Success At The Tournament

Added 9 March 2009

All four Hawthorn Magic senior teams participated in the annual BigV Tournament at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre over the Labour Day long weekend. The tournament is the annual preseason hit out for many of the teams participating in the BigV competition. It was a very successful weekend for the Magic with all of four teams returning a favourable record in the group phase, three of the teams progressing to the knock out phase, two playing in the grand final of their division and one of the teams winning their grand final.

For the Magic Youth League Two Men's team, the tournament was an opportunity to get some game situation hit outs having had a limited amount of preseason games under their belts. They opened the tournament on Saturday with a convincing display against Werribee looking like winners all the way before disappointingly taking their foot of the gas in the last quarter allowing Werribee to close within 4 at the end, the Magic winning 43-39. Next up for the YL2M Magic were Coburg Giants whom they accounted for 56-55 in a close one. Finally, against Sunbury on Sunday, the Magic knew that a win would secure them top spot in their group and an afternoon semi final birth. The Magic took care of business winning easily 61-38 to set up an interesting semi final clash against Whittlesea. The semi final went right down to the wire with Hawthorn pulling it out a 63-61 victory which progressed them to the grand final on Monday. Hawthorn returned to MSAC on Monday to contest a close grand final against Altona. The teams went basket for basket for the first half before Hawthorn asserted themselves on the contest in the third quarter before comfortable closing out the game in the fourth, winning 70-56.

Unlike the YL2M, the Division One Women started their tournament slowly stuttering their way to a 54-42 defeat at the hands of the fancied Sunbury Jets. They did however bounce back strongly with 56-33 and 64-54 wins over Craigieburn and LaTrobe City respectively. The Magic then completed the group stage with a 41-30 win over Warrandyte which guaranteed them a spot in the semi final on Monday morning. The semi final saw Hawthorn square off against Warrandyte again and they repeated the same feat by beating Warrandyte 46-36 to send them into the decider. Waiting for Hawthorn in the grand final was the Sunbury Jets who easily accounted for LaTrobe City in their semi final. In a very close encounter, both teams exchanged runs before Sunbury's defence clamped down in the final quarter to enable the Jets to win 36-32. However, it was a great effort by the D1W Magic to make it to the grand final and signs were very positive with all the new pieces of the puzzle starting to come together.

Hawthorn's Division One Mens side started the tournament with a matchup against Sherbrooke whom dealt the Magic a crushing blow in a practice game a couple weeks back. However on this occasion, the Magic were determined to not let history repeat itself. Hawthorn rallied from an early deficit but it wasn't quite enough as Sherbrooke won 66-62. In their second game, the Magic found themselves in a similar situation being faced with a deficit going into the fourth quarter but they finished strongly to overrun the Bulleen Boomers 57-55. That win was backed up with a 63-52 win over the Altona Gators to put them into the semi finals. In the semis, the Magic faced former Championship side Werribee who they narrowly lost to 62-58 putting an end to the Magic's tournament.

Meanwhile, the Youth League Women started the tournament on fire as they were clicking on all cylinders on the way to a 63-21 demolition of Ringwood. A rare draw followed against Diamond Valley on Saturday night. Eltham overwhelmed the Magic 55-32 on Sunday before the Magic gave their finals chances a boost with a solid 50-34 win over the Bulleen Boomers. However, unfortunately it wasn't enough for Hawthorn as they failed to make the finals by just a single percentage point.

Now with the preseason over, the real action starts as the Hawthorn Magic commence their regular season campaigns on March 21st. Be sure to keep an eye on the website for all the updates on the progress of the Magic senior teams and make sure you are at BSC on opening night from 6pm Saturday March 21st.

Thanks to Charlie "The 5 Finga Nandos Chicken Man" Fyffe for the photos.

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