Entertaining match last night managed to get my statement of work mostly finished woo!! Sat down and watched most of the 2nd half. Looked like Adelaide just couldn't go with hawthorn on the spread and two-way run. I think Hawthorn are defensively vulnerable but I guess that happens when you don't have 2 of your main defenders to use. Then again, their defence is almost exactly the same as 2012, just without Gibson.
Match in the end really did look like a 4th or 5th best team playing the 9th best team in the league.
The win last night should help Hawthorn achieve 4th or 3rd, but they do have some very tough games coming up against Sydney and Geelong. Too bad for Adelaide, they'll give a few teams scares, but they're just not up to it this year. Losing so many players in the last 4-5 years has really hurt them. 2012 really was their only opportunity to win something.
A better team would have beaten Hawthorn last night, and a better team would have put Adelaide to the sword and kept the foot down.
Depending on the Tigers vs Port game, the Hawks might slip back to 4th with Geelong still playing catch-up. Many people are predicting percentage gains for the other top 4 teams so will be interesting to see how the ladder plays out at the end of the round.
Fair to say though, that Adelaide's finals chances are gone. Only a magnificent collapse would see them through.