Hawks supporter Erin Michael reviews the clash between Hawthorn and the Brisbane Lions.
Sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong era. I’m the baby of my family and when I was younger all the “kids” in my street had already found partners and were having children of their own. Although I was born in a Premiership year, 1988, I unfortunately can’t recall Hawthorn’s last Premiership in 1991, being three years old. Since then I’ve learned that growing up in a family full of Hawthorn supporters has both strong and weak points. For example, it was all fun and games to go to Waverley Park together back in the day, but when we lost – which I remember being more often than not – my uncles could soothe their sorrows with a DVD viewing of one of the Premierships from years gone by, exchanging memories of the old glory days. All I could do is hope that the glory days of my generation weren’t too far down the track.
Saturday couldn’t come quick enough for me last week. Being a female footy fan at times is overlooked and each year I look forward to women being recognised in conjunction with the Women’s Round weekend. For me, game day is usually spent sitting next to my Dad, discussing the game at quarter intervals when he decides to take his headphones out of his ears. There are advantages though, as I can abuse all I like without him picking up on what I’m saying – or at least I hope he can’t. But I also love going to the game with mates. Over the past few season’s me and my mates Joe and Lozza have religiously gone to see their beloved Blues take on my Hawks – a tradition that began that fateful day when Benny Dixon kicked that winning goal after the siren. However, seeing as we couldn’t attend the last Hawks versus Blues game (and believe me I wish I had); Hawthorn versus Brisbane on Saturday was my compensation match. Although Joe couldn’t make it, Lozza didn’t mind that Carlton weren’t playing and chose to don the Big V gurensy. I think everyone’s grown tired of Brisbane winning.
With Campbell Brown niggling away at Jarred Brennan before the bounce, the game was promising to be a contest of high physicality. In the opening minutes our defence demonstrated some skilful passages of play, before the umpire interfered and hand-fed Brisbane an easy goal. From that point onwards, the first-quarter was filled with supporter frustration which seemed to escalate by the minute. Even the little boy in front of me was begging the team to “just play harder!” For a while it seemed as though we had become addicted to the concept of handballing, and I could just hear Sam Newman’s voice ringing in my head, “just kick the ball down the middle!”
One things for certain, the first-quarter of Saturdays game emphasised this concept – supporters are getting frustrated with the holding the ball ruling. I believe we have every right too. Even the Carlton supporter next to me thought the umpires were having “too much of an influence on the game!” The judging of the rule is inconsistent and even worse when a player gets penalised unfairly for trying to win the ball. Why punish a player for commitment?
The momentum shifted at the conclusion of both the first and second-quarter breaks, with Tim Boyle and Lance Franklin both slotting difficult goals after the sirens to send Hawthorn supporters into explosive celebrations. For a moment after the half-time siren I saw glimpses of the famous line-in-the-sand melee emerging as both teams tussled in the middle of the ground. The majority of the crowd seemed interested in the encounter before realising how close the Auskick kids were to the heated action. By half-time I was so excited I even decided to wait in a que for half an hour and pay some ridiculous amount of money for a few mouthfuls of half-cooked food.
Lozza and I noticed throughout the first-half that Hawthorn seemed to lack the one-percenters. Occasionally a Hawthorn player would pass the ball off to a team-mate and not instinctively shepherd to provide extra time. Brisbane’s Rhan Hooper had electric pace which stood out in these circumstances. Alistair Clarkson must have picked up on our theory too, for at the start of the second-half Chance Bateman shepherded which resulted in an automatic Hawthorn goal.
The boys had a stellar Premiership-quarter with spearheads Roughead and Franklin regulars on the scoreboard. The usual hard-workers, Bateman, Crawford, Hodge, Brown, and Mitchell tried their hearts out with Robbie Campbell also standing up. Although Jonathan Brown did kick his expected bag of goals, Croad deserves credit for restricting his performance. On that note, there was nothing sweeter then when Brown celebrated in the goal square oblivious that his goal didn’t count due to a belated Hawthorn free-kick.
Heading into the final term with a 28-point advantage, we had achieved the impossible in shutting up the old Fitzroy drunk standing behind us. The lack of confidence in our abilities which were evident in the first-quarter was soon forgotten, as the team played with the same passion which has recently got supporters excited for September. Trent Croad had me jumping out of my seat with his contender for Mark of the Year – what a beauty!
Since the days at Waverley Park, Hawthorn has received support from our thousands of members, yet apart from our unforgettable finals run in 2001, we have not seen on-field success. Saturday was a game that saw a triple-Premiership side challenge our team – a team who are playing to make a new name for our mighty club and more emphatically – turn the tables around. Following our 24-point victory, Clarkson conceded that he was “proud” of his boys and that “hopefully they’ll get some rewards somewhere down the track.”
The times are definitely changing, and that “somewhere down the track” that we have all been waiting for – especially the new generation of Hawks - maybe closer than we think.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the Hawthorn Football Club. hawthornfc.com.auwould like to acknowledge the contribution of supporters to theOfficial Club website. If you would like to sign up to write forhawthornfc.com.au click here for more details.
* The Hawks raised $1,700 for HSBCkids after kicking 17 goals intheir seventh home game clash against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday 11th August.
Sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong era. I’m the baby of my family and when I was younger all the “kids” in my street had already found partners and were having children of their own. Although I was born in a Premiership year, 1988, I unfortunately can’t recall Hawthorn’s last Premiership in 1991, being three years old. Since then I’ve learned that growing up in a family full of Hawthorn supporters has both strong and weak points. For example, it was all fun and games to go to Waverley Park together back in the day, but when we lost – which I remember being more often than not – my uncles could soothe their sorrows with a DVD viewing of one of the Premierships from years gone by, exchanging memories of the old glory days. All I could do is hope that the glory days of my generation weren’t too far down the track.
Saturday couldn’t come quick enough for me last week. Being a female footy fan at times is overlooked and each year I look forward to women being recognised in conjunction with the Women’s Round weekend. For me, game day is usually spent sitting next to my Dad, discussing the game at quarter intervals when he decides to take his headphones out of his ears. There are advantages though, as I can abuse all I like without him picking up on what I’m saying – or at least I hope he can’t. But I also love going to the game with mates. Over the past few season’s me and my mates Joe and Lozza have religiously gone to see their beloved Blues take on my Hawks – a tradition that began that fateful day when Benny Dixon kicked that winning goal after the siren. However, seeing as we couldn’t attend the last Hawks versus Blues game (and believe me I wish I had); Hawthorn versus Brisbane on Saturday was my compensation match. Although Joe couldn’t make it, Lozza didn’t mind that Carlton weren’t playing and chose to don the Big V gurensy. I think everyone’s grown tired of Brisbane winning.
With Campbell Brown niggling away at Jarred Brennan before the bounce, the game was promising to be a contest of high physicality. In the opening minutes our defence demonstrated some skilful passages of play, before the umpire interfered and hand-fed Brisbane an easy goal. From that point onwards, the first-quarter was filled with supporter frustration which seemed to escalate by the minute. Even the little boy in front of me was begging the team to “just play harder!” For a while it seemed as though we had become addicted to the concept of handballing, and I could just hear Sam Newman’s voice ringing in my head, “just kick the ball down the middle!”
One things for certain, the first-quarter of Saturdays game emphasised this concept – supporters are getting frustrated with the holding the ball ruling. I believe we have every right too. Even the Carlton supporter next to me thought the umpires were having “too much of an influence on the game!” The judging of the rule is inconsistent and even worse when a player gets penalised unfairly for trying to win the ball. Why punish a player for commitment?
The momentum shifted at the conclusion of both the first and second-quarter breaks, with Tim Boyle and Lance Franklin both slotting difficult goals after the sirens to send Hawthorn supporters into explosive celebrations. For a moment after the half-time siren I saw glimpses of the famous line-in-the-sand melee emerging as both teams tussled in the middle of the ground. The majority of the crowd seemed interested in the encounter before realising how close the Auskick kids were to the heated action. By half-time I was so excited I even decided to wait in a que for half an hour and pay some ridiculous amount of money for a few mouthfuls of half-cooked food.
Lozza and I noticed throughout the first-half that Hawthorn seemed to lack the one-percenters. Occasionally a Hawthorn player would pass the ball off to a team-mate and not instinctively shepherd to provide extra time. Brisbane’s Rhan Hooper had electric pace which stood out in these circumstances. Alistair Clarkson must have picked up on our theory too, for at the start of the second-half Chance Bateman shepherded which resulted in an automatic Hawthorn goal.
The boys had a stellar Premiership-quarter with spearheads Roughead and Franklin regulars on the scoreboard. The usual hard-workers, Bateman, Crawford, Hodge, Brown, and Mitchell tried their hearts out with Robbie Campbell also standing up. Although Jonathan Brown did kick his expected bag of goals, Croad deserves credit for restricting his performance. On that note, there was nothing sweeter then when Brown celebrated in the goal square oblivious that his goal didn’t count due to a belated Hawthorn free-kick.
Heading into the final term with a 28-point advantage, we had achieved the impossible in shutting up the old Fitzroy drunk standing behind us. The lack of confidence in our abilities which were evident in the first-quarter was soon forgotten, as the team played with the same passion which has recently got supporters excited for September. Trent Croad had me jumping out of my seat with his contender for Mark of the Year – what a beauty!
Since the days at Waverley Park, Hawthorn has received support from our thousands of members, yet apart from our unforgettable finals run in 2001, we have not seen on-field success. Saturday was a game that saw a triple-Premiership side challenge our team – a team who are playing to make a new name for our mighty club and more emphatically – turn the tables around. Following our 24-point victory, Clarkson conceded that he was “proud” of his boys and that “hopefully they’ll get some rewards somewhere down the track.”
The times are definitely changing, and that “somewhere down the track” that we have all been waiting for – especially the new generation of Hawks - maybe closer than we think.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the Hawthorn Football Club. hawthornfc.com.auwould like to acknowledge the contribution of supporters to theOfficial Club website. If you would like to sign up to write forhawthornfc.com.au click here for more details.
* The Hawks raised $1,700 for HSBCkids after kicking 17 goals intheir seventh home game clash against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday 11th August.
