Hawks supporter Mark Ellis reviews the clash between Hawthorn and Port Adelaide.
At the moment we are living a dream. As Queenslanders who have been passionate members for many years, having moved to Victoria in 2005 for work commitments, we have been fortunate enough to see many live games and to be welcomed into the Hawthorn family. We will treasure our memories of being a part of the club for the rest of our lives as we are returning to Queensland at the end of the season and will go back to being interstate members in 2008.
This was our first trip to Tasmania. What a beautiful morning that had been turned on in Launceston - blue skies and the sun shining brightly. We wondered what sort of game we were to see. Will it be a close game with controversy or will we see missed opportunities? We were about to find out.
As we strolled along the esplanade to the game, we walked with a local who was showing his colours. As we talked, we found oHeut that he used to support Geelong. now embraces Hawthorn with his new membership. What a great move to Tasmania for the Hawks.
We have been to numerous functions with the Club and this one ranked highly. As we took our seats in the Gunns Function; we were presented with a full room, great food and cold beers.
We were privileged to have Richie Vandenberg as our guest speaker so sometimes injuries have a silver lining, from our perspective at least. He gave us an insight to the platform that has been laid for future Hawthorn success.
As the game was about to begin, we found our seats outside. We couldn’t believe how close we were to the action.
The first centre bounce saw instant success; Ben Dixon kicked the first goal, what a dream start. Was it an omen, we were sitting at table 19.
But after this goal it was generally a disappointing first quarter as we missed our targets and turned over the ball on too many occasions and an unlucky 50m penalty against Gilham really didn’t help. We did however; see the elusive skills of Clinton Young and Luke Hodge take a contested mark to kick the Hawks third goal of the quarter. We were down by 16 points at quarter time but we knew that we could have played better.
The second and third quarters saw a much more committed Hawthorn team. The highlights in our minds were a fantastic hit from Hodge on Cornes and the courageous Ladson being belted who then minutes later helped set up another goal.
Coming into the last quarter we believed that we were going to see the right result but with two dubious 50m penalties, this didn’t help our cause. And to make matters worse, Sam Mitchell was penalized for an intentional out of bounds which was a case of de ja vu as we had seen one cost us a victory at the Gabba many years ago.
It just goes to show there is never an easy kick as Lewis felt the pressure from 25m out which could have sealed victory but to Port Adelaide’s credit they took advantage of the situation and kicked two goals in a minute to break our hearts.
After the game, as the players left the ground, we could tell that the loss really hurt them as we could see the pain etched on their faces. As spectators, we were all sitting in disbelief on how we lost the game. A loss like this can only make us stronger for the finals.
Good luck for the finals Hawks!
Sincerely
Mark, Angie and Kaeli Ellis
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the Hawthorn Football Club. hawthornfc.com.auwould like to acknowledge the contribution of supporters to theOfficial Club website. If you would like to sign up to write forhawthornfc.com.au click here for more details.
If you would like to comment on the above review, log in to our chatzone.
* The Hawks raised $1,200 for HSBCkids after kicking 12 goals against Port Adelaide.
At the moment we are living a dream. As Queenslanders who have been passionate members for many years, having moved to Victoria in 2005 for work commitments, we have been fortunate enough to see many live games and to be welcomed into the Hawthorn family. We will treasure our memories of being a part of the club for the rest of our lives as we are returning to Queensland at the end of the season and will go back to being interstate members in 2008.
This was our first trip to Tasmania. What a beautiful morning that had been turned on in Launceston - blue skies and the sun shining brightly. We wondered what sort of game we were to see. Will it be a close game with controversy or will we see missed opportunities? We were about to find out.
As we strolled along the esplanade to the game, we walked with a local who was showing his colours. As we talked, we found oHeut that he used to support Geelong. now embraces Hawthorn with his new membership. What a great move to Tasmania for the Hawks.
We have been to numerous functions with the Club and this one ranked highly. As we took our seats in the Gunns Function; we were presented with a full room, great food and cold beers.
We were privileged to have Richie Vandenberg as our guest speaker so sometimes injuries have a silver lining, from our perspective at least. He gave us an insight to the platform that has been laid for future Hawthorn success.
As the game was about to begin, we found our seats outside. We couldn’t believe how close we were to the action.
The first centre bounce saw instant success; Ben Dixon kicked the first goal, what a dream start. Was it an omen, we were sitting at table 19.
But after this goal it was generally a disappointing first quarter as we missed our targets and turned over the ball on too many occasions and an unlucky 50m penalty against Gilham really didn’t help. We did however; see the elusive skills of Clinton Young and Luke Hodge take a contested mark to kick the Hawks third goal of the quarter. We were down by 16 points at quarter time but we knew that we could have played better.
The second and third quarters saw a much more committed Hawthorn team. The highlights in our minds were a fantastic hit from Hodge on Cornes and the courageous Ladson being belted who then minutes later helped set up another goal.
Coming into the last quarter we believed that we were going to see the right result but with two dubious 50m penalties, this didn’t help our cause. And to make matters worse, Sam Mitchell was penalized for an intentional out of bounds which was a case of de ja vu as we had seen one cost us a victory at the Gabba many years ago.
It just goes to show there is never an easy kick as Lewis felt the pressure from 25m out which could have sealed victory but to Port Adelaide’s credit they took advantage of the situation and kicked two goals in a minute to break our hearts.
After the game, as the players left the ground, we could tell that the loss really hurt them as we could see the pain etched on their faces. As spectators, we were all sitting in disbelief on how we lost the game. A loss like this can only make us stronger for the finals.
Good luck for the finals Hawks!
Sincerely
Mark, Angie and Kaeli Ellis
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and notnecessarily those of the Hawthorn Football Club. hawthornfc.com.auwould like to acknowledge the contribution of supporters to theOfficial Club website. If you would like to sign up to write forhawthornfc.com.au click here for more details.
If you would like to comment on the above review, log in to our chatzone.
* The Hawks raised $1,200 for HSBCkids after kicking 12 goals against Port Adelaide.
