HAWTHORN 4.2 8.5 12.7 15.11 (101) COLLINGWOOD 3.5 7.7 9.16 12.19 (91)
Goals: Hawthorn: C Rioli 5, L Breust 3, J Gunston 2, L Shiels 2, I Smith, M Suckling, R Schoenmakers. Collingwood: D Swan 2, J White 2, A Fasolo, J Blair, J Crisp, J de Goey, M Williams, T Adams, T Broomhead, T Cloke.
BEST: Hawthorn: Rioli, Lewis, Mitchell, Shiels, Hodge, Stratton, Hill. Collingwood: Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Crisp, Varcoe, Langdon, Williams, Adams.
Umpires: Scott Jeffery, Jacob Mollison, Brett Rosebury.
Official Crowd: 75,880 at MCG.
And then they played football. It felt a little wrong but right at the same time. The pall of unexpected violent loss fell upon the game and so 75,880 converged at the place that drew them to the thing that bound them in the first place. It was the game that meant they wanted to grieve for someone they didn't know so it was to the game they came.
And so it was about the game the night focused. The sense of celebration was removed. The pre-match rituals designed for anticipation, excitement and tension gave way to respectful, mournful acknowledgement. The occasion was distilled to the match. No banners, no songs, no fanfare, just the game, much like Phil Walsh himself.
The game then distilled itself to a rugged battle between two teams evenly matched in all but maturity and experience. And so it was played that way, one team playing frantically and the other with composure and efficiency.
It distilled itself to just a handful of moments. All of them Cyril Rioli. Other players won many possessions, none had the impact of Rioli. To half-time he had four kicks and three of them were goals. His best moment was not a stat at all. It was a dive between three Collingwood players to scoop the ball back in and create the open field for Luke Breust to kick the goal to return the lead that would not be overtaken.
This was a callow Collingwood team, with two more debutants called in to join first-year player Jordan De Goey and meant there were nine Collingwood players with fewer than 50 games of experience. Hawthorn had almost double the games experience and it showed. The third term exemplified that gulf. Collingwood could own the play but not the scoreboard. They had 11 shots for the term, Hawthorn six. Hawthorn kicked four goals, Collingwood two. It was the quarter that lost the game for Collingwood. As much as Hawthorn won it, here was where Collingwood lost it.
True, it was not kids missing – Alex Fasolo missed three times, and Travis Cloke twice for the term (it goes without saying Cloke's only goal was highlight-reel worthy, his four misses simply deflating) and Jesse White throughout missed goals he simply must kick – but equally there were shots created through business not craft.
Jack Gunston missed for Hawthorn too but his misses were punctuated by Hawthorn goals. Rioli embodied that efficiency – an odd word for Cyril for his play is art – by capitalising ruthlessly.
Collingwood got themselves in front in the last quarter with three goals that mocked the misses of the third term and for a time it appeared they might have found rhythm and momentum.
Hawthorn, however, has the composure of a team that expects to win – particularly against Collingwood after seven previous straight wins over four years – and finds alternatives when key players are missing.
Without Jarryd Roughead, Rioli was the deep forward. Appropriately he kicked his fifth goal when he was hit high with a collision with Varcoe that saw the Magpie's number taken. Matt Suckling goaled again and Hawthorn again found ways to score from fewer opportunities.
This was the first of a run of six matches in which Hawthorn confronts the other five teams in the top six, with the only respite being Carlton.
Darcy Moore received his jumper and a hug from his dad. As a first game it was more of a hurdle cleared to make subsequent games easier than it was impressive match in itself. He was subbed out late. Scott Pendlebury was superb for Collingwood but the midfield was overwhelmed by a cleaner Hawthorn team.
Jordan Lewis amassed possessions early, blending industry with creativity. His best kick was a deliberate yet fluky soccer off the ground that Cyril was able to scoop in to mark and goal. His second best touch created the first goal of the game, climbing in third man up in the ruck, as is his regular wont, and palming the ball to Liam Shiels beneath to snap.
Hawthorn won because whenever the moment demanded it they won the critical possession, converted the critical goal. Collingwood did not. White, 45 metres out with minutes to play, could have put Collingwood in front. He missed. A minute later he was in the same spot and did not want to take his kick – he passed speculatively to Swan and the ball went out.
Hawthorn then kicked two goals in two minutes. Game over.
And when the siren blew there was satisfaction but no call for song. The team gathered in the middle, two teams linking arms.
