The last quarter was great but it was like every single player on the ground was so terrified of losing that they just couldn't perform basic actions. So many terrible handballs, fumbles, mis-kicks, missed easy set shots etc. It was crazy.
Do not underestimate the fatigue factor here. Been said before, but had Varcoe levelled it at the end, wow, extra time would have destroyed them!
That is what finals is about in a nutshell for me:
YOU WILL be under a lot of pressure.
YOU WILL be buggered by the end of it.
YOU WILL make mistakes.
WILL YOU have what it takes to front up for the next contest, and the next, and fight the game out?
It was a cracker of a game no doubt. I think some people are being a little harsh on the quality of the first half, I thought there were some interesting tactics to observe.
Hawthorn concentrated on hitting up th 40m out target as I suggested they needed to. I'm not one for dwelling on goals v behinds as it can be misleading - defences can force wide / rushed shots; but the Hawks did miss some sitters. The Geelong defence was stretched early, no good match up for Hale.
What I liked about Geelong's forward entries was that they had guys at the ground to support the contest. If Geelong didn't get the mark it didn't rebound out easily as has been the case often this year. Probably could have done with one or two more marks there, but at least the contests were good.
Geelong competed well in the contested footy as well. You have to against Hawthorn, they are too hard to get the ball off if you don't. Perhaps Chris Scott missed a trick by not playing someone defensively on Sam Mitchell though. He rarely wastes it.
But it was a real finals type game. As they have often this year, Geelong just ran out of legs in the end and had trouble creating options. I liked that the youngsters seemed to handle the occasion well - will hold them in good stead in coming years.
Good win by the Hawks, this game may have taken a bit out of them physically but I recon that iss more than made up for mentally with an overdue win over the Cats.