Broadview Hawks Football Club

Broadview versus Central July 19th, 2010

Post a comment

Hawks beaten black and Blue. Hawks sing the Blues. Broadview feeling Blue. All possible headlines full of the usual puns and yet not quite right. I’ve been hearing time and time again about how good the Blues have been looking this year. How they will be in the Grand Final against the Eagles as if it was set in stone. If the Hawks, last week, were not predicted to win against a team that has yet to win a game this season, you’d definitely think that the Broadview Hawks were not up to par against the heavily touted Blues.

The first bounce. A fight for the ball. Hawks score the first goal from Benny “Deathball” Carter. Blues answer in kind with their own goal but then Broadview knocks another one between the center uprights. At the end of the quarter, it was Broadview up by one goal. Grippingly mad good footy to watch.

The second quarter had echoes of the game against the Swans. Intensity was let up and the Blues took advantage of it, with them wanting the ball more and getting the ball more. From this reporter’s vantage, it seemed that the Blues have a signature technique that proves to work for them time and time again: whenever a Canadian makes a mark, another Blue (preferably an Aussie) is nearby for the quick handpass and clear kick. They take advantage of those scant seconds when the whistle is blown for the mark and people let up on their coverage for a moment.

One of the OAFL bloggers mentioned the Blues’ dependence on their non-Canadians. There is definitely some merit to that assertion as two little Aussies, one brunette and one blonde, seemed to have a heavy hand in scoring or assisting many of their goals. Those two must be hard to cover but if the Hawks had the ability to clone Pablo “Taz” Willis, I think they would. The Australian Blues player that he was covering was left impotent for most of the game. In frustration at one point, that Blues player threatened, “If you don’t leave me alone, I’m gonna $@>%# ^%&@&!!!” to a nonchalant Pablo. It’s rare to hear such sweet music on the field.

If you look at the scores from the 2nd and 3rd quarters, it would seem that the Blues just completely dominated the Hawks. If you’d been there, you would have seen Hawks bravely fighting the ball down field a lot but then one misstep and the Blues were able to connect a fast one all the way down to the goal via a full-back who could read hail-mary kicks well followed by connecting the 2 aforementioned not so tall non-Canadians.

Fourth quarter. It looked like the Broadview Hawks were on a power play. Veteran full-back Kevin “Monster Puncher” Bridgman had little to do at the Hawks’ goal square as the ball was constantly in the Blues end. One Hawker interviewed afterwards said that he realized that he wasn’t doing anything so he went to do something. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t the only Hawk who stopped waiting for something to happen and switched on overdrive. The Blues may have won this game but the silver lining was in the clouds. I await the day the sleeping giant that is the Broadview Hawks is awoken from his slumber and filled with terrible resolve. There will be some badass sweet music on that field that day because when the Hawks are hot, they’re scorching.