Jack Gunston became a hero among heroes when he kicked the ball out of mid-air to edge the Hawks in front of Geelong by a solitary point with 17 seconds remaining in an Easter Monday classic that at least matched any of the epic encounters between the two rivals.
The veteran’s desperate lunging boot saw the ball cannon into the post to put the Hawks ahead.
There was no time for the Cats to strike back and Hawthorn were awarded the photo finish when the siren went.
Until then, the match had built like a rolling avalanche towards a frantic final two minutes when the noise was so deafening Sam Mitchell could not communicate with Max Bailey on the bench, even though Bailey was wearing headphones.
In those final 120 seconds, Cats’ spearhead Shannon Neale put the Cats a goal up when he kicked his fourth goal. It looked then as though the contest had finally tilted Geelong’s way.
But the Cats lost the centre clearance, then failed to control the ball in an attempt to exit their back half and found it rebound to the top of the square where Hawthorn’s Mitch Lewis stood tall to mark.
A gifted golfer, Lewis lined up his target and went bang to level the scores with 50 seconds remaining.
“I wasn’t too bad [for nerves] actually,” Lewis said. “I had to go quick, which I think helped.”
He saw the moment as a chance at redemption after giving away a free kick for blocking only moments earlier which led to Neale’s goal.
By this time, the stadium was tense with 84,712 fans – the game was non-ticketed – deciding to work off their Easter eggs through uncontrolled screaming.
It became a win-it-in-a-minute affair as the centre ball-up occurred with 51 seconds left on the clock.
Neither coach could do anything with the 6-6-6 rule (one Geelong CEO Steve Hocking introduced) meaning players started their play in their respective positions.
Hawks’ skipper James Sicily managed to lift his aching shoulder above his head to mark the Geelong’s clearance, and the ball moved to Jai Newcombe who redeemed his uncharacteristically fumbling quarter with two key matchwinning possessions in the final 90 seconds.
The Hawks, who famously won the 2008 grand final by rushing behinds at every opportunity, were this time desperate to rush the ball through for a score at their end of the ground, while the Cats’ defenders desperately tried to keep the ball in play.
Their desperation was to no avail, however, as Gunston, the oldest player in the match – the man who thought he had hurt his hamstring in the third quarter, who once moved to Brisbane for a lost year before being named All-Australian last season volleyed the game’s decisive score.
“I was trying to spoil it through. It was bloody hectic that last 30 seconds but as soon as he hit the post I sort of celebrated, but then [Max] Holmes had the ball and I thought I have to defend,” Lewis said. “It was hectic.”
Hectic is one word. Crazy another. Standard probably, too, given the amount of times matches between these two teams have been decided in the last minute.
Cats coach Chris Scott was disappointed with the result, obviously, struggling to process what had happened in the end after watching a match in which he “did not think we hit our straps”.
He was entitled to be shattered as the Cats looked to have the game won after stretching to a game-high 13-point lead midway through the final quarter of a seesawing match.
Both teams had villains, heroes and moments they would rue, but Jack Ginnivan was definitely a hero for the Hawks, as was Nick Watson who kicked two brilliant stoppage goals.
Ginnivan might be a showman, but he was outstanding and worked to both ends of the ground as hard as Geelong’s Bailey Smith. His second goal, on the three-quarter time siren put the Hawks in front.
He defended vigorously when required and looked dangerous inside his team’s attacking 50m, using his smarts to interrupt Geelong attacks on several occasions in a desperate second quarter when the Cats threatened to blow the game apart with seven goals.
“He’s such a smart player,” Mitchell said.
But the Cats could not break the rope Hawthorn had attached to their ankles, and eventually the ankle rather than the rope broke.
“We have lost a couple of games being a couple of goals up with a minute to go, but I am not sure we have won one like that,” Mitchell said. “That’s a feather in the cap, but it does not mean you can do it next time.”
Next time? We can’t wait.
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