The forecast for the day was for rain to arrive some time in the afternoon, so even though it was sunny in the morning, I was somewhat doubtful about heading out to Waverley to scream for my team. The wind at Waverley was pretty much gale force outside the ground, but the stands seemed to shelter the ground itself, so I doubt that the wind advantage was that great.
The Dockers seemed to spend most of the first quarter trying to clean up The Pretty Boy. They didn't seem to have much luck, until Scotty Chisholm was able to clean him up after he took a mark. Scotty got reported by the enemy of all True Believers, umpire Sam Kronja, so he might get to have a little rest next week. Freo didn't do too well at getting the ball either, during this quarter, and went in at quarter time 4 goals down. Despite the way the flags were pointing, that was with Freo kicking into the wind, so it was perhaps not as bad as it looked.
The second quarter basically seemed to confirm that it was as bad as it had looked in the first. Hawthorn added another three goals, to Freo's one, and the lead was out at 6 goals at one stage. On the plus side of the ledger, though, there was a very attractive brawl on the far side of the ground, which resulted in the Hawks fans booing Wills every time he went near the ball. Also on the good side of the books was an incident where The Pretty Boy was slung to the ground by (surprise, surprise) Callaghan.
Things turned around for Freo either side of the half time break. Mann had a shot for goal after the half time siren, which registered a major to pull the margin back to under five goals. Then the Dockers managed to win the ball out of the centre at the first bounce of the second half. They worked the ball forward to Waterhouse, who noticed that he was faster than his opponent, and had two bounces before very sensibly handballing to Hunter for a goal. Soon after that, Bandy added a major after having a genuine Laurie moment, when he side-stepped around a defender, and dropped the ball onto his left boot. That was it as far as goals were concerned for the quarter, though Freo had plenty more opportunities which they were unable to capitalise on.
Hawthorn did all the attacking at the start of the final quarter, but they just didn't seem able to find a route to goal. After a bit the Hawks seemed to just lose heart, and started to become extremely indirect. At one stage Parker kicked the ball up to Freo's half-forward line, where Hawthorn marked strongly, but it then took them three kicks to get it even close to where the ball had come from. Mann started to really come into his own, and added two goals, and finally Jess! scored the sealer.
So at about the 22 minute mark of the final quarter, with their side trailing by nine points, the Hawks fans began filing out of the ground. One might suggest that they needed a little more faith in their team, but as it turned out, they were right, and there was no further addition to the scoreboard after that point, despite Brown's shot for goal after the final siren (he hit the point post).
Final Score : Hawthorn 9.8-62 lost to Fremantle 10.11-71
timnfromoz
© 1997 t.neame@trl.telstra.com.au
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