It was touted as one of the most unlikely victories — two wins, on the road against the Hawks. Someone forgot to tell Waverley.
It’s never easy finding a logical explanation for the seemingly illogical upset in sport, but perhaps Ringwood Hawks’ shock grand final loss in State Championship Men can be attributed to what Waverley Falcons coach Eric Minerve describes as a snowballing effect. It’s a reference not to Ringwood guard and Falcons supporters’ public enemy number one Matthew Snowball, but the aura of invincibility that incrementally enveloped the Hawks in 2010.
This Hawks team became used to having its own way. Resounding victories became habitual as it powered its way to a 19-2 regular season record, and game one of the grand final series certainly didn’t suggest Waverley would stand in the way of Ken Harrington’s men and their first championship since 1999.
The Hawks notched a comfortable 91-80 win on the road, and, as Harrington said prior to the contest, “if we beat them away, we get two shots at home and we like our chances.” Few would have disagreed with Harrington’s assessment. Even fewer, however, would have foreseen the seemingly impregnable hegemony of Ringwood being toppled by the unwavering defensive pressure of the Falcons in games two and three.
It was the very pressure that the Hawks – courtesy of their own dominance – had eluded for much of this season. They may have been at home, but for a team accustomed to dishing out beltings each week, this was uncharted territory. Gone was the clinical precision seen in the Hawks’ dismantling of so many teams this season, including the series opener against Waverley where they shot at 48 per cent from the field and committed just 10 turnovers. In its place was a palpable frustration that resulted in them shooting at just 34 per cent in game three and coughing it up on 23 occasions.
It was a dramatic turnaround, and Falcons coach Minerve has little doubt that the Hawks became victims of their own success. “I think that certainly caused a snowballing effect, that all season long it was so easy for them in that they were beating everyone by significant margins and they hadn’t had any really tough contests,” Minerve says. “I think that certainly affected them in the finals.” Waverley general manager and assistant coach, Mike Bullock, concurs: “I saw it that their players started to panic and worry about the refereeing more than playing the game,” he says. “I think that was because they were used to being in front, and playing from behind in any sport is not as easy.”
The Hawks’ focus on officiating in games two and three didn’t just come from panicked players. Coach Harrington made further reference to the perceived physicality of Waverley’s pressure when he told his club’s website that “the more they gotaway with the more they pushed the envelope and they got the rewards.” It is these kinds of comments from the runnersup that have left Minerve and Bullock – who both maintain that physicality was not a component of their game plan– somewhat bemused in the aftermath of their famous victory. “It’s interesting that that actually came up from the Ringwood camp,” Minerve says. “There were no directives at all with regards to that area. I think the guys just went out there and played hard and I think they (Ringwood) weren’t getting the calls that they thought they should be getting.” Says Bullock, “We didn’t do anything untoward except be up there, not giving them a chance to pass the ball.”
Bravado aside, whatever the Falcons did in denying the ball receiver and throwing the Hawks out of their offensive rhythm was clearly effective. Perhaps the most telling example was the curtailed influence of star centre Luke McMillan, who went from averaging 22.5 points per game against Waverley this season – including 26 in the series opener – to just 13.5 in games two and three. Minerve says significant changes had to be made after game one and going smaller on McMillan was one which paid off in spades. “He’s a perimeter-orientated big, so our approach was to bump down the match-ups,” Minerve says. “So what we did is we were playing our three man, Vashon Weaver, down on McMillan, so we were able to contain his scoring from the perimeter by having a more perimeter-orientated person defending him” “I thought he got away a little bit in the first game because we had our post players guarding him...so making that adjustment and Bumping down our match-ups I thought put us in a position to win.”
It was a win that shocked not just the league, but also the Falcons themselves. The club began planning for the ultimate success when Minerve took over the coaching reigns from Matt Shanahan last season, but it wasn’t expected this early. Two, three, maybe even four years away, they thought. There were glimpses of a championship contender throughout the season, but a string of injuries meant they were only ever spasmodic. Weaver, Ivan Platenik and Simon Blennerhassett were all hampered at some stage, but perhaps the most crucial piece of player management concerned Sedale Threatt. Rather than continuing to play through the pain of a meniscus injury, Threatt opted to have surgery ahead of a post-season which saw him go on to be named the grand final series’ most valuable player. “We certainly put plans in place to get him 100 per cent healthy for the finals, and luckily enough he did get into form – and into peak form – at the right time,” Minerve says. Adds Bullock, “These players, we managed to get fit for the finals, and we felt – or I always felt – that once we had our fully fit team, that we would sort of give them (Ringwood) a bit of a fright.”
For a side that seldom had to look over its shoulder this season, “a bit of a fright” proved to be an understatement
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