Grand Final: Deja Vu All Over Again

Hey, anybody still remember the 2008 AFL Grand Final? Despite my best intentions, I’ve managed to replicate last year’s faux pas in covering the entire season (with the exception of that ten week gap) before taking off overseas before the main event was given its due. Anyway, in the hope that a late and probably largely inaccurate recollection of the big game is preferable to a continuing wall of silence, the following is provided.

By now the result and basic facts of the game are well known: Geelong managed to replicate the efforts of the NFL’s New England Patriots by concluding an almost perfect season with a disastrous stumble on Grand Final day. Hawthorn played the role of the New York Giants to perfection, ending a 17 year premiership drought and giving long-serving club champion Shane Crawford the perfect send-off. The Hawks’ tactic of rushing behinds at every opportunity resulted in a bizarre Geelong scoreline of 11 goals 23 behinds –not since the Roos of 1977 kicked 9 goals 22 behinds to tie Collingwood (North kicked a lot better the following week) has a team kicked quite so badly on the big day, although the all-time classic shankers remain the Bombers of 1948 who produced an appalling 7 goals 27 behinds to tie Melbourne (and got done a week later in the replay). In 2008 the Cats will also rue a number of missed “gimme’s” of the sort that any given week in the two seasons preceeding would have been snapped up like a heavily discounted fridge at a Boxing Day sale. 2001 Number 1 draft pick Luke Hodge edged out sentimental favourite Gary Ablett Jr for the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground, thus denying the Ablett family a singular slice of history in becoming the only father and son team to win the Norm Smith Medal, let alone in matches for the same team against the same opposition. And the extent of the jubilation in the east of Melbourne was matched only by the extent of the desolation in the Corio Bay vicinity, as Pivotonians mourned the end what looked just a couple of weeks previous like a dynasty set to rival that of the Mings.

For mine, the match was chiefly memorable for the number of déjà vu moments it produced – it was like watching a compilation of famous Grand Final moments from yesteryear. Cam Mooney’s brilliant snap from an impossible angle in the first quarter was Daicosian in its delivery, but whereas the Macedonian Marvel’s 1990 effort was the signal that it was going to be Collingwood’s day, Mooney’s goal proved to be the highlight of both his and his team’s day. In the second quarter, as Geelong completely dominated play but were unable to convert their dominance into scoreboard rewards, one was flashed back a decade to North Melbourne’s similar effort against Adelaide. Like the Roos of ’98, the Cats of ’08 will be ruing some of their misses. Brad Ottens spurned the opportunity to handball to one of about three teammates racing into goal, then missed from 25 metres. Cam Mooney proved that there is no such thing as a certain goal by somehow missing from the goal-square after the halftime siren, he’ll probably prefer watching the replay of his first quarter goal.

More moments of déjà vu? What about Cyril Rioli’s unbelievable second and third efforts to win a free kick when hopelessly outnumbered by Cats on the wing? His uncle Michael Long would have been watching proudly, no doubt recalling his own virtuoso performance out there on Grand Final day 1993. But the déjà vu moment par excellence for the Wrap came when Hawks coach Alistair Clarkson adopted Kevin Sheedy’s 1984 masterstroke of swinging the unlikeliest of characters into the forward line. In 1984 unfashionable backman Billy Duckworth (and to a lesser extent Paul Weston) were brought forward and ran amok amongst the hapless Hawk defence. How sweet it must have been 24 years on for the brown and gold faithful to see that tactic brought on board. Clarkson’s blunt instrument of choice was the portly figure of ex-Power premiership player Stuart “Mountain” Dew. Not since the 1970s halcyon days of Rene “The Incredible Hulk” Kink and Mick “The Galloping Gasometer” Nolan has there been a figure quite as rotund as Dew’s running around in September, although Derek Kickett did turn up to preseason training in 1994 with Sydney resembling Augustus Galoop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory following a long summer of comfort eating having been dropped from the ‘93 Essendon flag side. Dew had been talked out of retirement by Clarkson, and his selection and frontwards deployment duly proved a masterstroke as he bagged two goals and set up another. But given that Cats coach Mark “Bomber” Thompson had a bird’s eye view of the original 1984 move – having been on the field at the time – it is fairly amazing that he didn’t pick it earlier.

I was watching the match with an increasingly excited Hawks fan who, like many of his compatriots, steadfastly refused to believe that the game was in the bag until the final siren sounded. Every time the indomitable figure of Gary Ablett Jr came near the ball my friend had visible palpitations. If anyone was going to get the Cats across the line it was going to be the little bald guy, as courageous and inspiring as his father was nineteen years before him. But once more it was déjà vu, not even Ablett at his peak could deny the Hawks on this day. As the shadows on the MCG lengthened, a series of late Hawk goals ensured that the upset of the 21st century became a reality.

The final siren for season 2008 sounded, sparking jubilation amongst Hawk players and fans alike. Many would have entertained serious doubts not so long ago that they would ever see another Hawthorn premiership, given how close the club came in 1996 to becoming a velcro attachment on a Melbourne jumper. For its longest serving player and ex-captain Shane Crawford, this truly was the sweetest victory of all. Not even the most shattered Cat fan could have begrudged Crawford his joy as he stood on the dais and bellowed “That’s what I’m talking about!!” to the global television audience.

But if the Hawks were ecstatic, the Cats were gutted. What a time to produce such an un-Geelong-like performance. Very hard to put a silver lining on a loss like that to end a season of almost unparalleled dominance. But perhaps the previously inexplicable 86 point shellacking the Cats suffered way back in June against Collingwood is now just a little more explicable. Good news, of course, for Essendon fans – 2000 remains the most successful single season in AFL history. Woo-hoo!

As mentioned before, the Norm Smith went to Luke Hodge for a masterful performance on the halfback flank. Some felt Ablett was stiff to miss – if his televised reaction was anything to go by, Ablett himself was in this camp – but really, given the Hawks’ ultimate winning margin, the medal really had to go to a Hawthorn player.

And that was it for season 2008, one of the most entertaining seasons I can remember. Bravo to Hawthorn for pulling off one of the most unexpected premierships of them all. Commiserations to Geelong for the final result, but kudos on another season of gloriously entertaining football (and full credit to the Cat fans for resisting the temptation to trash the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Xavier College Muck-up Day style). The bar has been set very high indeed for season 2009, we will await it with baited breath.

Thanks to all the readers, particularly those who encouraged the Wrap’s return after the midseason slump. We’ll see how we go next season. In the meantime, I commend to you “Balls of Gold”, a marvellously entertaining read focusing mainly but not exclusively on cricket. Find it here- http://www.ballsofgold.blogspot.com/
Have a great summer all.