Well thanks Collingwood, you blew it! The Hawks have firmed further as flag favourites and it appears Collingwood let slip on what could be one of the only chances to level out the flag race by failing to capitalise on a lead they’d snatched late into the first half. To be fair, Collingwood had the right game plan. Theirs was a shock and awe type mission where physical intimidation and the harassment of star forward Lance Franklin was seen as the key to unsettling the Hawks and they implemented it well. Buddy was goalless and frustrated and the Pies were having success down the other end with Travis Cloke, but the Hawks continued to show that they aren’t a one-man team. With an even spread of goal scorers, the Hawks reclaimed the lead with a three goal flurry to close the half, the last of which was a Buddy Franklin belter after the siren. Collingwood had brought the pain but at the long break they were behind and the big man was on the board. They never really recovered.
By the final siren, the Hawks were up by 38, Buddy had bagged 4 but more impressively, ten other players had shared in the majors. Sam Mitchell and Brad Sewell were fantastic in the midfield, David Hale provided a strong presence in the middle and grabbed two goals, while superstars in the making Luke Bruest an Jack Gunston both bagged two each with solid performances. Collingwood are still alive next week and are boosted the late season form revival of Travis Cloak who scored six goals while Andrew Krakouer grabbed 4.
So for Hawks they have a week off. They are in the finals, they will be immersed in the finals headspace for two weeks, and any chance of catching them off guard evaporated last night after their solid clinical second half performance. They’ll turn up in two weeks time in red-hot form, ready to play, and outright specials for the flag. For Collingwood, there effort was excellent, the game plan spot on, but the Hawks were just too good. They’ll be back next week to face West Coast (ok, maybe North Melbourne) in Melbourne. Everyone else will head back to the drawing board on vain attempt to work out how on earth they can stop a devastating Hawks outfit.
Picture by Quinn Rooney at Getty Images.
