Sydney v Hawthorn - THE GRAND FINAL (Let's discuss!)

[swansprincess]

Yes. I gave my barcode up in 2005 or 2006 and that person got in.
As long as you have a valid ticket. No one will care whose membership bought it.

Thank you soooo sooo much!!!!

[billyboob]

Are the Swans in really good form or were the Pies soft in the prelim? Didn't feel like the game had the same sort of intensity that the Crows/Hawks game did. And I don't know if that's just because the Bloods have lifted another level or because the opposition didn't bring it (for whatever reason - exhaustion/didn't rate us/didn't care).

Hawks were caught napping and I doubt they'll be so complacent in the GF.

[swansprincess]

I've conceded to the fact that I won't get a ticket to the game, so instead am going to watch at Fed Square. Hope to see some other Swans supporters there and not be outnumbered completely! But am hoping even more that I will have a reason to stick around to 6pm for the presentation of the premiership cup. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I think if our forwards can get their hands on the ball and actually KICK STRAIGHT, then we will win, regardless of how fired up the hawks are, because I have complete faith in our defensive unit. And the midfield of both sides, while very different, add about the same to either team and I also have faith that our mids will do their job to their usual great standard.
So basically, I believe the game will be won or lost in our forward line. Sam Reid, etc I am talking to you.

[Ludwig]

My guess it that it will come down to:

1. a contentious umpiring decision
2. a poster
3. a touched ball on the goal line
4. a desperate tackle in the dying seconds
5. a strange bounce of the ball

I think this game is too close to call and the loser will definitely feel hard done by for one reason or another...............................



UNLESS WE JUST SMASH 'EM!

[supersall]

Just reading this thread is making me anxious

[Nich]

Sam has a big opportunity come Saturday to stand up and be counted. Schoenmakers has struggled against a few forwards of late. If Sam gets his crap together early and kicks straight i will pencil him in for 4. Especially if Morton and LRT take the other defenders off him.

[rojo]

Finals pressure does strange things to players/teams. Against the Crows we kicked beautifully for goal, including Goodsey, and the Crows couldm't buy a goal. Friday night we were the opposite. Was it at the beginning of the last quarter that we had kicked 2 points in a row and then Morton I think hit the post - the crowd in my bay, as one voice called out, O.h.h.h.h.h...NOOOOOOOOO! It was a funny moment. Then on Saturday, the Crows kicked accurately and the Hawks were as bad as we were.

What is going to happen this Saturday!!!!!!!

[swansprincess]

Finals pressure does strange things to players/teams. Against the Crows we kicked beautifully for goal, including Goodsey, and the Crows couldm't buy a goal. Friday night we were the opposite. Was it at the beginning of the last quarter that we had kicked 2 points in a row and then Morton I think hit the post - the crowd in my bay, as one voice called out, O.h.h.h.h.h...NOOOOOOOOO! Then on Saturday, the Crows kicked accurately and the Hawks were as bad as we were.

What is going to happen this Saturday!!!!!!!

I'm hoping that now we've made the big one a bit of pressure will be off. I mean, we are not really expected to win, so the boys essentially have nothing to lose. And hopefully they'll just go out there and lay it all on the line and if that's not good enough, then so be it, but at least they did enough to know they couldn't have done anything more.

[mcs]

I'm hoping that now we've made the big one a bit of pressure will be off. I mean, we are not really expected to win, so the boys essentially have nothing to lose. And hopefully they'll just go out there and lay it all on the line and if that's not good enough, then so be it, but at least they did enough to know they couldn't have done anything more.

That's my thinking as well. We are going to not be expected to win, and the boys we know will have a real go and rip in. It may be that we play close to our best footy and not win - if that happens, well done to the Hawks! If we do that though, I would be very suprised if we are not the ones lifting the cup. Our best football is very very good indeed.

But we definitely know, win lose or draw, it won't be because our boys left anything in the change rooms - in true Bloods style, they will throw absolutely everything at it!

[Cheer Squad]

I think we're in better shape approaching this GF than we were in either 2005 or 2006.

We weren't expected to win back then, because of all the attention on West Coast's star-studded line-up. Our path through the finals was somewhat fragile - we just got over the line in the 2005 semi, and then in the qualifying final in 2006.

This year, our performance through the finals has been much more solid (and satisfying). Two five goal wins against our traditional bogey teams, including an away win.

We've also beaten our opponent this weekend earlier this year in convincing fashion - and they've demonstrated a clear susceptibility to pressure on more than one occasion during the season.

I think we're a genuine chance to beat the Hawks on Saturday.

[ShockOfHair]

Best headline of the week

[bloodbrother]

sydney are a huge chance on saturday ..our defence the best in comp..our mids better ..their fowards edge ours-- however one thing i have noticed with franklin.if he misses his first set shot of the day then he misses all day ..his first shot will be a real barometer for the sort of day he will have ..the more the press talks about how hawks having sydney covered the more it will galvanise our team..they will bleed the ground red in this final and i really don't think hawthorn likes the fight like our guys do..sydney all the way

[Nico]

Sam has to stick his marks. He dropped 4 dead set sitters last game.

[Nico]

sydney are a huge chance on saturday ..our defence the best in comp..our mids better ..their fowards edge ours-- however one thing i have noticed with franklin.if he misses his first set shot of the day then he misses all day ..his first shot will be a real barometer for the sort of day he will have ..the more the press talks about how hawks having sydney covered the more it will galvanise our team..they will bleed the ground red in this final and i really don't think hawthorn likes the fight like our guys do..sydney all the way

We have to cut off his supply.

[mcs]

We have to cut off his supply.

As important as the one on one contest with Franklin will be, we need to cut his scoring ability off at its root in midfield. Starve their forward line of good, clean ball entering the forward 50 (i.e. the quantity doesn't matter if it is poor delivery, as we have shown several times this season) and we can limit his influence. A player of his class will always kick goals in almost every game, but if we can keep him to 2 or 3 goals, we will go a long way to winning the flag!