2007, Round 22: vs Hawthorn

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The Bloods are Back In Town
Welcome back boys, we've dearly missed you.
For those of us who follow our beloved team closely, it probably should come as no surprise that the best performance (or rather the best half) of the season should arrive in the game that mattered the least, in terms of our position on the ladder. After a disappointing outing against the Pies in Melbourne, and the Hawks big win over the Dogs, the bookies priced the home team as the underdogs for the first time in recent memory. Given we were missing three stars in Hall, Kennelly and Buchanan; and Hawthorn possessing a big incentive in a potential top 4 spot, this was perhaps a justified evaluation of the matchup between the two teams.

And when Buddy Franklin kicked the first goal within the first minute, it seemed a long and painful afternoon was in store for the capacity crowd. However, it soon became apparent that the slow and lethargic Swans of the previous week had been magically transformed into a motivated and hungry outfit. The Hawks' predilection for the uncontested ball was the main area of focus for the Swans, who concentrated on applying pressure to the ball carrier, especially in the forward line. Their flankers in Birchall and Guerra were seldom given the time and space to pinpoint passes to their midfield, and many turnovers eventuated as a direct result.

In return, the Hawthorn players were giving their respective opponents plenty of time and space to work in. Micky O, Bevan and Mathews all kicked their majors virtually unattended as the margin on the scoreboard began to grow in size. And as the lead grew, Hawthorn's skills began to crumble. Feeling the pressure due to the Swans's close checking, they could barely transfer the ball out of their own half. As a result, we peppered away at their goals in the 2nd quarter ending up with the highest halftime score of the year. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect was the spread of goalkickers, with 10 different players making up the 14 goals.


A special mention must go out to Nick Davis, who was enjoying a different role as the go-to forward in the absence of his good mate BBBBH. His 4 goals in the 1st half were a mixture of strength and skill. Running around the mark to improve the angle for his 1st and a clever banana kick for his 3rd were interspersed with 2 very strong contested marks that led to easy shots on goal.

With such a lead, the result of the game was never in doubt and hence the intensity dropped off as the end neared. However, some of the play in the 3rd quarter was a regression to the bad habits we had seen throughout the season. Poor passes, poor decisions such as letting Taylor's kick bounce through were responsible for Hawthorn's goals rather than any brilliant pieces of play. Thankfully the last term was performed at a better standard, outscoring the Hawks by 4 goals to 1 - highlighted by Ed Barlow's first goal of his career.

It was a nice change to see our midfielders attacking the ball at the ball-ups and ruck contests, rather than tagging their opponent and being 2nd to the Sherrin - something that was very noticeable in the Collingwood debacle. It was noted in the Record that we had lost the "contested possessions" category in our last 4 games. We smashed the Hawks in this statistic, especially in the first half, but this could be slightly misleading given they were ranked 16th in contested possies coming into this game. Goodes continued his strong recent form, thoroughly outplaying the much lauded Brad Sewell who was unsighted for most of the day. Kirk kept up his usual work rate against the busy Mitchell, finishing with 10 tackles, while Ablett outpointed Hodge for most of the first half before sadly injuring himself.

The return of two thirds of our 2005 Premiership defence - Barry, LRT and Dempster this week and Crouch the previous one provided a settled looking backline that had been looking shaky. Leo showed he had lost none of his daring with a couple of typical kamikaze runs. LRT went about his business more quietly but was just as effective playing on Boyle. His presence will provide Roosy with the flexibility to shift our superstar defender B2 to more pressing needs. Dempster also played with more confidence and flair than when he was last selected. His running and long kicking from defence will be important in the finals, especially if the Irishman fails to return.

At the other end of the park, the forward line worked much better with the "kick it to Bazza" game plan thrown out of the window. The 3 major forwards of the day kicked half of the team's total which is very pleasing. How BBBBH fits back into this structure remains to be seen. If, as he has suggested, his best role is to play as a decoy forward, I would suggest Barry look up the meaning of the word "decoy" as exhorting his teammates to deliver the ball to him is not my understanding of the word.

In the end, while the 4 points were pretty immaterial, the biggest gain from this game was the confidence and the knowledge that we can not only match it with the top teams but outplay them. The Bloods are back, the finals are here, so bring on the Wobbles!

GOAL OF THE DAY One minute to go, and it seems both sets of players are happy to see out the game by "going through the motions", Micky O included. Except his "motions" are nothing like those of the common player. As ROK's kick fell to ground heading for a behind, Magic set about his work. While momentum took his body over the behind line, he managed to keep the ball in with his outstretched hand. He then manoeuvred around the goal post and danced around a bemused Rick Ladson before banging it through for a fabulous goal. It was to be the last of the day, but it was certainly the best of the lot.

Goals: Sydney: Davis 4 O'Loughlin 4 O'Keefe 3 Crouch 2 Malceski 2 Bevan Mathews Goodes Richards Ablett Barlow McVeigh. Hawthorn: Dixon 2 Taylor 2 Franklin Boyle Ladson Hodge Brown Roughead. Best: Sydney: Goodes O'Keefe Davis O'Loughlin CBolton Kirk Ablett Hawthorn: Crawford Brown Dixon Hodge Injuries: Hawthorn: Croad (Concussion) Bateman (Hamstring) Sydney: L. Ablett (Knee) Reports: None Umpires: S McBurney M Stevic S McInerney Crowd: 27,498 at the SCG.