AFL finals 2024 elimination final LIVE updates: Wizard gets fans on their feet as Hawks lead Bulldogs at half-time
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Dogs use their sub
Bulldogs sub Jack Macrae is now into the game as the Dogs try everything to get back into this final.
Latham Vandermeer is the unlucky Bulldog who has been replaced.
Macrae is a classy performer but the Bulldogs will need a bunch of players to lift if they want to get back into this one.
Hawks 71, Dogs 41 with 90 seconds to go in Q3.
Niggle or tactics? Bont goes forward
I see it … but I don’t believe it
By Claire Siracusa
With apologies to Anthony Hudson … what did I just watch?
Nick Watson might be the Wizard, but that was a magic leap from Mabior Chol. The Hawks are literally flying high.
Not sure that’s how I’d be celebrating my goals. High risk, low reward in my opinion. It will shock readers to know though that I’m a) not a professional athlete and b) never wanted to jump the bollards like that when I was in primary school.
Is the Bont injured?
Marcus Bontempelli has been quiet by his Olympian standards. He appears labored in his movements and you wonder what and whether he’s carrying an ailment. The game is rapidly slipping away from the Dogs in the meantime.
Marcus Bontempelli (third from left) has not performed to his usual sky-high standards.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Even the PM was impressed with Dear’s goal
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – a Hawthorn fan – is at the game tonight, sitting next to AFL CEO Andrew Dillon. Our reporter Marnie Vinall reports that the PM was loving that goal from Calsher Dear.
He’s not the only one. Chief footy reporter Jake Niall is similarly impressed. “Hard to believe the kid is 19.”
Watson conjures another goal
Now Watson has kicked his second goal and had Chol, with strapping now around his head, leap over him in celebration.
That wizard army will only grow from here.
Meanwhile, the Dogs are almost out of it. They just can’t score.
Hawks 68, Dogs 35 with nine mins to go.
Hawks fans cheer a Nick Watson goal.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Dear with a cracking goal
Dear is leading the Dogs on a merry dance in this elimination final.
He pulled in a double-clutch mark on the left boundary line – it looked like he didn’t control it until he was out.
But either way, he was awarded the mark and he went back and kicked a goal from the tightest of angles.
Hawks 61, Dogs 35 with 10 mins to go in Q3.
Calsher Dear of the Hawks takes a mark.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Is the dam wall about to break?
By Marnie Vinall
What was that Jake Niall said about the Hawks firing in the second quarter? Well, they have come out after the main break and ramped it up even more. They’re a momentum team and clearly are riding a wave at the moment. While they’ve kicked just the one goal since half-time, through Connor Macdonald, they are pressing hard. They’ve also kicked four behinds – proving they are peppering and the dam wall could break at any moment.
Hawks on a roll
Macdonald has booted his second goal and the Hawks have kicked four goals in a row.
They are just winning too much of the footy and then they are using it well.
“They are using every inch of the MCG – they are spreading the Dogs out,” Richardson said on Seven.
Hawks 55, Dogs 34 with 15 mins to go in Q3.
Connor Macdonald celebrates his first quarter goal.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
Hawks miss early chances
The Hawks have missed two shots at goal to start this second half with Watson’s kick drifting wide and Dear just hitting the post.
Mabior Chol has also gone to the bench for some medical treatment, he was on his feet the whole time so hopefully he just needs something patched up and he will return.
The Hawks are up and flying right now but they need to finish their work.
Hawks 48, Dogs 34 with 16 mins to go in Q3.
Mabior Chol of the Hawks attempts to mark.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
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