Hawks blew their chance: Matthews

Updated September 30, 2012 17:08:12

Hawthorn legend Leigh Matthews says the club has blown a premiership chance through a lack of composure.

Warm favourites entering Saturday's grand final, the Hawks dominated clearances and attacking entries and had five more scoring shots but still fell to Sydney 14.7 (91) to 11.15 (81).

Matthews, an eight-time Hawthorn best and fairest and four-time Hawk premiership player, says most statistics suggested Hawthorn should have won and it will be left ruing "the one that got away".

Matthews said the second quarter, when the Swans kicked six goals straight while Hawthorn managed just one behind and sent another shot out on the full, highlighted the key separating factor.

"Normally the stats don't lie," the four-time premiership coach said on the Seven Network's AFL Game Day on Sunday.

"If you dominate the clearances like Hawthorn did, particularly the centre clearances 19-5, therefore you dominate with the ball in attack, you should win the game.

Grandstand commentator Mark McClure says the Hawks should have taken advantage after taking the lead against the underdogs.

"I think they should have won it when they hit the front. They should have powered away," McClure said

Matthews added Sydney's relentless tackling pressure played a role in disrupting the Hawks.

"Why didn't they win the game? The tackling pressure of the Swans was fantastic so that put pressure on the Hawthorn disposal," Matthews said.

"But goals win games. The Swans kicked the goals. Unfortunately Hawthorn kicked a lot of behinds."

The Swans laid a remarkable 109 tackles, 26 more than the Hawks.

But Matthews said even when the Hawks had time, they did not use the ball well enough.

"The composure with the ball under the physical and mental pressure of the game, the Swans had it for more of the game than Hawthorn," Matthews said.

"That's why I thought that Hawthorn blew it.

"I thought they just had very little composure going into their forward line and very little composure when they were generating their shots."

The AFL great also noted a statistical quirk that of the 11 occasions a non-Victorian club has faced a Victorian club in a grand final, the visitors have now won eight.

It contrasts starkly with a record which heavily favours the home team in other finals between sides from different states.

Matthews, who coached Brisbane to their 2001-03 hat-trick of grand final wins, all against Victorian clubs, theorised that non-Victorian sides might benefit in grand final week by avoiding the extreme attention their rivals in Melbourne receive.

AAP/ABC

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, hawthorn-3122, vic, australia, sydney-2000, nsw

First posted September 30, 2012 14:04:46

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Swans' best chance to bury Collingwood hoodoo

By Andrew McGarry

Updated September 21, 2012 16:37:31

A big crowd, a place in the grand final and a dangerous streak on the line - the Sydney v Collingwood preliminary final has it all.

The Sydney Swans have had the week off after beating Adelaide at Football Park and go into the match as strong favourites.

But Collingwood has the psychological advantage, with an 11-game winning streak over Sydney stretching back six years.

This includes the last seven games at the Olympic stadium, giving Pies' supporters even more to shout about.

Collingwood's hoodoo status was highlighted as recently as round 20, when the Swans went down by eight points at the same venue as tonight.

Despite losing contested possessions by seven, forward entries by eight, and hitouts by 22, the Pies managed to win where it counted.

Collingwood scored 10 more clearances, made nine more tackles and converted their chances with 12 goals, six behinds to Sydney's nine goals, 16 behinds.

The bottom line is that Collingwood beat Sydney at its own game, pressuring the Swans and making the most of their opportunities.

It is this history - coupled with Collingwood's excellent performance against West Coast a week ago - that points to a Magpies win.

There are also strong arguments to back a rare home victory, however.

While Dale Thomas (three goals) provided Collingwood's X-factor last week against the Eagles, the loss of Alan Didak (calf) will have an impact on the Magpies' forward play.

In addition, the decision to go with banged-up forward Chris Dawes as backup to Darren Jolly in the ruck could backfire badly, with serious question marks over Dawes' ability to survive four quarters of finals football with a knee injury.

The Swans' tandem of Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke will test Dawes out to the fullest, and if he is found wanting the Magpies could rue going against the conventional wisdom of not risking injured players in key finals.

On the other side of the ledger, the Swans will welcome back Heath Grundy to the back six, after he deservedly had a week off for his elbow smash on Geelong's James Podsiadly in round 23.

The Sydney defence - led by All-Australian Ted Richards, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Martin Mattner and Nick Malceski - shut down a talented Crows' forward line in Adelaide a fortnight ago without Grundy.

His return will make it even harder for Collingwood if Dawes cannot provide a solid marking and scoring alternative to key forward Travis Cloke, who has come back into scintillating form after a terrible couple of months.

The big battle will be in the midfield, with the likes of Dane Swan, Dayne Beams, Scott Pendlebury, Sharrod Wellingham and Steele Sidebottom facing off against the Swans group including Kieran Jack, Jarrod McVeigh, Josh Kennedy, Daniel Hannebery and Jude Bolton (in his 300th game for Sydney).

If Collingwood can pick off some of the taps from Mumford and Pyke, then the precious clearances may once again favour the visitors, and go a long way toward winning the game.

The second key for the Swans is their two game-breakers, Adam Goodes and Lewis Jetta.

As Sydney fell from first to first to third in the final weeks of the season - losing a first home final in the process - one clear concern for the Swans was the poor form of Goodes and Jetta.

That all changed in the first final against Adelaide, as Goodes (three goals) and Jetta (two) opened up the Crows on a number of occasions and showed that they were back to something like their best.

The Swans will need both of these players firing if they are to win.

Lastly, there are the contrasting preparations for the game.

Sydney has had the opportunity to rest up players and recharge the batteries after the win over Adelaide.

Collingwood comes off a morale-boosting win over West Coast, but the team will have to deal with the rigours of a six-day break and the emotions of attending Thursday's funeral of former team-mate John McCarthy before arriving in Sydney barely 24 hours before the game.

If Sydney is ever to break Collingwood's hold over the team, it has to be tonight.

The Swans are back in form, strengthened by Grundy's return and reassured by the knowledge that Adelaide had beaten them on 12 out of the last 14 meetings before Sydney won comprehensively at Football Park.

That said, the Magpies have the ability to repeat round 20's victory - and if they do, it will be a devastating psychological blow for the Swans.

Sydney by 10

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, sydney-2000, nsw, melbourne-3000, vic, australia

First posted September 21, 2012 12:02:32

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Giving Children a Sporting Chance

Roughead a chance for preseason return

Updated March 09, 2012 11:55:33

Hawthorn key forward Jarryd Roughead may return to playing duties next week.

Roughead missed the second half of last season because of a ruptured Achilles tendon.

His absence was a major blow for the Hawks, who narrowly lost their preliminary final against Collingwood.

Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson says depending on where his side plays next week in the last round of the preseason cup, they may bring Roughead back for a run in the senior side.

But Clarkson adds he remains unsure if Roughead will be ready for round one of the regular season.

"He's progressing really well and we'd be hopeful he would play again pretty soon," Clarkson said.

The Hawks will bring back several big names for Saturday night's preseason match against Melbourne at Docklands.

Lance Franklin, Cyril Rioli and Sam Mitchell are among those who will play against the Demons.

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, hawthorn-3122, vic, australia

First posted March 09, 2012 11:45:41

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Pies give Dick a chance to train on

Updated November 07, 2011 19:53:17

Collingwood has invited delisted forward Brad Dick to train with the club ahead of next month's preseason draft.

Dick, 23, has kicked 32 goals in 27 AFL games for the Magpies, making his debut in 2007 before battling shoulder and knee problems.

Fremantle's Clancee Pearce, Gold Coast's Michael Coad and Adelaide's Will Young have also been given permission by the AFL to train with their former teams.

Clubs are permitted to apply for unlisted players to train up until the preseason and rookie drafts on December 13.

Ex-Hawthorn forward Beau Dowler will train with St Kilda.

The Hawks delisted Dowler after the 2010 season following a 16-game career that included 11 goals in five seasons.

St Kilda's head of football Chris Pelchen was Hawthorn's list manager when the Hawks took the 196cm Dowler at pick six in the 2005 Draft.

Dowler played with suburban club Noble Park but signed with St Kilda's VFL affiliate team Sandringham last week, according to a report on the AFL website.

Small forward Addam Maric will train with Richmond after the Demons axed him last month.

Former Kangaroo Gavin Urquhart will continue to train with North Melbourne after being delisted.

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, collingwood-3066, vic, australia

First posted November 07, 2011 19:49:46

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Crows miss chance to steal victory

The Crows have narrowly gone down to Carlton at Docklands despite leading by 11 points late in the match

Carlton has survived a tension-filled final quarter to see off Adelaide by six points at Docklands stadium, with the Blues almost paying the price for inaccuracy before getting over the line 11.19 (85) to 12.7 (79).

After the Blues were disappointed not to clinch a win in their draw with Essendon last round, they almost missed out again, as they controlled the game for most of the night but allowed Adelaide to hit the front in the final term.

But classy late goals to David Ellard and Jordan Russell and a desperate lunging tackle from Aaron Joseph in the final seconds allowed them to hold on for victory.

Andrew Walker bagged four goals for the winners, while Taylor Walker matched his effort for the visitors.

Carlton coach Brett Ratten said the Blues' field kicking, as well as in front of goal, was poor, but the fact they showed the character to win anyway was heartening.

"We've had a few close ones, we've probably lost those (in the past), so to the players it's a real pat on the back for their character to come back," he said.

"It looked like we just had no run, or (didn't know) where the next goal was going to come from and you find some big moments in games."

He said skipper Judd and fellow midfielder Marc Murphy were outstanding throughout.

Adelaide coach Neil Craig said his side responded well after last weekend's fade-out loss to Port Adelaide, but lacked poise late in the game.

He said his side contained a group of youngsters not yet accustomed to playing consistent "hard-nosed" football, but they would benefit from hanging in as long as they did against class opposition.

"We're a fair way away at the moment, but if we keep doing that we'll accelerate pretty quickly," Craig said.

Led by a great first term from captain Chris Judd, the Blues started with a burst and when Walker kicked his second 19 minutes into the match, they were up 5.1 to 1.2.

But they made it an extremely nervous ride, with their next 11 scores behinds as they added 6.18 for the rest of the night, as well as sending numerous shots out of bounds, to keep Adelaide in with a sniff.

The Crows pegged back the deficit, with their tall forwards Kurt Tippett, Shaun McKernan and Walker booting nine majors between them to keep their side in it.

They closed to within three points late in the first half, before a spectacular high-flying mark and goal to Carlton's Walker right on half-time put the gap back to 10 points.

But Carlton continued to waste chances, allowing Adelaide midfielder Scott Thompson to put his side in front for the first time in the match when he converted 10 minutes into the last quarter.

After another goal either way, Blues youngster Ellard kicked an excellent running goal from outside 50 metres to level the scores.

Russell followed up with an even better one, shrugging off an opponent to goal off a few steps from just inside 50m and regain a six-point lead.

A behind each way gave the Crows one more chance to try to force a draw, but as they were surging forward, a desperate Joseph tackle on Crows skipper Nathan Van Berlo ensured Carlton held on.

Blues: 11.19 (85) - A Walker 4, D Ellard 2, J Waite 2, E Betts, J Garlett, J Russell

Crows: 12.7 (79) - T Walker 4, K Tippett 3, S McKernan 2, B Vince, M Jaensch, S Thompson

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