AFL Grand Final
A truly modern flag, the Hawks the first team to 'bottom out', go through a full rebuild by exploiting the potential of the draft and trade systems and reach the pinnacle again. Also embracing trendy solutions, the Horks didn't just sell games interstate, like a few struggling clubs, they sold half the club to Tasmania. All in five years, which is pretty amazing and 'ahead of schedule' as a few of the Hawks themselves noted. Some credit must go to Ian Dicker, President Jeff's predecessor who rescued the club from financial ruin, and some to the maligned Peter Schwab for recruiting some of the key players. But the lion's share goes to Alastair Clarkson, a moderately skilled but tough and annoying little b@stard as a player who's turned into a tough, smart coach. And his team, of course. Jason Dunstall also drew some praise last week for his stint as interim CEO in 2004, 'Bunghole' was instrumental in hiring Clarkson and in trading Trent Croad to get the no.1 draft pick for Luke Hodge - I remember I was driving around listening to talk-back radio that evening and Hawk supporters flooded the airwaves to give Dunstall an absolute torrent of abuse over the deal. 'Bung' promised 'em all Hodge would be a champion. He wasn't wrong, and they got Croad back eventually too. The Cats, lost for a response when Plan A failed, were much-compared with the Essadun teams of 1999-2001 who won every week but blew two of the three GFs in that period. Time'll tell.
Bulldog Adam Cooney was the winner of a surprising Brownlow Medal count, by one vote from Brisbun's umpires' favourite Simon Black, with pre-count bookies' fave Gary Ablett and ol' Tige Matty Richardson, a sentimental choice, tying for third another vote back. Cooney was great early in the season, his form tailed away later in the year due to a hairline fracture in his kneecap, we've since discovered. But 'Coons' managed to pick up a BOG in round 21 to overhaul Black and get to the line. In retrospect, Ablett's ankle injury against the Dockers which cost him (effectively) four games also cost him the gong. Disappointing night for Kanga Brent 'Boomer' Harvey, who finished well back after failing to poll early votes, including a Norf win over Collywood where he had 34 disposals. Must've upset the officials somehow. Bittersweet days for the Dogs as coach 'Rocket' Eade made the tough decision to end Scott West's career, the champion rover had two second-places and one third in the Brownlow and won the Bullies' B&F a record seven times. He's a remarkable leather-gathering machine, but aged 33 and with a seemingly chronic knee problem which restricted him to 2 games this season (the first two), the Pups made the very tough but necessary call. West was understandably upset and wants to play on, but you can't see it happening. Oh, mistake in the AA side last week, I had Pavlich on a forward-flank, he was actually on the bench and Brent Harvey was in the position, apologies.
At the MCG:
Geelong 5.3 6.12 9.18 11.23.89
Hawthorn 5.2 8.3 14.5 18.7.115
In the build-up the 1989 Grand Final was recalled several thousand times, but this game more closely resembled the 1998 GF, with Geelong in the North Melbourne role. The Cats' kicking for goal was appalling in the second quarter, wasting a spell of midfield control and the Hawks took charge after half-time. In sharp contrast the Hawks were extremely efficient going forward, extracting goals from most thrusts and from a variety of players - credit to Clarkson and his players for re-organising their attacking strategy in the wake of their last defeat against Richmond (I had to get that in) where they were criticized for being too Buddy-centric. Franklin wasn't a major factor here, but he did kick some handy goals as the Hawks drew away in the third quarter. The Cats were called 'selfish' by their coach Bomber Thompson afterwards, while a few other Cat supporters reckon they choked. The classic case of a side having no 'Plan B', understandably as Plan A works 99% of the time. But the warning signs were there last week as the Cats' forward-line barely functioned against the Bulldogs. In team selection Bomber Thompson was true to his word and found room to recall Paul Chapman, dropping the 'last in' David Wojcinski whose prelim final was his first game since round 12. No change for the Hawks, meaning ruckman Simon Taylor, who played 18 games this year, missed out in favour of the more aggressive Brent Renouf.
On a very warm day - the warmest GF day for 20 years, they reckoned - the first quarter was terrific and stood comparison with the sainted 1989. After some tough exchanges Cat Joel Corey set up the opening goal, winning the ball on the wing and sending it inboard, Jimmy Bartel kicked for leading Tom Lonergan to take a lunging chest-mark and punt truly from 40m. Pretty rugged for the next few minutes, the highlight being Cat Matty Scarlett flattening opponent Lance 'Buddy' Franklin as both attacked the ball head-on. Terrific hard-but-fair bump, Franklin was okay. About six minutes in the Horks opened their account, Chance Bateman drove a centering kick which Campbell Brown marked low-down, a handball to Michael Osborne and his back to on-running Bateman saw the hairy Hawk run inside 50 and drill a low sausage to level the scores. Bateman was tagging Ablett, not very well as it turned out but Bateman won some crucial touches himself, like that one. The Hawks enjoyed a good spell with some rapid rebound footy, initiated by half-back Luke Hodge who gave Mathew Stokes an early, thorough hiding. Cyril Rioli raced clear of defence with a long, three-bounce run 'round the Members' wing and handballed to Brown on 50m, Brown's sliced miskick dropped perfectly for Xavier Ellis to mark 45m out and curl through for a major. Grant Birchall embarked on another long run from the back and set up Franklin for a shot, but Buddy missed. A minute later great skill from Jordan Lewis and Stuart Dew sent the ball forward, roving Rioli finessed to send the ball to the goal-square where Mark Williams gathered pack-spillage and handballed for Jarryd Roughead to poke it through from point-blank. The Horks led by 13 points. Jahlong replied with the ump's pleasure, Ablett led up to mark in the centre and was dragged down afterwards by Bateman, a 50m penalty plus another as Brent Guerra placed Steve Johnson in a head-lock off-the-ball. Easy slot for Ablett. Ablett also won the following centre-clearance but Travis Varcoe's kick-under-pressure was picked off by Dew, the Orcs rebounded again and Osborne's long punt was well-marked by a back-pedalling Brown. Adrenaline pumping, Brown leaped up and thumped it home from 50m. The Hoks led by 13 points again but the Catters responded, the move of hard-man Max Rooke onto Hodge playing dividend. On the Katz next attack Rooke wrapped up Hodge in a great tackle, 'bawl' clearly and Rooke free-kicked a goal. Varcoe ran forward and passed towards leading Cameron Mooney, his man Stephen Gilham got a spoil in but Rooke crashed in solidly to win the ball and handpass back to Mooney, who snapped a good goal. The Awks led by a point. Brown took a with-the-flight mark on the point-line, from another swift Hawk rebound, but he postered after the ump spent an age setting the (very tight) angle. Dew and Guerra rushed points for the Cats, their first behinds of many. Guerra's kick-in of the latter point went straight to Darren Milburn, he chipped for Paul Chapman to mark 30m out and miss poorly - the third of etc. The Pu55ies drew ahead as Mooney gathered Chapman's smothered kick near the boundary and dithered a bit before drilling a low kick through for a superb goal, galling considering what Mooney'd miss later. Cats by 7 points but the Hawks scored the final goal of the term, Cat Lonergan's bad centering kick went straight to Hawk Ellis, he was knocked down after by Rooke and the resulting 50m penalty allowed Ellis to pass to leading Williams, who marked and converted. Catters by a point at the first break.
We settled down for a high-scoring classic but it didn't look like happening in the second stanza. The Cats cleared the opening bounce with a free-kick to Joel Selwood, he passed to leading Lonergan on 50m who in turn lobbed a kick for Mooney to mark in front of Gilham deep in the pocket. Mooney kicked to the top of the 'square where Chapman would've marked if not pulled down by Guerra, Chappy free-kicked a goal and the Cats led by 7 points. Williams missed for the Awks but Andrew Mackie's ordinary kick-in was marked by Williams, he chipped a short pass for Rioli to mark and punt a good goal from the flank. Scores level but it got very tight for a while now. Mackie and Chapman kicked points for the Cats, Mackie narrowly avoided Sam Mitchell's flying elbow before being knocked down by Bateman. Mitchell was being tagged right out of it by Cameron Ling, Lewis was very quiet too leaving Brad Sewell to carry the Hawk midfield. But he was being overwhelmed by Ablett, Selwood and Corey. About now the Hawks lost backman Trent Croad too, he'd come in with a fractured foot and broke the same bone, his day was over. But the Pu55ies' midfield and general dominance didn't translate into goals. Steve Johnson missed a shot he should've kicked, then came an incident oft-mentioned later as the Hawks turned-over on a rebound and Chapman soccered ahead for Brad Ottens to gather in an ocean of space, Ottens could've handballed over-the-top to Lonergan alone in the goal-square but Ottens had a crack himself and missed, woefully. The Hawk defenders were keen to rush behinds under any hint of pressure and a coupla those made it six straight one-pointers for the Cats, by which they led. Duly the Hawks scored a goal with their first inside-50 in many minutes, Franklin gathered Dew's wobbly kick on-the-bounce and had a left-foot snap which dropped short but Williams arrived to mark 1m out and pop it through, scores level. At the following centre-bounce Ablett was all set to gather the pill but Mitchell ran through and creamed the bald Catter with a hip to the head, for which the Hawk captain was reported. He was a real head-hunter on the day. The Cats had a chance from the resulting free but Varcoe booted another behind. The Awks scored a goal without going inside 50, Clint Young thundering a running kick home from within the centre-square. He was good. Stokes missed a set-shot for Geelong and Catter hearts sank perhaps fatally late in the term, Mooney marked on the point of the goal-square but managed to shank it horribly wide. And to make it worse the Cats lost their captain, Tom Harley concussed in a nasty clash-of-heads with Williams. Horforn led by 3 points at the long break with the Cats having scored 1.9 for the term. Richmun's Matt White won the Grand Final Sprint, making the third straight year a Tiger's won the event.
Mooney developed his horror day by missing the first shot of the third Mario. Young hurt his ankle in a slinging tackle from Corey, a few minutes and a Lonergan miss elapsed before Ablett broke the Cats' lengthy goal-drought. Corey lobbed a handball and Ablett ran inside 50 to drill it through, just missing the right-hand post. Cats by 4 points but the Hawks pressed on, Sewell won the ball in the centre and Bateman kicked for Franklin to mark on-the-lead ahead of Scarlett for the first time, Buddy punted truly and the Hawks led. Mooney kicked another point to level the scores, then Sewell was involved a couple of times in getting the agget to Osborne 40m out, he was grabbed 'round the head by Mackie and awarded a free which he dished off to Hodge, who speared it through from 50m. A bit later terrific second and third efforts from Rioli to win the ball against Milburn and Rooke on the wing drew much praise from his coach and soon Rioli was rewarded, as he roved Franklin and Scarlett's contest and raced into an open goal to slam it into the stands. Orcs by 11 points as the floodgates buckled, just like Stuey Dew's waistband. Junior Cat defender Harry Taylor had a 'Rhyce Shaw' GF moment as he fumbled the ball under no pressure while running it out, Osborne gathered and handballed to Dew who walloped it home off one step. A minute later Franklin and Roughead did some clearance work down back, Williams gathered Roughead's long kick and appeared to be tripped, play-on and Dew gathered and handballed back to Williams, who had space to run in and jab it through. Tubby Dew was enjoying a purple patch, Franklin slung Scarlett aside to gather the ball and handpass to Dew. "He can kick this", intoned McAvaney who watched as Dew dew-ly curled a great snap for a sausage. The Orcs had skipped to a 30-point lead. To give the Pu55ies some credit they rallied late, Gilham hacked the ball clear of defence and Johnson would've marked if not shoved in the back by Hodge, Johnson free-kicked quickly and Milburn marked in the goal-mouth to punt a major. A minute later great play from Ablett, who was clothes-lined again by Mitchell, got the ball to Ling and advantage was allowed for Ling to find Johnson alone 30m out, Johnson goaled and the Cats trailed by 17 points at the final change. But they made no inroads in the early final quarter as the Hawk defenders assiduously rushed behinds - 11 of the Cats' 23 were rushed. Harley had returned somewhat unsteadily, probably unwisely for Geelong as he made little impact. Half the term had expired before Bateman's long kick found Franklin marking well ahead of Scarlett, Buddy wheeled around onto his left and thumped it through for a six-pointer. Soon Cat Jimmy Bartel's hurried kick from a defensive ball-up went straight to Mitchell on the 50m line, Mitchell played-on and booted a left-foot goal. The Cats cleared the restart but Brown held a gutsy grab as Lonergan arrived at full-tilt. Lonergan should've put him down. Rick Ladson led up to the wing to take a mark and was given a shove in the back by non-compis Harley, a 50m penalty as Ladson gestured to Harley and Ladson duly booted a goal. Hawks by 33 points and it was over. Rooke goaled with a free-kick for the Cats, some tough work from Osborne led to a goal for Roughead and Lonergan managed to kick the game's first and last goals.
Horforn 'quarterback' Luke Hodge (26 disposals, 9 marks, a goal) won the Norm Smith Medal for best afield, although disgruntled Catter fans reckoned Ablett should've won it. But Hodge was a decent choice as winner, he, Brad Sewell (27 touches, 7 marks) and Clint Young (19 possies, 8 marks, a goal) held the Hawks together early. Xavier Ellis (28 handlings, 14 marks, a goal) was also a handy midfielder while Stuart Dew (19 disposals, 2 goals) and Cyril Rioli (10 possessions, 2 goals) made vital contributions. Michael Osborne (26 handlings, 8 marks) was a tough performer from half-forward and veteran Shane Crawford (25 handlings) worked hard all day. Stephen Gilham did admirably on Mooney. Mark Williams booted 3 goals, Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead kicked 2 goals each. The Cats' best was Gary Ablett (34 disposals, 2 goals) and he would've been a worthy Norm Smith. Joel Selwood (29 possies, 6 marks) was excellent early, faded a little, while the Pu55ies had great defensive efforts from Cameron Ling (20 touches) on Mitchell and Matthew Scarlett on Franklin, Joel Corey (30 possies) gave Lewis a hiding too (I think that was the match-up). But the Cats' forward-line didn't function, only Steve Johnson (34 disposals, 6 marks) managed to find the ball much but too far upfield, he scored just the one goal. Cameron Mooney kicked 2.3 ("I'm ashamed," he said), Max Rooke and Tom Lonergan kicked 2 goals each as well. Mathew Stokes copped a bake from Thompson at quarter-time, but it had little effect, he was invisible. Thompson said "I just didn't think the forward line functioned that well together today. I thought our defenders were fantastic, our midfielders were reasonable, but our forwards – to have 62 (inside 50s) and score 10 or 11 goals . . . it's not enough. [Ablett] couldn't have done any more, he was fantastic. Scarlett was fantastic, Lingy was great on Mitchell, Mackie gave us plenty of drive, the old boy Dasher (Milburn) was great, Enright's rebounds - there were a lot of positives, but in the end there weren't enough to help us get over the line and win the game. But Gary Ablett's performance was sensational. He looked like he just wanted to win so much. I wish he had a few friends in that same frame of mind . . . I just told the players 'don't give up on the gameplan, because it's won 42 out of 44 games or whatever it is. If we had our day again today we'd probably plan the same way, we'd just hope to implement it better. The game plan's held up, we've won a lot of games over a couple of years, and we were red-hot favourites to win. Maybe if the game was played next week, we'd probably do it better and beat the Hawks, but on this day, they've got the points and the premiership, and they thoroughly deserve it. But that doesn't mean that we're going to panic and be ruthless and sack people and just forget about what we've done. We're still a very very good club." Indeed.
Alastair Clarkson said "It was similar to the grand final that North Melbourne and Adelaide contested in the late '90s when the Kangas couldn't put the score on the board and split the game open. We were really fortunate to hang in there. We were really lucky to still be in the game at half-time to be truthful. Geelong dominated the second quarter . . . There is so much hard work that goes into winning a premiership. I know that the 22 players and a coach probably draw a lot of accolades, but there is just so much work into getting yourself into a position to even contest in a grand final. I suppose it'll sink in over the next couple of weeks that we've actually won one, but it's a little bit surreal at the minute . . . What we had done is studied models of teams that have developed a premiership group over time. It was quite common that to be in a group together that it usually took five, six, seven or eight years," Clarkson said referring to Geelong, Port Adelaide and St Kilda. "So many sides have jumped up to play in the finals series and then fallen away the following year and that could quite possibly have been the case with a young group. But such was the resolve of this particular group, their fanaticism to improve as people and players drove the whole group forward again this year. We got ourselves into a position where we won the first nine games of the season and that was the real realisation that we could finish top four and give it a real nudge, if we got some momentum going in September." And they did. You get the feeling these two could contest a few GFs in coming years.
So that's it for another year, thanks once again to David Layton and the folks at Footy Tipping Software, all the people who've e-mailed during the year and all the readers in general. Next year's up in the air as I look like being away for a bit of it, and time is an issue. But we'll see. Cheers and thanks once again,
Tim.
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