The Footy Almanac 2007 Round 4 – Hawthorn v Geelong: A memorable match

 

The first printed edition of The Footy Almanac came out in 2007, before we had a website. In the absence of a real 2020 season, we will be publishing the 2007 pieces for the first time on www.footyalmanac.com.au. Follow the season!

 

 

Hawthorn versus Geelong

1.10pm, Sunday, April 22

Aurora Stadium, Launceston

 

 

Launceston feels old. Stone buildings with their Georgian windows make the Tasmanian provincial city appear older than most places on the mainland. Because it is.

Strolling around the Botanical Gardens also takes you back in time. The huge oaks, the neat paths, and the conservatory of exotic ferns are monuments to British imperialism and the British desire to impose order. There is even a monkey cage.

 

York Park has a bit of everything. The main grandstand is a contemporary structure. Alongside it is the quaint Northern Stand painted in Federation colours. It makes you feel you are at the Strathalbyn races. In 1894.

 

There is even a military band, that great fixture of Australian sporting events. Only this one is different. It’s the Tasmanian detachment of the RAN Band, and more notably, a fair dinkum rock band.

 

There is something inherently amusing about a man in ceremonial double- breasted dress uniform with shiny brass buttons belting out AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’ (in well-trained falsetto). Especially when the lead guitarist has peroxided hair and, like most of the band, is wearing the Donald Duck seaman’s collar. The sea dog saxophonist with his salty beard heads the six-strong horn section. They fire up again: Play that funky music, white boy.

 

We’re grooving on the terrace. Feeling very ’70s. And ready for a traditional ’70s end-to-end contest.

 

We don’t get it. Instead we get coaches who implement strategies so complex you have to be a Bowden to understand them. Both set up with an extra man in defence: Clarkson sends Hodge back, onto Mooney, who doesn’t fancy the match-up. He is relieved when another defender picks him up and Hodge drifts off. The nett result is that Hodge roams free, with Milburn free at the other end. It’s a win to Clarkson. Geelong have a brisk southerly at their backs. Hawthorn have a loose man in defence.

 

During the week Bomber Thompson has predicted that the big ground and Hawthorn’s ugly style will make for a congested, tight game. They are bizarre comments, particularly from the coach of a team that has just enjoyed two ten-goal wins playing fast, open footy. To the amateur on the terrace, the enormous ground suggests the opposite: plenty of space.

 

In the opening minutes, defender Andrew Mackie streams through the centre square and shoots from 60 metres. When he makes the distance comfortably we realise it’s a four-goal breeze, and I’m thinking if the Geelong runners can get it in quickly, Mooney, Nathan Ablett and Tom Hawkins might be hard to contain. If the wind makes marking difficult, the crumbers, Paul Chapman, Mathew Stokes, Shannon Byrnes, will clean up.

 

But that’s the difference between the terrace and the coaches’ box. The Cats just won’t kick it long, choosing instead to rack up handballs across half-back and through the middle. And nervous handballs at that. The absence of authority renders the process ludicrous and the Hawk defenders have all the time in the world to get back. It’s as if centre half-forward has been deemed an absolute no-go zone. Perhaps the fear, on such a big ground, is that any passage of open play followed by a lost contest will result in loose men everywhere.

 

Yet the Cats are still able to kick the only three goals of the opening term. Hawthorn’s possessions are crisper during the second term but they find it difficult to penetrate the stacked backline as well. Sam Mitchell is shut down by Cameron Ling but Shane Crawford gets plenty of the footy. Mark Williams beats Matthew Scarlett and his set shot from 50 metres out on the boundary line is just brilliant. The Cats struggle to clear the footy from defence.

 

Hawthorn’s pressure is relentless. Their goals into the wind in the third quarter prove the difference. Clinton Young keeps a low shot under the wind for an intelligent goal. Buddy Franklin marks directly in front. The wind is more inconvenient than anything else but it demands players think about what they’re doing. Gary Ablett provides quite a few of the game’s highlights, in particular his gather, turn to the boundary line, and handball to Stokes for a classic major.

 

Hawthorn make the play in the final quarter. Kicking with the wind, they have winners around the ground. Brad Sewell’s rise continues. He takes the points over Chappie, who is frustrated. The Hawks sneak in front but can’t kick clear. Stokes has a chance to steal the game for Geelong in the dying minutes but his snap goes wide.

 

The Cats lose. But the game is memorable: my first at old York Park. I will always have an image in my mind, as I look across the forward line, of pairs of blue and white and brown and gold, haloed in the soft, angled sunlight, in front of the wooden grandstand, under the lime-yellow trees.

 

 

Hawthorn 0.3 4.7 8.9 10.16 (76)

Geelong  3.3 4.8 8.13 9.18 (72)

 

GOALS

Hawthorn: Williams 3; Crawford, Taylor, Guerra, Boyle, Franklin, Ellis, Young.
Geelong: Stokes, G. Ablett, Kelly 2; Milburn, Wojcinski, Ling.

 

BEST

Hawthorn: Crawford, Hodge, Sewell, Lewis, Franklin.

Geelong: G. Ablett, Milburn, Ling, Mackie.

 

UMPIRES:     Meredith, Wenn, Ryan.

 

CROWD:      17,120 

 

OUR VOTES:       Crawford (H) 3, G. Ablett (G) 2, Hodge (H) 1.

 

BROWNLOW:       Crawford (H) 3, Wojcinski (G) 2, Hodge (H) 1.

 

 

For more Round by Round reports of the 2007 season click HERE

 

If you want a printed copy of the 2007 edition of The Footy Almanac, they can be purchased here.

 

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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