By Jake Niall
Geelong and Hawthorn’s rivalry has been the game’s most compelling for some years, but this latest installment has taken not only their competition, but AFL football to unprecedented heights.
The short version is this: Hawthorn, unable to best Geelong since the 2008 grand final, mounted one of their greatest comebacks, yet still fell a kick short. And the Tom Hawkins kick that delivered Geelong a two-point victory had barely left his boot when the final siren sounded.
View photos of the game: click here.
Hawkins’ goal, his sixth, came from beyond 50m, more or less dead in front, the result of a brilliant rapid pass by his skipper Joel Selwood. Hawthorn, minutes earlier, had led by eight points and it was hard to imagine how the Cats could prevail yet again and maintain the so-called "Kennett curse" - the label given to Hawthorn’s inabiltity to best Geelong since Kennett called his team mentally stronger than the Cats following the 2008 grand final upset.
To relive how the game unfolded, minute by minute: click here.
The pattern of the match was as follows: a Geelong blitz that opened up that huge lead, which peaked early in the second term, then a Hawthorn surge that was longer and more gradual; it would take the Hawks until time-on to take the lead, via a Brad Sewell snap. Sewell and Sam Mitchell were among the principal architects of the comeback.
If no one fancied Hawthorn’s chances at quarter-time, the Cats didn’t seem much more likely when that Hawk lead increased to eight points, with few minutes remaining. Only the Cats, with their reserves of courage, poise and belief, would be capable of conjouring a victory in those circumstances against a team of Hawthorn’s calibre.
Geelong opening quarter was quite possibly the most exhilarating and complete half hour of football by any team this season. It was Roger Federer-esque and it is certainly difficult to conceive of any team producing better football.
The Cats booted the opening five goals within 15 minutes, overwhelming the Hawks from the opening bounce with an astonishing combination of high-wire skill, ferocity at the ball, well-timed spoiling and intercepts and, most noticeably, savage defensive pressure and tackling. The tackle count by quarter-time stood at 17 to 6.
Geelong’s old gang, clearly aroused by the sight of brown and gold jumpers, were rampant. Paul Chapman, the player who had vowed the Cats would "never lose to them again" after the 2008 failure, booted three goals. Stevie Johnson slotted two and had 10 mostly sublime touches. Joel Selwood set the tone from the midfield with 11 disposals in the opening blitz, while James Kelly won the contested ball from stoppages. Matthew Scarlett, who rivals Chapman in rising for the Hawks, was a significant influence behind the ball.
The surprise cameo came from Orren Stephensen, the 29-year-old rookie ruckman, who contributed four telling clearances and was a catalyst for Geelong’s explosive opening, with Mitch Duncan contributing two goals.
The 9.3 Geelong banged through was the most the Hawks had ever conceded in an opening quarter against the Cats. The Hawks - who’d scored only one major from a soft free to the indomitable Jordan Lewis - have not been questioned often lately. Here, they faced a severe test of their mettle.
For all their recent mastery of the competition, two queries hung over the Hawks. One was whether they could handle Geelong.
The other was whether they had the champion’s capacity to pick themselves up off the canvas, in the manner of the truly greats warrior teams such as Geelong. Hawthorn has shown a taste for a killing, but it was unclear whether it could reverse the pattern of a game, when all was against it.
These two questions were certainly popped to the flag favourites at quarter time. The lead, at its maximum, would stretch to 51 points in the opening minute of the second quarter. The pattern of the match would reprise the famed 1989 home and away home between these clubs, when Hawthorn came back from nine goals down to outlast the Cats at Princes Park.
As would expect, the Hawks responded to their plight, lifting their tempo. To a degree, this match ebbed and flowed according to the intensity of each side’s tackling. They quadrupled their tackling number in the second quarter, began to run with purpose and to win important 50-50 balls. Sam Mitchell, the anchor of the Hawk midfield, had some crucial deft touches, and Cyril Rioli made his inevitable dramatic entrance, Jarryd Roughead - matched with Harry Taylor when forward - also found some ball.
The Hawks would spent the next 70 minutes of the match gradually whittling Geelong’s once massive lead; at half-time, following a goal to Roughead, 51 points had been cut by exactly two-thirds. At the final break, it remained 17 points. By the middle of the final quarter, Geelong had no lead at all, as long goals to Gunston and Whitecross levelled the match at 16.10 each.
When Brad Sewell snapped accurately to put the Hawks ahead for the first time, little more than five minutes remained on the clock. This would stretch to eight points.
Geelong still had a pulse though, and their best hope of salvation lay in their one enormous trump card - Tom Hawkins, whose fifth goal from a curling snap would bring the Cats back to within two points.
Then came the extraordinary denouement. Within the final 30 or so seconds, the Cats moved the ball from defence, where Selwood marked in the corridor and then sent a searing low pass to the Tomahawk, who marked right on 50m.
Hawkins had seen his share of yips. Here, there was a question of whether he could make the distance and one wondered if he would blaze.
But he took the responsibility, drew breath and unloaded a very high drop punt. The Sherrin carried the journey. The story of a stunning comeback had been trumped.
The curse lived. And so does Geelong.