Grand Final 2008 - Geelong vs Hawthorn

[fullbull]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

The one thing i don't like about HAwthorn winning the flag is that they were a flash in the pan side last year and this year they have won the flag. Where is the struggle and the pain in the striving for the elusive premiership? Makes me think Hawthorn will think flags come easy and will be over confident and cocky next year. They played well as a team today but I think overall you take out Hodge and Franklin, they will come back to the pack a fair bit.

Also, Sam Mitchell is a sniping **** and played an absolute shocker. How the **** is he captain and not Luke Hodge. He will spend a couple of week s on the sidelines come the first few rounds of 09 i think.

I think if you take the 2 best players out of a lot of teams, they would go backwards a fair bit, so that statement is not really all that relevant.

Look at West Coast without Judd and Cousins. Pretty massive impact. I think if you took Ablett and Bartel out of Geelong they would also go back a fair bit, because then their 2nd (I use the term 2nd very loosely) tier midfielders would have to step up (Corey, Selwood, Ling, Kelly). You will often find that guys like Judd, Cousins, Bartel, Ablett, Franklin and Hodge make their teammates look a lot better because of how awesome they are. They bring other players into the game.

I do agree with the bit at the end. If Franklin is the future of the Hawthorn Footy Club, Hodge would have to be the heart and soul of the club, and he should be captain. Mitchell is still a quality player, but I still would prefer Hodge as their skipper.

Great win for the Hawks though, considering 2 of their top 3 midfielders (Mitchell and Lewis - Sewell being the other) had very little impact, and their 2 power forwards (Franklin & Roughead) only kicked 4 goals.

Who knows how good this team will be during the era of Buddymania...

 

[hotdimsim]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

There were quite a few rushed behinds to Geelong though which inflates their 'scoring shots' a bit.

Yes. But rushed behinds are a sign of offensive pressure. We couldn't turn that pressure into goals, which is normally the case.

But did anyone else notice how hodge played very similar to what harley plays. whenever theres a forward entry, he fills the hole and takes a mark from opposition kick, stopping any attack. Now i know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that

Btw, i was pi$$ed off at how mitchell went for the man instead of the ball when ling shut him down in the first half. He played well later, but hodge would be a far better captain than mitchell imho.

 

[fullbull]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

Yes. But rushed behinds are a sign of offensive pressure. We couldn't turn that pressure into goals, which is normally the case.

But did anyone else notice how hodge played very similar to what harley plays. whenever theres a forward entry, he fills the hole and takes a mark from opposition kick, stopping any attack. Now i know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that

Btw, i was pi$$ed off at how mitchell went for the man instead of the ball when ling shut him down in the first half. He played well later, but hodge would be a far better captain than mitchell imho.

While I agree that Hodge should be captain, and I can see how as a Geelong supporter you may have not liked seeing Mitchell line up every one of your players, but let me give you my opinion as a neutral observer.

The physical pressure Mitchell applied on Geelong early - even possibly sacrificing a couple of weeks at the start of '09 - had a massive effect on the contest. It made Geelong unsure and they appeared to lack real confidence when moving forward with the footy, and they were hopeless going inside 50 all day. Seeing their skipper lead like that would have inspired the Hawks to apply relentless pressure all afternoon. I think it went a long way to helping the Hawks win the flag. Quality stuff.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

The one thing i don't like about HAwthorn winning the flag is that they were a flash in the pan side last year and this year they have won the flag. Where is the struggle and the pain in the striving for the elusive premiership? Makes me think Hawthorn will think flags come easy and will be over confident and cocky next year. They played well as a team today but I think overall you take out Hodge and Franklin, they will come back to the pack a fair bit.

LOL.

Try the last 17 years, kid.

 

[cs61]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

The one thing i don't like about HAwthorn winning the flag is that they were a flash in the pan side last year and this year they have won the flag. Where is the struggle and the pain in the striving for the elusive premiership? Makes me think Hawthorn will think flags come easy and will be over confident and cocky next year. They played well as a team today but I think overall you take out Hodge and Franklin, they will come back to the pack a fair bit.

Also, Sam Mitchell is a sniping **** and played an absolute shocker. How the **** is he captain and not Luke Hodge. He will spend a couple of week s on the sidelines come the first few rounds of 09 i think.

worst post of 2008?

 

[Lordifan]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

Great match by the Hawks. They showed a lot of poise, and like a champion should, took advantage of all the gifts Geelong gave them.
If Mooney had made that shot for goal at the end of the first half, that would have given Geelong a little bit of momentum going into the break, but he missed what was pretty much a gimme goal.
Geelong's kicking for goal was atrocious to say the least. And to me they pretty much quit in the second half. No passion, they just let the Hawks do as they please.
The Hawks clearly wanted this more, and were more deserving winners. Good for Crawford on finally winning a flag after so long.

 

[Call Me Cake]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

Another great team with a one year dynasty like Essendon in 2000.

Okay, hold up.

Don't compare Geelong's 2007 to Essendon's 2000.

Sure, Essendon didn't have a "dynasty" per-say... however, our 2000 season was spactacular... only one loss. Guess what else?... we actually had a premiership to show for it in the same year. - That's winning 21 games & ALL of the finals.

So, when you think about it... Essendon's 2000 would have to be the best SINGLE season ever in the modern game today. In fact they were practically invincible that year.

Seeing as Geelong blew their effin chances this year, that title hasn't been stolen yet!

Oh well, maybe next year?

 

[maryjames]

cats will still be up there the next 2 years, and hopefully get another premiership,, so it will be interesting in 09 to see how the cats go about it.

 

[Bomber57]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

Another great team with a one year dynasty like Essendon in 2000.

and what would know about a dynasty being a docker supporter, remind me, how many flags have Freo won?

Answer None

 

[southern star]

Mark Blake played better in last year Grand Final

 

[PalaceGun]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

worst post of 2008?

Quite a fitting user name, correct, worst post of the year from a bloke with the name of the worst band of the year.

 

[maryjames]

some cats fans have gone feral and wingeing and blaming everyone,just shut the fkup, we lost 2 games all year, the 2nd one really hurt yes but why just suddenly have PHDS IN HINDSIGHT.

 

[GFC29]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

Seeing as Geelong blew their effin chances this year, that title hasn't been stolen yet!

What chances?
We lost one home and away game like Essendon. The only other was the Grand Final, how is that blowing our chances?

How can you say Essendon were invincible when they still lost one game, Geelong lost two and somehow they are no-where near them?

 

[Xtreme]

some cats fans have gone feral and wingeing and blaming everyone,just shut the fkup, we lost 2 games all year, the 2nd one really hurt yes but why just suddenly have PHDS IN HINDSIGHT.

What i don't get is how the media pumped up Geelong as untouchable, they did suffer an additional loss during the pre season comp... but that appears to be swept under the rug by many.

Even if the pre season comp is a 'glorified training drill', a loss is still a loss!

 

[patto_man]

well done hawks

 

[Doggies_2008]

Re: Grand final- geelong vs hawthorn

Geelong? Gone? Ha. Hawthorn are playing on one leg, already fatigued. If this keeps up, Geelong will win by 30+, because they will start to kick straight eventually. That quarter was played in Geelong's front half; well done Hawthorn for being very efficient, but weight of numbers should eventually tell.

Hawks playing on one leg, and still won?

 

[adelaide_40]

Well done Hawks played the best footy most of the day and espically when it mattered most, to see in the 3rd quarter there bodies flying at the ball was s sign of dedication and was the main reason the won, through toughness and dedication. a great way to send out Crawf if he retires.

Geelong you gotta feel for them lose one game all year leading up to the gf and blow it. they will be there next year.

Also the game was fantastic Players hard at the football, tight all the first half then got away from the cats in the 2nd but still a great game.

Well done to Hodge on winning the Norm smith, may not of had the most possessions but he was leading the defence IMO and was the real leader out there on the field yesterday.

 

[Ferris_rules]

Geelong were only about a kick away last year of being the biggest chokers in the AFL.

They will choke again next year ! mark my words.

the handbags are back at Geelong.

Im so happy to see those arrogant cats fans suffer, lol.

 

[The King!]

the hawks won and deserved it an it was a great win, still dont like them, but you cant ever deny they didnt deserve it.

On the other hand geelong will bounce back it was one loss, geez give them a break, more credit to hawthorn being too good and winning i say and less talk about the cats falling and choking. They are a good team, and will be fired up in 09.

Just because essendon after 2001 fell or some 1925 side collapsed in a heap doesnt mean anything.

 

[leearco]

What a great win. Good to see Geelong lose. They where a bit too cocky

 

[ClarkeM]

What a great win. Good to see Geelong lose. They where a bit too cocky

Woudln't say that mate. Both teams had even sides of cockiness i reckon.

 

[RiverRat]

Woudln't say that mate. Both teams had even sides of cockiness i reckon.

Would agree with that. All the scumthorn supporters I had spoken to prior to the game thought they would shit it in, but fair play to them I suppose.

 

[newworldorder]

the beauty of the afl, unlike other codes (soccer most leagues), is that the champion is decided in a high pressure game. geelong ala north melbourne kicked the premiership goodbye, with their inaccurate kicking, and i think very much like north melbourne of the time, we will see them back in contention next year - why? because they have showed that they have the hunger and want to win it, shown through out this year losing 1 regular season game. the grandfinal will only spur them on. hawthorn on the other hand i dont know if they will continue on with this and build a so called dynasty, they have a young team, but young teams can be erratic.

 

[saintsrule]

Both Geelong and the media were at pains to deny that Geelong were arrogant. Yet the truth is that the latter created a climate in which it was almost impossible for Geelong to think that they were not invincible. For starters, Geelong exists in a one team crazy, country town where the Addy follows their every twitch. Every player is treated in proportion, as a demigod and that is even before we consider the Melbourne media.

The Melbourne media too readily jumped on the Geelong bandwagon, why not back a team that kept on winning? But then too many members of each section of the media became intoxicated with the cats, to the point of nauseating sycophancy.

For all those who will say this is nonsense, I will argue that most of the Geelong team ran out onto the MCG yesterday just expecting to win. Last year on gf day they still had everything to prove, this year was different. It would have been impossible for them to ignore the ovewhelming media favouritism, and please don't try to tell me that players don't read the papers or watch tv. That same media adulation contributed, however much, to their demise.

 

[sojthebest]

Great footage of the game http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0buT1V_i0w