I hope the Melbournefc take note. what a game. relentless pressure, physical, repeated efforts, contested marks + possessions.

one kick in it. kudos to both clubs. something our club to aspire to and work towards.

there's a lot of work in front of those in charge !

Unbelievable final.

we're quite a few seasons from producing any such quality football.

Hawks should have won. Collingwood only played 1 quarter. the last one and hawthorn fogot to play it. bateman handed the pies 2 goals in the final qtr by doing stupid kicks and they didnt man up. Hodge, Mitchell and Hale will rue the wasy goals thye missed in the first half.

Dam now we have to put up with collingwood fans and eddie for another week. Come on Geelong!

I'm glad we get to see Malthouse's shattered face when the Pies lose by 10 goals next sat.

I hope the Melbournefc take note. what a game. relentless pressure, physical, repeated efforts, contested marks + possessions.

one kick in it. kudos to both clubs. something our club to aspire to and work towards.

there's a lot of work in front of those in charge !

Unbelievable final.

we're quite a few seasons from producing any such quality football.

Would have said it was hard, congested pressure footy rather than 'quality' football. Skills depreciated constantly under pressure especially Collingwoods in first 3 quarters.

In the end Hawks were stiff but their hard game last week and Collingwoods 2 weeks off probably was the difference in the last quarter

Whilst I wouldn't call it a quality game skilswise it was a great relentless physical war

Cats to win the Grand Final by 1 point - how good would that be !

Cats to win the Grand Final by 1 point - how good would that be !

I'd much rather the Cats win by 100 points and bury the filth, Mick and rEddie into the hallowed turf

I hope the Melbournefc take note. what a game. relentless pressure, physical, repeated efforts, contested marks + possessions.

one kick in it. kudos to both clubs. something our club to aspire to and work towards.

there's a lot of work in front of those in charge !

Unbelievable final.

we're quite a few seasons from producing any such quality football.

Well cop that Hawthorn

Thats how we felt in 1987 when you stole our shot @ The Holy Grail

Hopefully its The Dee's inflicting pain on you in a preliminary finally in the not to distant future

Tonight's game reminded me of the '87 Prelim .

Haw clearly the best side all night. All 50:50 umpiring decisions to the favorites,(Coll)

Haw in front nearly all night. Somehow the siren went when Coll got the lead.&!

I hope next week is like 87. Haw knew they didn't deserve to be there and capitulated toCarlton. We wouldn't have!

Would have said it was hard, congested pressure footy rather than 'quality' football. Skills depreciated constantly under pressure especially Collingwoods in first 3 quarters.

In the end Hawks were stiff but their hard game last week and Collingwoods 2 weeks off probably was the difference in the last quarter

Whilst I wouldn't call it a quality game skilswise it was a great relentless physical war

the first three quarters of hawthorn keeping possession with laser like handballs was pure quality.

buddy's goal on the run at full tilt to out run tarrant, was quality

luke ball's match winning snap out of congestion was quality

daisy thomas' running down of rioli with a minute or so to go, quality

dane swan, pendlebury, hodge, mitchell and jordan lewis - relentless quality footy under pressure

but yes, it was also hard, congested in parts, but quality. And I think they're allowed a little latitude to tire in the last. cracking pace.

however people's definition of quality like yours and mine do differ somewhat.

great game in any definition.

Returning to the OP, I totally agree that tonight's game just shows how far the MFC have to go. Neeld knows. Misson knows. The rest of us need to know and buckle down. Pressure football all night. Contested possession after contested possession. Puopolo super all year from Norwood. Still good but dumb mistakes, dumb misses tonight. We must not do that in 3 years time.

I suppose the Pies did finish a bit stronger but the umpires didn't miss a thing their way in the last 5 minutes.....what happened to the old "put the whistle away" late in the last quarter of a tight final ? Bateman's repetitive errors made sure of it !

schoenmakers' dropped mark cost them the game ultimately, b/c from that stoppage ball goaled

he's had a shocker of a finals series i reckon, a weak link

awesome, intense game

MFC has a long way to go

I thought there were six or seven good players on the ground (for both teams), the rest were just making up numbers.

Some of the efforts by Bateman, Shoemakers, Puopulo, Hale and Smith (who I rate) were Melbourne-like. Jordan Lewis looked like one of the only few Hawks at the end who actually tried to get the ball.

Great game.

Football lesson to us.

Collingwood deserved their win, umpiring was bad both ways.

I agree about the umpring, however Hodge should have got a free in the last quarter but the most obvious one missed was how come Tarrant didnt get penalised for deliberate out of bounds when he has kicked it towards the boundary. He wasnt trying to so anything else.

Well cop that Hawthorn

Thats how we felt in 1987 when you stole our shot @ The Holy Grail

Hopefully its The Dee's inflicting pain on you in a preliminary finally in the not to distant future

Actually, I was thinking way back to 1958 when we were the best team in the comp but were beaten by Collingwood in the GF. Would have been nice if Hawks had have robbed them of premiership glory. Vindictive I certainly am.

Incredible game from start to finish. One of the greats. Even though it's finals, we're light years away from that kind of intensity.

Hawthorn lost? I'm crying tears. So sorry to see you go.

I suppose the Pies did finish a bit stronger but the umpires didn't miss a thing their way in the last 5 minutes.....what happened to the old "put the whistle away" late in the last quarter of a tight final ? Bateman's repetitive errors made sure of it !

WOW, what a game that was. Just finished watching it after work. I'm devastated that the filth won, I really thought that the Hawks were gonna rain on fat eddies parade. Alas it was not to be. If next Saturdays game is that good, I'll be a happy fella.

Couldn't agree more dee-eee. Was a really rough last quarter umpiring wise. Unfortunately the umps helped sway the game, but the pies did do there bit by turning up in the last as well.

I swear Eddie's head gets more purple everytime I see it. The bloke is slowly tranforming into Barney.

The Dawks could've at least ran out the game and done us all the favour of not having to stomach the thought of the filth going back to back.

The less said about Bateman's last term the better.

the first three quarters of hawthorn keeping possession with laser like handballs was pure quality.

buddy's goal on the run at full tilt to out run tarrant, was quality

luke ball's match winning snap out of congestion was quality

daisy thomas' running down of rioli with a minute or so to go, quality

dane swan, pendlebury, hodge, mitchell and jordan lewis - relentless quality footy under pressure

but yes, it was also hard, congested in parts, but quality. And I think they're allowed a little latitude to tire in the last. cracking pace.

however people's definition of quality like yours and mine do differ somewhat.

great game in any definition.

Fair enough GTW, but my comments re quality were more directed at Collingwood. They looked panicked, handballs were rushed and missing targets and I haven't seen Collingwood just throw the ball on the foot so much this year. Hawks applied the blowtorch and Collingwoods skills just fell apart (by their standards). At least thats how I saw it and I don't mean to take anything away from Hawthorn but this was not the Collingwood we've seen all this year. I can understand Clarko's frustration at the end of the game. And how stiff was Guerra giving the 50m - game deciding decision.

I thought collingwood's mid field did nothing until the last quarter and even then they just got a good few clearances, but thats collingwood a few quick goals will destroy a team. Hawks missed easy goals in front all night, and were too dependent on Buddy in the first half.

great game hawkes should of won

I hope the Melbournefc take note. what a game. relentless pressure, physical, repeated efforts, contested marks + possessions.

one kick in it. kudos to both clubs. something our club to aspire to and work towards.

there's a lot of work in front of those in charge !

Unbelievable final.

we're quite a few seasons from producing any such quality football.

Yes, it was great to see real old fashioned footy! Man on man contests, ball moving freely, great spoils, not the far too often seen footy basketball. Good DIRECT stuff. Hawks were stiff but that's Collingwood's ability to lift. I was so passionate wanting Collingwood to lose that I almost sweated on the Hawks to win like I do my beloved Dees! ALMOST I said! No, Hawthorn is not one of my favourite teams, it was just WHO they were playing.