Here is the sides (rest of the teams from around the league available here):

Hawthorn
B: Josh Gibson, Stephen Gilham, Tom Murphy
HB: Rick Ladson, Ryan Schoenmakers, Brent Guerra
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Grant Birchall
HF: Jarryd Morton, Lance Franklin, Chance Bateman
F: Campbell Brown, Jarryd Roughead, Cyril Rioli
Foll: Brent Renouf, Luke Hodge, Xavier Ellis

Interchange: Moss, Peterson, Stratton, Suckling

Emergencies: Duryea, Kayler-Thomson, Whitecross

In: Moss, Stratton, Whitecross, Kayler-Thomson, Duryea, Suckling
Out: Osborne (suspended), Shiels (suspended), Hooper (hamstring)

New player:
Ben Stratton, 21 years old, 189cm, 82kg – selection 46 in 2009 AFL draft. Drafted from East Perth (WA).
Taylor Duryea, 18 years old, 179cm, 74kg – selection 69 in the 2009 AFL Draft. Drafted from Murray U18/Caulfield Grammar.

Western Bulldogs
B: Jarrod Harbrow, Brian Lake, Dale Morris
HB: Ryan Hargrave, Tom Williams, Lindsay Gilbee
C: Brodie Moles, Matthew Boyd, Ryan Griffen
HF: Robert Murphy, Mitch Hahn, Shaun Higgins
F: Daniel Giansiracusa, Barry Hall, Jason Akermanis
Foll: Ben Hudson, Adam Cooney, Daniel Cross
I/C: Andrejs Everitt, Josh Hill, Will Minson, Liam Picken
Emg: Dylan Addison, Jordan Roughead, Easton Wood

No change

UPDATE

Final teams named. Three big ins for the Hawks which will add a lot of pace to the Hawks. Three unlucky outs in KT, Mossy and Suckers. You can see the Hawks are getting much stronger just by the outs alone.

HAWTHORN v GEELONG CATS

Hawthorn
B: Grant Birchall, Josh Gibson, Tom Murphy
HB: Brent Guerra, Stephen Gilham, Rick Ladson
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Xavier Ellis
HF: Michael Osborne, Ryan Schoenmakers, Rhan Hooper
F: Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead, Campbell Brown
Foll: Brent Renouf, Luke Hodge, Chance Bateman
I/C: Jarryd Morton, Carl Peterson, Cyril Rioli, Liam Shiels
Emg: Jarrod Kayler-Thomson, Garry Moss, Matthew Suckling

In: Rioli, Franklin, Bateman
Out: Jarrod Kayler-Thomson, Garry Moss, Matthew Suckling

Geelong Cats
B: Josh Hunt, Matthew Scarlett, Harry Taylor
HB: Corey Enright, Tom Lonergan, Andrew Mackie
C: James Kelly, Jimmy Bartel, Joel Corey
HF: Steve Johnson, Tom Hawkins, Paul Chapman
F: Gary Ablett, Cameron Mooney, Shannon Byrnes
Foll: Brad Ottens, Cameron Ling, Joel Selwood
I/C: Mark Blake, Mitch Duncan, David Wojcinski, Steve Motlop
Emg: James Podsiadly, Nathan Djerrkura, Ryan Gamble

In: Motlop
Out: Darren Milburn (hamstring)

New: Steven Motlop (Wanderers, NT)

Goal Kickers
Hawthorn: Brown 3, Roughead 3, Moss 2, Osborne 2, Hooper 2, Hodge, Ladson, Morton, Mitchell, Peterson
Melbourne: Green 2, Petterd 2, Jamar, Miller, Miller, McKenzie

Best Players
Hawthorn: Hodge, Lewis, Birchall, Ladson, Mitchell. Gibson, Roughead
Melbourne: Bruce, Moloney, Trengove, Jamar, Green, Scully

INJURIES
Hawthorn: Renouf (groin)
Melbourne: Green (neck), Rivers (ribs)

My thoughts

• Good start to the year
• Backline did well. Everyone of the players that are down back can use the ball
• If Thomas Murphy can stay as the 4th back, he will have a much better year.
• How can people have a go at Dr.X (Xavier Ellis)? The guy is all class, Lets hope he stays fit
• Roughy was good. Strong overhead but where did that good kicking go?
• Was really happy with Renouf, great around the ground until he got injured.
• Peterson could very well replace Willo and looks very flexible as to how he plays.
• Hooper’s effort was great. If he can keep it up, he will be a very good pick up
• Can you imagine a forward line with Brown, Hooper, Peterson, Rioli and Hooper? Bit small but great forward pressure
• Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis all did what they needed
• Schoenmakers looks great. Will be interesting to see how he goes against the bigger forwards

Video Highlights part 1

Highlights Part 2

I have been following his tweets for some time and was surprised when in his tips for the week, he picked Melbourne (okay, so not that strange).

I decided to challenge him to a little twitter bet. The bet being, if the Demons win, I change my logo on twitter to the Demons logo. If the Hawks win, Jeff wears the Hawks logo on Twitter for the week.

Jeff saw me tweet and gracefully accepted the bet. I have to admit a slight bit of nervousness about the game, but the boys came through. Jeff came through with his bet and tweeted this after the game:

@mollyfud good win by the hawks. I will commit to the bet and change my avatar

He then changed it and tweeted this:

Lost the bet with @mollyfud so this is my new profile pic for 1 week ONLY. Bad luck to the demons, great courage AGAIN from Greeny.

Jeff took a little bit of flack for the change in logo from Demon fans (including one joking that they would unfollow him for the week, but might have a better way around the issue:

This bet is only for this week. You know the way to fix it..no tweets for a week, haha. Don’t worry, I thought it through

I want to thank Jeff for agreeing on the bet and going through with it (which I had no doubt he would).

If the Hawks are playing your team coming up and you want to make the same twitter bet, let me know.

UPDATE:

Jeff White is a bet welcher! By Monday morning (the bet was for a week) he had already changed his logo back. While I applaud him for changing his logo so quickly, I am disappointed he didn’t follow through the bet. If you want to let him know your disappointment you  can by sending your message on twitter by using @jeffwhite34 ! I would (and have before) changed my logo for the week if the Hawks had of lost, which makes Jeff’s actions more disappointing!

Then we have the upgraded rookies. Carl Peterson, who we probably saw as a fillin for Rioli, now (to me anyway) looks like the answer to the question “who will replace Willo in the side”. He is 3cms taller and has the speed and leap. Injury/fitness will be the concern, but I think he is a sneaky pick to hold his spot through out the year. Jarrod Kayler-Thompson is a mature age recruit orginially from Victoria but who comes to us after playing well in the WAFL. He looks (even down to carrying the number 45) and plays a little bit like Clinton Young and could fill in that spot for a few weeks.

A quick couple of game notes. It is a replacement game, so Hawks members get in free and the big one, as I understand it, we will be able to go onto the field after the game and have a kick on the MCG. What a great move as long as it happens!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Anyway, Onto the side:

Hawthorn
B: Grant Birchall, Josh Gibson, Tom Murphy
HB: Brent Guerra, Stephen Gilham, Rick Ladson
C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Xavier Ellis
HF: Michael Osborne, Ryan Schoenmakers, Rhan Hooper
F: Jarryd Morton, Jarryd Roughead, Campbell Brown
Foll: Brent Renouf, Luke Hodge, Garry Moss
I/C: Jarrod Kayler-Thomson, Carl Peterson, Liam Shiels, Matt Suckling
Emg: Taylor Duryea, Ben Stratton, Jordan Williams

New: Josh Gibson (North Melbourne), Rhan Hooper (Brisbane Lions), Carl Peterson (St Mary’s), Jarrod Kayler-Thomson (Perth)

And our oppenents:

Melbourne
B: Jamie Bennell, Matthew Warnock, Jared Rivers
HB: Jack Grimes, James Frawley, Joel Macdonald
C: Aaron Davey, Cameron Bruce, Nathan Jones
HF: James McDonald, Matthew Bate, Ricky Petterd
F: Brad Green, Brad Miller, Jack Trengove
Foll: Mark Jamar, Lynden Dunn, Brent Moloney
I/C: James Strauss, Jake Spencer, Jordie McKenzie, Tom Scully
Emg: Addam Maric, Rohan Bail, Clint Bartram

New: Joel Macdonald (Brisbane Lions), Tom Scully (Dandenong), James Strauss (Oakleigh), Jack Trengove (Sturt)

In a press release today, the Hawks have announced that Rookie upgrade target, Wade Skipper, thought to be inline for the second ruck position, has gone down with a serious hamstring injury.  After leaving the field in the first half of the Hawks final NAB Challenge match compalining of knee instability, it was found that he had injured his Hamstring Tendon.

He will be off running for the next 2 weeks and the club is reporting that he will not be available for selection for 6-8 weeks.

This will probably mean that Renouf will have to spend more time on the field. Apart from this, Beau Dowler and Jordan Lisle could be used as a mobile ruckman, something that I think Alistair Clarkson would like to have in the side or they could throw long term option, Sam Grimley to the wolves and hope he can learn on the job, although you would think he would be badly pashed around. The intriguing option is to use Jarrod Roughead who is mobile enough and big enough to do the job but is so valuable up forward.

To me this run of injuries is another reason I believe that the AFL should look at having Free Agency into the season. I believe clubs should be able to bring in players from outside there club in such a special situation, as long as the player being brought in was available to be selected in the most recent draft.

Love your work Hawks! If you haven’t already, go get your memberships now!

So the injury to Taylor (4 months) will mean its almost certain that Wade Skipper will be upgraded and it will probably mean that KT (Jarrod Kayler-Thomson) will also get upgraded along with Garry Moss. To my calculation there could be one more spot and that might be a battle between Carl Peterson and Luke “Punky” Breust. (a few more photos available here).

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2. Jarryd Roughead
3. Jordan Lewis
4. Rick Ladson
5. Sam Mitchell
6. Josh Gibson
8. Xavier Ellis
12. Brad Sewell
13. Simon Taylor
14. Grant Birchall
15. Luke Hodge
17. Beau Muston
18. Brent Guerra
19. Jarryd Morton
21. Shane Savage
23. Lance Franklin
25. Ryan Schoenmakers
26. Liam Shiels
27. Stephen Gilham
28. Garry Moss
29. Tom Murphy
30. Campbell Brown
31. Matthew Suckling
35. Sam Grimley
36. Jordan Lisle
39. Ben Stratton
43. Will Sierakowski
45. Jarrod Kayler-Thomson
47. Luke Bruest
48. Carl Peterson.

Earlier this week, the AFL and AFL Players Association, during a joint press conference, announced the 2012 would see the introduction of Free Agency.

The plan involved (as a basic summary) the unrestricted ability for a delisted player to pick his own new club, the middle tier of players to also pick there own club and the top 25% earners at a club to sign with a new club but the original club can match the offer either forcing the player to stay or go into the draft.

Well its fair to say, like me, our president, Jeff Kennett was not a fan of either the rule brought in or the process that saw it come in. You can check out what he had to say on the Hawks web site by clicking here.

Also I have linked our to audio of Jeff talking to Kevin Bartlett on Melbourne radio station, SEN.

• Lots of non-Hawker fans are saying don’t get excited about Buddy’s performance against the Tigers as they aren’t that good. There is some truth to that but I think the most exciting thing that I saw from Buddy was his straight kicking. He kicked (from my count) 5 from 5 set shots. Also (and I noted it from a video of training a week before) that he seems to be running in for his set shots a lot straighter then previous years. So far, its seems to be working. Lets see how it goes when he gets more pressure on him!
• The Hawks seem to have decided that our rucks might not be dominatant enough and have decided that using the tactic of Third man up is going to help out in this area. Main guy for this task seems to be Jordan Lewis. In saying this, the rucks were solid and (as others have noted) were rarely caught behind. I am no footy expert but I wonder if this helps the thirdman up if the hawks control the front of the ruck contest?
• Still on ruck work. Was intersested to see Roughy in the ruck. He seem him work a little on it. After hearing Clarko talk about it late in the year last year, I have a funny feeling that he wants a mobile ruck option and Roughy could be it if Dowler/Schoenmaker can play as the second forward and if Wade Skipper doesn’t come along (have a feeling he is also thought to be that mobile ruckman).
• I have long thought that one of our weakness (and it could be a factor of the Cluster) is the lack of a good tagger. Sewell did it for a while but I think we have a beauty in the making in Liam Shiels! Did a really good job on Deledio and even did a fair job on Sammy Mitchell in the intra-club. He has the tank to go with most in the league and it will be a great education for him
• (This is pretty obvious) Mossy loves a goal! He could move into the midfield but just leave him up forward!

So that are my thoughts. Just as a bonus, here is the highlights off the game.

Shane Savage - One to watch in Round 1 of 2010 NAB Cup

The boys will be having an Open Training tomorrow morning before heading out to Tassie to take on the Tigers in the opening Round of the NAB Cup. Here is the Squad:

2 Jarryd Roughead
3 Jordan Lewis
4 Rick Ladson
5 Sam Mitchell
6 Josh Gibson
8 Xavier Ellis
12 Brad Sewell
13 Simon Taylor
14 Grant Birchall
15 Luke Hodge
16 Beau Dowler
17 Beau Muston
18 Brent Guerra
19 Jarryd Morton
21 Shane Savage
23 Lance Franklin
25 Ryan Schoenmakers
26 Liam Shiels
27 Stephen Gilham
28 Garry Moss
30 Campbell Brown
31 Matthew Suckling
36 Jordan Lisle
39 Ben Stratton
42 Wayde Skipper
43 Will Sierakowski
45 Jarrod Kayler-Thomson
47 Luke Breust

The boys I am most looking forward to seeing are:

• Josh Gibson – One of the two prize recruits (along with Shaun Burgoyne). How goes Gibson might be how goes the Hawks. Brad Sewell claimed that he will be playing Full Back this year. May not actually play.
• Shane Savage – Like what he has done both late last year and in the last two training sessions I have been too. Could be a Smokey to make the Round 1 side v Melbourne
• The Cobbler (Ryan Schoenmakers) – One of the players with the most excitement around him this year from the Hawks faithful. With Croad’s retirement, big things are hoped from him. Would be suprised to see him wear the 24 by the start of 2011.
• Liam Shiels – Another Popular player. Has finished school and word is that he is killing it on the track, leading all the runs. With his outstanding fitness, could find himself as the Hawks number 1 tagger this year.
• Matthew Suckling – Another fan fav for his work at Box Hill last year. Great kick and that is something that the Hawks coaches love.
• Wade Skipper – Sneaky chance for round 1 with the burns to Brent Renouf. I have a strange feeling that Clarko is a big rap for the mobile ruckman and he should be on all DreamTeam and SuperCoach Benches!
• Rick Ladson – Back from injury and another Fantasy hot item. Has been talk that he is injured but has looked good in the last few weeks.

Who are you looking forward to seeing? Comment below!

Don’t forget to checkout the article on the Hawks site: “Pre-season Report: New faces”