Round 4 – Collingwood v Hawthorn: Nine of the first twelve (Floreat Pica Society)

by Andrew Fithall for the Floreat Pica Society

 

I watched a lot of live footy on the weekend. The Sunday late-afternoon game at the Adelaide Oval was my fourth game of Gather Round attendance. Having taken a couple of leisurely days to drive across from Melbourne, with a Thursday night stopover in Robe, we arrived in Adelaide on Friday and went to the Friday night game at Norwood between Brisbane and Norf. Nice venue. Terrible game. On Saturday it was the double header at the Adelaide Oval with Dockers v Blues leading into Cats v Dogs. Two good, close games.

 

A couple of observations:

 

• the general crowd atmosphere at games was lacking a little, perhaps because so many in attendance didn’t have a particular allegiance to the teams competing at the time.
• Western Bulldogs have the letters “mins” and “secs” on their bench numeric boards that display to on-field players the time remaining. This is probably to avoid any confusion so that when the players see “3”, they don’t think “oh – only three seconds left; we better get a move on” or when the “30” board goes up the response is not “crikey – this is a long quarter.”

 

I also have to report that my Geelong-supporting wife Helen took the opportunity to go on the field pre-game to be part of the Geelong banner guard-of-honour. I won’t go into all the detail of how it came about but with encouragement from me and her new husband Greg, Helen went out there and you have never seen a more excited 62 year-old. I think our passionate Geelong-supporting daughter Ursula, watching at home, was a bit jealous.

 

Pies v Hawks was the final scheduled game of the Gather Round – 4:40pm Sunday at the Adelaide Oval. I came to the equivalent game last year against the Saints. That day it was the second game of a double-header with the “curtain-raiser” being Cats v Eagles. Last year entry to that double header cost $30 including reserved seats. This year entry to the stand-alone game was $65 including reserved seat. Not a complaint; just worth noting. If this cost progression continues next year it will cost more than $240 for a one-game ticket.

 

All weekend my non-Collingwood-supporting co-travellers had this one penned in as an easy win to the Pies. I, of course, was less confident. Hawthorn defeated us late last season when they were lowly and we were on the way to the Premiership. This year the Hawks were still without a win but the Pies had been less than impressive, even in their win against the Lions the previous week. A Pies victory was no sure thing.

 

But if you wanted a sure thing, there was one: Jack Ginnivan would get a free kick for a high tackle. After all the hullabaloo of the previous week, and given that he was playing against his former team, you would not have been able to get better than $1.01. And of course it eventuated. And of course it resulted in a goal – the Hawks’ first of the match. Collingwood had opened the goal scoring with the first three. I did not join in the booing of Jack. Both parties had decided that he would be better off elsewhere. I wish him well. But not against us.

 

Collingwood had started the game reasonably well with one of the reasons Ginnivan departed – Lachie Schultz – kicking the first goal of the game from a set-shot. De Goey’s intercept mark of an attempted Hawthorn defensive clearance resulted in the second. Elliott and Schultz goals either side of the Ginnivan one had Pies up 25 to 7 at quarter time.

 

When the Hawks opened the second quarter with the first two goals, it looked like being a match. But the Pies kicked the next five. The first didn’t come until nearly halfway through (Pendlebury) but then Collingwood’s dominance of the game was better reflected in goals scored. Reef McInnes was one of the goal kickers. I am surprised he hasn’t bleached his hair. As a political and environmental statement. The last of the quarter was kicked by Crisp giving Pies a handy, and necessary, half-time lead of 38 points.

 

There were five of our weekend group at this game. A few others, including a couple of St Kilda supporters, were at Norwood Oval. Our host for the weekend was Mick Giuliano, a Collingwood supporter. I was the only other Collingwood supporter of the five. Sitting between Mick and me was Greg Basso. Greg is another Adelaide local and a Crows supporter. His team had lost on the Thursday night but that did not stifle his enthusiasm for the occasion. I had only met Greg the previous day but was enjoying his company. The previous day at the double-header he had worn a Dockers scarf and  with his very vocal support was indistinguishable from the real thing. Between games he swapped his scarf for a Geelong one, and it was with this visible emblem of his support, was able to help coax and also join Helen on the field pre-game. Today he was wearing both a St Kilda and a Swans scarf. No I didn’t understand why either. But he vowed that he hated Hawthorn. On several occasions in the second half I had cause to question this conviction.

 

Early in the third quarter, the Collingwood sub Steele Sidebottom took the field – it took some time to work out that Pendlebury had been subbed out for a knock to the ribs late in the second quarter. A significant change by the Hawks was the move of their defender Blake Hardwick to the forward line. He kicked four second half goals.

 

You will have probably read that Hawthorn kicked eight of the last ten goals of the game. You will probably not have read (until here) that Collingwood kicked nine of the first twelve. And apparently first half goals have the same value as second half goals. And because we kicked more behinds than them, Collingwood won the match.

 

If that sounds cynical, it is probably because it is. I am trying to put some sort of positive spin on what was a very disappointing second half of the game. When you are leading by 38 points at half time, you want to win by at least 76. When Hawthorn kicked the final goal of the game, to draw within 5 points, with minutes still remaining, the tension was palpable. And self-described Hawthorn-hating Greg wasn’t helping. A Hawthorn running shot that went astray brought the margin to four. I resisted the urge to check the website to ascertain actual time remaining, relying on the bench boards across the ground. I knew that “3”, even without the “mins” letters, meant that Hawthorn still had plenty of time. I also knew that Collingwood had good recent history in this situation. One more behind to us, a few out-of-bounds and ball-ups (I think that reads better than “balls-up”) and eventually the final siren sounded. A five-point win. Phew!

 

To the votes. To tell the truth I really have no idea. I have resisted consulting other sources as much as possible. Names I had in my head at half time didn’t repeat the performance in the second half. Our defenders generally performed well enough but their forward entries, particularly in the final quarter, gave our forwards little advantage. I am going with the following:

 

3 votes – John Noble. I love this man. I still feel so sorry for him missing the finals when he was dropped having played most if not all of the season proper. He is currently ahead of Oleg Markov according to the selectors. Good on him.

 

2 votes – Jordan De Goey. A goal. A couple of assists. Plenty of possessions – and effective ones at that.

 

1 vote – Billy Frampton. He played well but I am not fully sure he was in our best three. But I have to give him a vote because he came to Collingwood from Adelaide and this one vote will really annoy Greg Basso.

 

I know they are not members of the Floreat Pica Society, but they will probably read this eventually. Thank you to Maree and Mick for your over-generous hospitality on the weekend. It was great fun in great company. Let’s all do it again next year.

 

==

 

COLLINGWOOD   4.1    9.4    11.6    11.11 (77)
HAWTHORN           1.1    3.2     7.5     11.6 (72)

 

GOALS
Collingwood:   Schultz 2, Mihocek 2, Pendlebury, McInnes, Hoskin-Elliott, Elliott, De Goey, N. Daicos, Crisp
Hawthorn: Hardwick 4, Moore 3, Ginnivan 2, Ramsden, Newcombe

 

INJURIES
Collingwood:  Pendlebury (ribs)
Hawthorn:  

 

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood:  Steele Sidebottom replaced Scott Pendlebury at half-time
Hawthorn: Henry Hustwaite replaced Sam Butler in the fourth quarter

 

Crowd: 43,198 at Adelaide Oval

 

 

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