AFL Finals Week 1

[Dougie]

The shock of the round came today when the Swans got up against Port. Port are sure living up their 'semi final chokers' tag.

we can only live in hope that they live up to it again next week when they play the Mighty Dons....

 

[meltiger]

I have done volunteer work down at Windy Hill, and let me tell you, we WILL win the flag within at LEAST 3 years...

LOL!!

The only way Essendon consistently win premierships is by running teams ragged in prelims, losign and ruining their opposition for the GF.


That team Essendon had on the field over the last 5-6 years should have won more than what they have.

how can you say that we should have won more than we have, at various times over the past 6 years, we have been ravaged by injuries, and beaten by better sides on the day...oh well, at least we can content ourselves by being better than Richmond nearly every year ;-)

lol

Everyone is bar Footscray and Carlton are better than Richmond... Although we did give you one hell of a flogging this year which must have been hurtful for all you Scum bandwagon jumpers.


Gotta say, as much as I loathe the Pies, it's good to see them overtake you once again as the power club of Victorian footy. At least most of their fans own pie gear more than 5 years old.


& it is true, look at the two prelims you lost... Carlton & Sydney by a single point... Whilst North Melbourne had an easier run in. You can't tell me both sides wouldn't have given a better show if they had not been smashed in the prelim. Sad fact is though, even being the richest club in Melbourne, an outstanding coaching staff from Sheeds all the way down and a massively talented list... the Bombers have rarely achieved anything other than being losers (Excluding 2000 obviously)...


Must say though, good signs this year (& the only one were you can actually lay a claim to having your list ravaged by injuries) - They are actually showing some guts at the right time of eyar and could quite easilly make the GF given they have to play the kings of Australian choking (Move over Parra we have a new champion) then Collingwood at the G if they can get up. Get to the GF then they will cop Brisbane, Sydney or Adelaide..... They could quite easilly win the premiership as sad as it is to say

 

[Dougie]

Meltiger, i think that our hopes this year are shot to pieces now that the Power choked again....but your comment about the Magpies being the powerhouse victorian club....maybe in membership, that ill concede.....but on the field.....HELL NO!! We beat them by 60 points on ANZAC Day....and they beat us by about a third of that......we still have the wood on them....if we get to play them in the Prelim, you can rest assured that we'll prove that we are still the No. 1 Victorian club!

 

[meltiger]

Meltiger, i think that our hopes this year are shot to pieces now that the Power choked again....but your comment about the Magpies being the powerhouse victorian club....maybe in membership, that ill concede.....but on the field.....HELL NO!! We beat them by 60 points on ANZAC Day....and they beat us by about a third of that......we still have the wood on them....if we get to play them in the Prelim, you can rest assured that we'll prove that we are still the No. 1 Victorian club!

Rubbish... If the umpires let Essendon get away with a few of the dirtier tactics they use (Not completely against the rules but skirting the line, just depends on the umpire on the day) ... They will smash Port Adelaide. The club will be hurting this week & i seriously doubt that a week is long enough to erase the hurt of yet another choke in a Qualifying Final @ Footy Park. Essendon are on a high and we can be sure there will be 5-10K Bomber fans in Footy park next week urging them on.


I rate Essendon well above the Pies on my 'shoot on sight' list... BUT I tend to agree with you, a Collingwood V Essendon Prelim could very well turn out to be an Essendon win. The Pies won't be able to ride the atmosphere of 55K people cheering them on like they did on Friday night, it will be 50/50.

 

[Dougie]

Meltiger, i think that our hopes this year are shot to pieces now that the Power choked again....but your comment about the Magpies being the powerhouse victorian club....maybe in membership, that ill concede.....but on the field.....HELL NO!! We beat them by 60 points on ANZAC Day....and they beat us by about a third of that......we still have the wood on them....if we get to play them in the Prelim, you can rest assured that we'll prove that we are still the No. 1 Victorian club!

Rubbish... If the umpires let Essendon get away with a few of the dirtier tactics they use (Not completely against the rules but skirting the line, just depends on the umpire on the day) ... They will smash Port Adelaide. The club will be hurting this week & i seriously doubt that a week is long enough to erase the hurt of yet another choke in a Qualifying Final @ Footy Park. Essendon are on a high and we can be sure there will be 5-10K Bomber fans in Footy park next week urging them on.


I rate Essendon well above the Pies on my 'shoot on sight' list... BUT I tend to agree with you, a Collingwood V Essendon Prelim could very well turn out to be an Essendon win. The Pies won't be able to ride the atmosphere of 55K people cheering them on like they did on Friday night, it will be 50/50.

Dirty tactics......what a load of RUBBISH!!! Essendon play within the rules..... Collingwood are the umpires darlings, no matter what they do, they always end up with a lopsided free kick count to them.....Essendon are always harshly dealt with by the umpires.....at least we havent done to bad at the judiciary this year....

 

[meltiger]

Meltiger, i think that our hopes this year are shot to pieces now that the Power choked again....but your comment about the Magpies being the powerhouse victorian club....maybe in membership, that ill concede.....but on the field.....HELL NO!! We beat them by 60 points on ANZAC Day....and they beat us by about a third of that......we still have the wood on them....if we get to play them in the Prelim, you can rest assured that we'll prove that we are still the No. 1 Victorian club!

Rubbish... If the umpires let Essendon get away with a few of the dirtier tactics they use (Not completely against the rules but skirting the line, just depends on the umpire on the day) ... They will smash Port Adelaide. The club will be hurting this week & i seriously doubt that a week is long enough to erase the hurt of yet another choke in a Qualifying Final @ Footy Park. Essendon are on a high and we can be sure there will be 5-10K Bomber fans in Footy park next week urging them on.


I rate Essendon well above the Pies on my 'shoot on sight' list... BUT I tend to agree with you, a Collingwood V Essendon Prelim could very well turn out to be an Essendon win. The Pies won't be able to ride the atmosphere of 55K people cheering them on like they did on Friday night, it will be 50/50.

Dirty tactics......what a load of RUBBISH!!! Essendon play within the rules..... Collingwood are the umpires darlings, no matter what they do, they always end up with a lopsided free kick count to them.....Essendon are always harshly dealt with by the umpires.....at least we havent done to bad at the judiciary this year....

LOL Typical Bomber fan... read what I said... They flirt with pushing things too far and sometimes an over zealous umpire will ping them all game... like the moron who gave a free kick against Tarrant last night in the last quarter for grabbing someones shirt LOL!!

i actually do believe Essendon play within the rules of the game, they just go so close to crossing the line that they will get hammered sometimes... It is successful the majority of the time and good on them.

However!! With regards to the record they have at the tribunal... How many times has Lloyd gotten away with head butts with a week or less? Give me a bloody break, when it comes to the League Essendon are a protected species and the only people who watch the game regularly and know the rules who could believe otherwise are the morons who support the club.

 

[Dougie]

Meltiger, i think that our hopes this year are shot to pieces now that the Power choked again....but your comment about the Magpies being the powerhouse victorian club....maybe in membership, that ill concede.....but on the field.....HELL NO!! We beat them by 60 points on ANZAC Day....and they beat us by about a third of that......we still have the wood on them....if we get to play them in the Prelim, you can rest assured that we'll prove that we are still the No. 1 Victorian club!

Rubbish... If the umpires let Essendon get away with a few of the dirtier tactics they use (Not completely against the rules but skirting the line, just depends on the umpire on the day) ... They will smash Port Adelaide. The club will be hurting this week & i seriously doubt that a week is long enough to erase the hurt of yet another choke in a Qualifying Final @ Footy Park. Essendon are on a high and we can be sure there will be 5-10K Bomber fans in Footy park next week urging them on.


I rate Essendon well above the Pies on my 'shoot on sight' list... BUT I tend to agree with you, a Collingwood V Essendon Prelim could very well turn out to be an Essendon win. The Pies won't be able to ride the atmosphere of 55K people cheering them on like they did on Friday night, it will be 50/50.

Dirty tactics......what a load of RUBBISH!!! Essendon play within the rules..... Collingwood are the umpires darlings, no matter what they do, they always end up with a lopsided free kick count to them.....Essendon are always harshly dealt with by the umpires.....at least we havent done to bad at the judiciary this year....

LOL Typical Bomber fan... read what I said... They flirt with pushing things too far and sometimes an over zealous umpire will ping them all game... like the moron who gave a free kick against Tarrant last night in the last quarter for grabbing someones shirt LOL!!

i actually do believe Essendon play within the rules of the game, they just go so close to crossing the line that they will get hammered sometimes... It is successful the majority of the time and good on them.

However!! With regards to the record they have at the tribunal... How many times has Lloyd gotten away with head butts with a week or less? Give me a bloody break, when it comes to the League Essendon are a protected species and the only people who watch the game regularly and know the rules who could believe otherwise are the morons who support the club.

I think you'd find that the real "protected species" at the tribunal are Collingwood - how on earth Brodie Holland only got 2 weeks is beyond me - it deserved at LEAST 4 IMHO.

I'd agree that we USED to have what us essendon fans used to call the Red Sash of immunity when it came to the tribunal, but we lost that years ago...

PS - Did you see After The Game after the Collingwood game....where they did "Why your team didnt make the finals..." T'was pure gold!

 

[Bomber]

Well, I'm going to go out on a bit of a limb here....

Fremantle to dust up the Bombers - I think last week's game would have done more good than harm for the Dockers, who are fast becoming my second team, the 'Davids' of the comp (as opposed to Goliath). Having said that, I don't think they'll win a final away from sandgropher territory, so there you go. Dockers by 34 points.

Lions to pip the Eddies - No real reason, but can you remember the last time Collingwood beat Brisbane? I suppose it doesn't really matter, it's what happens on the day that counts. The best match-up will probably be Matthews on Malthouse. Lions by 11 points

Adelaide to massacre West Coast - The Eagles will be taking the first exit once again this year. They started well (equal competition leaders at one stage?) but have been disappointing, losing to little brother Freo. Adelaide on the other hand have the same problem but are playing at Footy Park. Crows by 70 points

Port to outlast Sydney - I suppose the pressure is on Port rather than on Sydney, with the Power needing to shake off their tag as finals chokers. I expect them to lead big early, but die in their arse. If this game was five quarters instead of four, Sydney would win, but they'll run out of time. Power by 8 points

That means my week two scenario would be (unless I'm very wrong)
Sydney v Fremantle at Stadium Australia (winner plays Brisbane)
Eddiewood v Adelaide at MCG (winner plays Port)

Well, my tips were absolutely shithouse. :lol:

Brisbane to give Adelaide the pox
Port to outlast Essendon

 

[CyberKev]

Meltiger

Where you been for the last few months, Old Son?! We sparred after Richmond rudely upset the Hawks in the first half of the year... Richmond kept winning, Hawthorn kept losing... I called for the coach's head at the club's earliest convenience... You told me to get my hand off it... Richmond started losing, Hawthorn started winning, the season degenrated into total unfulfilment for both clubs, I stayed on, you went missing...

At any rate, I don't think the Bombers are good things to beat Port this week.

Port is susceptible to the Collingwood/Swans type of tight football, but Essendon are as loose as an off the tracks caboose in the way that they go about their game...

They won comfortably in a pretty dismal standard game on the weekend, the Bombers, but a side with reasonable delivery and any semblance of an adequate forward line would have caused them a world of hurt early on; and would probably have gone on with the game as their confidence grew. Port will cop a Hawthornesque battering from the media through the week and I'd be surprised if they didn't come out stronger for the experience. They also have a very sound recent record against the red & blacks.

Nice to find you posting here again...

CyberKev

 

[CyberKev]

Have you actually ever taken a strol down the Richmond list?!?!

if you did you may want to re-evaluate lumping every club in the group LOL

Hence my use of the qualifying term 'almost'...

The Richmond youngsters may be behind the Essendon youngsters in terms of quantity, although Coughlan & Rodan would be better than any of the Bomber kids... Frawley will need to put in a couple of big drafts though, assuming that he's around for the 2004 one.

CyberKev

 

[CyberKev]

It was a shocking weekend, Cyberkev, as my beloved Dolphins also went down in all 3 grades. Oh well, at least they've got one last chance next week for a spot in the grand final.

Well that sucks the big one!

Phins, you don't know DolphinMatt by any chance do you?

CyberKev

 

[meltiger]

Where you been for the last few months, Old Son?! We sparred after Richmond rudely upset the Hawks in the first half of the year... Richmond kept winning, Hawthorn kept losing... I called for the coach's head at the club's earliest convenience... You told me to get my hand off it... Richmond started losing, Hawthorn started winning, the season degenrated into total unfulfilment for both clubs, I stayed on, you went missing...

LOL!!

Fairs fair mate, I moved down to Melbourne the week before the bye weekend and have been settling in since I got home So it wasn't exactly a dissapearing act lol

Must say though mate, i've gained a treemendous amount of respect of your illustrious ruckman after last weeks encounter, he certainly got his revenge on Staff by laying a large number of punches into the 2nd littlest man on the field whilst sitting on top of him and not even giving him the chance to defend himself. Waas fantastic stuff to watch.


No wonder even St Kilda didn't even want the maggot lol

 

[CyberKev]

LOL!!

Fairs fair mate, I moved down to Melbourne the week before the bye weekend and have been settling in since I got home So it wasn't exactly a dissapearing act lol

Must say though mate, i've gained a treemendous amount of respect of your illustrious ruckman after last weeks encounter, he certainly got his revenge on Staff by laying a large number of punches into the 2nd littlest man on the field whilst sitting on top of him and not even giving him the chance to defend himself. Waas fantastic stuff to watch.

No wonder even St Kilda didn't even want the maggot lol

Is Staff still playing these days? I'd heard so little of him this season I thought he must have retired.

Great effort by Spider to belt up a Tiger player and avoid the veritable plethora of cameras circling the ground... First I've heard of this, which is unusual given that the BigFooty brigade love to lay into Spider for everything from having a hole in his socks to not washing the breakfast dishes.

St Kilda certainly were happy to be rid of Spider. Its embarrassing for a club when you plead with a player over and over to stay and he still tells you to flock off.

CyberKev

 

[TheFirstRabbitoh]

Staff is playing for Richmond (though I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic) - he has been fairly quiet this year.

 

[meltiger]

Great effort by Spider to belt up a Tiger player and avoid the veritable plethora of cameras circling the ground... First I've heard of this, which is unusual given that the BigFooty brigade love to lay into Spider for everything from having a hole in his socks to not washing the breakfast dishes.

LOL Mate it was about 30 metres away from me.... Don't tell me I was seeing things ;-)

St Kilda certainly were happy to be rid of Spider. Its embarrassing for a club when you plead with a player over and over to stay and he still tells you to flock off.

& yet they will win a premiership a LONG time before the current Hawthorn side will.... Couldn't have been too bad for them mate.

Just think though, no choke against the Tiges and a little luck in one other game and you would have been playign finals footy this year...

At least down at Punt Road we're used to failure lol

 

[CyberKev]

LOL Mate it was about 30 metres away from me.... Don't tell me I was seeing things ;-)

St Kilda certainly were happy to be rid of Spider. Its embarrassing for a club when you plead with a player over and over to stay and he still tells you to flock off.

& yet they will win a premiership a LONG time before the current Hawthorn side will.... Couldn't have been too bad for them mate.

Just think though, no choke against the Tiges and a little luck in one other game and you would have been playign finals footy this year...

At least down at Punt Road we're used to failure lol

I wouldn't dream of questionning your credibility (or motives) as a witness, I was just paying due homage to Spider's newfound judgement with his timing and decision making...


I wouldn't be overtly upset if St Kilda did win a premiership before us, but for all their young talent (amazing how much of it you can compile through years of neglect and underperformance) I wouldn't consider them certainties of doing this by any means. They've still got a lot to learn and some glaring structural gaps. It should also be said that it is hard to maintain a side with such a massive amount of young talent. There's a possibility that many of them will start burgeoning at once, but because sides have to pay almost all their salary cap each year, the Saints could quickly find themselves having to shed quality youngsters as surging salaries across the board blow out their cap ceiling.

At any rate, I still think Hawthorn would be more capable of pinching a flag than the Saints over the next couple of years. It'll be the same story as the last two years, admittedly, as we'll be needing the talls to standup and they're no certainty to do that. It need be said that the Hawk midfield has improved markedly this season, however, which makes the side a more solid prospect.

In the modern competition you can go from good to ordinary with surprising haste (and vice-versa) and you need a lot of good fortune to win a flag. The old days of long term highs and lows are all but gone, with most sides existing in a constant state of flux. There's rarely been so little between the sides, as shown by the minimal space between Collingwood in second and St Kilda in eleventh this season.

CyberKev

 

[chileman]

Where you been for the last few months, Old Son?! We sparred after Richmond rudely upset the Hawks in the first half of the year... Richmond kept winning, Hawthorn kept losing... I called for the coach's head at the club's earliest convenience... You told me to get my hand off it... Richmond started losing, Hawthorn started winning, the season degenrated into total unfulfilment for both clubs, I stayed on, you went missing...

LOL!!

Fairs fair mate, I moved down to Melbourne the week before the bye weekend and have been settling in since I got home So it wasn't exactly a dissapearing act lol

Must say though mate, i've gained a treemendous amount of respect of your illustrious ruckman after last weeks encounter, he certainly got his revenge on Staff by laying a large number of punches into the 2nd littlest man on the field whilst sitting on top of him and not even giving him the chance to defend himself. Waas fantastic stuff to watch.


No wonder even St Kilda didn't even want the maggot lol

Melbourne ....don't expect me to come all the way down there to be your body guard after a night out on the turps :lol: ;-) (how are ya Meltiger)