by
Mark Williams is a handy third option down forward but before he got injured his year was sub standard.
Loading ...
