As the siren sounded one man cried, another punched the interchange shelter, opportunity gained and lost. The margin was three points. The preliminary final ranks as one of the best.
Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse has always been animated in the coach’s box. Since 1985 he’s broken phones and headphones. In 1999, when coaching West Coast, Malthouse broke a bone in his hand, slapping the desk as the Eagles upset the Western Bulldogs in the first qualifying final.
At the weekend, Malthouse was reserved in the box while watching the Magpies slip further behind in the preliminary final. Hawthorn, despite their injuries, was suffocating the game, playing man on man, refusing to accede to the zone. Exerting pressure at each contest, it was the Hawks who forced turnovers, holding onto the ball and torturing Collingwood out of the match, death by exquisite short passes.
The first half was a concentrated maul, no free space, hot breath on necks, hard bodies at the ball and the opponent. Hawthorn turned a one point lead at quarter time into an eight point margin at half time, 3:5 to 4:7.
Collingwood’s renowned defensive pressure was evident, Hawthorn had kicked just four goals, but the Magpies were entering the forward line in a crawl. During the third term, without any semblance of rhythm or style, Collingwood kicked two goals and trailed at three quarter time by 17 points, 5:6 to 7:11.
Eighteen scoring shots to 11 was indicative of Hawthorn’s dominance. The match should’ve been over, but David Hale, Luke Hodge, Cyril Rioli and Jason Puopolo had all missed simple shots. Hodge and Puopolo each kicked a goal, but they finished with two points as well. Had one of those four points gone through, Hawthorn would’ve gone through to the grand final.
Such is the fine line between winning and losing, between crying and punching the interchange shelter.
Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson is a short man, a former rover with North Melbourne and Melbourne. Wearing number 57, Clarkson debuted with the Kangaroos in round 15, 1987 and kicked three goals, including the winning goal after the siren.
In 1988, Clarkson was given the 23 guernsey. Across nine seasons he played 93 games for North. At the 1995 season, with North on the verge of a premiership, coach Denis Pagan didn’t have enough room in the midfield for Clarkson and he was traded to Melbourne. After 41 games in two seasons with the Demons, Clarkson retired at the end of 1997.
He’d played 134 games and kicked 85 goals, a solid career which featured just one final, way back in 1987 against Melbourne. Clarkson’s solitary final as a player ended in a 118 point loss. In 1993 and 94, Clarkson played for North in the final rounds and was dropped for the finals. No wonder he was traded. He probably wanted out.
More than a decade later, in 2005, Hawthorn appointed him coach. By 2008 the Hawks were premiers, giving Clarkson his most gratifying moment in football.
At the weekend, when Clarkson punched the interchange shelter as the siren rang out, he endured his most disappointing moment in football. He may still feel embittered about the lack of opportunities he had under Pagan, but pain is masked by historical relevance. North didn’t miss Clarkson.
The pain of the preliminary final loss will never be masked by historical irrelevance. Hawthorn squandered an opportunity at a grand final.
At some stage on Friday night, following a tough finals campaign, Hawthorn was going to tire. As the Hawks gathered for the three quarter time address, the timing was bad. In those frantic five minutes, they were overcome by fatigue, tiredness sapping their will and resolve. In the final term, their running players slowed to an aching trot.
Where previously they had gotten to the contest or peeled off into free space, they couldn’t gut run anymore. Hawthorn had nothing left.
At the last change, with his side unable to generate any influence, Malthouse told his men nothing was going to come easy. All of Collingwood’s goals had been kicked by tall players, Darren Jolly, Travis Cloke and Chris Dawes. They had to mark the ball to kick goals.
Malthouse moved Leon Davis had been moved up forward to give the Magpies spark around the packs. He wanted something from his short players. Hawthorn kept a spare man in defence, which caused confusion and angst. It’s a rare game of football when a short man can’t kick a goal.
Collingwood, fresher from a week off, took the ball forward early in the last quarter. Dawes took a mark and kicked a goal. Minutes later, Davis roved the pack and kicked a long goal on his left foot. The Magpies had the opening two goals inside five minutes. Davis had made Malthouse look brilliant.
Before the quarter was done, Dane Swan, a noted short player, Cloke and another short player, Luke Ball had kicked goals. Collingwood had seven shots at goal in the last quarter from 15 forward entries while Hawthorn managed two.
Freshness, cool in a crisis, the ability to gut run when spent and play while hurt separated the clubs, a margin of three points.
Clarkson was distraught. AFL football is a tough, volatile sport and his men were exposed as not good enough, there was no pride in performance. ‘We should’ve won a game of footy,’ he said. ‘We miss out on a grand final because we weren’t hard enough and tough enough for long enough.’
Collingwood’s rebound rate in the last quarter was the highest for the game. Hawthorn took 11 marks in the last term. Their inability to find targets inside 50 cost them the game.
‘We served it up to them for a fair portion but we couldn’t do it for long enough,’ Clarkson said. ‘Learn a pretty fatal lesson as a result of it. We don’t want our players to have a warm, fuzzy feeling about being noble.’
Collingwood is a hard side to keep down for a whole game. Their pressure wrecked Hawthorn’s composure. In the last three minutes, after Lance Franklin kicked a freak goal, the Hawks couldn’t hold Collingwood out.
Exhaustion forced mistakes. The Magpies capitalised, and won. Mick Malthouse cried briefly in the aftermath as Clarkson punched the interchange shelter.
Opportunity lost is an opportunity gained. The search for a grand final berth ended at the MCG, when fierce hearts bested those that broke. Collingwood has freedom surging through their veins. Hawthorn is shackled by defeat.
The contrast in emotions is totally clear, tears compared to a punch, both enduring moments that personified the difference between winning and losing.
There is always sympathy for the vanquished, particularly following a contest like the preliminary final. Sympathy, though, won’t erase the bile that rises in Clarkson’s gut each moment he relives the loss. Testimony, that it was a great final, will be meaningless.
Football is uncompromising. Success is elusive and ephemeral. Clarkson didn’t attain the ultimate success as a player. He is living his football dream vicariously, as a coach through his players.
When the siren sounded, he exhibited the same emotions Malthouse did. Clarkson could’ve been forgiven had he cried. Malthouse might’ve broken another bone in his hand if he punched the desk.
Such a contrast in emotions…
