The Easter Monday Blog (1/4/24)

Hawthorn v Geelong @ MCG. A marquee fixture since the 2010s, filled with tension, animosity and a thirst to destroy the other team. For me, though, there's a little extra that makes it my favourite fixture of the year. Let's talk about it.

Pre-Game Hype; A Series of Screenshots

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “Oh my god easter monday in two days!!!”. The tags are “reeeeeee” and “chable sportsposts”.

The excitement is real.

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “Why are the teams only releasing tonight?? I want to know if Conway is playing or not!!!!!!!”. The tags are “afl” and “chable sportsposts”.

The ruck situation at Geelong has been a pet topic of mine since it became a possibility that Tom De Koning could make the move. With or without him, though, Geelong are set for the next ten years with this guy, hence the hype.

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell where the heading reads “TOBY CONWAY PLAYING TOMORROW” and the body text reads “RHYS STANLEY OUT” and “LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO I GET TO WATCH HAWTHORN + SDK + ZUTHRIE + CONWAY LIVE!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” The tags are “afl” and “chable sportsposts”.

No Stanley? No problem. Also more hype. Can’t have too much hype.

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell. At the start is a photo of a news article. In the image is a blurred photo of Tom De Koning and Toby Conway appearing in a ruck contest. The photo zooms in on their faces. The text of the article by the Geelong Advertiser reads, “Rookie ruck to play second game in the hoops”. Under the image, @chablemisspell writes, “holy shit tom de koning plays his second game for geelong??? and since when was he a rookie, rookies don't get songs about them from robbie williams last i checked??? totally couldn't be that other guy. toby conway is a champion of afl football, couldn't possibly be only his second game!! the tags are “afl”, “chable sportsposts” and “unreality”.

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “yall i am So excited for tomorrow even though it's going to be Pissing down with rain”. The tag is “chable sportsposts”.

My dad had been talking about it raining the whole week. I didn’t want to believe it. Then the news started to talk about it. And thus, this post was born.

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell with the heading “EASTER MONDAY TODAY RAHHHHHHHH”. Underneath the heading, a series of dotpoints read “HAWTHORN!!!”, “JOSH WEDDLE”, “JACK GINNIVAN”, “LITERALLY JAMES SICILY”, “MITCH LEWIS ACTUALLY PLAYING????? HELL YEAHHHHHH”, “GEELONG????”, “NO. JUST SAM DE KONING. SAM DE KONING ACTUALLY PLAYING???????? HELL YEAAAAAAHHHHHH”, “AND TOBY CONWAY!!!! TOBY!!!!! OH MY GOSHHHHHHH”, “AND ZUTHRIE AND OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR BRAD CLOSE AND GRYONEL MESSI AND BLITZ AND HOLMES AND GRHEJDWKLDSK,K.ADMSNVDFJKLSMC” and “FOOTBALL!!!!!”. The tag is “chable sportsposts”.

With the next morning, the morning of the actual game, the excitement gets specific. I don’t hold back when I get excited about this game.

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “Tom Hawkins 350 games? This is Ollie Henry 50 games erasure”. The tags are “for legal reasons this is a JOKE”, “absolutely insane occasion for Hawkins today”, “Very fitting it’s an Easter Monday clash sfjhdkak”, and “hope he goes really well while also Not kicking an absolut”. The rest of the tags are cut off.

They should have ranked Henry’s best 49 games smh my head

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “Don’t even get me started on Blake Hardwick 50 games erasure”. The tags are “for legal reasons this is ALSO a JOKE” and “chable sportsposts”.

A reblog of the previous post. Can’t be forgetting Dimma!

That Hand Shaking Meme But It’s Melbourne And Horrible Traffic (the journey)

We left the house a bit late, and we also had to buy some coke bottles on the way because cans aren’t allowed. That and a combination of bad driving decisions and horrible traffic led to us parking on the other side of the Fitzroy Gardens. This was mostly fine, except I’ll tell you now that it was tiring to walk all the way back after the game.

The State Of Play, a continuation. (pre-game)

me: walks into the MCG

me: finds my seat

me: immediately drags my sister to the MCG store to buy a Josh Weddle badge

also me: decides fuck it we ball and purchases a Sam De Koning badge as well

me: pins both onto my hawks scarf and wears them proudly the whole game

That’s right. I did it. I got myself a badge of my favouritest boy, Josh Weddle! And as a little treat (and to confuse everyone around me) I indulged a little more and bought one for my other favouritest boy, Sam De Koning!! I’ve never actually bought AFL things for myself, all my other things are from years ago (and somehow still fit me) and bought by my parents. This is completely new territory for me and oh my gosh I feel so comfortable in it.

Last year, I wrote a piece for my creative writing class called The State Of Play. It was about last year’s Easter Monday clash- the first AFL game I ever went to. Specifically, though, it was about the conflicting idea that I was a massive Hawks supporter, and my unwarranted love for a lot of things Geelong. It’s one of the best pieces I’ve ever put together, weaving real-life experiences into a stream of endless, ever-progressing thought processes. Which is basically how my brain comes up with big thoughts like that. What I’m trying to say is that in writing The State Of Play, I laid out my thoughts on the table. Including the consensus in my mind that I definitely gave a shit about what other people thought, but I did not let it negatively affect me. I would not let it negatively affect me.

This year, I proved it. I could so easily have gone ‘Actually, that’s kinda weird’ to myself and only gone with the Weddle badge. But when else would I have the chance? I don’t go to games enough to always have access to the badges. I don’t online shop. And who cares if others stare? I’ve got Josh. I’ve got every other piece of AFL merch on me to tell the story. And I’ve got my will. My pride. If anyone asks, ‘Do you go for us, or not?’, then they’re blind. Or SDK lives in their head rent-free. Which is hilarious in its own right, yet very much improbable.

The Boys (individual player performances)

We start with Sam De Koning, because he’s the first person I’ve listed on my Tumblr and this entire thing is basically a polished, better version of the Tumblr post. If Sam could have chosen any other week to get really good again, I would be going insane. Even now, I’m still going a little insane because I’m very happy about how Sam played. Of course, though, it cannot be without a little resentment. Why us, dude? Two intercept marks. TWELVE SPOILS. It was beautiful to watch Sam get the arm around to spoil in front, arguably one of his best assets, but why against ussssssssss :(((((. THIS GUY LITERALLY DOESN’T LOSE WHAT THE HECK. Okay maybe these stats are normal for him and I’m only noticing because it’s against us and Sam has been doing interestingly these first few weeks and y’know what I give up do whatever you want mate.

We move on to another Sam! Sam Frost! The Frostballer himself! If I was saying SDK stop taking intercept marks, Sam Frost keep taking intercept marks and never fucken stop. The main concern a lot of Hawks fans have with Frost is his tendency to do a good thing (like take an intercept mark) and then immediately stuff it up by handballing to a teammate with an opponent right on their tail, or kicking it directly to an opposition player. We call these things Frostball. We did not see a lot of Frostball from Frost today. He did insanely well, and I’m really proud of him. However, where Frost did not Frostball, the rest of the team made up for in steed. Namely, Luke Breust trying to get a good angle to kick the footy and getting caught by Tom Stewart. And Nick Watson missing the lot from Literally the Goal Square.

Let’s keep talking about Watson, though. Many will remember the miss from the top of the goal square. But many will not remember the sheer number of shots Watson took, the pressure he put on every Geelong ball-handler, and especially the amazing run-down tackle he did on Jake Kolodjashnij (?) in the third quarter (also ?). (it definitely happened but i haven’t watched it back yet so some of the timeline is hazy) Nick Watson is amazing. He scored a goal, got 16 disposals and a goal assist, and I think it’s fair to say he’s been progressing well as a first-year player. Just gotta get those goal stats up <3

I want to take a moment to appreciate Jack Scrimshaw. No idea who he was playing on (probably changed a bit tbh), but he did amazing! 12 intercept possessions (tied with Frost for the most), took 3 intercept marks (also same as Frost lol) and had 8 groundball gets, which was great- especially in the rain. Really big fan of his performance <3

James Sicily was a little iffy at the start (story of his season imo), but near the end he got his crap together, took 6 intercept marks (most for the game), stopped hesitating 342031 times and in the end had an alright game. I’ll tell you now, it wasn’t great. Nor was it pretty. That tackle in the first quarter makes me want to cry. But it’s certainly an improvement. C’mon Captain, you can do it!

Okay on the tumblr post I only had one thing written for Mitch Lewis, but in the light of recent events, there’s a little more to say. Enter another text post.

MITCH FUCKING LEWIS: does not do that much

MITCH FUCKING LEWIS: takes amazing mark

MITCH FUCKING LEWIS: kicks goal

MITCH FUCKING LEWIS: does his hamstring

MITCH FUCKING LEWIS: leaves

…Yeah that sums his game up :)

If Geelong had one price to pay, it was the CHOL TOLL. Mabior Chol kicked three goals, hit the post, and stood up when Mitch Lewis was either being blanketed or wasn’t other getting to the ball (see previous notes). Big fan. A lot of people have been critical of his performance thus far, but hey he’s kicking goals and being cool so I’m not tooo sure we can ask much else of him. Yooo Chol

Hooo boy onto Jacky Jacky Ginnivan. The Ginni Pig, if you will. (a friend sent me a thing and now it’s on my mind every time jack ginnivan). Uhm. Well. If he had a good game, it’s been overshadowed by the resurrection of the ducking stuff. Hee hoo. I’m not going to comment on anything, it’s not my problem, so I’m not going to make it my problem. He did play alright, kicked a goal, six tackles, which means good pressure and that’s always important. He can become someone great for our club. If he gets over all the duck stuff. My sister (who i got to wear a hawks scarf for him) was content with his performance, so that means he did good 👍

Now onto my lovely guy Josh Weddle!!! Not that hard to pick him up, he was wearing bright green boots the whole game, and I was so so so so so excited to finally watch him live <3. Weddle was actually going to make his debut against Geelong last year, but then he rolled his ankle the next day and couldn’t get over it in time to make Monday. Very sad. But he’s here now, here and ultimately a much better player than he might have been this time last year, and it showed! I wouldn’t call it an outstanding performance from Weddle, though. No goals, no insanely good marks, but maybe I’m expecting too much of him. At least he didn’t severely Frostball- Oh wait he did whoops yeah there was this one where he was out in the corridor but then handballed it directly to a Cats player dfhksjdlawfea. Then again, rain. And the rest of his game did make up for it. And I got a Weddle badge. Woooooo!!!!!!!!!

The guys sitting behind me were going off about Cam Mackenzie, and unfortunately I’m easily influenced when it comes to sports opinions so I feel like I’ve gotta talk about him. Especially in the first half, mate was definitely up there in the BOG tally. If anybody else on the Hawks side wasn’t clean with the ball in the first quarter, Cam McKenzie was. It was so good to watch. Second year player coming the goods, gotta love it.

I’d also like to extend my appreciation for Karl Amon, Jarman Impey, Lloyd Meek, and every other Hawks player on the field that day. This feels weird writing because why don’t I just name every player?? Well, 1) I’m lazy and 2) the three I mentioned all have moments in my mind where I’ve gone ‘talk about them in your blog they’re doing good’ but I’m a little lost for words with the specifics at the moment. And some moments are just blocked out of my mind as well. Props to everybody! There really weren’t that many faults from individual players (surprisingly), more so a collective inability to fully recover from the. Well. Geelong. We just couldn’t beat em.

Oh Yeah, There Are Other Cats Players That Aren’t SDK (geelong player performances)

Zach Guthrie. Mate. Stop taking all the intercept marks. I am so proud of you. Stop. The trajectory of this guy since I started watching him has been insane. HE IS SO GOOD. STOP BEING SO GOOD ZACH!!!!!!!

I don’t want to comment on the Geelong forwards. So I won’t. I’ve written ‘unless it’s gryan miers’ but actually no don’t event talk to me about Gryan Miers. He literally got the ball two minutes in, right side of the 50, and I already know he’s going to lay that up for someone. And he did! And that son of a gun did! Damnit, Gryan. Damnit, Geelong. There’s a reason I only like your defenders (/s)

I will talk about Toby Conway, though. Let me tell you. I’ve already shown you the live reactions I had when I found out Toby was playing, but OH MY GOD TOBY I LOVE YOUUUU <3333!! I can tell he’s going to be so good for Geelong, they’re not going to need to worry about his form any time soon. I hope. Heh. When he kicked his first goal, I had to clap. I was the only person clapping, but I clapped. Yes nerd, you got your first goal!!! Now can you let us get one back <333 The tap work was good, he isn’t just a guy who taps the ball, he goes around the ground and contributes, it’s good viewing.

You know what else was good viewing? Sam De Koning in the ruck.

Okay. That is a lie. It was. Not good viewing. I have ✨negative connotations✨when it comes to SDK in the ruck. I haven’t forgotten Batman any time soon. But he was fine, and he did well in the ruck. Obviously, then, there’s the whole surprise of him being in the ruck in the first place. It’s the start of the second quarter, and I’m watching him and Blitz both walk towards the centre circle. In that, Sam doesn’t follow the other defenders. And I’m out here like ‘is he going the wrong way? Is he talking to Blicavs about something?’ but then he doesn’t turn around and Meek shows up and the umpire’s holding up the ball to start the quarter and it just dawns on me. Then there’s a billion questions. Was Toby alright? Was it just to manage his minutes? Why Sam????? Why not just put Blitz in the ruck? Those questions, I think I have answers to. I believe it was to manage Conway’s ruck minutes, because it’s still only his second game. It might have been easier for Scott to straight swap him and De Koning instead of putting Blicavs in the ruck and playing a midfielder down. Because Blitz can do everything, and when Dangerfield isn’t playing, you kinda want to have an extra leader in there. Which Blicavs is. I freakin love Mark Blicavs. He’s amazing. Yeah. End paragraph.

On the topic of Sam De Koning in the ruck. There was a point in the game where both Lloyd Meek and Mabior Chol were unable to compete in a ruck contest with SDK. Meek was probably off, and Chol may have also been or was up forward doing forward things. The player that came into that contest, though? Yeah. It was Josh fucken Weddle. So, I’m sitting here, the ruck contest directly in front of my bay, with my two favourite players going against each other, and I cannot stop smiling. Personal highlight, I think. Pretty sure Sam got the tap. Not great. But you know. Funky football where neither of the players involved are meant to be there is one of my favourite things. Hence my love of all defenders, especially when they do things defenders don’t usually do. (SDK’s goal lives in my head rent free)

Other Cool Things That Happened, In Dot Point Format

After my endeavour pre-game, my sister wanted to buy some of her own things. Ended up with a Nick Daicos badge and a Tom De Koning one. The cashier was so confused. (Which is fair, my sister doesn’t even go for Carlton. She just really doesn’t like SDK because I like him. Jokes on her, we’ve now got both the De Koning brothers! Not even Naicos can sour this one, baybeeee!!!) She was originally going to get a Ginnivan badge, I think, instead of a TDK one. But Ginni was sold out even before the game. (Or they sold out before I bought my things.) (We went back later for hers.)

Oh, I’ve gotta tell you about the delays, and the ensuing chaos. So, it’s ¾ time. I’m so ready for the end of this game, whether Geelong pull away, or Hawthorn do what they did in the second quarter and mount a comeback. But then, right before it’s about to start, they have to pause the game for 20 minutes due to lightning protocol. The weather had dampened severely over the course of the 3rd quarter, but lightning wasn’t something any of us anticipated. The players were told to return to the rooms, the fans told to take shelter, and so the wait began.

Within ten minutes we had a pitch invader. I was standing on the balcony over the top of the underpass, and all of a sudden, a cheer arose throughout the MCG. You could see it from anywhere, clear as day. A guy had jumped the fence down the other end of the ground and was trying to run the entire MCG. He made it to the top of the goal square down our end before security got to them. The cheers quickly turned to boos. As you do.

Maybe another ten minutes later, yet another pitch invader. He jumped the fence down the end the other guy was taken down as (my end), ran out onto the field, and he tried to kick a goal. He hit the freaking behind post. You had the entire f50 to you!! Run in for an open goal, you idiot!!! To make it even better, he slipped over, letting security get to him much faster. Obviously, we called for holding the ball. We learnt from Jeremy Cameron, and we adapted.

Level 4 started a sick Mexican Wave which ran for ages, too! Level 1 tried to start one but it didn’t really work lolol

Post-Game Clarity; A Series Of Screenshots

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “oh my god i watched sam de koning live today” and “OH MY GOD I WATCHED JOSH WEDDLE LIVE TODAY”. The tags are “chable sportsposts” and “good me on tbh”.

It’s kinda just that moment when you’re like ‘Oh yeah that happened.’ ‘Oh crap, that actually happened.’

A post by Tumblr user @chablemisspell reading “LEWIS DID HIS HAMSTRING?????”. The tags are “FUCKKKKKK”, “FUCK OFF”, “FUCK OFF FUCK OFF FUCK OFF FUCK OFF”, “FUCKING FUCK THIS BULLSHIT!!!!”, “NOOOOOO!!!!!!”, “MITCHY LEWIS NOOOOOOOOO, “FUCK FUCK RFUCK UFCKFUCKFUCKFUJKCURFKCFUJKCFUJCK”, “afl”, “chable sportsposts”, “SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and “FUCKING SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT”

The inital fallout after hearing about Lewis’ injury.

A series of posts by Tumblr user @chablemisspell. The first reads, “sam de koning <333333333333”. The reblog of that post reads, “why did you get good against us :(((((((“. The tag is “chable sportsposts”.

sam de koning is my special little guy ok

I’m so tired. I’ve been on a buzz for 24 hours now. Help. My holidays have been made. Let’s go.

Oh yeah, you might want a score.

Ahem.

Hawthorn Hawks 10.10 70 were defeated by Geelong Cats 17.4 106.

Onto next week. Carn the Hawks!