Ant Bear
Swamprat
- Dec 7, 2012
- 37,285
- 86,535
- AFL Club
- Port Adelaide
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- Port Magpies, Swamprats forever,
Thanks again to Barrybran for the header
Here.We Go. The culmination of 20 weeks of hard toil. Where 10 clubs fell by the wayside, these two have stared adversity in the face and stared down that imposter.
The Dragons have endured ridicule, scorn and derison, yet ever-optimistic rookie skipper AceAndy has sallied forth through the roughest of seas to force their way into the decider. Coming from 7th on the ladder, they firstly eliminated the Royals with a devastating 10 goal final term, then took care of the Furies by overturning a final term deficit. They then decimated the East Side Hawks in last week's Prelim, again unleashing a final term burst to surge into the Grand Final.
The Mt Buller Demons, also with a new leader in manangatang, took a more traditional path to the Grand Final, finishing 3rd with a 10/5/1 record, earning the week off by beating the Furies in a tense Qualifier thanks to a late goal from brucetiki and then taking down the defending champion Swamprats, strolling into their second finale in the past three seasons, having tasted premiership success in S26 under Yakker.
The two clubs have never met in a Grand Final, despite their long history in the league, which for the Demons goes back to day dot, and for the Dragons dates from S8. In fact, they have only met 3 times in finals prior to this weekend, with the Demons leading 2:1
S14 2S: Southern Dragons 12.11.83 wdb Mount Buller Demons 17.19.121
S17 2nd Semi-Final - Mount Buller Demons 14.7.91 wdb Dragons FFC 20.11.131 @ Snow Dome
Here are some facts about Grand Finals and the participants' records in them, thanks to Ljp86:
• The Season 28 Grand Final will be Dragons FFC's fourth overall and Mount Buller Demons' sixth decider.
• The Season 28 Grand Final will be Dragons FFC's first decider since Season 22 while the Demons' last appearance was in Season 26.
• Dragons FFC are 1-2 in Grand Finals with their only victory coming in Season 19. The Demons have a 2-3 record in season deciders with their most recent premiership coming in Season 26.
• This will be Dragons FFC's and Mount Buller Demons' fourth meeting in a final with the Demons leading 2-1. This match will the first time the Dragons and Demons have met in a final since the Season 17 Second Semi Final.
• In the previous 27 seasons, the premiership has been won by the team finishing in third position on the ladder six times while the team that has finished seventh has never won the premiership.
• Season 28 will represent the second time that third has played seventh in the Grand Final.
• The home team has won 12 of the 28 previous Grand Finals with the away side winning in 15 of those games. There was also the infamous draw in the Season 05 GF between Fighting Furies and Alberton Swamprats. The Furies won the replay by 11 points.
• The average home team score in Grand Finals is 102.86 points. The average away team score is 102.43 points.
• The average margin in all Grand Finals is 23.93 points.
• Highest Winning Total - Mount Buller Demons 28.19 (187) vs Fighting Furies in Season 26.
• Lowest Winning Total - Baghdad Bombers 7.6 (48) vs Mount Buller Demons in Season 14.
• Highest Losing Total - Fighting Furies 19.17 (131) vs West Coast Wonders in Season 15.
• Lowest Losing Total - Mount Buller Demons 3.9 (27) vs Baghdad Bombers in Season 14.
• Average Winning Score - 115.67 points.
• Average Losing Score - 90.93 points.
• Highest Winning Margin - 87 points by Mount Buller Demons vs Fighting Furies in Season 26.
• Lowest Winning Margin - one point by Geelong Gumbies vs Fighting Furies in Season 16.
• Highest Cumulative Score - 287 points (Season 26 - Mount Buller Demons vs Fighting Furies).
• Lowest Cumulative Score - 75 points (Season 14 - Mount Buller Demons vs Baghdad Bombers).
• Average Cumulative Score - 205.29 points.
• SFA Grand Finals are generally quite close with only seven games decided by more than five goals. However, three of those victories have come in the last five seasons.
• The current cumulative margin from all Grand Finals currently stands at 670 points.
• The winning team has kicked 100 points or more in 19 of the last 21 Grand Finals.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Ljp86 - with 15 goals in this finals series, this is a veteran who saves his best for the big stage.
AceAndy - The Dragons skipper has led from the front all season
manangatang - rookie skipper, sank 44 goals from full-forward
Callums_Guns - All-SFA wingman who has not been stopped
TIP:
Sentimentally, the Dragons would be the better story, and they have proven to bring it home strong. AceAndy to lift the Cup at the end of the day
Captains, please submit your teamsheets in the Official Submission thread by 11.59pm Thursday 12/12/19