Woo Hoo!

First, let's get the compulsory headline out of the way;

Hawks go down fighting

By Joel Zander

After I stopped rolling about on the floor and wiped the tears from my eyes, I read the rest of the article;

Hawthorn have ended a miserable week with an agonising 12-point defeat to Carlton in a thrilling encounter at Docklands in Melbourne.

Without 11 of their list due to injuries and suspension, the Hawks fought valiantly until the end and only lost the match in the dying moments, going down 15.10 (100) to 14.4 (88).

Brendan Fevola was the star once again for the Blues, following up his seven goals last week against Adelaide with six more in front of a crowd of 47,302.

Of course, for a mighty club with a proud 140 year history, the win was significant for more than one reason;

It is the first time Carlton have strung together two wins since 2001 and keeps their finals hopes alive.

The result also snapped a four-match losing streak for the club against the Hawks.

Lance Whitnall celebrated his 150th AFL match with two goals for Carlton.

And it was a dam' fine game, too;

The match might have been between 12th and last but it turned out to be one of the spectacles of the season, with the lead changing hands six times.

The Hawks were on level pegging 21 minutes into the last term but late goals to Ian Prendergast and Brad Fisher with the siren sounding in the background gave the Blues the four competition points.

Hawthorn could hold their heads high though, having gained some much needed respect after a string of recent hidings.

They had four players rubbed out by the tribunal during the week following a brawl in last week's clash with Essendon and with several others injured were expected to be easy pickings for the Blues.

Carlton had a 26-point lead at the first change but the Hawks had reduced this to 17 at half-time.

A six goals to three third quarter then gave them a three-point lead at the last break, but it was the Blues who finished the stronger of the two sides.

There's plenty more to the article, but if you want to read it then you can click the link; suffice to say that it was a ball-tearer of a game and that I'm starting to think that we might have a team for the first time in three years.
Hawthorn supporters (both of them) can take solace from the fact that their boys played their heart out tonight, a few of the young blokes are in for long careers.