Coming off last week and looking at the limited history between Hawthorn and Gold Coast, this week is all about one of our oldest rivals; Carlton.
Since entering the league in 1925, Hawthorn have faced Carlton a staggering 160 times in home and away matches.
While recent history has been on our side winning 17 of the last 20 matches, it took the Hawks 26 attempts to beat the navy blues for the first time in 1939!
While there have been many classic matches throughout this storied past, there is a certain game that springs to mind and screams “epic”.
Let me take you back to the year 2009 with the Hawks coming off a premiership campaign and let’s talk about one of the last true full forward shootouts.
The scene was set for a true showdown in Round Six of 2009, with the 3-2 Blues taking on the 2-3 Hawks in front of 70,000 fans at the MCG.
Despite being the reigning premiers, the Hawks team was looking quite different, with seven premiership players from 2008 missing from the selected side.
The first quarter was all about one man wearing Brown and Gold, with Jarryd Roughead kicking four of the Hawks’ five first quarter goals and giving the Blues defenders headaches.
A ridiculous one handed mark over Jarrod Waite signified the big man’s dominance, calmly nailing his fourth of the quarter late from 50.
The Hawks held an 11 point quarter-time lead, with centurion Buddy Franklin having little to no impact.
Hawthorn would have been feeling good. That’s an early win.
A theme of the day was a goals, with both teams going back and fourth on a warm and sunny day at the home of footy.
Both teams kicked four second quarter goals, with Roughead adding two to his total and going into halftime with a half-dozen majors total.
When required, it was the experience of the Hawks that stood up, with Stuart Dew having a big quarter along with Michael Osborne, Sam Mitchell and Chance Bateman.
The worry for Hawthorn wasn’t our scoring power, it was a big man down the other end threatening to rip the game away from them.
Brendan Fevola was the spearhead for the Blues and coming off 99 goals in 2008, was at the height of his powers.
With premiership key defenders Trent Croad and Stephen Gilham both missing, ruckman Robbie Campbell had his hands full and Fev looked damaging.
At half-time the game was beautifully poised, with Hawthorn holding a nine point lead into the main change.
Quarter number three was Carlton’s, kicking four goals to two but it was the Hawks’ inaccuracy that was proving costly.
Two goals and seven behinds for the Hawks ensured that Carlton stayed in reach and thanks to some better kicking by the Blues, the margin was just one single point.
We were in for a massive finish!
Hawthorn landed the first blow, with Jarryd Roughead kicking his seventh goal 90 seconds into the last quarter and then the Bud took the main stage.
Taking a tough mark on the lead, he lined up from 55 metres out on the left forward flank and absolutely flushed it, putting the team up by 13 points.
Premiership stars Dew, Franklin and then Roughead’s career-high eighth gave Hawthorn a 25-point lead with 15 minutes left and the game felt over.
Enter the “Fevolution”, with three fourth-quarter goals to take his total to eight also, in one of the last true full forward shootouts we are likely to see.
When he marked over Robbie Campbell with 32 minutes gone in the last quarter (bring back the five minute warning), it felt inevitable that he would kick the goal and break the hearts of Hawk fans around the stadium.
Luckily enough, he would scrape the inside of the right goal post, resulting in the last score of the day which would see Hawthorn escape with a four point victory.
Final scores read:
Hawthorn – 16.10.106
Carlton – 15.12.102
Roughead was the main man on the day with his eight goals, but there were other big contributions on the day.
Captain Sam Mitchell had 35 disposals, Brad Sewell had 32 disposals, and Beau Dowler had his best career game as a Hawk with 24 disposals and eight marks.
While 2009 did not finish the way Hawks fans wanted it to, this game was an absolute belter and deserves all of the recognition we have given it here today.
