I prepared for this game by watching a replay of Seven’s Big League, Round 5 1983, Hawthorn up against Collingwood at Victoria Park. Other than the involvement of Hawthorn (Even decked out in the same away kit, a rarity these days!), there was no real relevance to today’s game.
I was never big on pre-seasons anyway. Footy training never used to start in earnest until cricket finals were done and dusted. I had my best season the year that I showed up at a new club on the Thursday night before the first trial and asked for a game.
Back then I wasn’t a fan of running. These days it’s stats and analysis that I would prefer to do without. (Ironic given that my working life consists of numbers and analysis …)
Watching an old Hawks v Pies game was my equivalent of doing a couple of laps, some end to end kicking, and then a bit of circle work to finish off. I was ready to go.
There is no way to sugar-coat it, the Showground’s ‘Frankenstein’ surface looks like shit. It appears to have been patched together with patches of turf and green carpet picked up at horticulturalist clearance sales across the summer. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least one patch of bare dirt spray-painted green.
While a neutral observer, the players I favour tended to be in the brown and gold. Watson offers excitement whenever he is near the ball, regardless of whether his plan works, although he probably could do with some more work to fill out his left arm tatts. Weddle’s looseness in appearance reminds me more of country footballer than a cookie-cutter system-created draftee, the kind of guy that rocks up in an old Falcon and whose pre-game preparation is a pasty at half time of the B’s. Chol is so athletic, yet so laconic in his movement, too laconic?
The Showground turf was a fair representation of the patchwork side GWS had at their disposal, with somewhere between 6 and 20 first-choice players on the sidelines (The number kept growing at every telling.)
GWS looked under-manned on paper, but footy isn’t played on paper.
The Giants were up by 19 at quarter time, and 35 at the half. They extended their lead to 41 points at three quarter time, by which time Stringer had kicked 5, Oliver had racked up 7 clearances (oops, that’s a stat!), and Coniglio had plenty of touches with a couple of goals to go with it.
The work of this experienced brigade was complemented by a team defence which shut the Hawks down in the back half and limited their options going forward. They either needed to take risks in the corridor or allow themselves to be pushed wide down the line and take long shots from the pockets. The Giants were able to pick them off whenever they ventured into the corridor and had more run, with easier options, when going forward.
The Giants did all the hard work to three quarter time and then put the game to be in the first 8-9 minutes of the fourth quarter by just keeping the Hawks at arm’s length and not allowing them to make any early inroads. By the time the Hawks started to hit the scoreboard the clock was well and truly against them.
The Giants debutant young ‘River’ Phoenix Gothard warrants a special mention for his cool finish to ice the game with just under 3 minutes to go. Showing composure in a one-on-one with Weddle, he didn’t panic, just won the ball then made sure of the goal. It was the finish of a seasoned pro, not a kid with just a dozen VFL games under his belt.
Overall, the Giants may have run up 120+ points but it was their overall defensive pressure that was the standout. There is still plenty of upside with some key ‘ins’ over the next 4-6 weeks.
Hawthorn was disappointing in what shaped as an early ‘8 point game’ against one of their rivals battling for those key finals slots in the 4-8 range (or higher?).
To be fair, the Hawks could only play as well as the Giants allowed them to.
Sicily tried hard. Newcombe had a bit of it. Gunston kicked 4 from his limited touches, without looking threatening. Watson, Ginnivan, and Chol all lit sparks at various times without anything catching on. Get well soon, Will Day.
There is one other thought that I would like to share in closing. If you happen to find yourself at Superbutter Café, upstairs in Burnside Village, I can highly recommend the pecan pie. Do with that as you wish.
Take it easy.
GWS GIANTS 8.3 13.4 18.6 19.8 (122)
HAWTHORN 5.2 7.5 11.7 14.11 (95)
GOALS
Greater Western Sydney: Stringer 5, Hogan 3, Riccardi 3, Gruzewski 2, Coniglio 2, Brown, Rowston, Oliver, Gothard
Hawthorn: Gunston 4, Butler 2, Chol 2, Ginnivan 2, Watson 2, Meek, Lewis
BEST
Greater Western Sydney: Stringer, Callaghan, Oliver, Coniglio, Fonti, Himmelberg
Hawthorn: Newcombe, Sicily, Weddle, Watson, Ward
INJURIES
Greater Western Sydney: Nil
Hawthorn: Nil
Crowd: 16,157 at Engie Stadium
Read more from Greg A HERE
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Good report Greg, you were easy, even lenient on the Hawks whereas the Giants were quite the oppiste on the Hawks, they were harsh, rough and at times, just plain cruel. That’s footy I guess.
I’ll mark this loss down as still shaking off the off season rust. Whatever it was, we did not look good. Yeah, we need Day but back when we were going after the Don’s guy we thought Day would also be playing, so my count is, we need two more wow midfielders.
You hit the marks with lots of your observations but this one stood out: “GWS looked under-manned on paper, but footy isn’t played on paper”. No it isn’t. And if commentators aren’t taking the Giants seriously this win should wake them up to where the Giants are at vs where the mighty Hawks are.
Cheers
Greg it seemed that the hawks got sucked in re how many players the giants had out yet another case of sport played between the years it will be interesting to see the hawks response this week.Burnside Village in SA ?
I will let the better half know re your recommendation thank you
Cheers Rick.
Agree with your call that the Hawks look to be short Day +1 quality midfielder.
I expected more from some of their other mid-sized regulars but the Giants had their measure.
Cheers Rulebook.
You are right, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for any team in the Hawks position to be licking their chops at the prospect of an early away win against an under-manned key rival. Too easy to get caught up thinking about who’s not playing and forget that the other 23 are still pretty damn good on their day.
It will be interesting to see if the Hawks can respond this week, and if the Giants can back it up against the Dogs.
Yep, Burnside in SA. (Burnside has become my regular Thursday after work spot since Cibo closed on the Parade).