Finals Week 2

[redstarforever]

could care less about either team but as a neutral this was a crazy game! not seen more momentum flips in a while. gws were up 44 points at that point lions were done and dusted i thought but AFL proved me wrong again! after tonight i've learned it just isn't over till the fat lady sings

[imuninformedtwo]

I think that Hipwood miss might have killed off the Lions.

That’s the point I switched off and went to bed. Amazing.

[KTigers]

We all went to the game and sat in front of some smartass Swans fans that spent the entire game baiting Joe Daniher which was pretty funny. I think for the second week in a
row the Giants built up a good lead then stopped attacking as much (or maybe their aggressive earlier play had taken a lot out of them). Brisbane got a whiff of this and went
all out themselves and were very good out of the centre.. Moral of story, don't take your foot off the gas no matter how far you're ahead. And Jesse Hogan is probably the best
player in footy, but even that wasn't enough.

[dejavoodoo44]

That’s the point I switched off and went to bed. Amazing.

And just before that, I was about to post on how terrible the Brisbane attack had been, but I was delayed by checking the stats to see if Hipwood was actually playing.

The last quarter fade outs by the Giants are interesting. I think they did it a bit during the regular season, as well. So I'm wondering if they got the balance slightly wrong, between muscle mass and endurance fitness?

[dejavoodoo44]

We all went to the game and sat in front of some smartass Swans fans that spent the entire game baiting Joe Daniher which was pretty funny. I think for the second week in a
row the Giants built up a good lead then stopped attacking as much (or maybe their aggressive earlier play had taken a lot out of them). Brisbane got a whiff of this and went
all out themselves and were very good out of the centre.. Moral of story, don't take your foot off the gas no matter how far you're ahead. And Jesse Hogan is probably the best
player in footy, but even that wasn't enough.

I was looking at Hogan's stats before and his 77 goals for the year, is much better than his previous best of 49 last year. So at 29 years of age, he's something of late bloomer. Which makes me a touch more confident, that the 25 year old Amartey and the 22 year old McDonald can reach 50+ goals for a year.

[Industrial Fan]

Brent Daniels play on to soccer from the goal square was a shocking decision.

Not only did he miss but he should have let his team mate take 30 seconds off the clock given the state of the game. Shocking game awareness that ultimately cost them a spot in the prelim imo.

[KTigers]

There are lots of mistakes and poor decisions in very close games that can be deemed to have cost their team the game. Lachie O'Keefe missed two sitters I reckon
I could have kicked and the Daniels play on was a shocker. Even the normally reliable Jesse missed a couple he could have got. They all cost goals. But then, Brisbane
were 4.13 at one stage. What does it all mean? We just need to finish off Port on Friday night when we get the chance.

[KTigers]

I was looking at Hogan's stats before and his 77 goals for the year, is much better than his previous best of 49 last year. So at 29 years of age, he's something of late bloomer. Which makes me a touch more confident, that the 25 year old Amartey and the 22 year old McDonald can reach 50+ goals for a year.

Pretty sure Jesse has played every game this year (that's 25). It helps if you want to rack up the big totals. He reminds me of Bazza Hall a bit in that he gets up
the field a lot and gets back towards the square pretty quickly. He is a way better mark than Barry was. A lot of Jesse's goals are shots from 15M to 30M, so that
helps him too.

[stevoswan]

I was looking at Hogan's stats before and his 77 goals for the year, is much better than his previous best of 49 last year. So at 29 years of age, he's something of late bloomer. Which makes me a touch more confident, that the 25 year old Amartey and the 22 year old McDonald can reach 50+ goals for a year.

Hopefully we won't have to wait 4 and 7 years respectively for them to really come good.

If they do really blossom at some point, we'll be awesome because we ended up top of the ladder this season and both, IMO, were pretty average all up. They have been slower than I would like to 'mature' from players who occasionally show good signs into consistently effective performers.

[Velour&Ruffles]

Seems to be a fair few empty seats at Giants stadium. Which would be disappointing for them, but perhaps the main reason I'd like to play them in the grand final (if we get there). If they can't fill their own stadium, then our Melbourne supporters should give us a huge crowd advantage.

They are a soul-less commercial confection. The guys on the field may play with genuine passion because they're doing something they love, but you can't convince the public to emotionally invest in some sterile plastic facsimile of a club that was invented to help secure more TV right $.

[KTigers]

Seems to be a fair few empty seats at Giants stadium. Which would be disappointing for them, but perhaps the main reason I'd like to play them in the grand final (if we get there). If they can't fill their own stadium, then our Melbourne supporters should give us a huge crowd advantage.

We have had seats at all the GWS games at Homebush for probably the last ten years now (11 games a year is not really enough live footy for this ex-Tasmanian)
and think a lot of the reason they struggle crowd wise is financial. Even though it costs about 25% less to see a GWS home game than a Swans home game.
Once you get past about 10 K's west of the city it's not exactly what you'd call the well-heeled part of Sydney. Also, it is lot more multi-cultural further west.
Aust Rules has always been a very Anglo centric game in Sydney. Look at the Swans crowd, you can't get much whiter. I dunno man, a lot of people (not you in
particular DJ44, you seem pretty balanced about stuff) criticise them, but having a go at people because essentially they have less money and/or have to think about
how they spend it is not so cool. Little bit hard to "buy in" when you don't have the money.

[stevoswan]

Neither am I.....and those, including Sam Mitchell, who hint at this being a case of an adult hassling a kid, well remember that Ginnivan apparently is an adult, even if he doesn't act like one and if you're going to be a porkchop like he is, expect some blowback. Kenny did what he did in the heat of the moment, I have no problem with it and I don't think it takes the gloss off Ports win at all.

I also think that privately over the off season, young Jack will be asked by the club to curtail his mouth and think more about the team and less about himself.....because at the moment, he's a knob.

For the final word on the Hinkley/Ginnivan exchange, I think Titus O'rielly has hit the nail on the head.....as usual:

"You can’t chum the waters then complain when a shark arrives.
And in typical fashion the AFL fined the shark.
Seriously, what a load of nonsense. Jack dishes it out all the time, and I don’t even mind, but you can’t then turn around and be upset if it comes back your way."

......and he says more on this 'issue'. It's worth a read.....especially for those bleating about 'bullying'.

The Monday Knee Jerk Reaction: AFL Finals Week Two - Titus O'Reily | Don’t have faith in yourself (titusoreily.com)

[stevoswan]

They are a soul-less commercial confection. The guys on the field may play with genuine passion because they're doing something they love, but you can't convince the public to emotionally invest in some sterile plastic facsimile of a club that was invented to help secure more TV right $.

+1 Nicely put.