Dave’s Football Blog

Well, it was more fun to watch than last year’s Grand Final — unless, of course, you’re a Geelong supporter.

When Geelong and Hawthorn met back in July, the Hawks missed a few key scoring opportunities, and when too many shots at 6-point goals result in 1-point behinds, it’ll cost you. This time around, though, it was the Cats’ turn to be inaccurate. A long stretch in the 2nd quarter resulted in 11 consecutive behinds for Geelong, which gave the Hawks a 51-48 lead at halftime and the impetus to pull away in the 2nd half and notch a 115-89 victory in the 2008 AFL Grand Final.

Not that Hawthorn wasn’t happy to concede behinds all night. The Hawks seemed to have trouble pushing forward from their own goal square. Most of us watching at Woody’s in Raleigh blamed it on lack of motion an inaccurate kicking in the midfield. As a result, the Hawks spent a lot of time stepping behind their own posts for rushed behinds. As it turned out, that strategy stole Geelong’s rhythm and kept the game close until Hawthorn’s 6-goal outburst in the 3rd quarter. Hawthorn took the air out of the ball in the 4th to preserve the win.

Geelong did manage to take Buddy Franklin out of the game in the first half, but clearly, there was more to Hawthorn than Buddy. Hawthorn out-kicked, out-marked and out-tackled Geelong in the end, and once Franklin finally got himself open, he kicked two key goals in the 2nd half.

All in all, it was a fun night. Big thanks to the North Carolina Tigers for hosting the Grand Final party again this year. Judging from the scowls of the Geelong girls as they quietly walked out of the pub, though, I think I had more fun than they did.

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