So how do we beat Hawthorn?

[cowboy18]

Playing a one or two man bench worked wonders on the weekend so maybe we should do that against the Hawks. Failing that, this pattern seems to be worth looking at.

Round 1. 90 interchanges, 33 pt loss
Round 2 90 interchanges, 57 pt loss
Round 3, 78 interchanges, 29 pt win.

Now the hawks are better than the pies at the moment but crunching the numbers, keeping it down to 50-55 interchanges should get us over the line. Maybe 40 interchanges if we're looking for a percentage boost.

Science. It works.

[chook23]

Hawthorn are vulnerable this week. We probably won't beat them in Tas

But they are beatable

If they bleed we can kill them (and beat them - on the scoreboard I mean).

I think we may have a letdown .................

has been a big 2 weeks for everyone at club.

we are vulnerable to a big sigh.

[bigred]

No...

This game is winnable.

If we can get our foot skills to the level of last week, we will be competitive.

[Playon]

I dont care how we do it, I'm over hawthorn supporters
Hoping for an upset

[saintsRrising]

It is not so much if we win or lose, but how we play on the day that is important at present.

I want to see more of our players becoming capable of playing good football on a consistent basis. Will need to achieve this first to then start winning games consistently.

[BackFromUSA]

How to beat Hawthorn:

- luck with the bounce of the ball
- a fair run with the umpiring (even amount of mistakes both ways)
- sit on Gibson to prevent intercept marks or him sliding loose for the release kick
- tag Mitchell
- understand that they want to kick from 2 o'clock or 10 o'clock between 20 and 40m away
- ideally they want to zig zag so keep us guessing if it is 2 or 10 o'clock next
- man on the mark or in general play need to pressure their kicks
- players in front of the ball carrier MUST man up and not zone!!!
- when we get the ball our run and gun can work on a wide ground
- then ... Win clearances would be really important to get first use

[supersaints]

Derek Jeter says

“There may be people that have more talent than you, but theres no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” You can beat more talanted teams if you are prepared to work harder than them..

[BackFromUSA]

Discussion re Matrix mystery post has been moved to the admin forum.

[Toy Saint]

If one of our young guys fractured his wrist in round one and made a comeback this week, I reckon Luke Hodge would test him out, I mean test the fractured wrist out. We should give what we get, I reckon there's a task for Maverick Weller...

[stkfc1]

We've lost our last 5 games to Hawks by an average of 10 goals! So anything under 60 pts is good.

[The Fireman]

You find out exactly where you are when compete against the best...this game is a litmus test.

[spert]

In the the last few games against the Hawks, their outside run killed us- so many Saints players not manning up off the ball. Let's hope Richo addresses this little issue today.

[wolfpup]

If we are in this game and its close then try to suppress one player:

Burgoyne.

Stop this guy.

Whenever hawks are in trouble he pops up and wins the game for them, like against the bulldogs last week, he is an amazing player.

[satchmo]

We will learn a bit today about where we are at.

[Bluthy]

We will learn a bit today about where we are at.

If this was the game last year I would have been shitting myself that we might cop a severe hiding that destroys our teams confidence and sets us back. But now I'm kind of like "bring it on...lets see what our kids can do". It feels like we have some real firepower to return fire on them. Doesn't mean we will win but at least we are not just standing there getting shot at. But then again Hawks are brilliant at using their zone to put pressure on and shut down run. A guy like Savage that looked brilliant last week - can he perform under stifling pressure? But thats why you learn from playing the best - nothing is easy - just like a grand final.

[The Fireman]

We will learn a bit today about where we are at.

I thought I said that ???

[satchmo]

We will learn a bit today about where we are at.

I thought I said that ???

I didn't hear you.

[satchmo]

We will learn a bit today about where we are at.

If this was the game last year I would have been shitting myself that we might cop a severe hiding that destroys our teams confidence and sets us back. But now I'm kind of like "bring it on...lets see what our kids can do". It feels like we have some real firepower to return fire on them. Doesn't mean we will win but at least we are not just standing there getting shot at. But then again Hawks are brilliant at using their zone to put pressure on and shut down run. A guy like Savage that looked brilliant last week - can he perform under stifling pressure? But thats why you learn from playing the best - nothing is easy - just like a grand final.

Might learn a bit about the coach too. Should be interesting.

[The Fireman]

We will learn a bit today about where we are at.

I thought I said that ???

I didn't hear you.

[samuraisaint]

No...

This game is winnable.

If we can get our foot skills to the level of last week, we will be competitive.

I think the next two games after this one are winnable, but this week against the Hawks; not so much.

[bigred]

If our kicking efficiency was 5% better we would have smashed them.

[Saint_J]

Being competitive is not enough.

So how the hell do we do it?

change one umpire!

[longtimesaint]

If our kicking efficiency was 5% better we would have smashed them.

Reasonable umpiring in the last qtr would have seen us win.
Except for a couple of bad turnovers we were the better side.

[saynta]

If our kicking efficiency was 5% better we would have smashed them.

Reasonable umpiring in the last qtr would have seen us win.
Except for a couple of bad turnovers we were the better side.

Plus one

[Griggsy]

Putting that game as a win for the season.