Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell bolted down from the box to the boundary to seek answers as to why 23 of the 28 goals were scored to the Cathedral end in his side’s topsy-turvy, and at times bizarre, 14-point loss to Adelaide on Friday night.
In a match punctuated by wild momentum swings, the Hawks burst spectacularly out of the blocks, were held to a total standstill in the second quarter, gained the upper hand in the third, and then were edged out down the stretch.
Historians in years to come will assume a mid-winter gale was howling in from the south all evening, but the flags atop Adelaide Oval’s heritage-listed scoreboard never budged.
“I actually ran down to the bench to see if there was any breeze at all,” Mitchell said.
“But no... no answers for why they were all kicked at one end.
“It’s very rare that one team has the momentum for the whole game.
“They were a little bit cleaner and more clinical when it really mattered.”
Will Day was the key figure early, racking up more first-quarter clearances than the Crows’ entire shell-shocked team, piloting Hawthorn to a 5.3 to 0.1 ambush which hushed the 50,654-strong crowd into stunned silence.
It was easily Adelaide’s worst quarter of the season. They responded with perhaps their best.
With Jordan Dawson stepping up in the engine room and Riley Thilthorpe getting hold of Tom Barrass, the Crows suddenly started scoring at will out of their back half, keeping the Hawks scoreless while marching to a shock but spectacular 16-point half-time lead.
Adelaide’s run of goals was eight unanswered before Hawthorn’s interceptors James Sicily, Jack Scrimshaw and Josh Battle ran amok behind the footy in the third term to get the visitors back on top.
The home side’s backline, conversely, was suddenly frazzled, both with and without the footy.
Ex-Crow Jack Gunston’s back-to-back fourth-quarter goals to the River end handed the Hawks the lead, before Izak Rankine and Taylor Walker – who split Adelaide’s last four majors – sealed it for the top-two bound Crows.
Cheeky Hawks antagonist Jack Ginnivan responded to some feedback from the fans as he walked down the visitors’ race post-match by kissing his left middle finger and showing it to the crowd.
“That’ll be a pocket lightener,” Alistair Nicholson said on Channel Seven.
“It pretty much is always followed by a fine,” co-commentator James Brayshaw said.
Ginnivan had earlier gestured to the Adelaide crowd after booting a telling goal, and after the match replied to an Instagram post of vision of him flipping the bird as he walked down the race, commenting simply: “best coin spent”.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks feels the ladder-leading Crows passed a stern finals-like test, the likes of which they appear destined to face deep into September.
“To reset the way we did and the maturity our boys showed, led by Daws [Dawson] at quarter-time ... to be able to bring the game to even keel at half-time, I thought was another way to win,” he said.
“Another way in what was a finals atmosphere and our opposition were finals standard.”
Nicks was a picture of calmness during that quarter-time reset, such is the confidence he had in his players to be able to spin the contest around – which they did, emphatically.
“We trust our playing group completely,” he said.
“They trust us, so in that moment [quarter-time] there is no need for yelling and screaming.
“You go back three or four years, you’ll probably find me yelling and screaming at a quarter-time break.
“I look back on that I think that’s me not necessarily trusting that we’re all on the same page - and maybe then we weren’t.
“It took us time to get to that and show that maturity.”
Final: Adelaide 15.11 (101) def Hawthorn 13.9 (87)