It's just a sense of relief.

[bornadog]

Does anyone have some theories on why Ugle-Hagan started the game on the bench?

It was bloody puzzling on the night, and I am still none the clearer on it.

Does it make a difference to the result - no

[Ozza]

It set the tone that we wouldn't play the 3 talls at the same time.

[kickit2Koly]

West should have played instead of Gallagher

Agreed, He seemed the perfect match up for Sicily having done similar rolls before.

Although not sure he would of made a heap of difference, we got completely outworked.

[bulldogtragic]

Does it make a difference to the result - no

Not to put words in Aza’s mouth. I think he’s simply asking why our leading goal kicker started on the bench.

Like why start rucking Darcy earlier in the year and have Tim elsewhere to start the match.

They are fair enough questions and I’d love to know the answer if Bevo was offering the answer.

[MrMahatma]

I've largely avoided reading the diagnosis. I went on a wild tear Friday night and didn't stop drinking until 2am and it's taken me a few days to get my equilibrium right. Don't get me wrong - I was hanging with a bunch of mates and it was probably the most fun I've had in years... just a wild shame about the footy.

Reading the comments here reminds "Yeah, we were all saying "where is Bont?" "Why is Naughton in the ruck?". I think I was happier more or less being unable to recall much of the evening. Just seems like we got beaten by things we shouldn't have been beaten at.

[bulldogtragic]

It set the tone that we wouldn't play the 3 talls at the same time.

Then the flow on question is why play them all then. Why not add West to go to Sicily or add in another runner? Bring in Khamis and maybe play him forward or back depending on how Lobb was going. Seems we played a man down effectively.

[Sedat]

I suppose Bevo had seen enough of English being strong-armed at stoppage and even worse, in his usual strength around the ground, so he pulled the Naughton lever to get a hypothetical lift in competitiveness around the ball. It didn't work but something needed to be done.

Bont forward is what everyone has been advocating so that we have less reliance on the Bont or bust narrative (ie: 2022/23 playbook), and also to help break a hard tag and take the tagger to uncomfortable places. Deploying Bont forward has worked very well all season - however it relies on our rucks/midfield maintaining a stranglehold on the game and getting territory in our favour, which didn't happen obviously.

Long bombs to snake just doesn't work in finals, and Sicily/Scrimshaw duly ate it up all night with aplomb. Did the key forwards consistently work hard enough to provide an outlet for the back 6? Didn't look like it.

Cannot disagree with West being marked harshly compared to others (arguably Garcia in this boat as well). But really the 22-24 magnets didn't decide Friday night - our 1-6 magnets simply failed to get it done, which puts you well behind the 8-ball.

Together with the 15 or so senior players who all had really poor nights, so too did Bevo and the other coaches in the box without a doubt. They couldn't stop Hawthorn's short kicking possession game (we've lose that same way all season). Our mids/coaches had no idea how to combat Hawthorn using Amon/Impey defensive side of every stoppage, virtually allowing us to win dirty clearance and inevitably gifting it straight back - 11 goals conceded from turnover the end result. The comprehensive failure on Friday night is a shared responsibility for mine.

[Jeanette54]

I hate to say this but, we played to expectations on Friday night, and I am sure all of us had that spectre of dread going into the game.

Why is it that certain teams always rise to the big occasions, whereas we regularly seem to revert to hapless ineptitude.

I have followed this club since the 1950's, and I am another feeling the relief that our season is over. It's no fun waiting for our inevitable poor performance, always when it matters most.

[Grantysghost]

Does anyone have some theories on why Ugle-Hagan started the game on the bench?

It was bloody puzzling on the night, and I am still none the clearer on it.

Maybe to throw off the Hawks matchups I've got nfi.

[SquirrelGrip]

Does anyone have some theories on why Ugle-Hagan started the game on the bench?

It was bloody puzzling on the night, and I am still none the clearer on it.

Yet with him on the bench we scored perhaps our quickest goal of the year from the opening bounce.

[1eyedog]

Whatever that was back on Friday night - and I'm still not sure 'WHAT' happened - but my overwhelming feeling is of relief. We played some pretty good footy this year but for some reason no matter how well we were going, a 'FALL' (like on Friday) always just 'felt' imminent.

I am left with a few regrets from the weekend. I have noted the criticism of individuals (Jamarra, Tim etc) and I guess I agree with most of it...remember though, players don't always play well and how it 'looks' rarely reflects the effort they are putting in. Jamarra can be terribly laconic - I'm sure he IS trying...anyway, I guess where I'm going is there is just no point coming at individuals as we ultimately live and die as a group.

Legislating on Liber, Duryea etc after that game??? If you don't call it out before the game then you can't after the game...it's one game.

All that said, I am pretty unhappy with a few things:

1/. Sicily.

Allowing him to run around and do whatever he wanted...it's maddening. He is better at his job (intercepting the footy and starting possession chains) than any player on our list is at their job. He is an EXPERT at taking intercept marks. How we continue to let these type of players (Stewart, May, Taylor) dominate against us I will never know. Stop trying to lead up on him...he DOES NOT CARE. Stick an elbow in his back and bring the ball to ground.

2/. Naughton in the ruck.

We have 2x excellent ruckman (Lobb and English) and a 3rd in waiting (Darcy). If it was all about forward balance...well, we knew that before the game...It just seemed ridiculous that he was in there...why go with this in the most important game of the year???

3/. Bont forward in q3.

Yep - he was getting beat. But don't take him out of the game. Bont moving out of the midfield was a win for Hawthorn...why give it to them? Fight it out - or go to half-back or a wing and get involved that way...going forward of the game where we already had 3x talls AND were battling for entries...what was the plan? Bont forward is a great lever to pull - but you can only pull that lever if we are getting the ball.

Agree with all of this. We were getting killed in the midfield and it was 20 points the diff and I looked at the next centre bounce after another Hawthorn goal and notice Ed Richards at half back. Fast forward five minutes, same margin and I notice Ed Richards at half forward.

[Bullies]

Yet with him on the bench we scored perhaps our quickest goal of the year from the opening bounce.

Also does it matter these days where you start. A lot of good players start on the bench and get rotated on fairly quickly and then a good player comes off for a rest.

[Boots]

Yeah - I get that but that's still relying on an individual to fulfill a task...players do get injured which is why you need to have a system in place for these things that multiple players 'understand'.

Sadly there is no system for 'be a gun clearance winner' or 'be a great interceptor' (or any other number of things) so some players are truly irreplaceable...the role on an interceptor should not be one of those you wouldn't think.

In Martin Flanagan’s “A Wink from the Universe” there’s a revealing interview with Easton Wood about how he became an intercept defender. In a nutshell, Bevo tells (or at least back then he told) the players to just do what felt natural, and he coaxed out their innate talents by encouraging their enjoyment of their own skill.

This is also behind Picken’s emergence from tagger to forward, and I assume more recently the discovery of Lobb’s defensive talents and Ed Eichards’ midfield excellence.

I feel like this “momentum” coaching is visible in all of Bevo’s coaching decisions and is part of why we wind up with so many almost great players. Naughton and Marra, for eg, have some miraculous skills but they both also demonstrate that fixing your deficiencies aren’t as important to Bevo as revelling in your strengths.

I just feel like we’re constantly prey to one or two players having a dip in self-belief, and that puts us permanently on a knife edge. You can lose that in an instant but it takes more than three hours to get back, meaning we can be scintillating if we’re left to our own devices, but lose a game from any position.

If Bevo has a flaw, it’s that 5D chess doesn’t mesh well with a team full of single points of failure. He’s an artist, not an engineer, and it shows.

[Mantis]

I get the sentiment of the thread & the post, but I'm still pissed off.

We had more to give this year... and for reasons that the MC & playing group continue to ignore we find ourselves on holidays already.

We lost like we always do, and I think we've all had enough of that.

[GVGjr]

Friday night wasn't a sense of relief for me in any form. Some Bulldog friends and I had even inquired about reserving a plane for the trip to SA so I certainly wanted and expected us to go further.

I agree that the Bont move forward and the lack of effort to curb Sicily were concerning parts of a terrible night and unfortunately an all too common theme to our efforts over the years.

Hard to know why we are falling short so often when it gets to the pointy end and while I'm a believer in Bevo I just wonder if the way he shields, protects and supports the players is creating a bit of a softer underbelly to our list. They might at times need a bit of a healthy level of anxiety to balance things out and get a better outcome.