Hawthorn

[MrMahatma]

There has been a bit of spirit displayed in some of the Hawks match simulations with some push and shove between players.
Even Sicily got pushed around in one a week or two back. Now if you have captain ambitions you can't be losing those test of strengths.

Yesterday Grainger-Barras sparked two scuffles.

Is there any need to be concerned from a Hawks perspective?
Would Mitchell and the coaches let the leaders sort it out or would he need to get involved?

If it's just dudes getting a little excited by some contact and blowing off some steam, then fine, but if it's an opportunity for someone to have a crack at a team mate they flat out can't stand...?

So I guess the act of some agro isn't so bad, it's more the underlaying cause. You'd probably look to lift the hood a little if you were coach.

[Go_Dogs]

Typical hawk floggery. Hope they suffer down the bottom for another 10 years.

Mitchell would probably not mind it in match sim. I doubt he would tolerate it during a real game if it cost a free kick / goal.

[soupman]

It's 100% right up Mitchells alley. He loves that stuff and if Hawthorn want to train like they want to play then they should be training like they're arseholes.

[Happy Days]

Is Grainger-Barrass starting fights to be unsociable or is he starting fights because he’s still on the possibles team 3 years after being a top 5 pick?

[EasternWest]

Is Grainger-Barrass starting fights to be unsociable or is he starting fights because he’s still on the possibles team 3 years after being a top 5 pick?

Brutality.

[GVGjr]

From a player and list perspective what a mess the Hawks are at the moment? I get it's not Mitchell's fault and it all stems from short sighted vision from Clarkson but for them to push out Mitchell and O'Meara goes a long way to making them a very noncompetitive team.

I'm almost of the belief that they should be made to trade their 1st round pick this year rather than subjecting top tend talent to such a poor club.

[Mofra]

They've cut too hard.
The problem isn't round 1 though, it's that younger bodies without multiple pre-seasons under their belt tend to tire as the season wears on. Hawks are going to get worse as the season wears on, especially if they need to replace a couple of senior bodies with more raw kids.

I don't rate Essendon at all and they killed Hawthorn, now imagine a Hawks away game against Melbourne or Geelong in round 20. 100 point thrashings are in the cards.

[GVGjr]

They've cut too hard.
The problem isn't round 1 though, it's that younger bodies without multiple pre-seasons under their belt tend to tire as the season wears on. Hawks are going to get worse as the season wears on, especially if they need to replace a couple of senior bodies with more raw kids.

I don't rate Essendon at all and they killed Hawthorn, now imagine a Hawks away game against Melbourne or Geelong in round 20. 100 point thrashings are in the cards.

And they shouldn't really be rewarded for it. They've got a high number of members so are in no threat by bottoming out for a few years but the teams who play the Hawks twice have a better chance to push their team up the ladder.

[1eyedog]

From a player and list perspective what a mess the Hawks are at the moment? I get it's not Mitchell's fault and it all stems from short sighted vision from Clarkson but for them to push out Mitchell and O'Meara goes a long way to making them a very noncompetitive team.

I'm almost of the belief that they should be made to trade their 1st round pick this year rather than subjecting top tend talent to such a poor club.

Gunston was a bigger push. Hawks have been on the crack pipe ever since the Mitchell to Eagles Hodge to Brisbane fiasco went down but they've been by and large irrelevant since their 2016 SF loss to us. Ending their dynasty gives me a small sense of satisfication somewhere in the little black piece of coal I call a heart.

[Mofra]

And they shouldn't really be rewarded for it. They've got a high number of members so are in no threat by bottoming out for a few years but the teams who play the Hawks twice have a better chance to push their team up the ladder.

I know people will draw parallels to North, but north cut mostly fringe players while Hawks cut 2/3rds of their starting midfield.
I called them the bye on an Essendon thread yesterday and I think that's valid.
Some poor team will have a shocker of a week and might hand them a win, but the 2 win seasons of North and Eagles last year could be under threat.

[MrMahatma]

They'll cop some 100+ point thrashings and that's when the wolves come calling. Too many of those and as much as Mitchell can blame others, he'll be in the sights. Wouldn't surprise me if he's under the pump later this year, and out the door by mid next.

[GVGjr]

Gunston was a bigger push. Hawks have been on the crack pipe ever since the Mitchell to Eagles Hodge to Brisbane fiasco went down but they've been by and large irrelevant since their 2016 SF loss to us. Ending their dynasty gives me a small sense of satisfication somewhere in the little black piece of coal I call a heart.

Yep, I should have acknowledged that.

[azabob]

Interesting article on Ginnivan, he clearly is his own man and is giving the afl the big middle finger in the process.

The crux of the article is Ginnivan is cashing in on Hokball and other arrangements and the AFL is not getting their cut. Seems he is quite commercially savvy and loves to play the ignorance card when questioned.



HOKBALL. It became the buzzword of the 2024 AFL season. It meant both everything and nothing at the same time. It became a craze, an intangible force behind Hawthorn?s wildest of rides up the AFL ladder.

But what began as a bunch of Gen Z-ers celebrating all things brown and gold became grey behind the scenes as commercial lawyers sought answers on who had legal rights to access the potentially lucrative dollars attached to Hokball and all its spinoffs.

Cult players Jack Ginnivan and Nick Watson wanted, and initially got, some of that money through a privately run online business selling t-shirts and hoodies.

Their side hustle, though, caused angst for their club, the AFL and the AFLPA, and in late August and early September a frenzy of questions was asked of the players and their representatives, as lawyers and executives sought to protect the AFL industry?s merchandise/licensing deals.

It wasn?t Ginnivan?s first rodeo into the confusing licensing landscape of the AFL. After playing for Collingwood in its 2023 premiership win, he, along with Bobby Hill, found himself involved in promoting the sale of products deemed outside the AFL boundary.

On both occasions, he escaped sanction. The Hok merchandise episode was officially written off by those who investigated it as a ?mistake? and a ?lack of understanding? of the AFL industry?s merchandise licensing system.

Ginnivan is certainly not on his own when it comes to AFL players being approached by unauthorised groups seeking to make dollars off AFL names, images and likenesses. Brisbane premiership player Cam Rayner has in recent days received similar querying from the AFL and the AFLPA over products being marketed to celebrate the Lions? 2024 flag.

Off-field, Ginnivan is the most US-style of athlete the AFL has seen. I love it. He is entrepreneurially wired and business savvy. He uses social media in that ?I simply don?t care? way. He knows the value of his own brand and would like to be able to use it in ways the AFL system doesn?t allow.

In agreeing to play in the AFL, players effectively hand over their name and image to the AFLPA, which effectively bundles up all listed players into the one merchandise licensing deal. The licences themselves are procured and run by the AFL. In turn, those companies which are granted the officially sanctioned licences have control over club colours and players? images.

The players collectively receive a minimum $3 million a year from the AFL under this arrangement, on an ?as used? arrangement, meaning the bulk of dollars goes to those with the highest of marketing profiles.

A major problem in this AFL-AFLPA deal are the innumerable unauthorised companies seeking to sell AFL and AFL player-related merchandise. Players, sometimes without realising it, are being exploited in these arrangements, which ultimately dilute and cannibalise the market.

As part of the behind-scenes manoeuvrings in late August and September, the Hawthorn Football Club moved to trademark the phrase 'Hok Ball' via IP Australia.

All products being offered in the Ginnivan-Watson Hok catalogue quickly "sold out". This duo, Ginni and Wizard, in 2024 helped make brown and gold sexy. With big business, everyone wants a piece of it. As always, follow the money.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/1248337/...gold-grey-area

[Mofra]

Given the gambling dollars the AFL (and many clubs) rake in, you can't argue against players cashing in on actual football stuff.

[hujsh]

That's the most male gen z/alpha thing I've ever heard. Selling crap merch like some YT guy. I guess they make less than a lot of influences that do the same thing so it shouldn't be surprising and it's not 'really' any different from selling alcopops aside from the very thin 'professional' veneer that isn't there with selling t-shirts.