Hawks Keep Their Eyes On The Pies
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday August 2, 2008
Collingwood 8.14 (62)
Hawthorn 17.14 (116) COLLINGWOOD wake this morning out of the eight and in all likelihood will end the weekend there. It should not surprise, currently they are a long way from contention after last night again being outplayed, this time by Hawthorn. The Magpies were comprehensively beaten by the Hawks, going down by 54 points in front of 58,317 people at the MCG to record their third straight loss and further suggest that the slide from the eight may not be a momentary thing. While it was only a fortnight ago that Collingwood still harboured desires for fourth spot, now eighth appears optimistic. Theoretically, putting margins aside, this should naturally have been how it was - that the favourite one, that the lesser side that had lost its past two matches to lower sides should be easily accounted for by the better team. But Collingwood often perform counter-intuitively, finding their best game against the best sides to win when not expected - and lose when they are. This was not one of those nights. From the opening Hawthorn had the run and the say of how this game would be played. There was no Collingwood harassing and choke to force the ball to be coughed out like a bad oyster. But for a rally in the third quarter when Collingwood crept up on Hawthorn's early 39-point lead to nudge to 10 points, the Magpies never really threatened. They were not allowed to. Whenever a rally arose Hawks midfielder Sam Mitchell cleared the ball, or ran with it, or created something with it. Lance Franklin finished with the goals. Hawthorn played the game on their terms and if there was a fear that they would be flattened by the intensity of the game last week against Geelong, or that they would lack for running as a consequence of the match, it showed not at all. It was a match that appeared to begin as it would end. The Hawks had two goals in the first two minutes, the first to Stuart Dew, the next to Jarryd Roughead in a period of play not dissimilar to the Collingwood games against Adelaide and Essendon when the Magpies also failed to touch the ball for the first 10 or 15 minutes. Hawthorn played through their zone which is only effective because they have the talent to win a contested ball when one presents, and the running to ensure the zone holds. They also have a forward they can isolate to afford the luxury of numbers pressed afield. The forward to trouble was Franklin - as ever. He kicked eight goals six and might have had 15 - as ever. Collingwood chose the somewhat surprising option of Nick Maxwell for football's worst job on Franklin. It was an ambitious choice given Maxwell's limitations, but he does not lack endeavour. Maxwell was moved after Franklin kicked his third early in the second quarter, by which time Collingwood were already trailing by six goals and confronting a humiliating blow-out. But the first switch was a brief one for Harry O'Brien proved less equipped and Maxwell went back for round two.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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