Hawks recover to stun Sydney
PERHAPS ScoMo should call Clarko.
Australia’s sixth Prime Minister in 11 years might benefit from a tour of Hawthorn’s headquarters.
Success and stability are like Siamese twins and while the Hawks are overflowing with both, the Liberal Party appears to be lacking.
Morrison has time. The Waverley football department will be buzzing for at least another three weeks, Hawthorn last night securing its seventh double-chance in eight seasons.
It looked improbable. As Sydney captain Josh Kennedy dobbed a 55m goal to spear his team 26 points in front during the second quarter, coach Alastair Clarkson’s midfield couldn’t touch the Sherrin.
Six Hawks failed to register a disposal in the second term, including All-Australian prospect Jack Gunston.
The stakes at the SCG were high. For one team, finals would take flight from a topfour perch.
What would Clarko do? He moved Gunston to Dan Hannebery’s wing and instructed Hawthorn’s forwards to line up in a bizarre straight line.
In tennis parlance, it was like the ‘Woody’s I’. Shaun Burgoyne then walked to the centre circle and suddenly he and Jarman Impey escaped Sydney’s midfield cage.
Tom Mitchell wouldn’t have needed a bar of soap at the halftime basin. Early in the third term, Mitchell’s hands must’ve been filthy as he slipped George Hewett’s leash to pick up nine disposals.
Suddenly, Hawthorn’s intensity started to match the stakes and it eventually booted 10 of the final 14 goals to stun the biggest SCG crowd in 2018.
Clarkson said on Friday that Sydney boasted the AFL’s best backline of the past decade, and it looked like it for much of last night.
The combination of Aliir Aliir’s bounce, Dane Rampe’s strength and the impassable Heath Grundy made life tough for Gunston, Roughead and Puopolo in the first half.
At halftime captain Roughead was stranded on one disposal and was the butt of jokes from the Triple M radio box.
“Roughy — the footy is yellow, and it’s made of leather,” the callers reminded him.
In reality, this was a middlerung team launching into the top four as it was guided by the No. 1 coach.