By John Van Klaveren
THEY’RE a sad team at Hawthorn this week.
Just when the Hawks thought they were in a position to finally “gain some ground” on their stanch rivals, Geelong again demonstrated its ticker.
It was there, available to the keen observer, for the entire game – the nervousness, kicks that went astray, the missed handballs and the shots for goal that failed to find their target were endemic in the Hawthorn game.
Geelong made mistakes, too, but they were mistakes of commission, not omission. The Cats’ blues resulted from trying to create, to be positive.
Hawthorn’s mistakes were born of fear of handing Geelong an advantage or costing their team.
Before the game Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson expressed some hope that the run of defeats at the hands of the Cats could see the start of a reversal, with the Hawks finally in a position to take on Geelong as equals.
After the match he could only concede that the scoreboard flattered his team and they still had some work to do.
Chris Scott’s approach now will be interesting because his team clearly is top of the heap.
He has consistently pointed to Hawthorn as the benchmark this season and insisted his team has quite a bit of work to do.
He will no doubt maintain that mantra, setting it against internal benchmarks.
But for Cats fans, the benchmark has been set.
There is only another top of the table clash looming this week, with Port Adelaide at the newly footified Adelaide Oval next on the agenda.
Scott was right when he declared last week: “It’s a good time to be a Geelong fan”.
