Dominant second half the key to Hawks win
“This is the reason you play footy,” Drouin centreman Chris Robinson reflected as he accepted a pat on the shoulder, stretched his legs beneath the table in the social club and sipped on his first beer on Saturday evening.
Robinson’s 21 team mates would have been thinking the same as they absorbed their 38point victory over Gippsland League powerhouse Maffra at Drouin on Saturday.
For most clubs senior premierships are few and far between and only a small percentage of players get to taste that success.
Winning as underdogs against good sides are about the next best thing.
It wasn’t just that when the final siren rang to mark a 17-11 to 11-9 win, as Maffra’s final goal split the posts, it was more about the way the Hawks did it that satisfied the players.
The game looked like going to the script most teams confront against the Eagles.
A slick, skilful and purposeful start from Maffra – it led 1-5 to one behind at quarter time although failing to fully capitalise – then when, and if, challenged regaining control and going on to a solid win.
That’s how the first half panned out.
Drouin fought back in the second term and got as much as nine points ahead before Maffra steadied the ship and rammed home the final four goals to take a 15-point lead into the break.
But Drouin dominated the second half.
Its attack on the contests, hard running, group defence and well-structured attacks dismantled the usually unflappable Eagles.
Seven goals to two in the third term by the Hawks turned a 15point deficit into a 15point lead at the last break.
A boilover was on the cards but coach Jordan Kingi stressed to his players at the threequarter time break that “hard work, not skill” was the key to going on with the job.
Work hard they did but there was plenty of skill, too.
The Hawks scored 56 to 2-1 for the quarter to run away with the game.
Two goals by Liam Axford in the opening five minutes of the term, both from set shots from the boundary and about 35 metres out, set Drouin on its way.
And it never looked back.
The Hawks had terrific players on every line and 22 that played their roles and stood up when it was their turn.
Ruckman Bob McCallum was superb all day, not only with his ruck work but bobbing up everywhere around the ground, taking saving marks in defence, fighting hard at ground level and drifting forward to kick two goals.
Wingmen Todd Beck and Tom Barr were clear winners and the on-ball group of Eddie Morris, Robinson, Liam Axford, Jordan Kingi and Cambell Jolly were competitive in the first half then obliterated Maffra’s quality group in the second half.
But they were only part of the story.
The defence, under enormous pressure early with Dan Bedggood and former Port Adelaide AFL player John Butcher prominent, really stepped up to the challenge and when Maffra did launch some attacks in the second half repelled most.
The goal tally was by far Drouin’s highest this year and in no small way due to the load being shared.
The Hawks had 10 goalkickers.
Axford and Bailey Beck each kicked three, Jamie Ferguson, McCallum and Rhys Salter two and Todd Beck, Harry Wans, Jake Simpson, Jolly and Barr also chipped in for important goals.
Former Hawk Darcy Irwin returned from Queensland for one outing with the team and helped shore up the backlines that were without Nathan Guy, David Miller (both injured) and Wayne Morris (unavailable).
But again Joe Collins, superb in the second half especially, Liam Anderson, Brendan Dower, Clayton Kingi and Wans did what was asked of them.
Ferguson and Bailey Beck give great mobility in the key forward posts and helped bring the other forwards into the game.
What was also impressive for Drouin was that it beat a Maffra side close to full strength other than Sam Pleming.
The Hawks’ attention now turns to its visit to Wonthaggi next Saturday, never an easy opponent and one which is much more dangerous at home, with an opportunity to reach the halfway mark of the home-and-away season with a six wins, three loss record.