West Coast - Have they got the Nerve?

[TheHood]

WCE seem to be ignoring their form going into this game and why wouldn't they, it's been fairly ordinary for their lofty standards.

A question mark remains over their ability to perform when it matters most this year or any other for the past 6 years.

This year they were touched up by the Pies and only just scraped over the line against the Tigers (barely held their nerve).

They didn't travel well in Sydney when they had their chance to reverse a 6 year old trend of losing on the SCG.

The travelled to Geelong and got stunned by a team whose form was poor prior to that game.

Then then relinquished top spot when it was their's for the taking all year. Again lost their nerve.

The tipsters are right to go with WCE, it's their home and it's a Friday NIGHT.

If Sydney do the right thing and exploit the younger Eagles forcing them into error and a defensive mode, we're a big chance.

I fully expect this game to be tight. Very tight, no much free-flowing footy at all. We're both trying to shut down each other's midfields. No room there at all.

[anne]

I hope you are right. Just finished reading several articles (in Fox sports) which make it sound as if they are very confident of beating us - partly as pay back for last year's final. They feel their drop off in form is not a drop in form but rather a drop off in "effort" as they had nothing to play for. They can simply reverse it by trying harder now it means something. I hope form and outcomes can't be reversed that easily.

[Go Swannies]

Getting political too with Roos saying that he hopes the Swans play exactly the same every game so they don't need to lift for finals. Clever as he's suggesting they run hot and cold and the Swans just bulldoze through.

[Dave]

The pressure is really on the Wet Toast you would think.

Everyone including their own players have been talking them up, they reckon they will just cruise through this game.

A loss for them is far more profound than for us.

It's interesting to see on the AFL site that predictions of the winner are pretty much 50/50.

[Thunder Shaker]

Originally posted by anne
Just finished reading several articles (in Fox sports) which make it sound as if they are very confident of beating us - partly as pay back for last year's final.

I thought the round 6 match was the revenge match for last year's final. How many "revenge" matches do they need?

Unless the round 6 match was "revenge", tomorrow's final is "payback", the next match at Subi is "getting even", and so forth.

It would make it so much the sweeter when we beat them.

[Rizzo]

To use classic coach speak, early scoreboard pressure would really test their nerve. Let's hope we get off to a flyer.

[connolly]

Me thinks they protest too much. Why would professional athletes need to psyche themselves up with "revenge" fantasies going into a critical contest for the flag? They seem to be trying very hard to convince themselves of something that maybe they don't really believe. Roosey's "cool hand luke" act must be driving them mad - "sometimes nothing can be a cool hand"

[Plugger46]

I'm very confident. I can't see any reason why we can't win. Sure they're a good side, but I reckon we're better. Surely their forward line will struggle in finals, it's really not that special.

[BayesysLeftBoot]

Originally posted by anne
I hope you are right. Just finished reading several articles (in Fox sports) which make it sound as if they are very confident of beating us - partly as pay back for last year's final. They feel their drop off in form is not a drop in form but rather a drop off in "effort" as they had nothing to play for. They can simply reverse it by trying harder now it means something. I hope form and outcomes can't be reversed that easily.

This is just an attempt to take the pressure of themselves, make no mistake about it: the seeds of doubt have been planted in their minds and they are scared. With good reason too, the pressure is all on them, they have the home final, they should have finished top, their fans are the ones who have been talking premierships all year.

[BonBon]

West Coast have been playing poorly lately. So, if we lose to them on Friday, we have a serious problem.

[Mike_B]

Originally posted by BonBon
West Coast have been playing poorly lately. So, if we lose to them on Friday, we have a serious problem.

So if they beat us by a point, in a top quality game, do we still have a serious problem? Or could it be that we were beaten by a better team on the night, still played well ourselves and can go into the next game with confidence still high?

A loss tomorrow night will definitely make the road to the flag that much harder however.

[BonBon]

Originally posted by Mike_B
So if they beat us by a point, in a top quality game, do we still have a serious problem?

Nup, a semi-serious problem.

[BonBon]

And how was us at the start of the season, we were hopeless! After WCE beat us earlier, I thought we'd never win another game. I felt embarrassed to barrack for us at that point in time.

Now we've come back stronger with hardly any injuries and last year we won less games.

We've been blessed from above*.

*Not that there is anything up there.

[Sanecow]

Originally posted by BonBon
*Not that there is anything up there.

Well, apart from Goth of course.

[Piobaireachd]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
I thought the round 6 match was the revenge match for last year's final. How many "revenge" matches do they need?

Unless the round 6 match was "revenge", tomorrow's final is "payback", the next match at Subi is "getting even", and so forth.

It would make it so much the sweeter when we beat them.

LOL. exactly what I thought when I heard someone mention revenge during the week