Predictions

[Thunder Shaker]

My predictions:

• One of Kosi or Hamill will play.
• Swans spend the game "testing" the injuries of a few select Saints players.
• Swans by 7 at final siren, 13 after the last goal is kicked.
• Davis and Milne kick four each to be the highest goalscorers in the match. Bazza kicks three.
• Game to be referred to as another "epic". Commentators talk about the finals series the Swans are having, with three Friday Night games in a row and all close.
• Swans win many friends with a courageous and exciting brand of football.
• Commentators surprise many on RWO by talking about how the Swans won the game rather than how the Saints lost it.
• Umpires do a decent job. Free kick count is 18-14 the Saints way. There are few complaints about the umpires on RWO because we won and the kicks were generally there, but one or two contentious decisions get discussed at length on RWO involving obvious frees to our forwards being missed.
• There are many more complaints about Grand Final ticket queues on RWO after the game. Someone in the queue with a laptop manages to post to RWO with a live report from the queue itself.
• Swans have the back and front pages of the Daily Telegraph and Age on Saturday morning. Both run pictures of the same last-quarter mark by ROK taken from different angles.

[Frog]

... and some individuals from RWO presented the aints with movie tickets for Thurdsday night, effectively sealing the win ...

I go back to sleep now ...

[Go Swannies]

I think the Swans are much tougher mentally than the team that played the finals last year (thanks AD). And perhaps as tough and full of team spirit as the Lions when they beat us in a final. Leo was quoted today as saying that many in the team feel that they need the momentum more than they needed the break.

We can negate and outplay the Saints talent - we have in the past. And much of that talent is on very dodgy legs. And, most importantly, in football terms, finals are largely played in the mind. And there I think the Swans are a better team. And they are unlikely to do what they did twice in 2003 - play out of their skins instead of pacing themselves then run out of puff in the last quarter. The Cats know the penalty you can pay for that (just as we could have at AAMI in 2003 except for a superhuman effort by Baz).

[desredandwhite]

Saints by 30. It will be close almost all game. We will put up a great fight, even leading for part of the match, but lousy conversion and bad decisions will cost us in the 3rd quarter. The lead to blow out late in the game once the front-running saints realise the game is won. (head)

Swans by 12. Swans jump out of the blocks early and stun the Saints by kicking 6 quick unanswered goals before a couple of late St Kilda goals. Middle two quarters will be tight and tough, with the Swans leading by 15 points at the last change. St Kilda get back to within a point, but a hard-fought goal from an unlikely source saves the day, before a regulation lead/mark/goal from ROK seals it. (heart)

Make of THAT what you will

[Bart]

Originally posted by desredandwhite
Saints by 30. It will be close almost all game. We will put up a great fight, even leading for part of the match, but lousy conversion and bad decisions will cost us in the 3rd quarter. The lead to blow out late in the game once the front-running saints realise the game is won. (head)

Des is at the game

Originally posted by desredandwhite
Swans by 12. Swans jump out of the blocks early and stun the Saints by kicking 6 quick unanswered goals before a couple of late St Kilda goals. Middle two quarters will be tight and tough, with the Swans leading by 15 points at the last change. St Kilda get back to within a point, but a hard-fought goal from an unlikely source saves the day, before a regulation lead/mark/goal from ROK seals it. (heart)

Des stays at home

[mocaholic]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
There seem to be three categories of predictors here:

* those who believe the Saints will win for football reasons, but want the Swans to win

* those who believe the Swans will win for football reasons

* those who believe the Swans will win because they want them to (these are the DBAers)

(and there would be a fourth category, but Foothead has been banned).

Lock in a) thanks Eddie.

Saints by 21

[floppinab]

I'm not going to make a call now but I reckon we'll know by 10 mins. into the first q.

By then we'll have worked out which Swans have come to play.

If it's the Swans of last Fri. night, a bit tight, a bit afraid to win, to take risks going forward, inaccurate in front of goal, then the Saints and comfortably.

If it's the Swans that we saw against the Lions, the Eagles at home, sure of themselves, confident by hand and foot, running the lines hard and fast into the forward line, then we'll win.

Simple as that.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by cruiser
Down boy. That is not what was implied, rather its your interpretation.

Okay - I'll ignore the references to knowing who would pick the Saints and 'faith'...

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Thunder Shaker
My predictions:

Now that would be sweet!!

Oh, and BTW - I think floppinab's assessment is spot on.

[SXP]

Originally posted by floppinab
I'm not going to make a call now but I reckon we'll know by 10 mins. into the first q.

By then we'll have worked out which Swans have come to play.

If it's the Swans of last Fri. night, a bit tight, a bit afraid to win, to take risks going forward, inaccurate in front of goal, then the Saints and comfortably.

If it's the Swans that we saw against the Lions, the Eagles at home, sure of themselves, confident by hand and foot, running the lines hard and fast into the forward line, then we'll win.

Simple as that.

Agree! We'll know by then which Swans will have turned up.

[Sean]

IMO we have more trouble against the Saints than most other teams because their midfield is similar to ours - only better. We are great at shutting down the running midfields like WC or even Brisbane to an extent. However, we struggle against an in and under midfield like the Saints. Geelong has what I would describe as a running midfield but they completely changed their game plan last week to combat our strength - and it almost worked.

The Saints inside midfielders are probably better than ours - and they are perhaps the only team that could say that. Hayes highlights this fact - he'd be a B1 type at any other club but at the Saints he pretty much plays as a receiver. Of course, guys like Dal Santo are outside midfielders but he actually tends not to play in the midfield specifically - he's more of a HBF or a HFF.

In the last two games we've struggled because we can't shut their midfield down - they are happy to have a very tight struggle in the middle.

Therefore, to beat them, we need our "outside" midfielders to really step up. This mainly means Goodes but our flankers will need to play really well and Davis will be even more important this week - as a midfielder.

Anyway, that's my opinion. A prediction? I have no idea but if Goodes, Kennelly & perhaps O'Keefe play as well as they can we'll win.

[swans_premiers]

i had a dream sydney won. can't remember the margin but im thinking 17

[Young Blood]

If it were played 10 times in parallel universes, the Saints would win a majority of the games.

If we play as well as we did as WCE, the result will be just as close.
If we play as well as we did as WCE, but Hall and Goodes come to the party too, we'll win.
If we don't move the ball quickly when we've got it, due to excellent Saint pressure or our own hesitations, we'll be talking about who should be delisted next week.

[Sanecow]

Swans by 70. A classic caning. Gehrig to come off at quarter time.

[tez]

Swans by 5 points. Monty marks on the 50 metre line and
puts the ball through the big ones and then the siren sounds.