what was your fav game of 2004 ?

[NMWBloods]

- There were only 3-4 interchanges through that period - this was checked on the TV a number of times, and was also noted by Roos and Eade.

- Roos commented later that he knew nothing of what was happening and he said virtually all the players also knew nothing.

- Eade made a similar comment that he expected the players would know nothing of what was happening or anything was happening.

- J Bolton said later in the year he knew nothing about it and neither did most of the players he spoke to. Not only did they not know what had happened, they had no idea anything was happening.

- The only really significant players of those 3-4 were Ball and Maxfield. That leaves a lot of other senior players out there.

- I only commented on it because someone else raised it from a football perspective and it was one of our worst losses in a number of seasons.

- I also raised it given the bashing and torrent of abuse I received over it last time when everyone said I was wrong to say that most players didn't know - this was firmly established, however, by later comments.

- As I said at the time, I can appreciate the sense of loss, however it naturally means virtually nothing to me and certainly has very little impact on looking at a game purely from a football perspective and why should it? I assess the football game as I do every other game - onfield it is no different to any other bad loss.

- According to some, tt never seems I am entitled to an opinion on this matter however...

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by JF_Bay22_SCG
Then seeing that the interest of everybody in Sydney drift to ANYTHING but AFL is pretty depressing.
JF

What's to be interested in?

[swansrule100]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
The players (with only a few exceptions) deserved the abuse they copped here after the loss to the Kangaroos.

well they didnt know did they??? and if ball felt unable to play on he should of stayed off
they never should of lost the game!
so i pretty much agree with you

[sharpie]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
- There were only 3-4 interchanges through that period

NMW, I'm sitting on the fence about whether or not it had an impact on the result of the game, but if there were 3-4 interchanges, then you can say that 5-8 players definitely knew what was happening. That means that between 20-40% (roughly) of the players definitely knew, and so it is possible that more knew.

If, for example, 30% of the team knew what was going on, then that is a significant proportion of a team that openly admits it requires 100% of the team to contribute for them to be successful.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by sharpie
NMW, I'm sitting on the fence about whether or not it had an impact on the result of the game, but if there were 3-4 interchanges, then you can say that 5-8 players definitely knew what was happening.

Sorry - I wrote that badly - there were 3-4 players in total who went through the interchange bench and were on the ground in the second half of the last qtr.

As I recall they were Ball, Maxfield, McVeigh and maybe one other. Thewlis I think was also on the bench, but didn't come onto the ground. When Ball came on, Doyle came off and didn't return.

Surprisingly, as I recall, Roos didn't make a lot of changes in the team line up in the last quarter.

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

Originally posted by ROK Lobster
What's to be interested in?

Once the Swans are kicked out, bugger all. The SFL draws a friends and relatives kind of crowd even to its Grand Final.

JF

[sharpie]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
Sorry - I wrote that badly - there were 3-4 players in total who went through the interchange bench and were on the ground in the second half of the last qtr.

As I recall they were Ball, Maxfield, McVeigh and maybe one other. Thewlis I think was also on the bench, but didn't come onto the ground. When Ball came on, Doyle came off and didn't return.

Surprisingly, as I recall, Roos didn't make a lot of changes in the team line up in the last quarter.

Ok, 3-4 players knowing is probably different to 5-8, as far as the effect on the team. I'll still sit on the fence on this one.

[swansrule100]

least the one positive is it seemed to inspire them the week after against the dees

[NMWBloods]

Yep - I was rapt with our effort the following week (the win that is, not the boring second half, which was in some ways understandable). The game didn't really matter in the overall scheme of things, but then again most games don't anyway, but I just found the first 15 minutes of the last quarter just about the most disappointing piece of football in a decade.

[swansrule100]

the whole game was awesome cos it was the only one ive ever been to and i sat through brissie hawks to get to it.


the one thing i found was i get even more nervous at the game than watching on tv...and i get friggen nervous there

[robbieando]

Originally posted by sharpie
NMW, I'm sitting on the fence about whether or not it had an impact on the result of the game, but if there were 3-4 interchanges, then you can say that 5-8 players definitely knew what was happening. That means that between 20-40% (roughly) of the players definitely knew, and so it is possible that more knew.

If, for example, 30% of the team knew what was going on, then that is a significant proportion of a team that openly admits it requires 100% of the team to contribute for them to be successful.

The thing that should be remembered is that North started their charge BEFORE anything happened. Regardless of the fact we were still in front until late in the match, we allowed North to get their confidence up early in the quarter and therefore I still believe that the game was lost before Wally had his heart attack. The players should of put the brakes on North then, not when we had a 1 goal lead late in the match.

If the match had been close all night, then yes I wouldn't have an issue with whether the players knew or not, because even if 3 or 4 of them knew that was more than enough in a close match to effect the result. But because we held a 6 goal lead going into the last quarter and North had pegged most of that back by the time Wally had his heart attack, the whether the players knew or not isn't an issue, because regardless of the heart attack, we still would of been run over because we let North back into the game when we should of closed the game down.

[Casey36]

I most definitely would have to say the best game was
Sydney v St Kilda
Gee that was great game.... I'm sure after that game the Saints learnt not to go to the movies before hand!!!

It was also good to see that the Swans were the first team to beat them! Good Ol' Swannies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dread and might]

Originally posted by robbieando
The thing that should be remembered is that North started their charge BEFORE anything happened.

Exactly. I had a sinking feeling about the way the game was going less than 10 minutes into that quarter. wasn't it the 4th or 5th biggest 4th quarter turnaround in football history? Shouldn't happen on our watch

[ScottH]

The North game or at least that last Qtr should be in another thread.

"what was your least fav game of 2004?"

The game was lost in the first 10-15 mins of that qtr. Once they got a roll on there was no stopping them.

As for Balls OOB, he was at least down there trying to help and didn't have too many other options. The midfield should never have let the game get to that stage. One more goal our way would have stopped the momentum.(maybe)

[bigdaz]

Hi Guys,

Just thought I'd make sure you knew I was still around.

My Top 3 Games of '04

1) v Roos, Manuka. Started slow, but ended with a great win & I also scored a few Autographs afterwards.

2) v Saints, SCG. Just great to knock them off thhier High Horse after 10 -0.

3) v Brisbane, Telstra Stadium. Great atmosphere around the crowd, particularly the CS when it was sewn up.

My worst 3 Games of '04

1) Final v Saints. I was so depressed I hardly slept afterwards

2) v Roos SCG. Most devastating loss I've ever seen

3) Final v Weagles. Only because of the rotten weather. I did enjoy the win, but, I did not really get into the mmatch after the storm as I was soaking wet & freezing & just wanted to get home & warm.

also Rd 1 v Lions at the Gabba was depressing as i felt we did enough to win.

See you all at the first match next year.

God, i miss the AFL.