Hi everyone,
It’s been an extended round of footy this week, with games taking place from Thursday to Monday.
On the Field
Collingwood travelled to Brisbane to play the Lions. The two-time defending premiers have had a slow start to the season, but they had no trouble accounting for the Magpies by a score of 17.17.119 to 10.5.65. On Friday afternoon, Carlton was under pressure to play four quarters of football for the first time this season. Unfortunately for Blues fans, they couldn’t do it, coughing up a 21-point, 3/4-time lead and losing by 10 points to North Melbourne. On Saturday night, a thrilling game unfolded at the Adelaide Oval between the Crows and Fremantle. Once again, the Crows had a slow start, trailed by as much as 33 points, and once again rallied strongly to hit the front in the final term. The Dockers steadied when they needed to and won the game by 11.12.78 to 11.10.76.
On Saturday, Port Adelaide recorded a 7-goal victory over winless Richmond at the MCG, while the West Coast Eagles crashed to earth in front of their home fans at Optus Stadium. The visiting Sydney Swans were ruthless in dismantling WC by over 21 goals, 24.19.163 to 4.11.35. The undefeated Gold Coast Suns came to the MCG on Easter Sunday to face the Melbourne Demons at the ‘G. For the second straight week, the Dees’ Max Gawn played a sensational game to steer his team to an impressive twenty-point win. In the Sunday night game at Marvel Stadium, Essendon’s woes continued as they lost to the Western Bulldogs by 34 points. The win leaves the Bulldogs as the only undefeated team after four rounds, at the top of the table.
Hawthorn versus Geelong Rivalry
After their 1963 Round 18 match versus Hawthorn, Geelong coach Bob Davis lambasted Hawthorn as the “roughest and dirtiest team he had ever seen!” This was a pretty serious accusation, but the Cats went on to defeat the Hawks by 49 points in the 1963 Grand Final. The Cats’ Polly Farmer played an enormous game to steer his team to victory. In 1985, the Leigh Matthews-Neville Bruns incident at Princes Park made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Cats-Hawks rivalry started to fire up in 1989. In Round 6 at Princes Park, the Cats led by 49 points at halftime, only to lose an incredibly high-scoring game as Hawthorn rallied to win 26.15.171 to 25.13.163. This game is regarded by some as the greatest home-and-away game ever played. It was Gary Ablett Sr.’s 100th game, it featured a miraculous comeback by the Hawks (who trailed by 56 points late in the first half), and it was a precursor to one of the best Grand Finals we have witnessed later that year.
1989 Grand Final: This was an extremely physical, high-scoring game, with Hawthorn just hanging on at the end to eke out a 21.18.144 to 21.12.138 victory. The Hawks led by 40 points at quarter time, but by 3/4 time they were down to only 13 fit men, such was the physicality of this game. Gary Ablett kicked 9 goals in a losing cause. The combined score of 282 points still ranks as the second-highest Grand Final in VFL/AFL history.
2008 Grand Final: Geelong had been dominant all year and were expected to defeat Hawthorn. Unfortunately, they lost their kicking boots after quarter time, managing a horrid 6.20.56 to the Hawks 13.5.83, as Hawthorn rolled to an unlikely 18.7.115 to 11.23.89* victory. I should mention that 11 of those behinds were rushed, causing the AFL to change the rules the next year on rushed behinds. While it was a devastating loss for the Cats, the win (as mentioned last week) kept alive the Hawks’ impressive run of winning at least one premiership in every decade since the 1960s – a tremendous achievement for a team that was the league’s easy beats for a generation after 1925.
* The only Grand Final scoreline that I could find with a worse goals/behinds ratio was the 1948 drawn Grand Final when Essendon kicked 7.27.69 to draw with Melbourne 10.9.69. The Bombers, having earlier defeated the Demons by 6 goals in the second semi, were totally shell-shocked and went on to lose the GF replay by 39 points.
More Recently
The rivalry has been particularly keen in the last 20 years. The sustained success of both teams over many years has made their rivalry consequential for ladder positions, finals etc. Both teams have won four premierships in the 21st century. The AFL introduced an annual Easter Monday fixture between these two teams, one of the biggest home-and-away games each year. Monday’s crowd of 84,712 at the MCG was the third-highest crowd to see a Hawthorn home-away game in team history.
The Kennett Curse: after their shock loss in the 2008 decider, the Cats won their next 11 matches versus Hawthorn, many of them by narrow margins.
Today’s Game
Monday’s game was another thriller. It featured eleven lead changes, the final one coming inside the last half-minute courtesy of Hawthorn veteran, Jack Gunston’s point. Both teams had chances to win it in the final quarter as the tempo and pressure lifted. The Cats hit the front by a kick with under two minutes to play, but the Hawks would not give up, kicking 1.1 as the clock wound down to snatch the win. Final score: Hawthorn 13.14.92 defeated Geelong 14.7.91.
Tipping
We had 18 tipsters pick 7 winners out of 8 this week, sharing the weekly tipping honours. Congrats to Jaci Tips, P John W, St Lindsay, Tucker Browne, Gazza, Annabanana, Had a Gut Full, Four Peat Magic, Flying Doctor, CD Saint, Jeremy Posner, Pauline Dallimore, Romo, Dazzling Don, Croc Junior, NeilNeil, Ingilby, and John Naughton. John N has moved back into the top spot by virtue of his better margin.
Ladder Leaders
John Naughton 27
Barb 31 27
Ingilby 26
Lynchey 26
Footy Pirate 26
Cazza SG 26
Croc Junior 26
NeilNeil 26
Luke Capt Awesome 26
Bruce McBriar 26
The Gather Round in South Australia begins this Thursday night with the Crows hosting the Blues at the Adelaide Oval. Please place your tips before that game and have a great week.
Don