Sydney’s breathtaking win will have them believing they can win from anywhere, while the irresistible Hawthorn have that Collingwood 2023 feel.
This was a battle of hearts and minds. And it wasn’t a confection. This was the most consequential game ever played in Sydney.
Veteran Jake Lloyd will not have kicked a more significant goal than his one in the last quarter after keeping his feet in a one-on-one duel on the flank and running inside 50.Outnumbered, Tom Papley’s effort to spoil Connor Idun and handball over to Heeney was just as important as Heeney’s chest shove to Lachie Whitfield that bought him the metre to give him a break and skim through his long shot goal.
Luck helps deliver its own momentum. Collingwood had it in 2023, that idea that the ball would fall right when it needed to. And it did, in ways that it didn’t for the Magpies this year. Now, it is falling right for Hawthorn, and creating this irresistible drive.No, I am not saying their season is just down to luck for they are far better than that, nor that they have just got lucky and have not been the architects of their reconstruction. But luck must play its part for all finalists.
The Hawks have been pleasantly surprised by the rapid progress of the precocious Dear, who as a father-son was despite the nominative determinism, ironically cheap in a draft sense. Watson was the earliest selection for a small forward since Izak Rankine was taken at No.3, and Rankine is now blending time as a midfielder. In his first season, in which he played 12 games, Rankine booted 12 goals. Watson has played 22 games this year for 22 goals, albeit 6 came in the last two rounds against the bottom teams.
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