1. You've got to take your chances
OK, we knew that already, but Port Adelaide's wasteful first half was a serious reminder that, as the old saying goes, bad kicking is bad football. The Power could have taken the game by the scruff of the neck in the first quarter. They had 17 inside-50s to seven, yet they wasted chance after chance and went to the first change with 3.9 on the scoreboard. The wonky kicking proved very costly in the end. Port finished with 29 scoring shots to 22 but lost by three points.
2. Will Langford has grabbed his chance with both hands
After being a regular member of Hawthorn's team during the first half of the season, Langford was sent back to the VFL during June and early July. He regained his touch and confidence at that level with a couple of slashing performances for Box Hill, which earned him a recall to the AFL team for the run towards the finals. Langford, whose father Chris played in four premierships during a great career in brown and gold, held his spot for Hawthorn's qualifying final against Geelong, and he played an important role in the Hawks' win. Now he is preparing for Grand Final thanks to another very impressive effort in the victory over Port Adelaide. Langford spent time in the midfield and up forward during the first half, and he went to the long break with 15 disposals, five tackles and a goal to his name. He was responsible for shadowing Port skipper Boak at stages in the second half, but he still won plenty of the ball himself and finished with a team-high 29 disposals and 10 clearances.
3. You can never assume Chad Wingard is off the boil
Wingard was a star in the Power's semi-final win over Fremantle, booting four goals, but he had an absolute shocker in the first three quarters against the Hawks. He had just one disposal in the first quarter, one in the second and three in the third. However, he came to life in the last term. Charging off the back of the centre square, he gathered nine disposals and notched four score involvements as Port roared back into the contest. He also slotted a brilliant banana kick goal from right on the boundary line. But it wasn't quite enough to haul his team over the line.
4. Sam Mitchell always produces in preliminary finals
Mitchell was best on ground in Hawthorn's curse-breaking preliminary final win over Geelong last season. And he backed that up with another damaging performance in the Hawks' victory over Port Adelaide. Roaming through the middle of the ground, he won 17 disposals in the first half. The only knock on him at that stage was his kicking efficiency, which was 58 per cent. Mitchell was run down by Travis Boak early in the third term when he had a chance to drive the Hawks deep into attack, but that was one of his few bad moments. Even after attracting attention from Port tagger Kane Cornes in the second half, Mitchell kept making an impact. His final contribution on the stats sheet was 26 disposals, eight tackles and four clearances.
Emerging Hawk Will Langford tries to break through a tackle during the nail-biting win. Picture: AFL Media
5. Jarryd Roughead loves finals these days
A poor performance in the 2012 decider and mediocre efforts in last year's preliminary final and Grand Final earned Roughead a reputation for struggling to cope with the pressure in the biggest games. And he was again below his best in Hawthorn's qualifying final win over Geelong two weeks ago. But the man known as 'Roughy' put on a brilliant display against the Power, during which he spent most of his time up forward but also started in the middle at a few centre bounces. After the Hawks were left reeling by Port's withering start, Roughead sparked his team into action by kicking its first goal. Having booted three in all during the first half, he then slotted another three in the third quarter, including a long-range bomb on the run, and helped Hawthorn establish what proved to be a match-winning lead. Roughead ended the game with 17 disposals, four marks and 6.2.
6. Matt Spangher could be under the pump to hold his spot for the Grand Final
Somewhat of a cult hero at Hawthorn these days, thanks to his long hair and wild beard, Spangher started deep in defence on Port star Justin Westhoff. But he looked out of his depth and was later shifted to the forward line. He had little impact on the game while playing in attack and finished the contest with just 11 disposals. The question now is whether Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson will keep him in the team or replace him with someone like Ryan Schoenmakers. Spangher's ability to at least match Swans stars Buddy Franklin and Kurt Tippett for size will probably be enough to get him over the line. A Grand Final appearance against his former club (he played in the Swans' 2011 finals campaign) would be great reward for persistence.
