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Wow, where to start? Firstly, credit to the victors. Just seven days earlier, I made it fairly clear I thought the Swans would not only win the AFL premiership, but do it with reasonable ease.
In wrapping up the last match of the 2014 season, there are so many different angles and such a variety of topics we could investigate.
How the Hawks, an outfit which looked dead on their legs a week earlier against Port Adelaide, not only performed like they were as fresh as Round 1, but made their opponents look like the weary ones.
How the Swans, so good in their opening two finals – not to mention most rounds of the regular season – could look so bad on the day it mattered most.
How, despite many people wanting to sink the slipper in, Lance Franklin was anything but a disappointment on the day. The number of Swans who went missing? A few who seemed overawed, and plenty who were simply outplayed.
We could talk about Jarryd Roughhead’s five-goal haul, Will Langford capping an incredible season with a brilliant performance, or Jordan Lewis – who was in some doubt after being subbed off with an injury a week earlier – with a dominant 37 possession effort.
But for me, there was one story in particular out of the grand final, and it was well before the votes were counting in the North Smith Medal. Luke Hodge. What a player, what a captain, what an inspiration and influence on those around him.
It wasn’t just the 35 disposals, it wasn’t the two goals, it wasn’t the dozen marks, it wasn’t doing it all at both ends of the ground, it wasn’t even being at the right place at the right times. It was so much more.
Hodge oozes calmness and confidence and that rubs off on each of his 17 teammates during a match. It’s one thing to be a champion player, another to be a leader through your deeds on the field. And then there is Hodge, who is both, but so much more simply due to the person he is.
You can’t quantify what the deeds and leadership of one player does for the rest of his teammates, but it’s clear it has an incredible impact on the rest of the Hawthorn players.
The respect the others hold Hodge in, is clearly evident.
It’s a long time ago now that people questioned whether the Hawks took the right player in the 2001 AFL Draft, the draft dubbed the Super Draft because of the depth of quality.
Some of the players who were drafted that year were: Jimmy Bartel, Ashley Sampi, Nick Dal Santo, James Kelly, Steve Johnson, Jason Gram, Sam Mitchell, Brian Lake, Leigh Montagna and Dane Swan – not to mention a father-son selection called Gary Ablett Jnr.
Hawthorn had pick number one, and admit they were torn between three – Chris Judd, Luke Ball and Hodge.
Hodge had been plagued with osteitis pubis in his draft year and missed more than three months, but the Hawks eventually chose him at one, but for some time that decision was questioned as Judd became a superstar and Ball reached lofty heights at St Kilda.
After a number of interrupted pre-seasons due to injuries, he got his first full pre-season in 2005, and would go on to win the club’s best and fairest and be named All Australian.
Since then… wow, again. Three premierships now, two as skipper, two North Smith medals and his place in Hawthorn folklore. But, after 250 senior games, he can also be placed among the true greats of the game.
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