Welcome to Finals Face Off, a play versus play tournament where you, the Hawthorn faithful, decide which finals moment will be left standing. Yesterday it was Will Langford that beat Shane Crawford in Face Off #1
Watch the first Finals Face Off
Our second Finals Face Off features a couple Hawks that had purple patches in finals – Jason Dunstall versus Stuart Dew – that inspired the team to victory.
In 1991, the Hawks played in the first ever final to be staged outside of Victoria when they took on the table topping West Coast Eagles at Subiaco in the Qualifying Final.
The Hawks held a slender 9 point lead at three quarter time, but a record crowd of 44,142 – still yet to be beaten – were baying for an Eagles win.
The Hawks had other ideas and Jason Dunstall opening his bag of tricks, he kicked three goals in the term as the Hawks booked their spot in the second semi-final. Dunstall had kicked just one prior to his final quarter onslaught, with the goals were kicked from all angles.
Stuart Dew’s recruitment to Hawthorn is famous for two reasons – the question and the answer. The question of why would the Hawks want Dew, was answered in an explosive five minutes of the 2008 Grand Final.
There were five minutes to go in the third term and the Hawks held a five point lead. Just three minutes of playing time later, the Hawks were five goals up.
Dew had kicked two brilliant goals and had a hand in two others, as Bruce McAvaney would say after he kicked his second, “He’s had the best five minutes of his footy life.”
Vote for your favourite purple patch now! The winner of Face Off #2 and our next Face Off will be revealed on Monday.