Australian Football

Finals Week 3

1PF

2PF

Premiership Season 2015 - Finals Week 3 Review

Total Crowd 84,588 (Avg 42,294)

Roll out the Batmobile

When Hawthorn and West Coast last met in a Grand Final, way back in 1991, the Hawks were coming to the end of and era and the Eagles on the cusp of their own great one. Fast forward 24 years and the two teams are again to meet in the 'big dance' and it's not beyond the realms of sensibility to suggest that the two sides are similarly placed to their spots of two decades ago.

The Hawks have made the finals in all seasons bar one since 2007, winning three flags along the way and looking at a fourth. The Hawks of 1991 had made the finals every year since 1982 and were looking at a fifth flag for the decade. West Coast lost the 1991 Grand Final before going on to win two of the next three and be perennial finalists over the next decade. The Hawks of that year had been labelled as too old and too slow, but their catch-cry after defeating West Coast was, "too old, too slow, too bloody good!"

Will history repeat itself? If it does, we can expect a Hawthorn win next Saturday, to make it three premierships in four years (three in a row this time around), just as the Hawks of 1991 did. The Hawks won their way through to a fourth consecutive Grand Final with a hard-fought win over the Fremantle Dockers on Friday night, while the Eagles made it through with a similarly gritty win over North Melbourne at the same venue 24 hours later.

In Friday night's match, Fremantle, as it has done all season, made the early going but were only able to convert that dominance into two goals. The Hawks clicked into gear relatively quickly and had the Dockers on the back foot far sooner than coach Ross Lyon would have hoped. By quarter time Hawthorn was already ahead by 19 points forcing Fremantle into a unfamiliar role of having to play catch-up football.

The Dockers didn't make a bad fist of it, and they had clawed their way back to within nine points of the Hawks by around halfway through the last quarter. But a critical error at that moment saw Hawthorn snag a goal against the tide and halt the Docker momentum. Tom Sheridan, who had been solid in defence, dropped an easy mark and Cyril Rioli swooped on the loose ball, snapped with his left foot, and the tumbling ball found its way through the big sticks. The deflated Dockers did not recover, eventually going down by 27 points to leave Ross Lyon, one of the most successful coaches of all time by raw win-loss figures, still without a premiership to his name.

On Saturday night, North Melbourne, the first side to make it from an eighth place finish to a Preliminary Final, looked liked taking their run one step further in the early stages of its match against West Coast. By quarter time, the Kangaroos had opened up a 20-point lead with a three-goal-to-none opening term, and probably had chances to be further in front. The Eagles got back on track in the second quarter, kicking 3.6 to 1.3, but it was still North by five points at the main break.

West Coast made a decisive break in the third term, kicking five goals to one to lead by 21 points at the last change and the Roos were unable to mount a challenge in the final quarter, eventually succumbing by 25 points.

While North could lay claim to making an improvement on last season - the Kangaroos were never in the hunt against Sydney in last year's Preliminary Final - some pundits have doubts about whether it can take another step towards a flag next year. The Roos have an ageing list, but with Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Michael Firrito and Nick Dal Santo set to go around for one more season, their premiership window might yet be open.

While Fremantle and North can only look on and wonder what might have been, West Coast and Hawthorn will battle it out for the flag just as they did in 1991 at Waverley, where Angry Anderson and the Batmobile reigned supreme in the pre-match entertainment and the Hawks reigned supreme for one last time in their era at the end of the match.

While the media has unearthed and put back on public display the Batmobile from all those years ago to create an air of 1991, we'll have to wait until late on Saturday to see if Hawthorn will be "too old, too slow and too bloody good" for the Eagles once more.

LEADING GOALKICKERS AFTER FINALS WEEK 3

80 - Josh Kennedy (WCo)
63 - Jeremy Cameron (GWS), Eddie Betts (Adel)
59 - Taylor Walker (Adel)
56 - Jake Stringer (WB)
54 - Jack Riewoldt (Rich)
53 - Chad Wingard (Port), Jack Gunston (Haw)
52 - Luke Breust (Haw)
50 - Josh Bruce (StK), Tory Dickson (WB)

R-23, Ladder