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Hawks clip Dockers to snatch AFL crown
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Forward Jack Gunston kicked four goals as the Hawthorn Hawks beat the Fremantle Dockers 11.11 (77) to 8.14 (62) in Melbourne yesterday to win the Australian Football League championship for the 11th time.
Hawthorn led 5.5 (35) to 1.6 (12) after a fast-paced but low-scoring first half — the first since 1960 to see only six goals scored.
Playing in its first-ever Grand Final, Fremantle narrowed Hawthorn’s lead to 6.5 (41) to 5.8 (38) midway through the third quarter, but late goals by Luke Breust and Bradley Hill allowed the Hawks to hold on and to claim their first AFL title since 2008.
Hawthorn was the top qualifier after the regular season and was playing in the Grand Final for the third time in six years. Its end-to-end win — Gunston kicked the opening goal after 3 minutes, 39 seconds — allowed the team to finally shed a reputation as an under-achiever after its upset, 10-point loss to Sydney in last year’s Grand Final and its three-point loss to Collingwood in the 2011 preliminary final.
The Hawks remain the only club to have won at least one premiership per decade since the 1960s, accumulating 11 titles since 1961. A total of 10 Hawthorn players became two-time premiership winners, including Shaun Burgoyne, who won with Port Adelaide in 2004 and superstar Lance Franklin, who kicked one goal in the first quarter.
Coach Ross Lyon, who led Fremantle into the premiership decider for the first time in its 19-year history, remained without a win in four Grand Finals. He guided St Kilda to the premiership deciders in 2009 and 2010, when a replay was needed to find the champion.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson won the premiership for the second time in his nine-year reign.
Gunston’s three first-half goals were crucial in a close-fought match, in which Fremantle didn’t kick its first goal — through Tendai Mzungu — until the 12th minute of the second quarter.
By that stage Hawthorn had four goals and Gunston strengthened its position when he followed Mzungu’s major with his third goal. Midfielders David Mundy, Nathan Fyfe, Michael Barlow and Stephen Hill led Fremantle’s strong start to the third quarter at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when it kicked five of the first seven goals.
Hawks midfielder Brad Sewell said the devastation of last year’s loss to Sydney was in the mind of the players during the final quarter when Fremantle was attempting to mount a comeback.
“It’s one hell of a feeling getting done the way that we did last year and it’s something that nobody’s prepared to go through again,” Sewell said.
Veteran Brian Lake who joined the Hawks last year was awarded the Norm Smith medal for a best on-ground performance, playing in his first Grand Final after 12 seasons in the AFL.
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