Zevon
Moderator
- Moderator
- #1
And we're off! As with every year, we saw that some teams are built to play finals, and there are others that go missing on the big stage. Let's wrap...
Port v Geelong, Thursday night: Maybe next year we should all go to Port Adelaide’s Halloween party dressed as a final. They’re “scary”, according to Ken. Judging by how his players performed in this game (and how ashen-faced they looked at half time when they were technically still in it) maybe he’s right. Just goes to show that regular season form counts for little when September rolls around. Port were set up beautifully for a soft run into the Grand Final; instead it turns out they were just soft. Meanwhile I keep saying I don’t rate Geelong and they keep on proving me wrong. A team that is better than the sum of its parts, that’s for sure.
Dogs v Hawks, Friday night: Magic supernatural cosmic forces. How else do you explain Hawthorn’s transformation since they were 1-6 after 7 rounds? I wonder if there’s a stat for the fastest improved side in history. The Hawks are now one win against a shell-shocked opponent from barnstorming their way into a preliminary final. Even those of us who were impressed with the early stages of their rebound in the middle part of the season couldn’t possibly have seen that coming. Anyway… the Dogs were up and about in the first quarter, and those who’d said they were “the best team in it” and that they’d be too finals-hardened for the young Hawks would have been chuckling to themselves. But the mystic forces working with the brown and gold were too great to be resisted. Don’t bother trying to get on a flight to Adelaide this week, they’ll already be sold out.
Swans v Giants, Saturday arvo: It promised to be the best matchup of the weekend, and so it was. The Giants were too good for most of the game and helped themselves to hefty leads at numerous stages, but the slow-starting Swans pulled off the big steal. Isaac Heeney took on GWS by himself, took mark of the day, kicked goal of the day, had a million contested possessions, and finally in the last term he found a few allies to help him out. Heartbreaking stuff for the Giants, but if they keeping playing like that they’ll remain right in the flag hunt. Gotta love finals footy. This was a classic.
Lions v Blues, Saturday night: Hm. Actually maybe you don't have to love finals footy. This one was fairly ordinary, but kudos to Brisbane for setting up a big early lead and then sitting on it for the rest of the night. The Blues did well not to be blown away and in fact played quite well in the second half, but it was too little too late. Fascinating matchup between the Lions and Giants next week... anyone's guess as to which way that one goes.
Don't forget to post your Liked, Learnt, Hated below... along with any other thoughts you had from the first round of finals!
Port v Geelong, Thursday night: Maybe next year we should all go to Port Adelaide’s Halloween party dressed as a final. They’re “scary”, according to Ken. Judging by how his players performed in this game (and how ashen-faced they looked at half time when they were technically still in it) maybe he’s right. Just goes to show that regular season form counts for little when September rolls around. Port were set up beautifully for a soft run into the Grand Final; instead it turns out they were just soft. Meanwhile I keep saying I don’t rate Geelong and they keep on proving me wrong. A team that is better than the sum of its parts, that’s for sure.
Dogs v Hawks, Friday night: Magic supernatural cosmic forces. How else do you explain Hawthorn’s transformation since they were 1-6 after 7 rounds? I wonder if there’s a stat for the fastest improved side in history. The Hawks are now one win against a shell-shocked opponent from barnstorming their way into a preliminary final. Even those of us who were impressed with the early stages of their rebound in the middle part of the season couldn’t possibly have seen that coming. Anyway… the Dogs were up and about in the first quarter, and those who’d said they were “the best team in it” and that they’d be too finals-hardened for the young Hawks would have been chuckling to themselves. But the mystic forces working with the brown and gold were too great to be resisted. Don’t bother trying to get on a flight to Adelaide this week, they’ll already be sold out.
Swans v Giants, Saturday arvo: It promised to be the best matchup of the weekend, and so it was. The Giants were too good for most of the game and helped themselves to hefty leads at numerous stages, but the slow-starting Swans pulled off the big steal. Isaac Heeney took on GWS by himself, took mark of the day, kicked goal of the day, had a million contested possessions, and finally in the last term he found a few allies to help him out. Heartbreaking stuff for the Giants, but if they keeping playing like that they’ll remain right in the flag hunt. Gotta love finals footy. This was a classic.
Lions v Blues, Saturday night: Hm. Actually maybe you don't have to love finals footy. This one was fairly ordinary, but kudos to Brisbane for setting up a big early lead and then sitting on it for the rest of the night. The Blues did well not to be blown away and in fact played quite well in the second half, but it was too little too late. Fascinating matchup between the Lions and Giants next week... anyone's guess as to which way that one goes.
Don't forget to post your Liked, Learnt, Hated below... along with any other thoughts you had from the first round of finals!
Port Adelaide the most. 
