Afl Grandfinal

[Yellowbeard]

Anyone care?
Go the swannies
Always shit on the west side of bight...

[omni]

Crows were robbed - somehow, someway we were - I maintain that we found it more important to HUMILIATE the scum of Port (who wear Double Blue for some irritating reason) then to make the grand final, no excuse but I just like reminding Port fans of the result.

I wasx going to support the Swans in this one but with that thug Barry Hall getting off I'm not so sure, I doubt they can do it so I might support them and tip West Coast - ahh hedging my bets

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

i care. omni and i have been having some banter over the games, and he reckoned that the crows were going to go on and do the job. i reckon the swans are in with a big shot, especially since hall can play.

oh, and port don't wear double blue- it's teal (AM's fave colour), black and silver. and they at least have a history rather than being a manufactured club put together by a bunch of croweater malcontents who've never got used to the fact that the magpies are the greatest club in sanfl history. nyah... thbbbbbbbbbbbb

[note: my girlfriend's family are croweaters who barrack for the magpies and port so i've kinda picked it up by osmosis...]

[omni]

Can't say I was impressed with the addition of blue in Port Scum colours.

I'm dissapointed with the Crows performance last week - they should have won it after their prior performance at the Subi.

Good Luck to both teams - Crows 2006 AFL Premiers

(I used to support the swans but stopped after a certain September Day in 1996 and followed my heart to Adelaide)

As for the history part - the Crows were designed as a team to represent the SANFL in the AFL however they expanded to put Port in many years later (which was probably a good idea, give us anoter team to hate other then the other Magpies) - much the same idea between West Coast & Freemantle. No doubt the Crows lost a few fans when Port came into the league and there are people in Adelaide who'll support Adelaide first and Port second. Then there are those like me who will not forget that rivalry of the two greatest SANFL teams (Sturt & Port) and have Port as their least favourite team (well slightly better than Collingwood). I will be cheering on the Swans on Saturday but I doubt they can do it - West Coast are a tough team and The Bloods just won't be up to it - they've proven only 9 years ago that they couldn't handle that kind of pressure but no doubt playing at the MCG last week will give them some positive. (Hate to say it but Sydney are my #2 team, oh how I would have loved a Crows/South Melbourne final)

Wonder what will be happening at SMFC on Saturday and Sunday

[DJ]

Stupid game!
Won't be watching it anyway so don't really care!
but go the Swans anyway!

[marinated_beef]

i loved every minute of it been in bed all day with a massive massive hangover

[DJ]

I actually watched the last quarter! shock horror

Still a stupid game in my eyes but each to their own

[omni]

It was the best grandfinal I've ever seen.

Hats off to North South Melbourne

[DJ]

Can someone tell me why people keep calling the Sydney Swans South Melbourne?

[brett]

south melbourne was the club relocated up to sydney when they expanded here.

i watched the last quarter too, how anyone could buy a season ticket to watch something so scrappy beats me, or maybe says something about afl fans.

just saw the swans singing 'disco' on the news...maybe their fans should follow suit?

[Adz]

glad sout melbourne won
as for being scrappy - thats how the SWANS play, a really ugly style of football, it was all over the papers earlier in the year because even the AFL boss had a go. AFL games are usually much higher scoring, free flowing.

[brett]

Thats how the SWANS play and they won the bloody thing! The best way to play it is to keep putting the ball out and causing ball up after ball up? It's an entertaining affair if you are supporting one side. I admit I enjoyed what I saw of the grand final - good close game. But I realised what makes it attractive if you support one side is that 80% of the time it's a constant physical struggle where the bounce of the ball could turn the game. The other 20% is mostly waiting for the ball to come back into play or waiting for someone to kick it after they mark it. With about 1% skill when they take a good mark or do a tricky kick. But for a neutral, or for someone actually thinking about what they are watching players do rather than just trying to win, it's pretty boring. Like football with all goalkeepers, and points for missing, or like rugby but the game stops whenever you dont knockon, and whenever you make a tackle you get a 50-50 chance for possession.

[Adz]

That's fine, you've seen 5 minutes of a game, you're entitled to your opinion, but honestly it's worth shit unless you actually watch a few games and see how its really played

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

i've got to jump in too to say that the swans' style of football is
a) very different to most teams' styles;
b) an acquired taste (i personally love the do or die craziness at the ball and the sheer guts to get in and under no matter what), and;
c) very effective (to wit: the 2005 premiership).

the swans' focus on defence and the manner of their attack is actually a lot like football- get bodies behind the ball, mark up tight, safety first with the contested ball (this means lock it up if you need to) and then value possession once you've got it. it requires patience and 100% concentration, for the fans as well as the players.

it's not an end to end 40 goals a match style of game but riveting in its own way, as i'm sure you all saw on the weekend.

many people bag football for being boring because they don't understand the game, the same is true of aussie rules. it takes a bit of getting used to but it's actually a cracking game to watch (you wouldn't catch me playing it in a million years... i'd get snapped into so many itty bitty pieces!).

[brett]

adz said:

That's fine, you've seen 5 minutes of a game, you're entitled to your opinion, but honestly it's worth shit unless you actually watch a few games and see how its really played

Who says that's the only AFl I've watched? I've watched enough games to draw a real opinion.

Dibo: naturally it's to each his own, but thanks for at least constructing an argument.

But you say they play similar to football, in that they get men behind the ball to defend and value possession and have 100% concentration with it. Value possession and 100% concentration like what, kicking the ball to the other teams forward at the top of the goal square? Which I saw swans do in the quarter of the match on saturday that i did watch.

Sure it was a pressure situation, they were tired and everything, but in football you make a mistake like that, and it actually costs you. Like Hyuk-Su Seo's error against Sydney the other night when he mis controlled near his own box and Corica nailed the finish. If you can get away with mistakes like Sydneys then it's not really 100% concentration, and the little moments like that plus periods where its ball up after ball up with the ball rolling and bouncing around and no one able to actually pick it up that ruin it as a spectacle for me. Like I said, if you're really behind one team then it's great because everything is always on a knife's edge, the bounce of the ball or a good tip out by one player can mean the ball is travelling 50 metres through the air in one direction rather than the other.

[dibo (pron. "DIB-OH")]

luke ablett's going to remember that one (the kick across the goalsquare to ben cousins) for ever and a day. but it is actually a perfect demonstration of another similarity between the two games- never EVER kick across the face of goal (at least unless it's going to be travelling supersonically through the ionosphere and well away from any slight hint of trouble!).

if it's not your glass of frosty ale then that's obviously cool, but i would rate watching a really good match of aussie rules up there in the list of Things I Like To Do On A Saturday Afternoon.

p.s: oh, and i can't say i've seen anyone playing any sport who could do the impossible as much as tony lockett- so often coming on the lead towards a passing midfielder with an arm held behind his back and another defender coming in to spoil and yet somehow he would stick an arm out there so that when the commotion had finished it would be him lining up a shot rather than an easy pass out of defence. there are players of genius in all codes, but i've not yet been lucky enough to see a football genius of the stature of plugger up close enough to see the sweat fly.

p.p.s: football is still my favourite sport too, i'm just quite partial to the old aerial ping pong... not to mention rugby league (when the dragons aren't choking their way out of the finals YET AGAIN!)

[omni]

I must say I do rate Tony Lockett he was an incredible player, even if he did play for St. Kilda and South Melbourne.

Ablett would have been killing himself everytime West Coast got a lead, imagine if they won the final, good to see all the other Swans running over to console him.

[striker9]

i don't understand why people watch these games? mistery

[chelseagirl]

Me neither.