Preview Grand Final 2024 - Sydney Swans / South Melbourne Bloods vs Brisbane Bears/ Fitzroy Lions - The Big Dance

[McRobie]

Lot of talk of who we play on who to restrict them. The reality is the Lions would be stressing hardcore how they are going to control Heeney, Lizard, Gulden, Mcinerny, Warner, Hayward etc.
Our best players are better than their best. I firmly believe our bottom 6 are better than their bottom 6.
Grundy has the potential to be most influential on the ground here, he’s going to have a second stringer who he should destroy.
Get that good start and we win. We will be fresher and that counts.

 

[Wheresbuddy]

Lot of talk of who we play on who to restrict them. The reality is the Lions would be stressing hardcore how they are going to control Heeney, Lizard, Gulden, Mcinerny, Warner, Hayward etc.
Our best players are better than their best. I firmly believe our bottom 6 are better than their bottom 6.
Grundy has the potential to be most influential on the ground here, he’s going to have a second stringer who he should destroy.
Get that good start and we win. We will be fresher and that counts.

Grundy got brownlow votes v Adelaide.

Played a second string ruck in Strachan. 31 disposals, 49 hitouts. If he does this to Fort, I'd say we would have one hand on the cup.

Also, all this talk about stop Heeney, stop us and win is BS. Gulden and Warner, amongst others, are more than capable of cutting an opposition to shreds. I hope they focus all their attention on Heeney because I think that will hand us the cup.

 

[Bonz]

Lot of talk of who we play on who to restrict them. The reality is the Lions would be stressing hardcore how they are going to control Heeney, Lizard, Gulden, Mcinerny, Warner, Hayward etc.
Our best players are better than their best. I firmly believe our bottom 6 are better than their bottom 6.
Grundy has the potential to be most influential on the ground here, he’s going to have a second stringer who he should destroy.
Get that good start and we win. We will be fresher and that counts.

Daniher, Cameron, Neale, Andrews, Rayner, McLuggage (This is before Dunkley).

Are easily the equivalent of our top 6, different players but just as good.

This GF will be decided on which group stand up on the day and who can have a couple of outsiders step up and be match winners from the next group down (Lloyd, Parker, Florent, McInerney for instance)

 

[bloodsbigot]

Our best players are better than their best. I firmly believe our bottom 6 are better than their bottom 6.

Who are our bottom 6 and who are their bottom 6?

Ours would probably be:
Melican
Amartey
Fox
Roberts
Campbell
McLean

Theirs would probably be:
I have no idea?

If someone could fill in the blanks I'd love to know myself. Feel free to correct me on the above too.

 

[bedford]

Wouldn't mind Josh Kennedy personally

I think it will be Leo Barry

 

[The King!]

Grundy got brownlow votes v Adelaide.

Played a second string ruck in Strachan. 31 disposals, 49 hitouts. If he does this to Fort, I'd say we would have one hand on the cup.

Also, all this talk about stop Heeney, stop us and win is BS. Gulden and Warner, amongst others, are more than capable of cutting an opposition to shreds. I hope they focus all their attention on Heeney because I think that will hand us the cup.

Stop Heeney sounds good too, but who do they have to do it? Big ask.

If you do curb his influence he just goes forward and Gulden and Warner can get off the leash.

 

[bedford]

Stop Heeney sounds good too, but who do they have to do it? Big ask.

If you do curb his influence he just goes forward and Gulden and Warner can get off the leash.

Your best , end of discussion lol

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

Daniher, Cameron, Neale, Andrews, Rayner, McLuggage (This is before Dunkley).

Are easily the equivalent of our top 6, different players but just as good.

This GF will be decided on which group stand up on the day and who can have a couple of outsiders step up and be match winners from the next group down (Lloyd, Parker, Florent, McInerney for instance)

Hi everyone, all the best for saturday and hopefully each team can hold their heads up no matter what the result.
I really do think it will just come down to little moments , like taking a contested mark at a crucial moment or hitting those passes getting your switches right, and kicking through the middle.
I was at yhe Granny last year and we were just a bit off , couldn't use the field as well as Collingwood did, a dropped chest mark inside 50, that was last year.
We are playing well with a brand of kick mark and throw in wraparound runs and kick , keeping possession if possible.
We're I see your team more so gut runners with the ability to run it out and go the whole distance or find a kick.
I also noticed from your prelim, your players are very mobile to make space and present and keep that flow happening.
I think it will be a nail biter tbh.
Al the best and couldn't imagine a more worthy opponent to battle with.
For years I'd dream of beating the Swannies at the Gabba only to get pissed off with a flogging. Pre Fagan days and after our glory years
Can't see that happening at all as i say it should be close , strap yourselves in.
Bit hard to concetrate on work hey.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Long post coming in.

José Mourinho talks of four phases to football, which I think also apply to AFL: defence, transition from defence into attack, attack, and transition from attack to defence. What determines transitions is who wins contests, and the teams that best anticipate and execute on transitions generally win the day.

I reckon there are two areas where the teams will cancel each other out:

• Both teams are deadly at transitioning from defence into attack.
• Their forward line probably has the edge over our forward line, but our backline probably has the edge over their backline (especially if Mills is fit) - so these two are likely to cancel out.

I think there are 3 key areas that will determine the outcome:

• Throughout the entire game - who is most ferocious and precise at the contest (I’m a genius to identify this one I know!). I think Grundy and Fort will be key here, with swans more likely to dominate, especially as the game wears on, but Grundy better not be complacent or it might set a rot that is hard to recover from.
• In the first half - who dominates the the air in attack and defence. This will be critical for gaining ground and converting forward 50 entries when the game is structured. I think Brisbane is more likely to dominate here, but the Swans can be good in the air on their day so don’t count us out. Last week we were excellent.
• In the second half - who can best anticipate and transition from attack to defence as legs start to tire. I think who can keep up the pressure when the opposition wins turnovers will ultimately determine the outcome of the game, as both teams can score rapidly during momentum swings. I think swans are more likely run Brisbane into the ground with our fresher legs, but it will be a battle of wills and Brisbane has a lot of fight. Expect players strewn over the ground from both teams at the final siren.

I am expecting a game that is too tense for my liking. The final result may be a 2-3 goal difference but it will feel like under a kick. Could go either way but my prediction is Swans by 16.

Edit: also Rowbottom for Norm Smith with 14 tackles and 2 crucial goals.

 

[bedford]

god help us

 

[SwansLifer]

I think Adams might have a great game if he was in the team, would be totally desperate and deserving of spot.

I'm tempted.

Between Fox, Campbell, Mills and Adams there are going to be a couple of very deserving players missing out.
The club is very lucky to have the whole list fit and ready, two of the above mightily unlucky though.

Surely Campbell goes back to sub. Hopefully to reprise his impact Vs GWS.

I think he would too. I just can't see a realistic scenario where he gets a game.

Not going to drop Parker. Campbell's pressure was good last week and he won't take Fox's spot.
Can't think of anyone even close to being dropped that allows Adams to come in.

 

[Bonz]

I think he would too. I just can't see a realistic scenario where he gets a game.

Not going to drop Parker. Campbell's pressure was good last week and he won't take Fox's spot.
Can't think of anyone even close to being dropped that allows Adams to come in.

If both McDonald and Mills don't come up I think he will come in alongside Fox.

 

[zyzzbruh]

Lot of talk of who we play on who to restrict them. The reality is the Lions would be stressing hardcore how they are going to control Heeney, Lizard, Gulden, Mcinerny, Warner, Hayward etc.
Our best players are better than their best. I firmly believe our bottom 6 are better than their bottom 6.
Grundy has the potential to be most influential on the ground here, he’s going to have a second stringer who he should destroy.
Get that good start and we win. We will be fresher and that counts.

I think that middle to top tier of players are pretty even between the two teams. We've got pretty reliable weapons in Florent, Mcinerney, Hayward, Papley, Blakey etc, but they also have Bailey, Rayner, McCluggage, cameron and Ah chee.

What scares me is their midfield ball winning ability in comparison to ours in Dunkley, Ashcroft and Neale. I think we are the more efficient outside team but it comes down to who is able to break even in the area of least strength. Our mids are capable of matching them, but their ability to mop around the outside is pretty good too. It really is as even a matchup as you can possibly get.

Contest and ground position should be our absolute major focus going into this one. We can't be getting slaughtered in the clearance game all day and expect our rebound efficiency to win the game, that would turn into a swans hawks 2014 style game where we are just hemmed in all day. They have too many weapons in the air and drop of the ball in their forward half to afford that.

I feel we have more up side, but at the same time i feel like we're also the more vulnerable to a structural collapse if the contest is too heated. Any result, including a blowout either way is very possible imo.

 

[BloodySwan]

I don't think Warner and Gulden can handle a tag that well. If I was Brisbane I would tag those two and back Dunkley and Neale to go head to head with Rowbottom and Heeney.

Their top 8 stack well against our top 8, however our bottom 8 are much stronger. I can see the likes of Lloyd and McInerney having a huge game as the Lions will have little answers

 

[SwansLifer]

If both McDonald and Mills don't come up I think he will come in alongside Fox.

Yeah that's fair. I just don't see a world where McDonald isn't right. Or am I downplaying the severity of his injury?

 

[zyzzbruh]

Yeah that's fair. I just don't see a world where McDonald isn't right. Or am I downplaying the severity of his injury?

Wasn't there whispers that he would be declared fit coming soon?

 

[SwansLifer]

I don't think Warner and Gulden can handle a tag that well. If I was Brisbane I would tag those two and back Dunkley and Neale to go head to head with Rowbottom and Heeney.

Their top 8 stack well against our top 8, however our bottom 8 are much stronger. I can see the likes of Lloyd and McInerney having a huge game as the Lions will have little answers

The bottom 8 is still solid for the Lions. Subjective but I would go.

Morris
Fort (Or Smith)
Answerth
McKenna
Hipwood
Payne
Starcevich
Fletcher

 

[Tom14]

I get why other teams complain about the academies.

It pisses me off watching clubs like the Bulldogs and Collingwood get top players every other year for half their value, so I can see why it would annoy other teams' supporters when we get someone.

There is a weird obsession though with our academy over the other three. I doubt most supporters even know that Harris Andrews, Eric Hipwood, Keidean Coleman and Ben Keays were academy selections.

Once Perryman and Cumming leave, that will be 5 first round picks that GWS have gotten through their academy and let go to other clubs. Then you include players like Jack Steele, Zac Williams, Jeremy Finlayson, Cooper Sharman.

Yet all we ever hear about is Heeney, Mills and Blakey. We seem to be in the gun for not just developing players, but retaining them. No one has an issue with GWS having an academy, because most of them end up at Victorian clubs anyway.

Thankfully though, after years of dithering, the AFL have put in a much fairer bidding system for these players from next year. So the fairness aspect of the academies will pretty much be mute, even if the whinging isn't.

Think this just comes down to your first couple of academy picks being super early (Heeney, Mills), while you were playing finals and recruited Buddy? Was a pretty toxic media environment that led to the ridiculous de facto trade ban you had to deal with.

Whereas of the Lions academy picks you mentioned, Hipwood was a pick in the teens and the rest a lot later. Coleman was the only one drafted in when we were actually playing finals in 2019 too. So we'll have quite a few academy players out there on grand final day (Harris, Hipwood, Payne, and Fletcher) but only two were first round picks.

Our biggest rorts have been father sons and are coming up with Ashcroft #2 and Marshall this year, as well as a pretty highly rated academy mid coming in next year.

 

[The King!]

 

[Adnico26Parker]

Gallery: Swans prepare for Grand Final

See all the latest photos as the side trained on the SCG ahead of the Brisbane Lions. This gallery is presented by Castlereagh Imaging. Photos by Phil Hillyard.

www.sydneyswans.com.au

 

[Benmacca33]

Gallery: Swans prepare for Grand Final

See all the latest photos as the side trained on the SCG ahead of the Brisbane Lions. This gallery is presented by Castlereagh Imaging. Photos by Phil Hillyard.

www.sydneyswans.com.au

Looked a happy bunch mills looked healthy and happy same as Logan longer it goes I think they’ll both play

 

[caesar88]

Well from this photo, at least we can say for certain that Campbell, Blakey, McAndrew, Rampe & Vickery will be in our selected 23 for the GF. Gonna be really interesting to see who gets the other 18 spots.

 

[McRobie]

Daniher, Cameron, Neale, Andrews, Rayner, McLuggage (This is before Dunkley).

Are easily the equivalent of our top 6, different players but just as good.

This GF will be decided on which group stand up on the day and who can have a couple of outsiders step up and be match winners from the next group down (Lloyd, Parker, Florent, McInerney for instance)

I’d take our 6 all day. That’s just me.

Rayner is average, hes played a handful of good games in what 4 years? More?
Dunkley is average these days, Neale is a wonderful player Cameron and Daniher, absolutely not trusting them on grand final day.

 

[BloodySwan]

The bottom 8 is still solid for the Lions. Subjective but I would go.

Morris
Fort (Or Smith)
Answerth
McKenna
Hipwood
Payne
Starcevich
Fletcher

I think Starcevich is closer to their top 8 than bottom 8

 

[Millky95]

I don't think Warner and Gulden can handle a tag that well. If I was Brisbane I would tag those two and back Dunkley and Neale to go head to head with Rowbottom and Heeney.

Their top 8 stack well against our top 8, however our bottom 8 are much stronger. I can see the likes of Lloyd and McInerney having a huge game as the Lions will have little answers

In a twist the Lions hard tag Rowbottom ala Hawks tagging Parker in 2014 and it all falls to pieces