There appears to be a few parallels that can be drawn between this season and 2008.
Firstly, only the most ardent Hawk supporter would deny that theirs was not the best team over that season. Probably second best, but the gap between the Hawks and the Bulldogs was closer than between the Hawks and the Cats in that year. Whatever the order, these were clearly the three best clubs in season 2008, with only probably the Saints standing in the way of the overwhelming favouritism with the bookies of at least one of them winning the Flag.
In the 2008 Qualifying Final the Hawks were able to convincingly dispense with the Bulldogs, condemning them to a Preliminary Final a fortnight later against Geelong, and ultimately elimination. In essence, the Hawks had used a power performance in the first week of the Finals to get rid of one half of their major rivals for the Flag.
On Grand Final day of that year, the Hawks through a planet-aligning combination of great planning and even greater good fortune, triumphed on the day against a previously all-conquering team who had scored an emphatic victory in the previous year's Premiership. It wasn't a Steven Bradbury win, but it also wasn't a Cathy Freeman either.
Fast forward to 2011. Three teams (with respect to West Coast and Carlton in 4th and 5th ranking) fairly clearly ahead of the pack in Premiership contention. Next weekend the Hawks have the opportunity to inflict a whacking to their nearest neighbour on the ladder, like the one they dished out to the Dogs on the corresponding weekend in 2008. This would again consign their two biggest rivals to a Preliminary Final knock-out bout.
With Collingwood of 2011 playing the role of Geelong of 2008, and a few other cards playing out the right way, what odds the Hawks being able to repeat their snatch-and-run Premiership of 2008?
To me, their squad certainly looks no less capable of such a feat than it did in that year. If Hale could play the role of Roughead (who had a relatively miserable Grand Final in 2008 anyway), the emergence of Cyril, maybe Puopolo as Stuey Dew, Burgoyne as Crawford and the dramatic improvement of so many of their younger brigade, not such an outside chance I reckon?
Firstly, only the most ardent Hawk supporter would deny that theirs was not the best team over that season. Probably second best, but the gap between the Hawks and the Bulldogs was closer than between the Hawks and the Cats in that year. Whatever the order, these were clearly the three best clubs in season 2008, with only probably the Saints standing in the way of the overwhelming favouritism with the bookies of at least one of them winning the Flag.
In the 2008 Qualifying Final the Hawks were able to convincingly dispense with the Bulldogs, condemning them to a Preliminary Final a fortnight later against Geelong, and ultimately elimination. In essence, the Hawks had used a power performance in the first week of the Finals to get rid of one half of their major rivals for the Flag.
On Grand Final day of that year, the Hawks through a planet-aligning combination of great planning and even greater good fortune, triumphed on the day against a previously all-conquering team who had scored an emphatic victory in the previous year's Premiership. It wasn't a Steven Bradbury win, but it also wasn't a Cathy Freeman either.
Fast forward to 2011. Three teams (with respect to West Coast and Carlton in 4th and 5th ranking) fairly clearly ahead of the pack in Premiership contention. Next weekend the Hawks have the opportunity to inflict a whacking to their nearest neighbour on the ladder, like the one they dished out to the Dogs on the corresponding weekend in 2008. This would again consign their two biggest rivals to a Preliminary Final knock-out bout.
With Collingwood of 2011 playing the role of Geelong of 2008, and a few other cards playing out the right way, what odds the Hawks being able to repeat their snatch-and-run Premiership of 2008?
To me, their squad certainly looks no less capable of such a feat than it did in that year. If Hale could play the role of Roughead (who had a relatively miserable Grand Final in 2008 anyway), the emergence of Cyril, maybe Puopolo as Stuey Dew, Burgoyne as Crawford and the dramatic improvement of so many of their younger brigade, not such an outside chance I reckon?