Round 18
Hawthorn v Fremantle
The Curse of UTAS
A couple of weeks ago, Justin Longmuir brilliantly coached his team to the last minute, defeating the Sydney Swans at the SCG, which set alight the Dockers surge up the ladder. It was as a good a road win as one could witness. So, a lot was expected from the Dockers today at UTAS, but maybe UTAS was just one road trip too far.
As bad as Fremantle’s record is at UTAS, and it is bad, it was expected they would still prevail today, however, nobody told James Sicily, or Luke Breust, or the rest of the determined Hawks. The Dockers truly hate playing at UTAS.
Fremantle have now lost 12 games at UTAS and only registered two wins. Further, the Dockers, along with the Lions, have played more games at UTAS than other team in the AFL, compared to Collingwood never having to travel to the Apple Isle, while Essendon has only had to venture there twice, and the Tigers, Blues and Cats have caught a budget airline on only three occasions.
Fremantle supporters could rightly say the AFL is punishing them by fixturing their team to play at UTAS every year. It must be a hell of trip flying from a sunny and warm Perth to a dank and dreary Melbourne, and then on to Launceston.
Enough excuses already Fremantle, this was a game that you needed to win and should have won, but you lost it in the last quarter.
(Note: this an abridged Review as I felt poorly all day with a fever.)
Quick Overview.
It is very strange to watch a game where the second half of the game is a carbon copy of the first half of the game, but if the trends of the first half could be overlaid with the trends of the second half, give or take a point or two, they would be almost identical.
The game in summary, Fremantle jump out to an early lead and the Hawks fight back to lead at halftime, while again the Dockers build a healthy lead and Hawthorn fight back again to win the match.
The problem of being Jye Amiss and the Dockers Inaccuracy.
Jye Amiss kicked the Dockers first goal which was quickly followed up by Josh Treacy who slotted another. It looked like the boys in purple were on and the Hawks would be in for a hard afternoon, but after they both fired early shots that would be about the only impact they would have on the match. I am going to be harsh here, but for the rest of the contest Amiss (three behinds) and Treacy (one behind) only contributed four behinds between them for the rest of the match.
The inaccuracy of Jye Amiss must be a concern for Logmuir and his team, as today he had his chances to help the Dockers fend off the fast-finishing Hawks, but alas. I am not going to dance around the major weakness in the Dockers’ game which is prolonged periods of games where they kick inaccurately, and as a result they keep their opponents in the match. Five goals and nine behinds after halftime not only kept the Hawks in the game, but it also handed the victory to them on a silver platter.
James Sicily and Luke Breust
Hawthorn are a solid team, but there are very few established stars running around for them. However, the couple of stars they do have are worth their weight in gold – brown and gold.
James Sicily is a star of the game, and he leads from the front, much like Patrick Cripps and Zach Merrett. For a couple of years, I’ve been trying to make a case for him to be the All-Australian Captain, but the competition is fierce. Anyway, I digress.
This game called for a difference maker, and at the end of the day and it was James Sicily, ably assisted by the experienced Luke Breust who carried the Hawks over the line in the last quarter. Up until halftime Sicily looked like he may have comeback from injury a week early, but the move from defence to the forward line late in the third quarter was an inspired move by Sam Mitchell.
Three goals from the 20-minte mark of the third quarter, including two in the dying minutes of last, saw Sicily turned this game on his own boot.
Every coach in the AFL MUST know that James Sicily and Luke Breust are the two most likely players in the Hawthorn team to inspire and will their team back into a game. In simple terms, the Dockers got beat by what they knew today in the last quarter, as well as their inaccuracy.
Three Minutes of Youthful Exuberance in the second quarter by Calsher Dear
Late in the second quarter, Calsher Dear helped in a possession chain on the wing which eventually delivered the ball deep into the Hawks forward line, and it was Dear, who had rushed back to the forward line, snapping a classy goal over his shoulder after spoiling Luke Jackson to put the Hawks back in front, close to halftime.
In the next passage of play, Will Day found James Worpel in the centre who delivered the ball deep into the Hawks forward line where young Calsher Dear took a strong mark about 30 metres out from goal. Dear scored truly. Not to harp on the point, but a few minutes earlier, the more experienced Jye Amiss missed a similar shot at goal.
Calsher Dear finished the game with seven possessions, but he made a name for himself with a mere three possessions and two goals late in the second quarter that set Hawthorn up nicely at halftime.
At the end of the second quarter another young, inexperienced player, Patrick Voss impressed with his composure to slot the ball from 50-metres right on the halftime siren. Sadly, for young Voss, he couldn’t follow up early in the third with a similar type shot.
Fremantle’s saints and sinners in the third quarter.
Fremantle dominated the third quarter, but they could only manage four goals and six behinds, which doesn’t sound that bad, but some of their misses were terrible. In the first ten minutes of the quarter Voss, Amiss and Caleb Serong missed very gettable goals, while Michael Frederick missed an easy snap from just a few metres from the goal line.
The Dockers were in complete control, with Jackson towering over Lloyd Meek for most of the quarter, giving the ball to the likes of Hayden Young, Caleb Serong, Jye Clark, Jeremy Sharp and Andrew Brayshaw on a platter. Eventually the Dockers dominance was rewarded with goals to Jackson, Bailey Banfield and Sharp as they put the Hawks to the sword and ran away to a 15-point lead.
It should have been more.
It should have been a match-winning lead.
While Luke Jackson had been dominating, his opponent Lloyd Meek wasn’t exactly quiet, and he was also about to have a big say in the result of this match. If I was giving votes for the match, I would award Jackson and Meek as the two best players on the ground.
Will Day, Dylan Moore and James Worpel suddenly came to life in the later stages of the third quarter as they started reaping the rewards of Meek’s ruck guile. Meek and Will Day were keeping the Hawks in the game, while the Dockers had not cashed-in fully on their dominance.
Against the flow of the game, Meek to Day to Moore to Mabior Chol who goaled from 45-metres out on a 45-degree angle. Suddenly, game on.
Banfield responded immediately to Chol’s goal and put the Dockers back in front, but that was to be the last shot the Dockers would fire for the match. It is hard to believe that a team which had the possibility of going to outright second on the ladder didn’t 1) capitalise fully on their third quarter dominance, and 2) surrender a 15-point lead in what was at best a low scoring dour struggle.
The turning point of the match was swapping the struggling James Sicily to the forward line from defence, who on his first attack up forward kicked a goal to bring the Hawks back into the match close to three quarter time.
At the start of the final stanza it still looked like the Dockers would hold on, and it looked even more promising when Patrick Voss lined up a set shot from 45 metres, alas he couldn’t quite make the distance. On the kick-in the ball went to the length of the ground and Jai Newcombe went bang to put the first of the Hawks five last quarter goals on the board.
Luke Breust highlighted the Dockers kicking woes by slotting a set shot from the boundary line to put the Hawks in front for the first time in the final quarter. In a low scoring game and taking your chances in front of goal and kicking accurately was always going to be the difference.
Andrew Brayshaw kicked the Dockers last goal of the match to put them back in front, and Jye Amiss had a chance shortly thereafter to ice the game for the Dockers, but he missed a very gettable snap. In the very next passage of play, the Hawks went the full length of the ground and James Sicily willed himself to the contest and scrouged one the messiest goals ever. The difference between the attitudes of Amiss and Sicily in the last quarter was stark. While Amiss missed a very gettable goal, Sicily wanted to the contest and to be the man who kicked goal.
This Game was Won and Lost in Red Time
With minutes left on the clock the Hawks lead by a mere two points and it was a matter of which team wanted the win the game more.
Jai Newcombe is a beautiful field kick. In the dying minutes of the game, he delivered the ball perfectly to Mabior Chol who marked about 50 metres out from goal on the tightest of angles, who kicked the ball to the goal square where once again James Sicily willed himself to the contest to take a superb pack mark from three deep. Sicily goaled. In the dying minutes Sicily was the difference between the two teams.
A couple of minutes later, Nick Watson, who I hadn’t sighted all day, proved his wizardry when he iced the game with a set shot from boundary line from about 30 metres out.
Game Over.
If you get the chance, watch the last ten minutes of this match, and witness how one player can WILL their team to victory. Bravo James Sicily.
I Believe in the Dockers
Firstly, apologies to Jye Amiss as I believe you have a great career ahead of you, but today it seemed like every time you missed a shot at goal, on the very next play the Hawks kicked a similar like goal, or harder, to the one you had just missed. Really, I should be lambasting the entire Dockers team, as five goals and nine behinds in the second half of this match cost you second place on the ladder. At least seven of the second half behinds were more than gettable.
As it stands now, Fremantle’s destiny is in their own hands, while not one of their remaining games is a certainty, it is foreseeable they can win at least four games in the run to September and still be vying for a top four position.
Fremantle, you have friends at The Mongrel Punt who believe you are the real deal this year.
Is it fair Fremantle travel to UTAS every year?
I read many angry comments today from Fremantle supporters complaining as to why they are the only away team that gets a yearly visit to play at UTAS, and I’ll add another for Docker fans, GMHBA stadium. While I normally ignore the grumbles around the fixture, I agree with the angst being felt from out west.
Firstly, I’ll start with Collingwood, who in a combination of home games and away games, play five of their last six games at the MCG. This is the same Collingwood who have never set foot on Tasmanian soil, who have not had to travel to GHMBA for the entirety of Scott Pendlebury’s career (Pendlebury has never played a game in Tassie or Geelong), and while I am at it, the Pies have never played a game in the Northern Territory.
So based on the Collingwood example alone, there is a massive disparity in the amount of travel Fremantle face each season, and I don’t mean the normal travel, I am referring to flying 5 hours and then getting on another flight for an hour or so or getting on bus and travelling down Geelong Road.
Collingwood is not the only, example I can find. Carlton, Essendon and Richmond are not that far behind in the disparity of travel stakes, so yes Fremantle, you have a right to be royally pissed off with the knobs at AFL House who think the above is fair or part of the AFL’s genesis of an impartial and fair fixture.
Go the HAWKS
Everybody loves an underdog story, and in 2024 the Hawks are the ultimate underdogs. Written off after the losing their first five matches, they have responded above and beyond and with nine wins this year they are a punchers chance of making the finals.
From what I witnessed at UTAS, this club lead by James Sicily, will fight and fight until the final siren of the home and away season to try and get to September.
I’ve reviewed my fair share of Hawthorn matches, and at times I have been scathing, while at other times I could see the future, but what I’ve witnessed over the last two months is a team that plays like a team, with each player knowing their role, and knowing when it is their time to go.
From what I have seen last year and this year I believe the Hawks game style under Sam Mitchell is sustainable, and whether they make the finals this year or not, I don’ think this a false dawn.
Next week the Hawks take on the out of form Collingwood at the MCG in a match that will decide the 2024 fate of both teams.
