Rapid Reaction: Hawks vs Eagles

These are my thoughts following each quarter...

Q1. 
 A very promising start to the game. The Eagles are holding their own in the midfield. Shuey and Gaff have been very clean with their disposals.As I thought, the Hawks defence is no match for our key bigs. Kennedy is dominant, with two goals. He should have kicked 3 or 4.  Naitanui took a couple of marks!
I think we can win this game...though I may change my mind at half time. The Hawks may have been exposed as pretenders.

Q2.
 Umpiring grants Franklin another goal. Cox keeps slipping. He really looks off today. I wish Rioli played for us. Darling has been everywhere.
 Our forward pressure has been superb...I wonder if I'll be thinking that come the final quarter. We've played more consistent football than Hawthorn, yet trail by a point. I guess that's the talent differential. Yet, we're still in a position to win this game. This is a huge test of our ability to put 4 quarters together. We need more efficiency in front of goal.

Q3.
Great pressure continues. Ebert continues to turn the ball over.  Darling continues to rack up the disposals. I really don't think we have made the most of our chances. Given the dominance of our forwards, the delivery has been quite disappointing. Still, we lead by 2 points. This is a huge quarter for our finals prospects. Win, go into the bye 3-1 and we have very good chance. A loss will be psychologically demoralising as well as a statistical blow. We've played better than a 2-2 start. Let's Go Eagles!

Q4.
 The Hawks killed us. We couldn't get the ball and when we do we couldn't maintain possession. OK. 6 minutes left it's game over. Franklin just kicked his 6th. For two weeks in a row, we were in it and then well...we lost.
I don't know how to feel about this loss. It was expected. But we had a real chance. I think if we had have been more efficient in front of goal early we may have been closer at the end. There were some fine individual performances; notably Darling. I don't know what happened to Cox today. I just hope he's not injured.
So 2-2 after 4. We seem better than last year, but all that matters is wins. Real progress can only be evidenced by victories. 
It should be an interesting year.
....
So I wrote that when there was 5 minutes left. I went a bit early. Great fightback at the end. Inspirational stuff. Two things. Why the hell didn't the umpire stop the clock when Glass got a 50 m penalty, and when Embley was lining up for goal? Ridiculous. Then, Ebert and Cox touched Embley's kick on the line! What were they thinking? It was going to be a goal!
Still, the first part of the last quarter cost us.
Most of the above observations still apply.


Until next time
Misanthropic Eagle