G.F. Day Thread. Sydney V Western Bulldogs. MCG 2.30pm.

[rojo]

We hung in there, against the odds until the last 10 mins. or so. Their backline was superb most of the time, our backline was superb most of the time. Our entries into the forward line let us down much of the time and so did theirs, until that last part of the last quarter. Their entries into their forward line became unstoppable. Game over.

I think our mids redeemed themselves after the 2014 debacle. Joey was superb in the 2nd quarter. Jack was heroic but must have played sore. It was our forward line today that went missing. Buddy had some excuse but no one else did. Whatever the strategy some teams use to shut Rohan out works too well. Someone has got to help him deal with it. Was it NS's best game so far?

The Doggie's tackling technique is more effective than ours. A few of our players resorted to showy, one handed stuff rather than put their bodies on the line at times.

Despite the loss we have to be proud of what our team achieved this year. We have had a lot of enjoyment from a lot of wins, especially the last two wins. Go Swannies!

[tlock]

Why we lost:

1. Stage fright - similar to the 2014 grand final, the occasion got the better of em, they played nervously, execution was poor
2. Bulldogs' defensive pressure - got to give them credit for that, they took a page from GWS' V Swans prelim game
3. Buddy's ankle injury didn't help
4. We missed Aliir Aliir

Hope they trade: Tippett, Hewett, Marsh & Reid
Hope they re-sign: McGlynn, Nankervis and Mitchell

[longmile]

Hope they re-sign: McGlynn

All fairly reasonable until this

What?

Easily in our bottom 5 today

[Ludwig]

Well, congratulations to the Bulldogs. They did play the game extremely hard and showed a lot of flair. I also feel sort of happy for their long suffering fans. With every Grand Final, one set of fans are going to be in various stages of delirium, while the other set is going to be in various stages of pissed off. Just a shame that it is us today, but I did like the look of cold determination in Kizza's eyes, when he stated that we will be back. I have no doubts that we will be. Though I do wonder how much he was thinking about the umpiring when he said that?
I certainly do think that it made a difference today. And it's certainly making a difference to how I feel right now. I would actually like to get on social media and be quite magnanimous towards the Bulldog supporters. As far as clubs go, I really quite like them and there are certainly other clubs that I really hate losing to. Yes, the mustard on turd, I'm thinking about you. But the rage that is still lurking within, that says that we were dudded today, prevents me from being quite the good sport that I would like to be.
I do think that the umpiring cost us the match. When there is very little between the two sides, it does make a difference when one side gets the message that they can basically do whatever they want, while the other side goes in hard, only to look up in amazement, when the umpires pluck one. Or you're left clutching your knee or your head and thinking that was a free all year, why isn't it one now? Their were so many critical ones that went the Bulldogs way, that I haven't even got time to go into them now. But as they say, a large part of the game is played between the ears. And today, one critical aspect of this, was the fact that when we had momentum, there always seemed to be a dodgy decision getting them back into it. Or more exactly, we could never get far enough in front to exert real scoreboard pressure. The sort of pressure where the Dogs may have started to doubt themselves, where panic might have started to set in and where our players might have had the opposite experience. Where we could start feeling that it was our day, where we get the positive feedback of knowing that the game plan is working: which then means that the skills start to function that tiny bit better. And with both teams going at it ferociously and with it only being a one point game with ten minutes to go (despite the umpiring), I feel that little bit of mental edge would've made all the difference.
And speaking of our players, I have absolutely no intention of claiming that some of them were passengers, some of them weren't up to it, or claiming that there were some that weren't giving their all. While some obviously had better games than others, it is an impossibility to assemble a team of superstars. From my point of view, every player gave their all: which I thought was abundantly clear at full time, because everyone of them was spent and everyone of them was devastated.
And finally, as far as team development goes, I do think that this was a year when the Swans achieved much more than most people expected at the start of the year. Which should give us plenty of optimism for next year.

A really good post deja. There were many others as well that put our disappointment into perspective.

By early in the 2nd quarter the writing was on the wall. A calm came over me when I realised that the game was lost no matter what we would do on the field. Before going to see the play 'Julius Caesar' you already know who's going to get knifed in the back, so when it happens, you're not surprised and just try to enjoy the theatrics.

You have to be a bit lucky sometimes to win a footy game and we weren't. Buddy, KJ and Hanners all were playing hurt and Parker was off his game as well. I was surprised to see that George Hewett only played 55% of the game. If it's right, it could have been a contributing factor to why we lost our legs in the final quarter. The Bulldogs also kicked an uncanny number of difficult goals that just seemed to find their way between the big posts, while we missed too many getable goals from set shots. But that's footy, as we all know.

The Bulldogs had a remarkable run in the finals. Despite all the things that went against us, I still feel they deserved to win the premiership given the difficulty of the path they took to achieve victory, notwithstanding the helping whistle from the umps.

I pleased to see that we continue to finish in the top 4 and give ourselves an opportunity to win a premiership just about every year.

[tlock]

Yeah not McGlynn's day today but you can fit any dozen of swans players in the bottom 5. I like McGlynn, he has grit.

[Sandridge]

A really good post deja. There were many others as well that put our disappointment into perspective.

By early in the 2nd quarter the writing was on the wall. A calm came over me when I realised that the game was lost no matter what we would do on the field. Before going to see the play 'Julius Caesar' you already know who's going to get knifed in the back, so when it happens, you're not surprised and just try to enjoy the theatrics.

You have to be a bit lucky sometimes to win a footy game and we weren't. Buddy, KJ and Hanners all were playing hurt and Parker was off his game as well. I was surprised to see that George Hewett only played 55% of the game. If it's right, it could have been a contributing factor to why we lost our legs in the final quarter. The Bulldogs also kicked an uncanny number of difficult goals that just seemed to find their way between the big posts, while we missed too many getable goals from set shots. But that's footy, as we all know.

The Bulldogs had a remarkable run in the finals. Despite all the things that went against us, I still feel they deserved to win the premiership given the difficulty of the path they took to achieve victory, notwithstanding the helping whistle from the umps.

I pleased to see that we continue to finish in the top 4 and give ourselves an opportunity to win a premiership just about every year.

Statistics passed on to me by someone else - hope they're accurate - are that the Bulldogs were +32 in free kicks over their opponents in their four finals. (They were +10 against GWS and +12 against us.)

Next closest - Geelong who was +4.

[Bexl]

Anytime a team goes A HALF of football ' 2nd and 3rd Q 'and the only free they get is for out on the full where no interpretation is needed you have to wonder about the umpires. It did have a huge effect on the outcome of this match and it IS disgraceful.

[Blue Sun]

Anytime a team goes A HALF of football ' 2nd and 3rd Q 'and the only free they get is for out on the full where no interpretation is needed you have to wonder about the umpires. It did have a huge effect on the outcome of this match and it IS disgraceful.

Yes, this is true. I hope something is said of the one-sided umpiring in the media. Did Horse mention it in his post match press conference?

Every team deserves a fair go in a GF.

[barry]

Dogs did not have an hard run.
They played two interstate finals, one home gane against an interstate side and one home game against a side from the sane city.

Exactly the same as us.

By AFL bias they got the biggest advantage at the most important time despite finishing 7th.

[The Big Cat]

Should have rolled the dice and played Sam Reid instead of X. At his worst is better than X's average.

Confident with our two premiership winning recruits we have coming into the team next year - Sammy and AJ

[dejavoodoo44]

A really good post deja. There were many others as well that put our disappointment into perspective.

By early in the 2nd quarter the writing was on the wall. A calm came over me when I realised that the game was lost no matter what we would do on the field. Before going to see the play 'Julius Caesar' you already know who's going to get knifed in the back, so when it happens, you're not surprised and just try to enjoy the theatrics.

You have to be a bit lucky sometimes to win a footy game and we weren't. Buddy, KJ and Hanners all were playing hurt and Parker was off his game as well. I was surprised to see that George Hewett only played 55% of the game. If it's right, it could have been a contributing factor to why we lost our legs in the final quarter. The Bulldogs also kicked an uncanny number of difficult goals that just seemed to find their way between the big posts, while we missed too many getable goals from set shots. But that's footy, as we all know.

The Bulldogs had a remarkable run in the finals. Despite all the things that went against us, I still feel they deserved to win the premiership given the difficulty of the path they took to achieve victory, notwithstanding the helping whistle from the umps.

I pleased to see that we continue to finish in the top 4 and give ourselves an opportunity to win a premiership just about every year.

Ta, and I do enjoy some people's compliments more than others.
And I suspect that Parker may have been playing hurt, as well. He was certainly struggling during the final quarter. While it is a good point, that we do keep on putting ourselves in a position to win one. Surely another one will come in the not too distant future? Some of younger players will be genuine stars.
As far as the umpiring goes, I do have a theory, that even very biased umpiring, is more likely to be incompetence rather than corruption. But it's a complicated sociological/evolutionary thing, that unfortunately, is far past my current competence level, as I've reached for wine to drown my sorrows. Some other time, perhaps?

[barry]

We need a goodes

[grarmy]

I dislike McGlynn, he is cooked.

[Blue Sun]

We need a goodes

Nope, we need unbiased umpiring.

[robamiee]

Yes, this is true. I hope something is said of the one-sided umpiring in the media. Did Horse mention it in his post match press conference?

Every team deserves a fair go in a GF.

he was quizzed on it, but didnt answer the ? apparently and just focused on the things we could control and basically pointed out that we didnt have enough pressure across our 22 for all 4 qtrs...

am very proud of the team this year, we did alot better than i thought we would after losing so much experience at the end of last year..hopefully this loss burns brightly and deeply for the boys esp the yng ones...

i do think putting Mills and mcveigh in didnt help as they didnt add much and was a big risk as both clearly were not 100%....

we also need to work out a way with the 3rd man up..hawks do it to us and so did the dogs today....

but we need to find why rohan goes misisng in grand finals aside form an odd cameo...maybe all the hype about the dogs got to us as we seem very fatigued today...make some changes add some new personell and crack at 2017...