You would take a 66 point margin any round of the year but when it should have been 120 because of back kicking for goal it’s kind of like, “am i being greedy?”

Buddy is the best forward in the country and will go into history as the best forward of his era yet his horrid goal kicking conversion has already cost him a century and a coleman medal (2007) and if it keeps up this year he will cost himself both again.  In those other years it never cost Hawthorn games because the big Rough was firing but with Roughy playing up the field this year it has cost 2 games already (Geelong and West Coast).  If he had kicked straight in those 2 games and last night he might also have an extra 6 or 7 Brownlow votes on his tally.

Anyhoo, it is a team sport and the others held up their end of the bargain last night.  A really even team effort and the makeup of the side is looking better each week.  Slot Hodge and Gibbo back into that defence and all the talk of how weak it is this year will be gone.  Gilly looked like he hadn’t skipped a beat, Strats is starting to take marks again and after a shaky start, Shoey is absolutely flying.  Birchall is back and was terrific last night, Puopoulo has overtaken Ozzy (just in time with his injury) and Isaac Smith will keep getting better.  Clinton Young went ok last night but his problem lies in pressure games where his kicking accuracy becomes shaky.

On the other hand, Melbourne are garbage.

4-3 win loss puts us in the 8 for at least another day and with a softer run in the coming weeks, a push towards the top 4 is on the cards now.

Best: Birchall, Burgoyne, Buddy

Highlights: Buddy’s banana in the last quarter.  Burgoynes silky skills, Birchalls ability to break the lines, Shoenmakers developement.

Lowlights:  Possible serious injury to Ozzy.  He has been a gun for years now but this year he has struggled.  Hopefully this isn’t the end because he deserves better.

Great to have another win on the board but the 35 point margin was probably a little bit flattering.  Cyril was the story of the night, kicking 6 and being the beacon of light on the ground for the first three quarters of what was really a pretty dull game.  The Hawks struggled to put the Saints away but never looked in real danger of losing the game.  Our midfield is still a little slow but thankfully so is St. Kildas.  Liam Shiels put on a good performance after a pretty flat start to the year, Buddy hit a bit of form but still has the yips in front of goal.  It’s scary to think that his game was fairly solid but he still ended up with 5 goals.  One day his year he is going to crack 10 in a game.  Hopefully Puoploulo will join the starting line up and with Isaac Smith getting a game under his belt we will start to improve the pace through the midfield as we head towards the middle of the year and a little bit softer draw.

Highlights: A lovely 2 grabber from Cyril that he (with the help of a 50m penalty) goaled from as well as a display of his trademark pace and elusiveness that saw him shoot from inside the centre square to 45 metres out and kick an easy goal while players from both teams watched like they couldn’t believe it was happening.  Hopefully this is the breakout game that will see him become a superfreak like G. Ablett jnr.

Lowlights:  The smallish crowd (40,000 for 2 melbourne teams) was flat as a tack.  It was very quiet in “the G” i think a few fans gave it a miss after a disappointing couple of weeks.

Best. Cyril, Lewis, Shoenmakers

Time to put the premiership talk on the backburner.  The Hawks are tired, injured and closer to the bottom teams than the top.  This was always going to be a danger game but with Sydney sitting at 4-0 and Hawthorn at 2-2 the Swans should have been the favourites all along.

The Hawks have problems.  Our midfield is tough but very slow.  Our best ball user in the back half (Birchall) is injured again, Hodge will take a few weeks to be match fit, Buddy is struggling and Cyril still can’t seem to string together 2 good quarters in a row.  Today we had no real 4 quarter contributers and at one stage in the third quarter the possessions for the term were Us 37, them 82.  After a very short attempt to get back into the game early in the last quarter the Hawks gave up the ghost and Sydney scored at will. What was a tight game turned into a flogging.

So disappointed with this one and i am starting to have flashbacks to 2009 when all the hype said Hawthorn was preparing to launch a dynasty.  We are now 3 games off top spot, quickly losing touch and appearing to be mentally week.

Highlights: Roughies 5 first half goals

Lowlights: Birchall missing and Buddy wearing a glove!

Best: Shoenmakers Guerra Hodge

True to their way of keeping us in the dark, the Hawks have named Luke Hodge on the bench for this Sunday crunch match against the Swans.  Luke Hodge on the bench?  Something tells me he won’t be there.  This brings back memories of Stephen Gilhams knee injury in 2009 that was listed as three weeks for an entire season!

It’s great to Grant Birchall back, he was a huge loss last week when we needed some accurate kicking out of the back line while the Weagles were locking the ball in.  With his polish in place of maybe Young or Bruce who are good kicks in space but shocking under pressure, the Hawks could well have walked away with the biggest away win in the game.

Now we face a 4-0 Swans team with Adam Goodes fresh after a weeks suspension and the danger of going 2-3 for the season and losing touch with the top of the table.  The odds of $3.35 for Sydney to win seem absolutely extroadinary as they always give Hawthorn a torrid time.  Games at Aurora stadium are always scrappy affairs which favour the Swans as well.  I think the Hawks will win because they absolutely have to but this is a huge danger game.

Geelong fans have been gloating more and about having the wood over Hawthorn in the last few years and at the games i would say they are Collingwood-like in their feralness.  Until the Qualifying final last year i could always laugh off their crap and say “ah well, we win the ones that count” but they finally won an important one and the Hawks are officially not as good.  Thankfully this Easter Monday, it counts again.  The experts are saying that this is the one the Hawks have the best chance of winning and that a loss will ruin their entire season.  Well, they are placing a bit too much importance on it but still, it will give us the chance to take back the power of winning the ones that count.  Go Hawks!

Growing up in the country it was a very rare occurence that i would come to Melbourne and even more rare that i got to go to the footy since my parents were south Australians and not interested in the VFL.  Finally in 1987 as a sprightly 12 year old, my 18 year old Hawthorn Nut sister let me come and stay for the weekend and took me to my first Hawthorn game.

It was round 8 at Princes Park and the Hawks were up against the Pussies.  I honestly had no idea where Geelong were on the ladder but the Hawks had lost a few games  and that meant i was copping grief at school because i was the only Hawks supporter there and in our school you either had to follow Carlton, Collingwood or Essendon.

Well, i chose a good first game to go to.  My Sister and her friends had us positioned on centre wing amongst the drunken yobs.  Back in 87 it was mostly standing room, beer was cheap, crowds were small (only 9000 there this day) and Geelong fans were a bunch of bogans.  In the 25 years since then a lot has changed, the grounds have become mostly seating, the beer is expensive, the geelong fans….well……they are still bogans.

Anyhoo, back to the game.  Darrin Pritchard played the first of his  211 games, Dermie kicked 6, Plat the Rat played a blinder and my new hero Piggy Dunstall kicked a lazy 7 and picked up 3 brownlow votes.  He went on to kick 94 for the season and establish himself as the best full forward of his generation.  Thats right Saints and Swans fans, Piggy was the best full forward not Plugga.  More people around him kicked goals, he was a goal assist specialist as well and he played fair.

What was your first game?