Welcome back old Crows. It’s not so good to see you.

After our stunning win against top of the ladder contenders, Fremantle, I thought we had turned a corner. Instead it seems I was foolish in thinking that our round 11 victory was something more than an emotion charged win for a retiring great.

I was apart of a large group of enthusiastic Crows supporters that boarded an early Saturday morning chartered flight, the Crows Jet, flying direct to Launceston. Most of my fellow fans were optimistic of our chances however some raised concerns with our poor record at Aurora Stadium.

When we touched down in the Apple Isle we were taken into the town centre for a pre match meal. I took in Launceston’s beauty, of a small city surrounded by steep hills covered in picture book like houses of all shapes and sizes, while devouring a warm bowl of pasta for lunch.

It was rather brisk outside, as we discovered at the ground, but with not a breath of air blowing the southern flags the conditions were perfect for a game of footy.

Our group was positioned down the other end of the stadium behind the northern goals in what turned out to be a prime viewing position for Hawthorn’s first term ambush.

They kicked a haul of seven goals while we struggled to get our two on the board. Down by 29 points at quarter time the game already looked done and dusted but I wasn’t ready to give up yet.

Jared Petrenko looked comfortable down back in the second term, finally sighted in his natural position, and played a key role in abating Hawthorn’s scoring prowess while we slowly progressed forward.

The super talented Patrick Dangerfield kicked two late back-to-back goals to put us within an achievable 15 points at half time.

We maintained our late surge of momentum in the opening minutes of the third term and had a brief window of opportunity to get within nine points of the Hawks.

Kurt Tippett lined up with the potential game breaking kick. It was an easy shot on goal, about 15 or so metres out on the slightest of angles, but he missed. Another gimme goal gone that will likely see his goal kicking come under scrutiny once again.

To his credit though he kept us in the game by bagging two goals before three quarter time. Surprisingly we were still in the game trailing by just 20-points.

But as the shadows grew longer in Launceston so did our chances of upsetting the inform Hawks.
They kicked goal after goal in a fourth quarter performance much like their first.
They completely dominated and the final scoreboard showed it as we suffered yet another seven goal pasting.

On the return flight home later that evening I had plenty of time to gather my thoughts and regain feeling in my toes.

To put it bluntly I was bitterly disappointed with our performance.

The confidence, drive and passion that I welcomed back with open arms last weekend was nowhere to be seen. How could we be so switched on one week and so off the next?

Our rucks, which stood their ground the week before against Aaron Sandilands, were rarely sighted against Hawthorn’s Brent Renouf and Wade Skipper. Additionally, below their knees our midfield were smashed in the clearances and dominated by Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Cyril Rioli.

What frustrated me most though was our lack of hardness both at the ball and the man. Once the Sherrin was in the opposition’s hands there was no getting it back. Even in the air we often failed to bring the ball to ground and if we did it was easy pickings for the hungry Hawks.

Petrenko was having a field day in defence in the second quarter but his stint in the backline was unfortunately short lived as he was moved into an attacking role after half time. I would love to have seen him play the game out in his most comfortable position.

Someone who didn’t look so settled at times was Scott Stevens. He’s had an up and down season so far and the two blatantly obvious free kicks he gave away on Saturday were costly resulting in goals. With Phil Davis set to return I wonder if his spot in the side will be under fire?

Up forward our goal kickers had a tough day at the office with many long bombs deep into the 50 proving to be a mostly ineffective avenue towards the big sticks. If it weren’t for Tippett’s sticky hands the final margin could have been a lot more ugly.

Furthermore our basic skills, or lack there of, let us down big time. Not only was the ball turned over at a high rate but our sloppiness lead to a lopsided free kick count.

Perhaps this weekend’s break will do us the world of good. Maybe we just need to step back, reassess the situation we’re in and change our mindset to focus on 2011.

We’re better than what we were against the Hawks and I’ve got my hopes up that I’ll those Crows return in a fortnight’s time.