Hawks Home in a Classic

After a tiring day in Bendigo, I was ready to get home and relax on the couch. After catching the flu, I felt a little bit better but still had my worries. I didn’t know if I would be right to play footy the next morning against Waaia’s biggest rival, Katunga. That had been at the back of my mind for a couple of days.

The game began and the most unlikely person to kick the first goal of the game crashed into a pack to juggle a mark, before dropping it on the ground as he landed. But the umpire blew his whistle and it was a mark. Brent Renouf steered it through, but Shaun Higgins answered back with his first in his first match back after injuring his ankle on the dodgy Etihad Stadium surface a few weeks ago. Jarryd Roughead received a free kick after Dale Morris was penalised for blocking, he goaled, then Luke Hodge put through Hawthorn’s third, but the Dogs answered through the impressive Jarrad Grant, Barry Hall and Ryan Griffen with a long bomb from outside 50. The Dogs led by six points at the first break, 4.1 to 3.1.

The second quarter started and Beau Muston got a toe onto the ball in the goalsquare to draw scores level. Daniel Giansiracusa replied with a great two-on-one mark, but Lance Franklin was in the right spot at the right time, gathering the ball after a Hawthorn free kick, running into an open goal after the advantage call. Hall marked and goaled to give the Dogs the lead again by six points, but Cyril Rioli got on the end of another clearance from Hodge to make scores even again. Franklin kicked his second from a 50m penalty, but a late goal to Giansiracusa saw the Dogs go into the main break with a two point lead, 7.3 to 7.1.

I put another butter menthol in my mouth as the second half commenced, with Brad Johnson marking uncontested in the goalsquare to stretch the led to eight points, but Rioli saw scores level again with a great one-handed mark from Roughead, who handballed to ‘Delicious’, running into an open goal. Adam Cooney snapped a good goal under pressure late in the quarter to give the Dogs the lead going into the last break, 9.5 to 8.6. The last quarter was set to be a ripper.

Roughead gathered the crumbs off a pack and kicked his second to reduce the deficit to two points. The Dogs, accurate all night, started to miss some shots at goal, and Sam Mitchell had no problem with his snap from 40m out close to the boundary line, giving Hawthorn the lead by four points.

In what was a ripper match, there needed to be a hero. Like in last year’s Grand Final, Matthew Scarlett was the hero with his toe-poke to Gary Ablett in the last two minutes which resulted in the winning goal. We didn’t see a toe-poke as heroic as that in this game, but we did see a great tap from Will Minson straight to Robert Murphy, who dribbled through the goal from a tight angle under pressure. The Dogs were back in front. But, unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Hawks wanted a hero of their own. And they got one. Hodge turned the clock back to Round 12, 2008, the match between Adelaide and Hawthorn at AAMI Stadium. After receiving the ball in the forward line late in the match, trailing by two points, Hodge ducked and weaved past a couple of Adelaide opponents to calmly slot the goal, giving Hawthorn the lead and the win. Fast forward back to Friday night, Round 14, 2010, and Hodge received the ball, shrugged a tackle, and as cool, calm and collected as you like, put the ball through the goalposts to give Hawthorn the lead by three points. Franklin also wanted a piece of the hero action, marking 50m out, tight on the boundary line. He may have missed two identical shots where he booted ‘those’ goals against Essendon a couple of weeks ago, but when it really mattered, he impressed even more with a thumping, accurate kick that went straight through the middle, taking the margin out to nine points, almost a game-high deficit. With under a minute remaining, I started to feel disappointed that, for such a great, pulsating game, we wouldn’t get the final minutes of the ages. I was slightly wrong though, Jarrad Grant kicking a goal after Franklin gave away a 50m penalty, and with 31 seconds left on the clock, the Dogs went forward. The Hawks won the ball, and forced a throw-in on the wing with just over five seconds to go. The ball spilled out to young Easton Wood, who dared to dream, streaming forward and kicking long to the goalsquare where Griffen and Xavier Ellis were one-out. The siren sounded while the ball was in mid-flight, the ball on its way towards goal, it just needed a good, fair shepherd from Griffen and the Dogs had the win. But, Griffen gave up. Ellis marked, Hawthorn won the game of the year.

Hawthorn 3.1—7.1—8.6—12.7.79

Western Bulldogs 4.1—7.3—9.5—11.10.76

Goalkickers:

Hawthorn-Franklin 3, Hodge 2, Rioli 2, Roughead 2, Muston, Renouf, Mitchell

Western Bulldogs-Hall 2, Grant 2, Giansiracusa 2, Griffen, Higgins, Murphy, Johnson, Cooney

Best:

Hawthorn-Mitchell, Hodge, Rioli, Franklin, Roughead, Birchall

Western Bulldogs-Boyd, Lake, Cross, Murphy, Gilbee, Reid

Crowd:

47,454 at the MCG

Votes:

3: Sam Mitchell (H)

2: Matthew Boyd (WB)

1: Luke Hodge (H)

About Josh Barnstable

21 year old North Melbourne supporter from country Victoria. Currently living in Melbourne studying a Bachelor of Sports Media. Dreams of becoming a sports journalist and broadcaster.

Comments

  1. Steve Healy says

    Great report Josh, and yeah I remembered Hodge’s goal against Adelaide as well.

    however, I do have a complaint. The last two reports I’ve read (yours and Danni’s) have been nothing less than a Butter Menthol advertisment. Please try and keep it real. why not “Before the game I filled my car with Penrite Oil” “I had a nice meal at the All Nations Hotel” “I shop at Toscano’s” and “Before the game I went on Betfair.com and looked at the odds” or something like that.

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