Nearly, but not quite, again for the Hawks
There was a familiar script to Drouin’s 13point loss to finals’ aspirants Traralgon at Drouin on Saturday.
The Hawks weren’t able to collect the chocolates although they made the more fancied Traralgon fight hard to win the four premiership points 14-15 to 12-14.
That was after Drouin had conceded Traralgon a more than handy 20-point lead at quarter time, took control of the game in the second and third quarters but again failed to finish the job.
The Hawks levelled the scores in the third quarter and trailed by one point before an after the siren goal to Traralgon.
It was a similar story a week earlier against third placed Sale.
Things started brightly for Drouin when within a minute and a half Jamie Ferguson gathered the ball that spilled from a marking contest to snap a goal.
But Traralgon quickly gained an ascendancy stringing together five goals before Liam Axford got Drouin’s second on the siren capping off some good forward play that started with a sharp mark and good pass from first gamer Trent Kearney, promoted from the Under 16s.
The Maroons started in a much more attacking frame of mind than they did in the loss to Warragul a week earlier but were forced into a defensive mode in the second term.
Drouin’s on-ballers, closely checked early, found space to capitalise on Bob McCallum’s ruck skills to strike back solidly in the second term adding four goals to one, the Traralgon goal from a 50-50 free kick.
The Hawks’ still had to work hard for their goals and a couple of promising attacks broke down when wide passes missed targets.
The second quarter goals came from Jeb McLeod, David Olsen, Rhys Salter and Tom Barr to cut the margin to three points.
McCallum and Eddie Morris had been superb in the fightback.
Tom Barr was a great avenue of attack from his wing; Joe Collins, James McKellar, Wayne Morris and Brendan Dower with the job on Traralgon full forward and former AFL player Jay Neagle led the defence and Salter was busy in the forward half of the ground.
It was a goal apiece early in the third term as both sides left nothing in reserve, Axford getting Drouin’s first after selling a baulk and kicking truly from almost 50 metres.
A controversial 50-metre penalty after a centre square ball-up gave Traralgon another to get back out to a 10-point lead and its next goal stretched its lead to 15 points.
It was fast and furious football as Drouin continued to apply pressure.
The Hawks did level things up at the 25minute mark, goals to Eddie Morris and McLeod mixed among some behinds.
A point to the Maroons put their noses in front again and with the after the siren goal led by seven points entering the final quarter.
They gained the important early momentum in the last term, Neagle goaling after a clever one-handed mark and Connor Ambler, for the second time in the game, being awarded a free in front of goal that had the margin out to 21 points 11 minutes into the quarter.
But Drouin wasn’t done.
Olsen snapped a reply and Michael Laszczyk best read the ball at the back of a pack of a pack to run into an open goal.
The Hawks created some more chances but three behinds and an out of bounds on the full eased the pressure on Traralgon.
After a great snap from a boundary throw-in by Neagle gave his side some breathing space and Leigh Stockdale capitalised on David Miller’s missed attempt to kick the ball off the ground to seal the result.
Drouin got a late goal through Jake Simpson gathering a loose ball at close range.
Close but no prize has been the Hawks’ lot in a number of games this season.
There’s no magic formula but they need to find way to stop early bleeding and to capitalise on potentially winning positions.
They can’t expect more of Eddie Morris and McCallum, both leaders of Saturday’s effort.
There were many others that certainly can hold their heads up.
James McKellar was terrific in defence and kept the dangerous Leigh Stockdale in check when he went into the forward line, Liam Anderson and Joe Collins were also strong among the back group, Barr was good and coach Jordan Kingi, McLeod, Axford and Laszczyk solid contributors.
In attack Ferguson, who finished the game on the bench with a corked leg, Olsen and Salter had some good patches.