Isaac Smith had faith in his side. Source: Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
THERE were plenty of times on Friday night when Isaac Smith thought the game was not going Hawthorn's way.
But not once did the Hawk speedster think his team was going to lose.
Not when it missed a glut of gettable set shots, not when it was on the wrong end of a couple of contentious umpiring calls and not even at three-quarter-time when it trailed arch-rival Geelong by 20 points.
Smith and his teammates knew they had the ability and, more importantly after a week off, the legs to charge home.
Hawthorn, with an 18-5 record in fourth terms going into the game, is the AFL's best last-quarter team in 2013.
Geelong (10-12 during the home-and-away rounds) was ranked 14th.
"I think history shows that if you have the week off you can run out the games a lot better," Smith told the Sunday Herald Sun.
Buddy 'awesome' for grand final
"We've been a pretty good last quarter side all year, so we were pretty confident that we had the legs and that we could keep going. Having the week off definitely helped.
"There was never a stage where I thought it was impossible to win, but certainly a stage where I was thinking, 'Oh s***, I hope we don't stuff this up'.
"Certainly at three-quarter-time I was thinking, 'Geez, it's game on here, we're really going to have to have a serious go at this' and there were plenty of times when I thought it wasn't going our way.
"But that's the thing about AFL footy, you've got to show up for 120 minutes so there's always plenty of time to win the game. It doesn't matter how you're going in the second or third quarter, there's still time to win it in the fourth so you just never give up."
In what had become one of the most famous streaks in league history, Hawthorn had actually held fourth-quarter leads in six of its 11 consecutive losses to Geelong dating back to Round 1, 2009.
So Smith, who collected 18 possessions on the night, said it was fitting to break through for a win having come from behind.
Scans confirm Hawk's ACL tear
"I reckon in nearly every game I've played in (against Geelong) it's been that way, that we've been in front and then they've jumped us," he said.
"It was nice to do it like that, but a win is a win in a prelim."
Smith said there was "minimal" talk about the losing streak to the Cats in the days before Friday night's game, saying "really, if we're going to get stuck on that then you're only just going to get yourself tripped up".
And asked if winning a preliminary final against Geelong was any sweeter than it would have been against any other team he said: "Maybe a little, but it's getting into a Grand Final, so I don't really care, it's just about being there next week."
The laidback 24-year-old said he would have no trouble turning his focus towards Saturday's Grand Final despite the intense preliminary final build-up and subsequent emotion of beating the Cats.
But he said any talk of using the pain of last year's defeat to Sydney as motivation for the week ahead was unnecessary.
"Personally I don't think I need to do it, I can't speak for anyone else," he said.
"We've been playing good footy all year and we finished on top of the ladder for a reason. So as long as we just keep whatever thoughts we've been having all year and keep that going I think we'll be OK."
NO QUARTER GIVEN IN THE LAST (Fourth-quarter ladder - home-and-away season only)
Pos - Team - Q4 record - Q4 perc
1. Hawthorn 17-5 140.5
2. Port Adelaide 15-7 141.4
3. Adelaide 14-8 126.2
4. Richmond 14-8 110.6
5. Fremantle 13-9 145.6
6. Essendon 13-9 121.4
7. West Coast 13-9 105.3
8. North Melbourne 12-10 114.4
------
14. Geelong 10-12 102.5
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Smith had faith in Hawks
Dengan url
http://sportlivestyle.blogspot.com/2013/09/smith-had-faith-in-hawks.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Smith had faith in Hawks
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar