Hawthorn’s young outfit slayed the AFL giant at the MCG today and in the process defied conventional wisdom on how quickly a club can climb from ground zero to the top of the mountain.
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Cats coach determined to smash ‘em in 2009
Hawks hoping Tassie will drop its vision
But the 18.7 (115) to 11.23 (89) grand final victory over a wasteful Geelong, witnessed by a crowd of more than 100,000, has not convinced Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson that his club is set to take over from the Cats as the competition’s dominant side.
Equally, Cats coach Mark Thompson is adamant that while today belonged to the Hawks, the players and game plan that carried his side to 42 wins in their previous 44 matches can make them a force again next year.
The Hawks’ triumph today capped a steady rise since Clarkson took over for the 2004 season and set about rebuilding a playing list, a game style and a club culture that could stand up in finals football.
The Hawks climbed from 14th, to 11th, sixth and now premiers in his four seasons in charge.
Clarkson acknowledged the debt his side owed to clubs such as recent premiers the Cats and Port Adelaide, having closely studied the way those clubs built lists to win flags and he suggested his side had reached the target in unusually quick time.
“What we have done is studied models of teams that have developed a premiership group over time,” Clarkson said.
“It was quite common that to bring a group together it usually took five, six, seven or eight years.”
He said part of the reason the Hawks stormed through this year’s finals series without losing a game was the motivation they took from an upset loss to North Melbourne in a semi-final last season.
“Such was the resolve with this particular group, their fanaticism to actually improve as people and players drove the whole group forward again this year,” Clarkson said.
With a clutch of Geelong’s best players – such as defenders Darren Milburn, Tom Harley and Matthew Scarlett – also their oldest, while the Hawks are a young side across the board, Hawthorn’s premiership could be seen as a changing of the guard.
But Clarkson was not convinced the Hawks would take over as the AFL’s benchmark.
“I suppose the whole competition will now look at it that way because they always judge the premiers in that sort of manner, as we have for the last five or six years too,” he said.
“… I still expect that Geelong will continue to be a dominant side next year.
“We got the victory today, but it could have quite easily been a very different result and I wouldn’t suggest for one minute that that elevates us above Geelong because we still respect them enormously.
“… We think that we’ve still got to chase them a little bit.”
He compared today’s match to the 1998 grand final, when hot favourites North Melbourne kicked 8.22, their poor conversion allowing them to be run over by Adelaide in the second half.
The Kangaroos bounced back to win the flag the following season.
Thompson labelled the match a “wasted opportunity”, saying Geelong’s forwards failed to work together and the pressure of the occasion might have affected some Cats.
But he was insistent that after dominating the competition for the best part of two seasons the Cats did not need any radical changes to again press for the premiership next year.
“Absolutely, the game plan’s held up, we’ve won a lot of games for a couple of years and we were red-hot favourites to win and maybe if the game was played next week we’d probably do it better and beat the Hawks,” Thompson said.
“But on this day they’ve got the points and the premiership and they thoroughly deserve it.
“But it doesn’t mean that we’re just going to panic and be ruthless and sack people and just forget about what we’ve done. We’ve still got a very, very good club.”
Michael C
Guest
worst Vic club song................in the lead up to the '98 GF I strangely couldn't get the Adelaide CRows song out of my head............it still gives me shivers......"we're the pride of South Australia....." typical Crows thinking they're a pride, It should be "We're the pride of Brisse & Queensland, we're the might Brisbane Lions".......... for Crows "We're the murder of South Australia, we're the might Adelaide Crows"...... Yeah, okay, it works on a couple of levels...
Redb
Guest
MC, Even if the Cats kicked straight I doubt this would have stopped the Hawks mometum they just would have kept coming and we would have ended up with a closer last qtr. Campbell Brown is a bit fave of mine as well, great player under pressure always seems to find the ball. I just wish I could get the Hawks club song out of my head, its on repeat. :-) It is definitely the worst AFL Vic club song. Redb
Michael C
Guest
Ah well, Geelong, now have a super inspiration to just coast through next year - ensure they manage their squad to finish top 4 and not playing interstate ....... and then hit the finals on an upward trend.........for some reason this year, they weren't nearly as 'sexy' as Hawthorn come the finals. Hawthorn were really switched on, and did it with and without Franklin being a key contributor. Just shows though, that some clubs need to just allow their younger players to develop their bodies, build up adult strength, durability and endurance.........Hodge and Brown, mid 20's, they aren't little boys anymore. Where as Jordan Lewis, for all his being a tough nut, he struggled to impact the game - - it was still a step up for someone like that. I just reckon Hodge and Brown took Hawthorn, (along with Rioli's chasing and tackling efforts) to a place that Geelong struggled to counter ALL the time.........Geelong weren't horrible, and had some very good periods........but, perhaps just missed the chance to bury Hawthorn in the 2nd qtr when it seemed to all that they should've. Nice to see though............as, how many games did I see North look ready to bury a team in the 2nd qtr, only to lose by X number of goals.
Redb
Guest
MC, Could it be the Cats lost their nerve? Footsteps, footsteps...... the Hawks worried them out of it physically. Tha'ts why I think this loss is destructive to the Cat's team ethic and soul. It will take some rebuilding, albeit they do have Garry Ablett Jnr. Redb
Michael C
Guest
Redb - Yeah, I've not come across anyone who knows what happened,...perhaps he got sun stroke and hit his head on the ground..... North in '98 lead at half time by 24 points, that was 2 goals more and 12 behinds more than Adelaide. The thing that day was that most of those behinds were kicked by North. 6.15.51 to 4.3.27. Total dominance in the field, but, alas, had the Crows been even 2.5.17 instead - that may have provided North with a great enough advantage and psychological sense of reward. However, it was a hot and very blustery day - - North in effect wasted their dominance during the hottest and windiest part of the day, and went in at half time looking pretty spent. In the 3rd term North kicked just 2 goals but were still right there on the score board - but, in general play it felt like 'game over'. However, Carey had a shot in the last quarter that could have given us a spark, but he missed and there was no fight to the line......unfortuntately. And - again, we'd lost rnd 12 and 13, and then won everything to make the GF, 11 in a row, and played an awful lot of those games at night - - -suddenly a day time game of footy was almost something foreign. That lead up had included a ripping contest v the Crows at Crow Park before 43K+ crowd that North won....14.21 to 13.14............alas, wasteful kicking again!!! At 3/4 time that day it was 9.16 to 9.10..........the most annoying of 6 point leads are when it's 6 behinds!!! So - - for Haw v Geel - - Geelong only missed so many 'gimmes', and really the ones that hurt the most for them were the two by Cam Mooney that bookended half time............and he rightfully blames himself now............
Redb
Guest
MC, Not sure what happened to Harley thee was no footage. The Cats fans with me on Saturday were convinced it was those nasty Hawks. :-) Redb
Michael C
Guest
Redb and Sheek - that was why the Collingwood 14 goal demolition of Geelong earlier in the year was such gripping viewing - - to see how Geelong could be dismantled. Hawthorn managed that in the last 45 mins on Saturday - - and Geelong, in unfamiliar territory, didn't know how to go about it - - they don't often have to come from 4 goals down. That said, the fact they still had a sniff at 3/4 time was due to a shocking umpiring effort to award a down field free kick - - that was a disgrace - - and in fact I reckon Geelong had a couple of real lucky free kick goals. I loved the impact of Dew, I loved the courage and leadership from Hodge and Brown...... ...and I reckon a key moment was C.Young going off injured, up to that point, he was Geelongs greatest asset, i.e. a Hawthorn player who had had heaps of it and most the time turned it over (Geelong kill teams via the turn over). btw - - Harley going down for Geelong was a huge loss (what happened, I didn't see a replay??). Losing their captain left them a bit exposed in the 3rd term when his leadership might have made a difference....but, for team balance, it was like for like after Croad had gone down.
Redb
Guest
Sheek, Hmmmm maybe...what can and probably will happen is a reshuffle of the player group, all of a sudden a team that played for each other broke apart on Saturday, it was very un-Geelong like to play selfish football (Ottens and others) and this will cause fractures in the team psyche. They also need a power forward. Once the team loses some of its players through necessity the dynamics of the group changes. Your right North Melb did lose the 1998 GF from poor kicking and lost momentum, history does not always repeat itself though. The hunger aspect is interesting, I always think back to back flags are just so hard due to that hunger as you say. Its amazing how Geelongs mantle of greatest team of all is just about in ruins, next to I'm afraid Essendon in the 1999-2001 era. The Hawks won this game without a dominate Franklin or Roughead up forward, that's a little scary. My fave Hawk player Cyril Rioli played an incredible game, his efforts on the wing where he beat not 1 but 3 Geelong players was probably the turning point in the game. Redb
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Re plus 100,000 crowd - first time in 22 years - good to see. Having two Victorian teams probably helped?
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Great grand final, and a huge turn up - in fact, I'm still finding it hard to believe that Hawthorn managed a 26 point win with only two goals from Buddy. Two interesting stats form the Geelong camp: 1. scored 11 consecutive behinds from early in the 2nd to mid way through the 3rd 2. five of their 11 goals actually came from free kicks - looks like Clarkson's Cluster worked a treat!
Michael C
Guest
At least Geelong won last year (including the prelim by a very narrow margin) - - otherwise, they'd be on the verge of being labelled 'under achievers'. ditto on the 'great game', it was a ripping match, goal for goal at stages early on - - the Hawthorn pressure and absolute willingness to lay it all on the line - - MOST notably via Luke Hodge and Campbell Brown, who both carried injuries and both gave 110%. Hodge so deserved the Norm Smith medal. Dew was super important, for his 'impact'. I liked the review of the make up of the Hawthorn team, 13 Victorians, 2 from NSW, 2 from QLD, 3 from WA, 1 from Tassie and was it one from SA to round it off................pretty eclectic mix of Australians...............I'll love to see the break down on the Melbourne Storm team........... btw - wrapt to see them pip the 100K barrier again, finally. Sheek - - how many times over the last 28 hours have I been reminded of North in '98...........sheesh sheek!!!! But, yes, at least we got up in '99. And, that's the key for any team planning a 'dynasty', that you may have a key 2 years at your absolute best - week in, week out, but, you may have a window of 5 years where in if you make the Prelim finals, then, anything can happen......and you gotta be in the GF to win it and on that day you only need to win that one last game.....North weren't the absolute best in '99. But, we were in '98 - - so, it evened out.
sheek
Guest
Redb, I wouldn't be so quick to say the Geelong players have been dealt a psychological blow. You would no doubt recall the Roos won the flag in 1996, then blew a similar opportunity (like the Cats) in 1998, before winning a second flag in 1999. If I were a cats player, I would be furious with myself & team mates for wastage. It's not as if the Hawks blew the cats off the park, far from it. You could say the cats were their own worst enemy. I think part of the problem is that Geelong players had an 'expectation', like the grand final was owed them. I'm not sure they were collectively hungry enough. Maybe now they will be..... But have they missed their 'time'? The AFL is just such a hard gig to win. Every year, you could say there are always 3-4 genuine contenders. In the past 20 years (1989-2008), bookended by Hawthorn wins, there have been 10 different competition winners, which is a fantastic result in a 16 team comp. And as you say, there has been a winner from all 5 states. Six, including Hawthorn (Tasmania)?????!
True Tah
Guest
Great game, well played Hawks, it sort of blew out in the last quarter, but gosh it was tightly contested for the better part of the game...my first memories of AFL were watching the 89 final, and once again the Hawks got up over the Cats! Over 100K attended as well, not bad at all!
Redb
Guest
Sheek, What a great AFL Grand Final. yes unfortuantely your right re the similarities with Essendon in 2001 (similiar margin as well). I agree the competiton is sharing around the spoils, if you look at the last 5-6 years since Bris Lions won 3 in a row with salary cap advantages, it looks like this: AFL Premiers 2003 - Brisbane 2004 - Port Adelaide 2005 - Sydney 2006 - West Coast 2007 - Geelong 2008 - Hawthorn Importantly every state has won a flag in the last 5- years. Despite still having a young list, i think that Geelong's current crop of players have been dealt a huge psychological blow from which they may not recover. Hawthorn will strengthen but don't discount Carlton, Bulldogs, Collingwood or Adelaide next year. Essendon to win in 2010. :-) Redb
sheek
Guest
I would have thought Melbourne Storm broke all the moulds when they won the NRL grand final in 1999 in just their second year of existence. There used to be a line of thinking that a team needed to lose a grand final 1-3 years previously, soak up & learn from the experience, before being ready for a GF premiership. Not anymore, the AFL in particular is so competitive, that you have to grab the moment when it is put in front of you. The Hawks did everything they needed to do, although the Cats' erratic kicking certainly helped. But then again, maybe the Cats kicked erratically because of the Hawks' pressure??? Interesting to see how/if the Cats strike back in 2009. Remember Essendon in 2000? They were going to build a dynasty, but for many of their players, that was their one moment of glory. There was also Essendon of 1993, Carlton of 1995, Port Adelaide of 2004 & West Coast of 2006. It was boasted that these were all clubs capable of winning dual premierships in 2-3 years, but it never happened. Will Geelong hit back in 2009, or forever lament a lost opportunity? Next year's champion AFL team might be neither Hawthorn or Geelong, so competitive is the AFL.