Review 2024 SF - win v. Umpires (Hawks)

[Port 2004]

Really?

One of the youngest teams in the comp went from 17th on the ladder after Round 7 all the way to a Semi Final. They've been playing virtual Elimination Finals for the past 2 months. They won 15 of their last 20 games in great style without any recognised superstars, but with an incredibly even team effort across the board.

Last week, in front of an MCG crowd of 98,000, they won convincingly versus a highly-fancied Western Bulldogs team who many were tipping to win the flag.

They travelled to South Australia to play a pumped-up Port Adelaide team who finished 2nd on the ladder and who threw the kitchen sink at them for 4 quarters. I don't have the stats, but I'm guessing it was Port's best game of the season in terms of pressure index and tough tackling over 4 quarters.

Port managed to shut down the Hawks running game and led by 3 goals halfway through the final quarter.

Did the Hawks turn up their toes and concede defeat? Did the Hawks find it all "too hard" and surrender meekly once the opposition and home crowd sensed victory? Nope... Hawthorn fought the game out to the final whistle. They almost pinched victory in the final 2-3 minutes with 2 set shots that went agonisingly close.

This is the exact opposite to showing a "soft underbelly". Teams with a soft underbelly get pumped in September. Or they fold like a house of cards and let games slip after leading by 44 points. Hawthorn went down swinging in an away final and lost by 3 points without some key personnel. I personally think they showed a lot of character, grit and toughness this season.

But enough of the actual footy talk. Let's focus instead on the irrelevant crap... Maybe in the immediate aftermath of defeat, they got sucked in by the Hinkley gloating and they defended their teammate and displayed their bitter disappointment at being knocked out of the premiership race.

If that's called having a "soft underbelly" then please sign us up for some more...

we had nine players under the age of 22 years. Look at the stats on games played average age etc which stats were posted in this thread.

 

[Back One Out]

Thanks. That’s it.

tl;dr

I think the young Hawks showed tremendous ticker this season... and showed it again last Friday to go down by just 3 points against a pumped-up Port Adelaide side who pressured them relentlessly for 4 quarters and closed down their running game. They persisted, despite never once having the game on their terms.

It was a great win by Port. Fully deserved. But it's a silly call to accuse the Hawks of having a "soft underbelly" because of the post-game shenanigans. More accurate to say the Hawks were bitterly disappointed to get knocked out of the finals race and they probably overreacted to the Hinkley gloating.

Once the 2025 season is underway, nobody is going to remember much about any of this, nor will they care...

Good luck this week. I'll be barracking for the upset.
I hope you give it to those AFL spoon-fed, Channel 7 lovechild Sydney flogs.

 

[Alberton Proud]

Was on the hill tonight and the hawks fans were a lot of fun - some pretty fun banter. Thanks for coming over guys and I genuinely wish you all the best for next year


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Yep
Up in the stands too
No bullshit just good banter
Good supports

 

[Lefti93]

Port crowd that turned up on Friday deserve more recognition. Having to sit through that bullshit the week before, the noise and atmosphere created by everyone was immense.

 

[Janey]

Port crowd that turned up on Friday deserve more recognition. Having to sit through that bullshit the week before, the noise and atmosphere created by everyone was immense.

After sitting through the Geelong game, I really didn’t think I could do it again, but after a couple of days I weakened and got a ticket, great seat it was too. And, boy was I glad I did. I think having a good turnout of Hawks supporters made it an even better atmosphere.

 

[OneGreatClub]

Really?

One of the youngest teams in the comp went from 17th on the ladder after Round 7 all the way to a Semi Final. They've been playing virtual Elimination Finals for the past 2 months. They won 15 of their last 20 games in great style without any recognised superstars, but with an incredibly even team effort across the board.

Last week, in front of an MCG crowd of 98,000, they won convincingly versus a highly-fancied Western Bulldogs team who many were tipping to win the flag.

They travelled to South Australia to play a pumped-up Port Adelaide team who finished 2nd on the ladder and who threw the kitchen sink at them for 4 quarters. I don't have the stats, but I'm guessing it was Port's best game of the season in terms of pressure index and tough tackling over 4 quarters.

Port managed to shut down the Hawks running game and led by 3 goals halfway through the final quarter.

Did the Hawks turn up their toes and concede defeat? Did the Hawks find it all "too hard" and surrender meekly once the opposition and home crowd sensed victory? Nope... Hawthorn fought the game out to the final whistle. They almost pinched victory in the final 2-3 minutes with 2 set shots that went agonisingly close.

This is the exact opposite to showing a "soft underbelly". Teams with a soft underbelly get pumped in September. Or they fold like a house of cards and let games slip after leading by 44 points. Hawthorn went down swinging in an away final and lost by 3 points without some key personnel. I personally think they showed a lot of character, grit and toughness this season.

But enough of the actual footy talk. Let's focus instead on the peripheral post-game crap... Maybe in the immediate aftermath of defeat, they got sucked in by the Hinkley gloating and they defended their teammate and displayed their bitter disappointment at being knocked out of the premiership race.

If that's called having a "soft underbelly" then please sign us up for some more...

Look, we know you are improving. Good on you, bodes well for next year etc.
We also realise that the Vic media has been blowing smoke up your a***s for weeks now.
We get that.
That’s life as a Vic team in the AFL media.
But if you really want to grow as a team you need to accept your losses. Grow up a bit.
Accept that you lost against a team of similar, in fact lesser statistics experience wise, in front of a crowd that had a massive proportion of your supporter base.
I get that it’s hard to have to travel for Vic teams, it’s blatantly unfair, especially when the oppo home team earned the right to play at AO.
I get that it is absolutely fair though, that interstate teams, even if they have finished top of the ladder play their GF at the MCG even if it is the lesser team’s home ground. Totally as it should be.

Accept that if you give out shit then you need to be prepared to also take.
That will help in your development going forward.
I know it’s hard when you are the a golden boys of the moment.
But do that and you will reap rewards going forward.

You talk about Hinkley.
Yes I agree with you that was bad taste but do you know what was even more pathetic, it was your captain continuing the mouthing off while carrying off one of your own heroes on his shoulders and your sore loser coach Mitchell crying in a presser.

 

[Back One Out]

Do you realise your “one of the youngest teams in the comp” had an older average age and more experience in terms of average games played than the one we put on the park?

No, I didn't realise that. But I wasn't comparing the age profile of our 2 clubs. Just referencing how we have a bunch of inexperienced players who have taken on enormous responsibility for the overall team performance and have done well this season.

Watson, Dear, Day, Newcombe, Weddle, D'Ambrosio, MacDonald, Ginnivan, Moore, Ward, Mackenzie, etc..

Same goes for Port with Butters, Rozee, Horne-Francis, Burgoyne, Georgiades, Sweet, Jones and Bergman

Jase Burgoyne played an incredible game on Friday. I've enjoyed watching him do his stuff this season. You've unearthed a beauty there. I think he will turn out to be even better than his dad, Peter.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Port crowd that turned up on Friday deserve more recognition. Having to sit through that bullshit the week before, the noise and atmosphere created by everyone was immense.

Blood oath.

A tremendous effort to not only rock up but to make noise in what looked at times like being dejavu all over again..

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[_VXV]

wasn’t sure if I should post this or not but it was mostly good banter but got a bit shit. At halftime I was walking out & ended up alongside a big hawks bloke that was in a group of about 30 hawks supporters in the bay in front of us with his little puppy in tow giving me shit that the umps were looking after us. Told him all your players needed to do was get rid of the ball & you won’t get pinged. Then I cheekily mimicked hawks players fumbling the ball & letting him know the wizards tricks weren’t working. He the said he’d come looking for me after the game to make sure I’d be crying. Whatever mate, set my lad up in the tuckshop line & when they got about 20 metres in front of me puppy pipes up & yells “I’m gonna stab ya bro”. Everyone at the southern end behind members heard this. Leave lad & go outside for a dart, see these 2 with a group & say calm down, just a game of footy. Then ask puppy “did you say you were going to stab me?” Which he denied then big fella tells me again we’re going to find me after the game to make me cry. Again whatever, get talking with my mates.
In the 4th their bay & ours behind were getting animated with each other when some other of the hawks folk start pointing at me & some other blokes standing on the concourse flashing gangs signs & doing the slit throat thing & how we were ****ed after the game. So caught up in this they missed the Sicily goal, we’re telling them you’re missing your team score & wtf? Security called the cops, then these plastic gangsters start telling them how we’ve been goading them which the security said nothing terrible was coming from us. A couple of people got escorted out, then Mitchell comes down from the box & when he’s in front of this bay gives them a big gee up which didn’t help. These ****heads spent the rest of the game giving us shit, you know the choking thing.
Was very satisfying seeing the couple of posters & the end of the game. Of course these sad sacks just sulked off, campaigners want to be careful who they threaten.

My lad heard this threat when he was lining up for his drink, just a game of footy dude.

 

[1954]

Look, we know you are improving. Good on you, bodes well for next year etc.
We also realise that the Vic media has been blowing smoke up your a***s for weeks now.
We get that.
That’s life as a Vic team in the AFL media.
But if you really want to grow as a team you need to accept your losses. Grow up a bit.
Accept that you lost against a team of similar, in fact lesser statistics experience wise, in front of a crowd that had a massive proportion of your supporter base.
I get that it’s hard to have to travel for Vic teams, it’s blatantly unfair, especially when the oppo home team earned the right to play at AO.
I get that it is absolutely fair though, that interstate teams, even if they have finished top of the ladder play their GF at the MCG even if it is the lesser team’s home ground. Totally as it should be.

Accept that if you give out shit then you need to be prepared to also take.
That will help in your development going forward.
I know it’s hard when you are the a golden boys of the moment.
But do that and you will reap rewards going forward.

You talk about Hinkley.
Yes I agree with you that was bad taste but do you know what was even more pathetic, it was your captain continuing the mouthing off while carrying off one of your own heroes on his shoulders and your sore loser coach Mitchell crying in a presser.

Great to see someone else who actually gets it, eg there are those on here who believe there was sincerity in Sicily's response, others who don't, and some who have had a dollar each way, but as the old saying goes opinions are like a***holes, everyone has one.

The above aside, and what may have given the situation more impetus than what was necessary is the number of ex dawks in the media is way above what it probably should be.

It would be interesting to see what supporters of other Vic clubs think about the situation, and kudos to who ever it was but someone on here canvassed other club's sites, and according to him most weren't greatly fussed about it.

You are spot on re the MCG bit, all of the interstate teams would have been aware of that when they joined the comp and it won't change for a very long time, if at all.

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

Ashcroft i

Just noticed Impey trying to play for a free here.

Yep Hawthorn are definitely coached to do this.

What a weak campaigner

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

It's a shame that all the controversial clickbait crap is what drives the media these days

Instead of a talking about a great game (and a great 'backs to the wall' win by Port) the media have been preoccupied with all the horseshit between Jack Ginnivan and Ken Hinkley. Basically catering to all the non-Port, non-Hawthorn nuffies who don't really give a shit about the game we played, but who LOVE all the controversial "he said she said" crap.

While I love the budding rivalry between our clubs which is partially built on stuff like this, I also find it disappointing that Ginnivan posted crap on Twitter which made the week all about him instead of Port v Hawks and Luke Breust's 300th AFL game. He's young and immature (and probably a bit of a dickhead who needs to grow up.)

Likewise, Hinkley probably let himself down a bit with his post-game antics which have also taken some of the gloss off Port's great win and he's made himself the centre of attention instead of his players.

My own personal attitude to it all is that winners are grinners and losers can please themselves. Ken and the Port players are fully entitled to chirp at Ginnivan after the game. Ginnivan brought all of this on himself. It sucks that he has dragged the HFC into it, as well. But we have to defend him now cos he's one of us.

I think everyone was a little bit emotional after the game. Kenny, with his job on the line. Our leaders, Sammy Mitchell and Sicily too, after a crushing defeat in a game we so nearly snatched away from you in the final minute. Sicily has given his all this season, courageously playing with a separated shoulder since the 5th May, playing so brilliantly and carrying the team on his back. I'm guessing he personally felt responsible for the loss with his set shot 'poster'. A case of so close, yet so far...

The cold light of day has brought some perspective to the matter. It's all a storm in a teacup. The Hawks have moved on... (But we'll be ultra-determined to get our revenge next year.)

Meanwhile Port have bigger fish to fry next Friday in Sydney.

Good luck, Port fans. Give 'em hell!

Give ump 8 a raise

 

[JohnHinckleyJr]

tl;dr

I think the young Hawks showed tremendous ticker this season... and showed it again last Friday to go down by just 3 points against a pumped-up Port Adelaide side who pressured them relentlessly for 4 quarters and closed down their running game. They persisted, despite never once having the game on their terms.

It was a great win by Port. Fully deserved. But it's a silly call to accuse the Hawks of having a "soft underbelly" because of the post-game shenanigans. More accurate to say the Hawks were bitterly disappointed to get knocked out of the finals race and they probably overreacted to the Hinkley gloating.

Once the 2025 season is underway, nobody is going to remember much about any of this, nor will they care...

Good luck this week. I'll be barracking for the upset.
I hope you give it to those AFL spoon-fed, Channel 7 lovechild Sydney flogs.

Not good enough for the young ports

 

[Janey]

wasn’t sure if I should post this or not but it was mostly good banter but got a bit shit. At halftime I was walking out & ended up alongside a big hawks bloke that was in a group of about 30 hawks supporters in the bay in front of us with his little puppy in tow giving me shit that the umps were looking after us. Told him all your players needed to do was get rid of the ball & you won’t get pinged. Then I cheekily mimicked hawks players fumbling the ball & letting him know the wizards tricks weren’t working. He the said he’d come looking for me after the game to make sure I’d be crying. Whatever mate, set my lad up in the tuckshop line & when they got about 20 metres in front of me puppy pipes up & yells “I’m gonna stab ya bro”. Everyone at the southern end behind members heard this. Leave lad & go outside for a dart, see these 2 with a group & say calm down, just a game of footy. Then ask puppy “did you say you were going to stab me?” Which he denied then big fella tells me again we’re going to find me after the game to make me cry. Again whatever, get talking with my mates.
In the 4th their bay & ours behind were getting animated with each other when some other of the hawks folk start pointing at me & some other blokes standing on the concourse flashing gangs signs & doing the slit throat thing & how we were ****ed after the game. So caught up in this they missed the Sicily goal, we’re telling them you’re missing your team score & wtf? Security called the cops, then these plastic gangsters start telling them how we’ve been goading them which the security said nothing terrible was coming from us. A couple of people got escorted out, then Mitchell comes down from the box & when he’s in front of this bay gives them a big gee up which didn’t help. These ****heads spent the rest of the game giving us shit, you know the choking thing.
Was very satisfying seeing the couple of posters & the end of the game. Of course these sad sacks just sulked off, campaigners want to be careful who they threaten.

My lad heard this threat when he was lining up for his drink, just a game of footy dude.

Was that in the western stand, behind the benches and a bit toward the hill. I was sitting just behind there and saw the security guys talking to a bunch of supporters, couldn’t hear what it was about though.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

Sicily looks like the bloke that had 6 beers and becomes totally unhinged.

Weird unit.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

Give ump 8 a raise

Give him all of umpire 12s salary. He doesn't need it, the Hawks paid him enough.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[theouthouse]

The last time these two teams played in a final, not only was it also decided by 3 points but the winner went on to smash Sydney by 63 points...

Then smashed Geelong by 62 points in the game after that, round 1 2015.

 

[Lighthouse End]

Really?

One of the youngest teams in the comp went from 17th on the ladder after Round 7 all the way to a Semi Final. They've been playing virtual Elimination Finals for the past 2 months. They won 15 of their last 20 games in great style without any recognised superstars, but with an incredibly even team effort across the board.

Last week, in front of an MCG crowd of 98,000, they won convincingly versus a highly-fancied Western Bulldogs team who many were tipping to win the flag.

They travelled to South Australia to play a pumped-up Port Adelaide team who finished 2nd on the ladder and who threw the kitchen sink at them for 4 quarters. I don't have the stats, but I'm guessing it was Port's best game of the season in terms of pressure index and tough tackling over 4 quarters.

Port managed to shut down the Hawks running game and led by 3 goals halfway through the final quarter.

Did the Hawks turn up their toes and concede defeat? Did the Hawks find it all "too hard" and surrender meekly once the opposition and home crowd sensed victory? Nope... Hawthorn fought the game out to the final whistle. They almost pinched victory in the final 2-3 minutes with 2 set shots that went agonisingly close.

This is the exact opposite to showing a "soft underbelly". Teams with a soft underbelly get pumped in September. Or they fold like a house of cards and let games slip after leading by 44 points. Hawthorn went down swinging in an away final and lost by 3 points without some key personnel. I personally think they showed a lot of character, grit and toughness this season.

But enough of the actual footy talk. Let's focus instead on the peripheral post-game crap... Maybe in the immediate aftermath of defeat, they got sucked in by the Hinkley gloating and they defended their teammate and displayed their bitter disappointment at being knocked out of the premiership race.

If that's called having a "soft underbelly" then please sign us up for some more...

Mate it can't be denied that you guys have played a great brand of football in the second half of the year and achieved over the odds with a young list. And that you thoroughly deserved the threepeat after a very successful rebuild over several years.
But don't be fooled. You were headed for a thrashing on Friday night until the umpiring fraternity turned the clock back 30 odd years and changed the momentum of the game with cheap charity frees in front of goal for absolutely nothing, just like Dunstall and Co used to milk with nauseating regularity and effectiveness and changed the course of games and at times ended other teams' seasons. If you want to earn the respect of the majority of the football community, then you need to get that staging rubbish from Watson & Co out of their game.
Also taking the high moral ground over the Hinkley \ Sicely thing is laughable. Notwithstanding Clarkson's antics, you had animals like Leigh Matthews - only player ever to be charged with a criminal assault onfield - , Ayres, Di Pierdomenico Brereton and co hanging around, and softdicks like Moncrieff and Hendrie always staging for frees before Dunstall took the craft on. You're in no position to quote ethics.
Cop the loss, quit sooking and just be thankful you don't come up against Geelong in the big one and get really smoked.

 

[yepits2020]

tl;dr

I think the young Hawks showed tremendous ticker this season... and showed it again last Friday to go down by just 3 points against a pumped-up Port Adelaide side who pressured them relentlessly for 4 quarters and closed down their running game. They persisted, despite never once having the game on their terms.

It was a great win by Port. Fully deserved. But it's a silly call to accuse the Hawks of having a "soft underbelly" because of the post-game shenanigans. More accurate to say the Hawks were bitterly disappointed to get knocked out of the finals race and they probably overreacted to the Hinkley gloating.

Once the 2025 season is underway, nobody is going to remember much about any of this, nor will they care...

Good luck this week. I'll be barracking for the upset.
I hope you give it to those AFL spoon-fed, Channel 7 lovechild Sydney flogs.

I tend to agree that it is not fair to say the Hawks have a soft underbelly from
The post game shenanigans.

But they certainly are a mob of sooks, especially the captain and the coach.

There was a call out this morning about the questionable free kicks the Hawks got. Only thing that kept you in the game. Even Impy late in the game was going for the dangerous tackle staging. Would have been the biggest crime of the game if that was given as a free when clearly he was done for holding the ball.

 

[El_Scorcho]

I'm not sure if it's a "soft underbelly" but being "unsociable" and then sooking to high heaven when the most minor thing comes back the other way has been Hawthorn culture for decades.

 

[_VXV]

Was that in the western stand, behind the benches and a bit toward the hill. I was sitting just behind there and saw the security guys talking to a bunch of supporters, couldn’t hear what it was about though.

Yep

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Just repeating here the point Kane Cornes made on the Footy Show, that he said Port had no right to win that game, Farrell and Houston out, Burton out, Dixon out just before the game, Lorenz in for his second game (quarter), Marshall playing his first game in 6 weeks and then subbed out half way through after head knocks, a string of dodgy free kicks for goals to Hawthorn. Throw in our best pressure forward SPP who we've missed for most of the year.

Some of the inexperienced kids who stood up in this game, like Jase Burgoyne, Logan Evans, Lachie Jones covered the losses better than we could have hoped.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Just repeating here the point Kane Cornes made on the Footy Show, that he said Port had no right to win that game, Farrell and Houston out, Burton out, Dixon out just before the game, Lorenz in for his second game (quarter), Marshall playing his first game in 6 weeks and then subbed out half way through after head knocks, a string of dodgy free kicks for goals to Hawthorn. Throw in our best pressure forward SPP who we've missed for most of the year.

Some of the inexperienced kids who stood up in this game, like Jase Burgoyne, Logan Evans, Lachie Jones covered the losses better than we could have hoped.

Just posted the list breakdown in the PF changes thread and you can throw in SPP and Finlayson were missing from our best side with injury.

 

[#Port Patriot#]

Hawks fan here... Jason Horne-Francis is probably my favourite AFL footballer. Every Hawthorn fan I know thinks he is unbelievable. JHF and Nick Daicos (and Toby Greene) are the opposition players I would pay money to watch as a neutral.

He was too good for us in the 1 point Round 11 defeat and too good again for us in the 3 point defeat on Friday night.

How he was left out of the All Australian team, I will never know... It doesn't matter too much. He'll end up with 5 or 6 AA blazers and probably win a Brownlow one day.

Look, I'm glad you've said that. When I state supporters, it's more referenced to those attending the game(s) and I've seen it countless times since 2023. Starting at the Collingwood game at the G where it sounded like majority booed him as soon as he first touched it.

I know I've heard & read, many, like yourself saying what you've said and I appreciate that. In part, I believe it's made Hornet even better but at a cost.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

wasn’t sure if I should post this or not but it was mostly good banter but got a bit shit. At halftime I was walking out & ended up alongside a big hawks bloke that was in a group of about 30 hawks supporters in the bay in front of us with his little puppy in tow giving me shit that the umps were looking after us. Told him all your players needed to do was get rid of the ball & you won’t get pinged. Then I cheekily mimicked hawks players fumbling the ball & letting him know the wizards tricks weren’t working. He the said he’d come looking for me after the game to make sure I’d be crying. Whatever mate, set my lad up in the tuckshop line & when they got about 20 metres in front of me puppy pipes up & yells “I’m gonna stab ya bro”. Everyone at the southern end behind members heard this. Leave lad & go outside for a dart, see these 2 with a group & say calm down, just a game of footy. Then ask puppy “did you say you were going to stab me?” Which he denied then big fella tells me again we’re going to find me after the game to make me cry. Again whatever, get talking with my mates.
In the 4th their bay & ours behind were getting animated with each other when some other of the hawks folk start pointing at me & some other blokes standing on the concourse flashing gangs signs & doing the slit throat thing & how we were ****ed after the game. So caught up in this they missed the Sicily goal, we’re telling them you’re missing your team score & wtf? Security called the cops, then these plastic gangsters start telling them how we’ve been goading them which the security said nothing terrible was coming from us. A couple of people got escorted out, then Mitchell comes down from the box & when he’s in front of this bay gives them a big gee up which didn’t help. These ****heads spent the rest of the game giving us shit, you know the choking thing.
Was very satisfying seeing the couple of posters & the end of the game. Of course these sad sacks just sulked off, campaigners want to be careful who they threaten.

My lad heard this threat when he was lining up for his drink, just a game of footy dude.

That's pretty shit, there's no need to threaten people at a footy game especially if you're with your kid. One thing these clowns don't realise is security has an eye on them.

I was in a argument with a Norwood supporter in the sanfl grand final a few years back and he was getting a bit aggressive, then security appeared and threw him out. He was yelling 'What about him? He started it!' and they told him they had an eye on what was happening and he was the problem not me.

I was waving him goodbye and the cops had a quiet word to me, You're a bit old for this mate aren't you? And I laughed, agreed and went on my way.

We still lost.