How good were Hawthorn 2008?

[PowerfulPies2023]

One of the greats imo. Geelong didn't choke Hawthorn were just better when it mattered. How good or great do you rate the hawks. Or do you overrate them?

For me the brand of footy they played that season could match it with almost any side. Especially what they played like in the finals.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Obliterated the Dogs (3rd) by 51 and the Saints (4th) by 54 in consecutive finals. Then rolled the Cats by 26. Franklin kicked 113 for the season, Roughead 75. We were a bloody good side, albeit our bottom 4 players were quite poor (Renouf, Gilham, Campbell & Ellis).
I think Croad's GF injury (and subsequent retirement) really hurt us structurally and we never quite looked imposing behind the ball again until Lake arrived.

As for the Grand Final itself - we lost Croad (CHB) at the start of the second quarter then Young (who was arguably our best player in the first half) at the start of the third yet still won by over four goals. Yes, the Cats were all over us during that second quarter period of numerous squandered gilt edged chances but aside from that we bested them for the majority of the game. Play that game ten times and I still think we win at least five of them, Geelong were not in great form and for some inexplicable reason dropped Wojcinski on a hard, fast track for an injured Chapman.

I find it a little difficult to rate that team in historical context as for a number of reasons we dropped off pretty dramatically the next year and were middling in 2010 but in '08 we were one of the most consistently high scoring teams of that era and also physically imposing. We'd also beaten the Cats in '06 and '07 so hadn't yet developed that psychological inferiority that manifested from '09-'13.

 

[SA HAWK]

Obliterated the Dogs (3rd) by 51 and the Saints (4th) by 54 in consecutive finals. Then rolled the Cats by 26.

We lost to all 3 in the minor round but beat them in finals.

Healthy & peaked at the right time.

 

[kriles76]

One of the greats imo. Geelong didn't choke Hawthorn were just better when it mattered. How good or great do you rate the hawks. Or do you overrate them?

For me the brand of footy they played that season could match it with almost any side. Especially what they played like in the finals.

I love that side and I love that premiership - it's probably my favourite of all; and GF day fell on my 32nd birthday. We weren't the best home and away side but we were the best side in September a fair margin. I walked into that ground on the day feeling quietly confident and at half time I knew we had them. You could see the dropped heads on the Geelong players walking off the ground at HT and Harley was on another planet. Then that third quarter.....

If I'm honest, that side should never be considered amongst the most elite of premiers as it took the club another three seasons to make finals - probably aided by the hubris, cruelling injuries and retirements that followed the premiership.

 

[joe444]

These threads are pretty random.

Good on em, but our '08 team was neither the '07 or '09 in terms of calibre.

Our full forward was Tom Lonegan, ffs.

In the end, '09 doesn't happen without '08. Fair trade, cos I love that game so much. Even if these threads are, as I suspect, some weird kind of trolling.

 

[PhatBoy]

They were an excellent team and didn’t just win by random chance or us playing bad or something. They won a final the year before so hadn’t just popped up overnight and had an awesome forward line.

Probably don’t agree with the ‘Hawthorn win that game 5 out of 10 times’ comment earlier in the thread but a) I’m biased so of course I’m not going to, but b) you don’t get to 23-1 for a season without being a f**king good side yourself. But yes to be fair we probably did dip a little bit later in the season compared to the footy we were playing a bit earlier, and Hawthorn were on a real tear during the finals and good enough that I had money on them on grand final day:

I think they were about $3.80 or something so I put ‘in case we lose at least I get something out of it, and hey that’s good value for a team that I think can genuinely get us’ money on.

That individual side probably wasn’t ’all time great’ as far as flag teams go but it was a damn good side and proved it to a degree with how many of them went on to form the core of the threepeat team

 

[shaqsuns]

If you did not know the result and you said to me that:

• Geelong would have 9 more scoring shots
• Geelong would dominate possession
• Ablett had 35, kicked 2 and was clearly BOG
• Mitchell gets tagged out of it and would have 11 touches
• Buddy amd Roughead were nullified for most of the game
• And that Hawthorns best player has just come out of retirement from Port and is borderline obese

I would have said Geelong must have won by 12 goals!!!!

 

[Cyclops]

We lost to all 3 in the minor round but beat them in finals.

Healthy & peaked at the right time.

Have to agree, although take my opinion with a grain of salt as I am an ignorant outsider.

Lots of fine pieces in place but not the machine that threepeated, I'd say this was Clarksons masterpiece.

Fatty Dew on the wing playing like a Rioli? The tactical trickery his men pulled off flawlessly? Two down halfway through vs a (suspiciously) powerful Geelong but adjusting on the fly?

Geelong were utterly bamboozled.

StillAtLarge i concede you know the side far better than me, but if you play that game ten times my guess is the Cats win it eight times. They were a hulking side that won by seeking contests: kick it from one 1vs1 to the next, and win the majority of contests until you blast through. The ripped Port in half, and even busted the anti-Geelong flood of St Kilda by walking straight into the trap and breaking it. As Grand Final winning plays go Scarlett-Ablett-Chapman takes gold from Pendles-Daicos-JDG and "tell Aker get to the front"

I feel like Clarkson sorted his match ups superbly, getting draws and overlaps in spare corners of the ground. At the time I was confused how Dew and others kept turning up in such dangerous places: in retrospect they worked off the ball to pull Geelong out of shape.

A great win because honestly Geelong were correctly favourites.

 

[Hawkk]

I love that side and I love that premiership - it's probably my favourite of all; and GF day fell on my 32nd birthday. We weren't the best home and away side but we were the best side in September a fair margin. I walked into that ground on the day feeling quietly confident and at half time I knew we had them. You could see the dropped heads on the Geelong players walking off the ground at HT and Harley was on another planet. Then that third quarter.....

If I'm honest, that side should never be considered amongst the most elite of premiers as it took the club another three seasons to make finals - probably aided by the hubris, cruelling injuries and retirements that followed the premiership.

There’s a reason they gave 2008 a standalone slot in the 100 year celebration. It’s Hawthorn’s best flag…

 

[joe444]

There’s a reason they gave 2008 a standalone slot in the 100 year celebration. It’s Hawthorn’s best flag…

I would have thought 1971? Pissing down rain, 20 points behind at 3/4 time and then just an onslaught of goals each slightly more ridiculous than the other.

 

[Osho]

It was one if the best GFs I've ever seen.
Hawks were brilliantly coached and led on the field, with cameos all over the place, and many blokes coming back for a 3rd 4th 5th cameo.

The Cats though, being such a great side, made the victory even better than it would normally have been. A precocious and outrageous team with some newfangled tactics and full of gumption, upset the AllStars.

It was unbelievable at the time.

 

[MasterSamurai]

Remember a weird positive atmosphere/feeling about this game. The night before couple of Carlton nuffy friends were extremely confident that hawks were going to win!! Outsiders point of view by people I respect the opinion of probably got me more comfortable. Plus, hawks were in excellent form during the finals with real scoring power which the saints couldn't capitalise on in 2009! Score power is so important in this game. Even if you're an underdog, it means you're always in the game with a surprise goal or two. Cats obviously the best team all year though.

 

[Dark Eagle 9]

Awesome premiership. Very very lucky that the list of drug users didn't get let out by the media. It was ok for them to crucify West Coast though.

 

[Roddy]

Being there is my all-time favourite sporting memory. It's just surreal looking back at it now.

One piece of play summed it up, in the third: when an undersized third-string forward and a fat retiree beat four members of the illustrious cat backline to goal. We just wanted it, so bad, that day. And no one, not even the dominant cats, were taking it away from us.

Just beautiful to watch.

 

[HairyO]

One of the greats imo. Geelong didn't choke Hawthorn were just better when it mattered. How good or great do you rate the hawks. Or do you overrate them?

For me the brand of footy they played that season could match it with almost any side. Especially what they played like in the finals.

We were good enough to beat the Dank'd up Cats, so I'd say we were super awesome.

 

[Badesumofu]

We were devastatingly good through the final series after having been just there or thereabouts during the home and away season.

Produced our best footy and produced it consistently at the right time.

 

[canny30]

One of the greats imo. Geelong didn't choke Hawthorn were just better when it mattered. How good or great do you rate the hawks. Or do you overrate them?

For me the brand of footy they played that season could match it with almost any side. Especially what they played like in the finals.

You must have missed the second qtr when we pissed the premiership away with horrendous goalkicking.

Having said that, Hawthorn 2008 were very good, But Geelong 2008 would win 7/10 times against them imo.

We didn't when it matter though and that's all that matters.

 

[The Swert]

A very good side (not as good as Geelong) that peaked at the right time and played a blinder on GF day. Clearly my fav GF day.

I would still pick St Kilda's 2009 team over it though despite differing results. That team was quality but just couldn't get over the line.

 

[smasha]

A very good side (not as good as Geelong) that peaked at the right time and played a blinder on GF day. Clearly my fav GF day.

I would still pick St Kilda's 2009 team over it though despite differing results. That team was quality but just couldn't get over the line.

Great to see Crawford get a premiership he richly deserved.

 

[Lando_]

Great to see Crawford get a premiership he richly deserved.

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!

 

[PhatBoy]

THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!

I probably would have been happier for him if he didn’t further popularise a phrase that Marcia Hines of all people hadn’t started using on Australian Idol

 

[canny30]

Obliterated the Dogs (3rd) by 51 and the Saints (4th) by 54 in consecutive finals. Then rolled the Cats by 26. Franklin kicked 113 for the season, Roughead 75. We were a bloody good side, albeit our bottom 4 players were quite poor (Renouf, Gilham, Campbell & Ellis).
I think Croad's GF injury (and subsequent retirement) really hurt us structurally and we never quite looked imposing behind the ball again until Lake arrived.

As for the Grand Final itself - we lost Croad (CHB) at the start of the second quarter then Young (who was arguably our best player in the first half) at the start of the third yet still won by over four goals. Yes, the Cats were all over us during that second quarter period of numerous squandered gilt edged chances but aside from that we bested them for the majority of the game. Play that game ten times and I still think we win at least five of them, Geelong were not in great form and for some inexplicable reason dropped Wojcinski on a hard, fast track for an injured Chapman.

I find it a little difficult to rate that team in historical context as for a number of reasons we dropped off pretty dramatically the next year and were middling in 2010 but in '08 we were one of the most consistently high scoring teams of that era and also physically imposing. We'd also beaten the Cats in '06 and '07 so hadn't yet developed that psychological inferiority that manifested from '09-'13.

Good summary.

Geelong 2008 actually won most games by obliterating teams with one qtr of complete domination. They were not as good as the 2007 side.

That qtr was the second qtr of the 2008 GF.

I remember telling my mates at half time we were in serious strife....because we had just blown our onw dominant qtr.

 

[StillAtLarge]

Good summary.

Geelong 2008 actually won most games by obliterating teams with one qtr of complete domination. They were not as good as the 2007 side.

That qtr was the second qtr of the 2008 GF.

I remember telling my mates at half time we were in serious strife....because we had just blown our onw dominant qtr.

Losing Ablett and Egan was probably a bigger blow than anyone realised at the time, Taylor hadn't yet developed into a star and Lonergan really wasn't the player Hawkins would subsequently become. Add some injured players, some questionable gameday selections and a team that peaked a tad early and you get an upset result.
It definitely steeled you guys and made you more resilient, similar to our 2012 defeat.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Hawthorn and Geelong met five times over 06 - 08. They both rose from outside the 8 in 2006 to premiers in 07/08 respectively. Met five times over that period with Hawthorn winning four times. No doubt had our number from 09 to 13 but 08 wasn’t the statistical abnormality some say it is - just Geelong ran into its bogey team that had peaked perfectly for September.

 

[canny30]

Losing Ablett and Egan was probably a bigger blow than anyone realised at the time, Taylor hadn't yet developed into a star and Lonergan really wasn't the player Hawkins would subsequently become. Add some injured players, some questionable gameday selections and a team that peaked a tad early and you get an upset result.
It definitely steeled you guys and made you more resilient, similar to our 2012 defeat.

Agree with all that.