The Sydney v Freo shootout

[SimonH]

What a totally unexpected game of footy. After the first quarter went more-or-less according to the script, the rest of the game was light on stoppages, and heavy on end-to-end fluid movement with plenty of goals.

Seriously, how many 11 goal quarters does Sydney play in ever? Let alone in the tight 3rd quarter of a prelim final. That 3rd quarter was unbelievable-- two dominant forward lines just shooting it out.

In your average game, if Sydney's 20 points up at 3 quarter time you can almost put down your glasses. Tonight I felt nothing but nerves; Freo had already proved they could make up the deficit fast. Just one stat indicates their achievement: no team that has lost to Sydney has kicked more goals this year.

Kudos to Chris Connolly. He kept his team moving, didn't allow large numbers to congregate, made Sydney play out of their comfort zone, and gave themselves every chance by kicking goals. But even greater kudos to the Swans-- they were up to the challenge!

I would be very surprised if the grand final looks much like that game. But it sure was fun while it lasted.

[ugg]

Good summary Simon. I'm sure I along with the majority of fans was expecting a dour struggle but it was an open game of footy that was enjoyable to watch for a change. The speed at which we played on after a mark was almost unrecognisable and credit must be given to Roos and the coaches for a brilliant game plan.
No doubt having the usual huge number of ballups and throwins would be to Freo's advantage as Sandilands would dominate, which he did.

Credit to Freo, they just kept hanging in. When we kicked one, they would answer almost immediately and the closeness of the scores just before 3 quarter time was certainly worrying me.