Roos Victors, Tassie Crowd The Big Loser

The Age

Monday July 30, 2007

Lyall Johnson, Launceston

IF THE clash between the Kangaroos and Hawthorn had been sold in a shop, the good folk of Launceston would have been taking it back and asking for an exchange.

So much for the "top-of-the-table" tag. As a spectacle, the Hawks' third game at Aurora Stadium this season better resembled a struggle between cellar-dwellers than teams fighting for second on the ladder.

Both sides littered the ground with mistakes, forced and unforced. The Hawks, however, made more and the worst of them and the Kangaroos were better able to capitalise on the gifts presented.

In fact, so disgruntled with proceedings were the Launceston fans, they gave both sides the wrong sort of send-off at half-time when only eight goals had been scored.

By the time the final siren mercifully put an end to things, the Kangaroos were easy 37-point winners, the margin flattering for the Hawks who managed to claw back three junk goals in time-on in the final term after trailing by 48.

The loss is the third for the Hawks from their past four outings, while the Kangaroos consolidated outright second place with their fifth straight win.

Often, such error-filled games are the product of poor weather, but the clear blue sky and still conditions only served to make the display the more unfathomable.

Kangaroo Corey Jones was among the few able to hold his head up after a best-afield performance included a seven-goal bag from his 19 possessions.

The career-best form of teammate Brent Harvey in the midfield continued, with the rover amassing 30 touches, six of them sending the ball inside the 50-metre arc.

Aaron Edwards was not among the Roos' best, but he did his bit to liven things up, dragging down a screamer that was one of the highlights of the match.

Despite a usually formidable ruck combination of its own, Hawthorn had no answer for the Kangaroos' big men in Hamish McIntosh and David Hale.

Defensively, the unsung Roos backmen in Daniel Pratt, Shannon Watt and Michael Firrito were able to easily shut down a threadbare Hawks forward line, which had Tim Boyle still sidelined with a knee injury and Lance Franklin a late withdrawal with the flu.

The Hawks also were without Sam Mitchell, who was ruled out yesterday morning with a calf strain.

If the Hawks want to play the high possession game they do, they simply cannot afford to make such simple skills errors, a fact noted by Alastair Clarkson after the match. Hawthorn led the critical error count by an unflattering 71-45.

"We just didn't play well enough today, we didn't execute the skills of the game as well as we would have liked," he said.

"At one stage, we were 3.2 and the next stage that we scored a goal, we were 3.11 - that's very, very poor execution and conversion of the opportunities that we had.

"Because we had plenty and we didn't make the most of ours, and the Kangaroos did to their credit, and they ended up six-goal winners as a result."

DETAILS

KANGAROOS

2.5 8.7 11.10 16.12 (108)

HAWTHORN

1.2 3.6 4.11 10.11 (71)

GOALS - Kangaroos: Jones 7, Petrie 2, Sansbury 2, Whyman 2, McIntosh, Edwards, Harvey.

Hawthorn: Croad 2, Dowler 2, Roughead, Hodge, Dixon, Vandenberg, McGlynn, Young.

BEST - Kangaroos: Jones, Harvey, McIntosh, Harris, Firrito, Archer.

Hawthorn: Hodge, Bateman, Crawford, Lewis, Young, Sewell.

INJURIES - Kangaroos: Wells (knee) replaced in selected side by Edwards. Firrito (jarred back).

Hawthorn: Franklin (illness), Mitchell (calf) replaced in selected side by Dowler, Tuck. Crawford (knee).

REPORTS - Hawthorn: Lewis by field umpire

K Nicholls for allegedly striking Harris (Kangaroos) in second quarter.

UMPIRES: McInerney, Ryan, K Nicholls.

CROWD: 19,114 at Aurora Stadium.

© 2007 The Age

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