Magic from the Wizard and a cheeky chug from Ginnivan as young Hawks end Dogs’ season

Friday night’s match was probably the most highly anticipated of the four finals this weekend, but unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they just couldn’t match the Hawks when it came to the crunch, and their season is now over.

Storylines abounded, which is nothing less than standard when it comes to Hokball. From Jack Ginnivan making reference to his Thursday night at the pub with his cheeky goal celebration, to Nick Watson’s four-goal performance in front of his adoring, hat-wearing fans, to 19-year-old, pick 56 Calsher Dear’s incredible performance … you couldn’t have scripted it any better. And Ginnivan said it – the Hawks are having fun.

Now they turn their attention to Port Adelaide, and their semi-final next weekend. But the rest of us still have plenty to look forward to this weekend. On Saturday, the Swans host the Giants in a qualifying final at the SCG from 3.20pm AEST. And then the Blues head back to the Gabba to take on the Lions in an elimination final from 7.30pm. It’s going to be an unmissable day of finals footy, so make sure you’re back here for our live coverage from 1pm.

Thanks for joining us – it’s been a fun one. Catch you on Saturday!

We were speculating a little earlier about the health of Marcus Bontempelli – the Bulldogs skipper and star midfielder didn’t play to his usual sky-high standards throughout the match.

But coach Luke Beveridge put paid to any talk of Bontempelli being injured when he answered a question about the captain in his post-match media conference.

Marcus Bontempelli of the Bulldogs celebrates kicking a goal.Credit: Getty Images

“I don’t think he did [spend a lot of time on the bench],” Beveridge said.

“He was only having his [usual breaks] ... well to my mind he did, but he might have got stuck on there for a few minutes longer.

“He was OK. He tried to lift us in the last quarter. He kicked one goal and could have had a second and that was the message at three-quarter-time. We had to make a fist of this, we started to do that but then we squandered a few forward forays.”

Hawks coach Sam Mitchell spoke to the media after the game.

Q: After quarter time, did you feel the shifting power in the game, was it an attitude thing on the part of your guys or did you flick a few switches, what caused it?
A: Personally, I was really proud of the players for dealing with the whole game. There was a lot of ups and downs, particularly in the early phase, I thought they controlled a lot of the game and we were hanging on for different periods. I think when you are able to handle momentum swings, it obviously gives you better looks. When we got the momentum, we were able to maintain it. I was proud of them. I think halfway through the second quarter we really controlled a lot of the game after that. They obviously threw a few different things at us, but the players handled it well.

Calsher Dear of the Hawks celebrates a goal with teammates.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

Q: James Sicily was huge in defence as well?
A: They resort to midfield heavily and they are very good in there. That meant that our dependence on working in a fair bit of space. In that, James’ first half was obviously outstanding. He made them, not sure what they said, I thought they had to change a couple of things because of him. The way our defenders were moving the ball and getting it out of there, it was reasonably comfortable. I thought we were quite mature. More than 97,000 [in the crowd] so thank you to everyone who came out, biggest crowd I’ve ever coached [in front of] and most of them have ever played in front of. The players handle every aspect of the game really well, whatever is thrown at us, tactical or even little things like score reviews, blood rules or those little details in a game which you can lose your way. Marcus Bontempelli’s first five or eight minutes in the last quarter was, everyone was saying ‘here we go’. The way the players handle things like that, I thought we showed a level of maturity which gives me confidence.

Q: Did you have a specific plan to curb Bontempelli’s influence?
A: We have things we would use but he is such a dynamic and dangerous player. He certainly looked like doing that a couple of times. David Hale, our midfield coach, coached really well today, they are a challenging team to coach against. I thought he did a really good job with the midfield and it was a pretty good battle. I think [Jai] Newcombe ended up with big numbers. Quite an even contribution from them and that is what we have relied on from the majority, not any individual players but being able to share the load.

Q: How is a team this young able to handle these moments, Calsher Dear, Nick Watson, young players able to step up and play in front of almost 100,000 people?
A: It’s a good question. I wonder if it is the naivety of youth, maybe they don’t know it is a big deal. They are enjoying their football and playing with a high amount of energy. Look at the scoreboard and the golden point take it, but I thought the Wizard was a little down early but had a look in couple of places and pressured ... he got a fingernail on some. Then a goal came. The stuff we show probably won’t be the goals, it will be the chasing and the pressure. That is where we looked on song tonight. For the majority of the game, our pressure held us in good stead.

Despite some ribbing from his fellow Seven commentators, former Hawks premiership captain Luke Hodge has reminded the football public that the young Hawks still have some big teams to beat if they want to challenge for this year’s premiership.

“You could mount a case for anyone left in it to win the premiership,” Hodge said.

“Anyone who is there can do it. They [Hawthorn] have to go through Port Adelaide and through one of the Sydney teams. There are still some questions but they are still playing.”

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge spoke to the media post game. This is part of his media conference.

Q: What did you make of tonight’s game?
A: After the first quarter, [we were beaten in] most places in the end. We’ve been a pretty good contested side all year, but the Hawks were just too good. Ask yourself the question of how much of it is Hawthorn and how much is us, I would say a bit of both.

Q: Did you think there is anything tactically or structurally that made a difference, or did they just up the ante in terms of pressure?
A: No, I don’t think they did anything [special], any levers were pulled that were unexpected. At half-time, the discussion point was from the intercept game how many uncontested marks and the width we were giving them, the transition and movement up the ground, we had to make an adjustment ourselves and take away from the stoppage. We needed to counterbalance all of that. But unfortunately, with about eight or nine minutes to go in the last quarter, I think we only had 35 or 36 forward entries. After the amount we had in the first quarter, which wasn’t a lot. We picked tonight, against a really good side, to not see it through after the first quarter. It is not a great way to finish the year.

Ed Richards of the Bulldogs handpasses the ball.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

Q: So, your midfield group, who have been a really strong suit all year, had a really bad night?
A: Yes, we didn’t have a great influence through there, unfortunately. It didn’t happen for us. We just couldn’t get consistent territory, the opportunities inside 50, which were few and far between, we couldn’t keep it there or get any front-end stoppages. Couldn’t get any forward-half turnover. Everything we have been pretty good at, look at KPIs over the year, they went away. Again, how much of that is us and how much of it is Hawthorn? Credit to them, they looked slick across the ground, put us under enormous pressure. We couldn’t cope with it as well as we needed to and they were rightfully winners in the end. We were as flat as the proverbial hat as you can imagine. We came here tonight, both teams, from a week’s break. Feeling like we were ready to get out of the box. Not a bad start but the maintenance and the momentum and taking care of things that have been really strong in our game, we just couldn’t get it done. All those emotions, frustration, disappointment, all of that stuff, it’s going to take a little while to get over.

Leaving the MCG is no easy task tonight. Plenty of Hawks fans are leaving to head to pubs, bars and their friends’ houses, while many are sticking around to soak in the win. And if you need proof that the Hokball bandwagon is going full steam ahead, you’d just need to have glimpsed the merchandise stalls outside the ground, where the lines to get Hawks gear were as thick as Nick Watson’s shoulders.

The Hawks have sent out their now famous post-game selfie.

Fox Footy dropped the big question on James Sicily after tonight’s win.

Can they win the flag?

“Why not? We will try,” Sicily said.

Hawks skipper James Sicily loves the energy of his young forwards but he wants them to push for even more as the side prepares for Port Adelaide next weekend.

“They probably let themselves down a few times and missed some easy goals but the love the bright lights by the looks it and really enjoyed getting after it today,” Sicily told Fox Footy post game.

James Sicily.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

“We really handled their pressure in the midfield battle. Jai Newcombe, James Worpel and Lloyd Meek in the ruck. They did such a good job today.”

Sicily admitted he was still getting his head around his side being down to the last six teams left in the finals

“We’ve had our challenges this season and we’ve been quick to learn from them,” Sicily said.

“I’m a bit lost for words here. We are into another final.”

Jack Ginnivan crowns the Wizard with some help from the crowd.Credit: Channel Seven

Where does Nick Watson go to school? Hokwarts, obviously. (Disclaimer: I blatantly stole that excellent pun from the AFL social media feed. Shoutout to them.)