Round 22 – Sydney v Hawthorn

Saturday 25 August, Sydney Cricket Ground

Hawks on top in Sin City

Readers who saw last week’s blog will have seen the dedication I included for my Dad, Peter, who died during the week.  This week’s post is therefore quite difficult to write, and belated as a result. For while I’ve spent the week in a fog of grief, I also find myself reporting on Hawthorn’s most exhilarating and memorable victory of the season so far, defeating the Swans in Sydney and grabbing top spot in the process.

It is surreal to write about the match in the context of Dad’s death, but that’s the context in which I experienced it, so it’s all I can do.

Also surreal was applying sunscreen before the match, for I had made the trip to Sydney, having arranged it some months previous. And the temperature was in the balmy mid 20s in mid afternoon. Although I was also torn between whether I should or shouldn’t go, in the end I went. And while I’d like to justify my decision on the basis that Dad would have wanted me to go, I can’t really; he wasn’t a Hawthorn fan – not even a football fan. He supported Liverpool and didn’t pay any more attention to Aussie Rules than his football mad family imposed on him. At best he would have wanted me to go purely because I’d already paid for it all. And this was essentially the reasoning to which I succumbed. I’m still not sure, however, whether it was the right decision. But, I reasoned, I was going to watch the match anyway, regardless of where I was, so I may as well be at the ground. Besides, Buddy was finally set to play.

Cheers Buddy!

The Swans have been based in Sydney for 30 years, yet in all that time, which amounts to a generation, the local fans have still not grasped the finer points of the game’s adjudication. As a collective, is there a group of footy fans less conversant with the rules and nuances of the game? They moaned so much at every Hawthorn free kick you’d have thought the free kick count was 26 – 12 in our favour, and not theirs, as was actually the case. Early in the match Adam Goodes was penalised for deliberate out of bounds after he actually handballed it over the line, so not an entirely unreasonable decision, but it meant that from then on, every time the ball went out, a howl of indignant protest went up.  It was like a pantomime audience who have spied the bad guy doing something despicable behind the back of the good guy and try to warn him.

Which is a pity; because Sydney is a great team and they deserve a more knowledgeable crowd.  Their first quarter and a half was tough and intense and Hawthorn simply couldn’t get a clean disposal away. The backdrop of demolition at the city end of the ground is fitting scenery for the sort of siege football Sydney plays. It not only looks like they’re playing in a war zone, but their style of play is similar to a guerrilla unit in urban warfare.

Having seen a few Swans game this season, it’s a pattern that has occurred a few times previous; most notably against Essendon and Geelong, where they start with high intensity and establish a strong lead early, but are so exhausted they find it difficult to withstand the opposition late in the game. I was still desperately clinging to that thought as we slipped six goals down half way through the second quarter.

But then…welcome back Buddy! Three goals in 10 minutes as part of a mini glut of seven got the Hawks right back into the match, and only a late goal to the Swans prevented us from an unexpected half time lead.

In the third quarter we continued to play well and goaled through The Poo and Shields before Gunston snapped one to help us edge ahead at three quarter time.

I thought we were getting on top by the final change, but Sydney turned it on again in the last quarter and seemed to wrest the advantage around the ground, with Goodes typically getting the lead back for them. Happily a great free kick to The Poo helped raise the ire of the Sydney fans and got us back in it. Another goal to Buddy after a brilliant pass from Mitchell and then when Buddy set up Suckling, the scores were level.

When O’Keefe put Sydney in front with a great goal, I still gave us some hope, despite our poor record in close matches this season.  Surely we’d learned something from the Geelong match! Then Hodge set us up with a pass that may have been intended for Buddy, but which Burgoyne floated across to take. And to be honest, I was more confident of Burgoyne putting it through than I would have been if Buddy had taken the kick. With over 30 minutes gone, we still needed to win and maintain possession, and Hale and Mitchell got it out to Sewell who ran and bounced and slotted it from 50 to secure our most exciting and dramatic win of the season. I haven’t been as exultant all year as at that moment and I may have even executed one or two graceless leaps in the aisle waving my brown and gold scarf.

Another reason for my trip to Sydney was to visit an exhibition devoted to Patrick White, the Australian novelist who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1973. A long time reader of White, I was thrilled to see his notebooks with his original handwritten manuscripts for what became his great literary masterpieces. Impossible to decipher, but the raw stuff of art nonetheless. And for a lover of literature and Patrick White, quite breathtaking, though in the final analysis, not as exhilarating as watching that final brace of goals from Burgoyne and Sewell. This match was a masterpiece in its own right; I just hope we can follow it up it if we have to meet Sydney in the finals.

Interestingly, the Nobel Prize itself is included in the exhibition: it is a large gold medal that comes with a certificate signed by the King of Sweden, but which looks like it was designed by an admin assistant who has just discovered Photoshop.

While all the attention in this match went to Buddy’s return, it’s worth noting that Hodge played a great game and that Burgoyne played probably his best all-round game since coming to Hawthorn. Like Sewell, who is in ripping form, Burgoyne is playing superb, assured football each week. If the Norm Smith medal is the Nobel Prize’s equivalent, and why shouldn’t it be, I give him every chance of winning it if we can get there.

Final scores: Hawthorn 15  12  102  d  Sydney 14  11  95

Buddy goal tally: 4 = total, 55. Buddy behind tally: 3 = total, 52

What we loved: We’re on top!

Also Carlton getting beaten by the Gold Coast Suns and blowing their finals chances. Nearly as enjoyable as Hawthorn’s win.