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Greater Western Sydney vs Hawthorn

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 6   Venue: Sydney Showground   Date: Sat, 30-04-2016 4:35 pm   Crowd: 13,766  
Greater Western Sydney 7.3.4513.6.8419.10.12424.14.158 C:  Leon Cameron
Hawthorn 2.1.136.3.399.6.6012.11.83 C:  Alastair Clarkson
  GWS by 32GWS by 45GWS by 64GWS by 75  
Weather
min temp  19.0°C      max temp  26.5°C
rainfall  0mm    humidity  64%    air pressure  1015.8mb
wind speed 13km/h      wind direction  ENE
Brownlow Medal 3 Rory Lobb (GWS)2 Callan Ward (GWS)1 Steve Johnson (GWS)

Match Report

Prior to GWS and Hawthorn meeting at the Sydney Showground on Saturday, there were signs for both sides of the day panning out in favour of the Giants. GWS, after a hiccup against Melbourne in round one, had been playing some very impressive high-scoring football and looking dangerous. The Hawks, on the other hand, had been winning since their own round one hiccup against Geelong, but only just, with their last three victories all lucky three-point results. 

Still, no one would have expected what unfolded on Saturday afternoon in Sydney's west. The Giants were all over Hawthorn and thrashed the Hawks by a whopping 75 points, kicking the highest score of their four-and-a-half year history in the process. There's never been any doubt about GWS's talent, and the big win over Hawthorn is a strong indication that this talent has gelled into a cohesive force that could threaten for a flag in the very near future, some pundits saying as early this year.

Hawthorn made the early running, with the hero of last week's match against Adelaide, Paul Puopolo goaling at the four-minute mark after receiving a free kick. A handball from Toby Greene to Rory Lobb in the goal-square gave the Giants their first and they were away, majors to Jeremy Cameron and Stevie Johnson following to give them a 12-point lead midway through the term. Tom Scully extended the lead to 17 with his first at the 21-minute mark but Jack Gunston responded for the Hawks soon after. At the 25-minute mark the margin was still only two goals in favour of GWS but three goals in the last five minutes of the quarter - a second each to Lobb, Cameron and Johnson - had the Giants suddenly 32 points ahead at the first change of ends.

The shellshocked Hawks did not recover from there. They managed to conjure four goals in the second term but the Giants added another six of their own and the margin was out to 45 points at the long break. There was no letting up in the third quarter, and GWS kicked a further six goals to three in the third quarter to take a commanding 64-point lead into the last break.

Young up-and-coming sides can sometimes tire and/or relax in the last quarter of a match that's in its keeping, and it appeared GWS might do that in this case. The Giants failed to get a goal in the first nine minutes, while Hawthorn added a goal via Luke Breust to cut the difference to 56. But the Giants demonstrated a sternness and maturity after that, kicking four of the last six goals to win running away by more than 12 goals. 

Veteran Heath Shaw was outstanding for the Giants, with 11 marks and 32 disposals in defence, as was Dylan Shiel (34 possessions, five tackles) in the midfield. For the Hawks, Jack Gunston (15 touches and five goals) was a fine player.

The win takes GWS up to fifth on the ladder and the Giants will go into their match against the winless Fremantle at Subiaco on Saturday night with great confidence. The Hawks, eight on the ladder with a 4-2 record but a poor percentage of just 91.8, will look to bounce back against Richmond at the MCG on Friday night.

GOALS
GWS: Johnson 5; Lobb 4; Cameron, Scully, Greene, Palmer 3; Whitfield 2; Ward
Hawthorn: Gunston 5; Breust 3; Puopolo 2; Howe, Rioli

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
GWS: Shaw, Coniglio, Shiel, Lobb, Ward, Johnson, Whitfield
Hawthorn: Gunston, Breust, Birchall

BEST - THE SUNDAY AGE
GWS:
 Shiel, Johnson, Lobb, Coniglio, Whitfield
Hawthorn: Gunston, Birchall, Breust, Lewis, McEvoy

INJURIES
GWS: Griffen (back) replaced in the selected side by Haynes
Hawthorn: Frawley (concussion)

UMPIRES: Foot, Ryan, McInerney

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Dermott Brereton, Alastair Lynch, Barry Hall

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.

Match stats

Greater Western Sydney Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
21 Buntine, Matt 5 3 2 7 0 0 0 1 0 1 22y 194d 32 1
18 Cameron, Jeremy 4 0 1 5 3 0 0 1 0 1 23y 29d 75 191
3 Coniglio, Stephen 12 3 18 30 0 1 0 9 1 0 22y 137d 67 25
1 Davis, Phil 3 3 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 25y 244d 82 6
4 Greene, Toby 13 4 9 22 3 0 0 3 2 2 22y 218d 81 43
19 Haynes, Nick 9 5 6 15 0 0 0 1 0 1 23y 348d 45 4
17 Johnson, Steve 16 4 9 25 5 0 0 4 3 1 32y 301d 259 468
22 Kelly, Josh 17 4 9 26 0 2 0 3 0 0 21y 78d 42 22
40 Kennedy, Adam 9 4 7 16 0 0 0 1 3 1 23y 293d 67 4
37 Lobb, Rory 9 10 7 16 4 2 7 2 1 2 23y 81d 17 18
41 Mumford, Shane 3 4 9 12 0 0 33 2 0 2 29y 300d 134 47
7 Palmer, Rhys 12 7 3 15 3 1 0 3 1 0 27y 77d 115 90
24 Patfull, Joel 4 5 5 9 0 0 0 2 0 2 31y 145d 202 25
12 Patton, Jonathon 4 4 3 7 0 0 0 1 0 0 22y 346d 37 41
9 Scully, Tom 10 5 13 23 3 1 0 1 1 1 24y 351d 109 40
23 Shaw, Heath 29 11 3 32 0 0 0 2 1 0 30y 155d 219 38
5 Shiel, Dylan 19 3 15 34 0 1 0 5 1 0 23y 52d 70 35
11 Steele, Jack 9 6 12 21 0 0 0 7 1 0 20y 139d 11 4
8 Ward, Callan 9 5 20 29 1 2 3 4 1 0 26y 20d 149 76
6 Whitfield, Lachie 16 9 12 28 2 0 0 4 0 0 21y 287d 57 25
29 Williams, Zac 8 4 12 20 0 1 0 5 2 1 21y 223d 35 10
16 Wilson, Nathan 13 4 3 16 0 0 0 2 2 2 23y 114d 38 11
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 233 107 180 413 24 14 43 63 20 18 24y 270d 1943 1224
Hawthorn Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
14 Birchall, Grant 10 7 10 20 0 0 0 2 0 1 28y 93d 222 31
22 Breust, Luke 8 3 5 13 3 2 0 1 2 3 25y 171d 122 235
9 Burgoyne, Shaun 9 2 9 18 0 0 0 3 0 1 33y 192d 301 245
18 Ceglar, Jonathon 4 6 10 14 0 1 22 3 2 1 25y 76d 36 19
8 Duryea, Taylor 11 2 3 14 0 0 0 2 1 1 25y 6d 69 12
12 Frawley, James 5 0 3 8 0 0 0 0 0 2 27y 223d 163 24
6 Gibson, Josh 9 4 10 19 0 0 0 1 0 0 32y 48d 195 3
19 Gunston, Jack 12 4 3 15 5 0 0 2 0 0 24y 197d 109 232
10 Hill, Bradley 8 1 6 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 22y 296d 77 47
15 Hodge, Luke 10 3 10 20 0 0 1 2 1 2 31y 320d 275 188
41 Howe, Daniel 7 5 7 14 1 0 0 3 1 2 20y 148d 7 1
3 Lewis, Jordan 6 1 9 15 0 1 4 4 1 1 30y 6d 246 135
36 Lovell, Kieran 6 1 5 11 0 0 0 1 1 0 18y 350d 1 0
7 McEvoy, Ben 5 5 11 16 0 0 24 1 1 0 26y 294d 129 49
5 Mitchell, Sam 11 1 15 26 0 1 1 0 1 1 33y 201d 291 67
23 O'Brien, Tim 5 2 5 10 0 0 0 1 0 1 22y 33d 7 5
28 Puopolo, Paul 5 1 1 6 2 1 0 3 2 1 28y 150d 117 110
33 Rioli, Cyril 5 2 7 12 1 0 0 5 2 0 26y 291d 163 234
26 Shiels, Liam 6 1 12 18 0 0 0 5 1 1 25y 1d 128 43
21 Sicily, James 7 3 2 9 0 1 0 1 2 0 21y 115d 9 15
16 Smith, Isaac 6 4 5 11 0 2 0 0 0 1 27y 122d 117 104
24 Stratton, Ben 6 3 5 11 0 0 0 1 0 1 27y 60d 123 1
  Rushed   2  
  Totals 161 61 153 314 12 11 52 41 18 20 26y 204d 2907 1800

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.