Purple rain, Hawks reign
For those of us without Foxtel or the ready air fare to Launceston, this sort of fixture presents a real dilemma; the radio with its over-excited but under informative commentators (“where’s the ball! Half back, half forward, the goal square!?), a friend’s place (you’ve got to pace these out over the course of the season – don’t use up all your ‘invites’ too early – you may need to draw on one later in the year), or the pub.
I chose the local pub, The Linc, on the corner of Mount Alexander and Keilor Roads in Essendon. “Linc” is short for Lincolnshire and this is evident in the décor, assuming you ignore the 200 or so flashing, zinging poker machines and the in-house TAB (sadly, no Jaimee Rogers). The interior of dark timber with stone fireplace (curiously not ablaze on this chilly afternoon), old men muttering to themselves into their beers, and the bar wench’s impressive cleavage achieves an authentic English ambience, and just like such establishments in England, the service is perfunctory and grudging.
The Linc boasts six TV screens of varying size and prominence, but all of them were showing Port Adelaide v North Melbourne, except one, which was showing a basketball match from the US. My polite enquiry as to whether one of the multi-screen views of this vital bottom of the table clash might be sacrificed to screen instead the match between two likely premiership aspirants seemed to put them out, and we’re talking here about a pub that doesn’t like customers at the best of times. No amount of remote control surfing helped. It simply couldn’t be done. Then, a miracle! The Sports bar allegedly had the Hawks match, but when I eventually found the 12” screen in what might be better described as a Sports ‘corner’ or Sports ‘nook’, it too had the North game on.
Now I don’t wish to cast aspersions on North and Port, but this must surely be the least anticipated fixture in the entire AFL season – go on, try and think of a match you’d be less inclined to watch. Also, how many North and Port fans are likely to be in the pub, or indeed, in any one place – even a stadium where the two teams are actually playing – at any given time? If Dr Kinsey’s famous reports on human sexuality from the 1940s and 50s are correct, and one in every five people is homosexual, then they far outnumber North and Port fans combined and the Linc would have better serviced its patrons by screening a Lady Gaga concert than have one, let alone six screens devoted to this match.
Eventually the proprietor informed the sole basketball fan that bad luck, he was just going to have to miss the rest of his game as he was turning the TV to the Hawks match on the basis that this was, after all, a “footy pub”. Initially I thought it a bit unfair to kick this guy out; after all, he was there first, his game was still in progress and I didn’t want to be a party to his eviction. But then I thought hold on, Hawthorn, and more to the point, Buddy’s 150th game, is far more important than the LA Lakers or whatever team of long-shorts was lumbering up and down the polished floorboards. Good riddance basketball dude…learn to love the Hawks or be banished!
Happily ensconced, I got a beer in and ordered some chips, and at $6.50 a bowl, it was just like being at the match.
Aurora has become known as our fortress, but after our previous match against the Swans – see post no. 7 – I thought if we don’t win this one we might have to build up our battlements, toughen up our turrets and restock the moat. Happily we’d drawn Freo this week. Last time we played them in Launceston they rested half their side ahead of the finals and we won by 116 points. So they didn’t arrive with happy memories of the place and this is after days of trekking just to get there. Also, I’ve been to both Fremantle and Launceston in winter. In Fremantle I dined alfresco wearing a t-shirt, whereas in Launceston I had to sleep in an overcoat and Ugg boots. The Freo boys must have felt like they were playing at Mawson’s Hut.
With the stand-off over sports channels, I came late to the match, but hadn’t missed much; certainly not any goals. Ross Lyon had clearly introduced to Freo the uber-defensive style that had got him nowhere at St.Kilda, stringing the entire team across the half back line to repel attacks. And it was evidently working because Hawthorn hadn’t scored. But of course, neither had Freo. That’s the flaw in the Lyon masterplan; it’s one thing to restrict the opposition from scoring, but you’ve got to score yourself if you want to win.
Having said that, the theory is sound enough, and indeed, the very next morning there was a good example of this strategy being used very effectively. In the UEFA Cup Final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea, Chelsea pretty much adopted the same approach – they sat back with a string of players across top of the box, absorbing attack after attack, and then bursting forward on the counter attack. And it worked – they scored once, to equal Bayern, and that was enough to force extra time and penalties, in which they ultimately prevailed.
So the strategy can be effective. Of course in soccer the field is considerably shorter and you only need one or two runners and a striker to launch the counter attack. In footy however, if everyone is strung across the half back line, by the time you take possession you’ve got a couple of kilometres to run get to the other end, to say nothing of maintaining possession over such a vast distance and kicking accurately when you eventually get within range. And you’ve generally got to score more than once or twice to win a match of Aussie rules. So after Hawthorn finally squeezed through a couple of first quarter goals through Roughead and Breust, you had the feeling it might be enough.
Freo kicked the first goal of the second quarter after a series of handballs on the boundary ended with a nice goal by Neale. Then Pavlich missed a sitter, Young missed one for us, and viewers were beginning to dread a long, low scoring grind of a match with no sparkle. Enter Cyril, though he didn't so much enter as burst through the pack, take possession and slot a slick left footer with the outside of his boot on the run. And that was basically it. With the ball streaming forward all quarter, seven more Hawthorn goals followed, including another to Cyril and a brace that came as a direct result of Cyril chasing down slow forwards – one to Guerra and one to Buddy. A nice 60m goal from Suckling and a cool Buddy interception and pass to Roughead gave us two more. Our high possession game, which had been verging on becoming frustrating and unproductive, was breaking through the Freo defence with ruthless regularity. I loved it. More please! A half time score of 10.9 to 2.6 suggested that Freo’s ultra defensive game plan needed a tweak or two.
The second half began with Sewell taking possession and getting it straight to Roughy for a goal, followed a few minutes later by Roughy kicking another, and it looked like we were heading for another 100+ points win. Sewell was winning the ball all over the ground, Young was doing well in his 100th game and Roughy was fuelling the undying love all Hawk fans feel for him with a dominant performance. Then Freo suddenly kicked four successive goals and there was a slightly sick feeling that we might have to start worrying. I ordered a nerve steadying pot and took a refreshing sip as Lewis slotted a nice goal from his favourite pocket to restore sanity.
The Hawks regained control in the final quarter kicking five goals to two, including a snap from Sammy and a set shot by Breust from a tight angle at the end. The umpires celebrated Buddy’s 150th match in the final quarter by not awarding him a clear mark, paying a series of free kicks against him and then gilding one with a 50m penalty. It was a thoughtful touch on his milestone day, in keeping with how they've treated him in his previous 149 games. By then though, most of us were focusing on one of the many screens showing Port Adelaide running all over North in the final minutes, for despite my disparaging remarks, it was by far the more entertaining finish. Perhaps the Linc had it right after all.
It was a good win by the Hawks, but disappointing for Freo, especially in a week when the Patron Saint of all things purple, Prince, was touring the country. But then Prince’s most successful and productive period was 1978 – 1992, which also happens to be Hawthorn’s most successful and productive period. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the Hawks once more commence their ascent to the top of the ladder as His Purpleness again works his way to the top of the charts. The 80s are back in music and fashion, and it seems in football as well...Go Hawks!
Final scores - Hawthorn: 17 17 119 d Fremantle: 9 9 63
What we love: A bit of Rough.
What we’d like: To hear Prince cover the Dockers theme song.
Buddy goal tally - 1 = total 20.
Buddy behinds tally - 2 = total, 33
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