Jack Toft
Years ago
Hawks v United Dec 16
A new look Hawks team has had the full round to prepare for this clash. It will be interesting to see how a Ball-less Hawks with some new blood in the form of Billy Preston deal with a United team who crashed and burned earlier in the round against Sydney. Will those Cockroaches make it 2 from 2, or will the Soy Boys take advantage of the bottom of the table Hawks?
Sydney came back strongly against Melbourne by opening up a can of Whoop to beat them by 23 points on Saturday. Casper Ware dropping 28 against his old team and Tate plucking 12 boards giving the Bogieman a yellow slip in the process saying "take a seat old man, I've got this" For United, it was a sea of red ink on the scorecard. McCarron scoreless, Prather off injured, Long fouled out, Acuil fouled out. Everyone is entitled to one shocking game per season and I think United opened up that cage and released that grey pigeon instead of that white dove.
But the problem with releasing white doves is that there is always a Hawk willing to swoop. They have had 9 days between their last game against Brisbane and this. They went in without Ball and perhaps this 9 day break is what they need to shake down some moves and re-invigorate their plays. It's not like they are completely horrible, they just can't seem to score when they need to. The average winning score this season is 97, but they are only scoring 86 at home and 87 on the road. They are falling short by 11 ppg, which is simply 6 FG or 4 three pointers. It's not much, but significant.
I don't think it's a lack of shots on goal, they are putting them up, but it is just the execution and some silly turnovers.
You can put this one down as a danger game for United. If the Hawks have used their break wisely and got Bancroft Brand sand paper to polish off their rough edges to work on some plays and their shooting, United might be in for a shock. If they have been out on the breakwater at Thirroul with Oscar catching some waves, then United have this one by 30.
Despite their best attempts, United have got this one
