Grand Final Day - the let down after 05-06.

[Claret]

The thing I love the most about watching them play is seeing someone under heavy pressure in a pack of players handball out seemingly reckleslley and to nobody, only to see a Cat at full flight swoop on it.

This is so true. Watching Jesus in a pack is amazing.

[NMWBloods]

He is absolutely freaky the way he extricates himself from a pack and then finds someone to get the ball to. One of the best I've seen - Judd-like!!

[floppinab]

What a magnificent game. The Port scum annihalated!! MWAH HA HA HA HA!!!

I just posted it on BigFooty but I'll do it again here.

It gives me great satisfaction that the club that "exists to win premierships" are on the arse end of the worst GF performance in AFL/VFL history. Suck on that you arrogent @@@@ers.

[floppinab]

Contrast that with '06 and '05 when the losing side was terrible in the first half both years but the other side was incapable of making the most of it. If they had then we wouldn't have had a close finish in either game.

Or conversely that the other side had some level of ticker to think..... well there is a premiership on the line here, maybe we ought to to do something about it. Didn't see much of that sort of atitude from Port today, at ANY stage of the game.

[NMWBloods]

Or conversely that the other side had some level of ticker to think..... well there is a premiership on the line here, maybe we ought to to do something about it. Didn't see much of that sort of atitude from Port today, at ANY stage of the game.

Agreed, but there was minimal sign of that in the middle of the game from WC in '05 or from the Swans in the first half of '06 either.

[Mike_B]

Watching the Cats today was just awesome, regardless of how poor Port were. Defensively they do what the Swans of 05 did so well of applying pressure, but coming out of defense, they don't have all their players dropping back, meaning the can move the ball forward quickly and their skills to find a target upfield and keep moving the ball quickly is fantastic. They control the corridor and go through it so quickly its very difficult to defend against.

[Hazcam]

Or conversely that the other side had some level of ticker to think..... well there is a premiership on the line here, maybe we ought to to do something about it. Didn't see much of that sort of atitude from Port today, at ANY stage of the game.

True.
I think if that was Sydney playing (in their grand final form) they'd have put up a better fight. Still would have lost but not by 115 odd.

The umps really pissed me off 2 day as well. Some really questionable frees to the cats.

The big difference in this one compared to the last 3 yrs is the 3rd qtr. Thats when the pendulum swung although ironically it went off the plan in '05 and '06 whereby the team that won the premiership quarter went on to lose the match.

But I think it would have been an awesome feeling knowing that the last qtr you can just lap it up and have some awesome fun and win a premiership. But it was hella boring to watch for everyone except cats fans. Considering '05 and '06 literally went down to the last second of the match.

[Damien]

Few points on today:

1. Worst Pre-Match entertainment ever. The AFL went out of their way to go "modern" and ended up looking like amateurs. Really average stuff. The entertainment the past two years was much better. What is so bad about a Choir singing the club songs?????? What is so bad about Waltzing Matilda??? They didn't need to scrap everything to make it "cool"

2. Personal point of view only - but a MASSIVE let down after being in two grand finals. Didn't even feel like Grand Final day, it has always been my favourite day, but for the first time ever, really didn't feel like it. (hopefully the Swans felt like that too and get back there real quick!!)

3. Geelong were beyond awesome, I was actually enjoying how brilliant they were in the end, but, it was a pity though, I watched it with a fair few League loving boys and they were rightly bored by it. The AFL were extremely spoiled by the past two Grand Finals. I had forgotten just how average so many Grand Finals are. I think our two and the 2002 Pies/Lions GF are the only ones in recent memory that really gave that true "excitement" for neutral/new fans.

[Damien]

But I think it would have been an awesome feeling knowing that the last qtr you can just lap it up and have some awesome fun and win a premiership. But it was hella boring to watch for everyone except cats fans. Considering '05 and '06 literally went down to the last second of the match.

Agreed. I was saying today how jealous I was of that feeling that cats fans would have had.

Would be amazing knowing that you are going to win a premiership and to enjoy every waking moment of the last quarter, savouring everything.

I can only dream!!!

[goswannie14]

2. Personal point of view only - but a MASSIVE let down after being in two grand finals. Didn't even feel like Grand Final day, it has always been my favourite day, but for the first time ever, really didn't feel like it. (hopefully the Swans felt like that too and get back there real quick!!)

Thanks Damien, that's exactly what the thread was about. It didn't feel the same for me either.

[Cher]

Sunday morning and all is very quiet around Kardinia Park. I've just got home from work and I sit here gazing at the 2005 Weg Poster and 2005 Premiership Jersey and my mind wanders back two years, oh how we felt then.

In a couple of hours time I'm guessing that the noise will be unbearable, I may go over to the ground and help out with some clients from work, but if I don't, I'm sure I'll hear it all from home, Geelong will be buzzing for days or weeks to come, and that's good for Geelong but not so good for me!!

[dimelb]

Few points on today:

1. Worst Pre-Match entertainment ever. The AFL went out of their way to go "modern" and ended up looking like amateurs. Really average stuff. The entertainment the past two years was much better. What is so bad about a Choir singing the club songs?????? What is so bad about Waltzing Matilda??? They didn't need to scrap everything to make it "cool"

I agree with your other points (let-down feeling after '05 and '06; Cats awesome) but the prematch stuff was very ordinary, and that's something the AFL CAN do something about. Bring back the motorcade so fans can show their appreciation of the retiring players - especially when you have a batch like this year's. I love the applause that follows them around the ground like a well-behaved Mexican wave.

[swansrock4eva]

I agree with your other points (let-down feeling after '05 and '06; Cats awesome) but the prematch stuff was very ordinary, and that's something the AFL CAN do something about. Bring back the motorcade so fans can show their appreciation of the retiring players - especially when you have a batch like this year's. I love the applause that follows them around the ground like a well-behaved Mexican wave.

Very much agreed! On BEfore the Game on Friday, Demetriou was saying how spectacular this year's pre-match would be. Bulldust! It was boring, and it was a serious letdown to not have the champs of the game out on the motorcade. To make it worse, it clearly wasn't an issue about keeping the turf in top nick as they still had cars with speaker stacks out there moving around.

Aside from that, I did feel a sense of letdown, and have felt that all week. No preparing for the roadtrip, no frantic washing and drying of the red and whites to get everything ready for the weekend, no catching up with friends from across the country to celebrate another great season - it really has been blah!

As to the game itself, as has been said, Port were beyond shocking, and that made an awesome Geelong team look simply amazing. Good on them for capitalising, but it did make it a bit of a boring game in the end for most spectators, and having spoken to a few friends who support a variety of clubs, even the Cats' supporters agreed it would have been boring had it not been their own club dishing out the shellacking.

So that's season 2007 done and dusted... *sigh* How many days til NSO?

[Mr_Juicy]

Crapped all over our performances.

Ports performance certainly didn't. @@@@ GF, @@@@ to watch, boring as all hell but the best team won which was good. Port were pathetic and anyone else would have put up a better display.

[Mr_Juicy]

Minor premiership and destroyed their opposition with great football and kicked more goals in their win than in our two GFs.

You really should go follow Geelong. You're loving this aren't you.