With absolutely nothing to lose and laying everything on the line, a loss to the tune of five points hurt so much more than the widely predicted ten-goal hiding.
Sitting in Bay M15, level 1 of the Great Southern Stand honestly had to be the best seats in the house.Full of Crows supporters, every wave of emotion was shared between every 19th Man during Saturday’s blockbuster.
As Kurt Tippett stretched out his hands to take his first mark in what seemed like an eternity; the fans went up as one. I knew from that moment that if Kurt was on his game, this was going to be one wild ride.
Sitting in front of us was a three-piece family who had been up since 4am that morning to leave their home in Adelaide to watch the Crows at the ‘home of football’, not knowing that this could possibly be their final match in 2012.
Although having made the trip back to Adelaide two weeks ago, I do not miss the crack-of-dawn wake up calls to drive to Melbourne for a finals football game.
I had played it down all week. I had to - I live in Melbourne.
“We will get smashed!” “The Crows have no hope!” I would say to my many Hawthorn mates. Fortunately, I had the full support of Sando: "We certainly need Hawthorn to not play at their best," he said on Wednesday, last week.
As Saturday dawned, I started to hope knowing I would rather lose by ten goals than by ten points. When the news of Luke Hodge’s illness came through on Twitter, this hope became a shade of optimism.
As a Victorian, I feel comfortable enough to stir my own kind, even though we support opposing interstate football teams.
As I walked past a group of Hawthorn supporters at the pub, I whispered: “I’d be starting to worry now!”
If you weren’t at the game, I’m sorry to say but you missed an absolute cracker. The roar when ‘Stiffy’ kicked that goal to put us in front with five minutes to go was absolutely deafening.
That shade of optimism I had before the opening bounce had suddenly turned to reality. This rollercoaster of emotion quickly took a dive and unfortunately never came back up.
A match-saving tackle by Ben Stratton on Patrick Dangerfield resulted in a Hawthorn goal and a Hawthorn win.
Eight passionate Crows supporters stood there in silence; heads held in their hands. The year was over and it hurt like hell.
The worst thing about it was that I knew the whole week was going to hurt. Working in an office full of Hawks supporters and Victorians in general, empathy seemed a long way away.
In what I assume there to be a very somber atmosphere around Adelaide during Grand Final week, there is no hiding for the depressed here in Melbourne.
Whilst white wash supporters may say, “There’s always next year”, passionate Hawks supporters will rub salt into the wound until there’s no more salt left to rub.
The Sydney Swans seem to be the only bit of football hope I have left…
The only thing that has lifted my spirits since Saturday’s loss is the reflection of the year we have had. There is something about our club, which other teams must strive for. From an outside looking in, the culture and the belief that lies within the Adelaide Football club is absolutely second to none.
The media can continue to talk up Kurt Tippett’s departure but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if he decides to stay. Patrick Dangerfield is the epitome of this notion.
Originally recruited from the Geelong Falcons, he had the opportunity to move back to Geelong at the beginning of this year. He didn’t. Thank God for that…
Brenton Sanderson is the new ‘wonder coach’ and in his first season as a senior AFL coach, I’m pretty sure it can be deemed a success.
Taylor Walker and his waving mullet is that new unsung hero forward that we have been crying out for since Tony Modra put on the number six. Our manic midfield has now become consolidated and provides so much more depth to the team with the likes of Dangerfield, Thompson and Sloane, who are led by second-chance ruckman, Sam Jacobs.
Rising Star defender, Daniel Talia, together with Sam Shaw and Brent Reilly now make up a dynamic Adelaide Crows defence and provide a resurged backbone to the entire squad.
As a long serving Victorian Crows fan, I believe we have a lot to look forward to in 2013 but in the words of Sando: “…it’ll hurt for a long time.”
Joel Smith is the official Adelaide Crows commentator on http://app.playup.com. Follow him on Twitter @PlayUp_AdelCrow
