After last Friday’s loss, my friends and colleagues have been asking me how I’ve been doing. I’m fine, and fellow Hawks, please don’t think less of me, but I saw this coming all season.
We just weren’t as good as we had been.
We scraped (stole?) some wins by less than a goal, and some good young teams in Footscray and Greater Western Sydeny finally came of age.
I hoped all season long that our ‘veteran’ (now exposed as ‘old’) team was just cruising along until they made the eight. I had friends who support other clubs telling me, “Hawthorn is the only side this year that would be a serious chance to win it from outside the top four.”
It was nice to hear and allowed me to remain in my optimistic state, reciting 1991’s ‘Too old, too slow, too damn good’ over and over.
But how many of us presented supreme confidence to the outside world, while in private moments, admitted the unthinkable? It was almost cruel that we jumped two games clear of the competition, but then August arrived.
In our first match we lost to the Demons, which was when I knew this would not be our year.
I could no longer delude myself that we were holding back or waiting for the pointy end of the season. We had just been beaten by the Demons, well beaten – they wanted it more and were the better team on the day.
From that Round 20 loss I began to emotionally prepare myself for the end of this group of players’ golden era.
We lost to the Weagles, as I expected, but I still had enough Hawthorn spirit to believe with an upset or two, once we smash the Magpies, we’d make a decent showing in the finals.
Well, who knew there was professional pride at Collingwood? They hadn’t shown any all year long, why start now? Then they put in a huge effort to prevent Hawthorn from tying (and really beating) their 100-year-old record of four premierships in a row that nobody other than the Collingwood faithful even cared about.
So, after that 120-minute nail-biter, which came down to the last minute, Hawthorn got to win their last game of the home-and-away season going into the finals.
There was no chest thumping, no fist pumping, no momentum, no form or confidence. Just the realisation that there was not going to be another gear, no ‘other level’ to take our footy.
We were lucky, damn lucky to have not lost three of our last four matches going into the finals.
Last Friday night I felt disappointment, the dream of the Fourgasm was over, it was time to wake up. But I also felt a sense of relief as it was finally over. I enjoyed every moment of it while it lasted, but knew it would eventually come to an end.
As for the game, we didn’t play badly, the Doggies were just better; faster, hungrier, younger and had plenty in the tank in the second half. They could have played another 20 minutes, while for our boys the final siren couldn’t come soon enough.
Suddenly I could see how the Collingwood game in Round 23 was the last hurrah for this group of champion players; they fought valiantly, scored the last point, and won that game on guts.
Sure, in the first final we played a cracking game against the Cats, but we always do. If we kicked straighter, we could have gone through to a home prelim and be facing an injured Swans team this week with a chance to get back into the grand final. But I would rather not make the grand final than get there and lose one.
My wife is pissed off, because since we have been married the Hawks have played in the grand final, and she enjoys the concerts as much as the game. She is a massive fan of The Living End, so now she’s pissed off that the year her favourite band is playing is the “one year” (her words) the Hawks won’t play in the grand final. I won’t comment on her priorities, but her outburst did put our loss to the Doggies in perspective for me and made me smile.
The players, most of all, must be so relieved that it is over. Imagine the weight of expectation they have been carrying since 2011, some since 2008!
Imagine carrying that burden of success and expectation into every pre-season, and week after week of the regular season. They may not admit it until the ten-year anniversary dinner, but the players are more relieved than upset now that the streak has been broken and they can approach 2017 fresh, without the weight of being defending champions and being hunted for 23 weeks again.
The toughest thing for the reigning champions in any sport is that you become the measuring stick for the rest of the competition and you get everyone’s best game week after week. Look at Melbourne, after they got up and beat us in Round 20 to prove to themselves they could, they did nothing for the rest of the season.
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Death, taxes, and Jack Ginnivan getting ignored!
Round 5 of the AFL provided plenty of action, from big scorelines to upset wins and pressure starting to build on some clubs and coaches already.
Collingwood premiership defender Nathan Murphy has been forced into a premature and immediate AFL retirement through concussion to prioritise a "full and healthy life"…
Geelong has been crafty and creative in its list management and has quietly assembled a very exciting young group of midfielders and half-forwards.
Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale will be looking to lead his team to a victory against Melbourne in what will be his 250th AFL game.
It’s high stakes with five teams having lost their first three games of season 2024, and in desperate need of a win.
