Finals

[Boddo]

So is Geelong's forward line. Laughable that Tom Hawkins gave his fellow forwards a spray; of all people to give team mates a spray. One lazy footballer.

True. You do that behind closed doors. Their forward half can pull it together very quickly imo. Menzel will come back I'd presume. Couldn't believed he didn't play. GWS back half have been like this for a while now. The finals are going to pretty much what i expected. I've always believed it was out of Richmond,Sydney n Adelaide. They are the only sides that have showed consistent form throughout the second half of the year. I haven't seen anything to change my mind.

[KTigers]

It always comes back to this by the time you get to mid September. You have to be playing well, and you have to not get injured.
That kind of rules out Geelong & the Giants, both not playing particularly well, and both a bit banged up. West Coast are basically
still there thru luck (Melbourne losing, Port not kicking straight). Which leaves us, Adelaide & Richmond. Because of what happened
last year when both QF winners lost their Prelims for the first time in history, there is this grey area over the effects of only playing
one game in almost four weeks has over the QF winners. We have to win three games, but at least we won't be rusty.

True. You do that behind closed doors. Their forward half can pull it together very quickly imo. Menzel will come back I'd presume. Couldn't believed he didn't play. GWS back half have been like this for a while now. The finals are going to pretty much what i expected. I've always believed it was out of Richmond,Sydney n Adelaide. They are the only sides that have showed consistent form throughout the second half of the year. I haven't seen anything to change my mind.

[Boddo]

It always comes back to this by the time you get to mid September. You have to be playing well, and you have to not get injured.
That kind of rules out Geelong & the Giants, both not playing particularly well, and both a bit banged up. West Coast are basically
still there thru luck (Melbourne losing, Port not kicking straight). Which leaves us, Adelaide & Richmond. Because of what happened
last year when both QF winners lost their Prelims for the first time in history, there is this grey area over the effects of only playing
one game in almost four weeks has over the QF winners. We have to win three games, but at least we won't be rusty.

my opinion is Richmond will make it playing Sydney or Adelaide and will be runners up. I believe the Sydney v Adelaide game will be the grand final n winner will beat Richmond baring major injuries or umpiring. That pressure game they play and that looked so good against Geelong will not stand up against Sydney or Adelaide. These 2 are easily a level above Geelong.

[rojo]

It really would be a mammoth task for the Swans to get over Geelong and Adelaide, and then face off against Richmond. If that scenario worked out and they won the GF it would surely be history making, only losing 2 games out of something like the last 17 or 21. It would definitely top the Doggies effort last year.

[Ludwig]

So is Geelong's forward line. Laughable that Tom Hawkins gave his fellow forwards a spray; of all people to give team mates a spray. One lazy footballer.

I always hoped that Abe Davis would turn out to be the next Tom Hawkins. And he has. Yet another Swans development success story.

[top40]

It really would be a mammoth task for the Swans to get over Geelong and Adelaide, and then face off against Richmond. If that scenario worked out and they won the GF it would surely be history making, only losing 2 games out of something like the last 17 or 21. It would definitely top the Doggies effort last year.

After last year's disgraceful and clearly bias umpiring in the Grand Final to the Dogs their fairy tale, I don't have a shadow of a doubt that if the Tigers make it to the Last Dance they will have an extra three men on board.

[Hartijon]

Unfortunately you are right. The only hope is to get so far in front not even bad umpiring can change the result.

[Hotpotato]

It really would be a mammoth task for the Swans to get over Geelong and Adelaide, and then face off against Richmond. If that scenario worked out and they won the GF it would surely be history making, only losing 2 games out of something like the last 17 or 21. It would definitely top the Doggies effort last year.

If they just look at what's in front of them, they can do it because there are quite a few things in their corner albeit not the umps.
? a very healthy list
? finals experience (this is a biggy)
? form .
From games 7 - 23 they became:
? 1st in contested possessions differential
? 1st in marks inside 50 differential
? 1st in % scores times inside 50 differential
? 1st in points for 102.4
? 1st in points against 66.1
? 1st in scores from turnovers differential 21.9
? 1st in scores from turnovers differential 15.4

Have they gone up a further level (David King ), quite possibly.
The mantra someone came up with

'Any where any time '

certainly applies to this group at the moment and the mental space they occupy.

[707]

If they just look at what's in front of them, they can do it because there are quite a few things in their corner albeit not the umps.
? a very healthy list
? finals experience (this is a biggy)
? form .
From games 7 - 23 they became:
? 1st in contested possessions differential
? 1st in marks inside 50 differential
? 1st in % scores times inside 50 differential
? 1st in points for 102.4
? 1st in points against 66.1
? 1st in scores from turnovers differential 21.9
? 1st in scores from turnovers differential 15.4

Have they gone up a further level (David King ), quite possibly.
The mantra someone came up with

'Any where any time '

certainly applies to this group at the moment and the mental space they occupy.

When they quote teams rankings in various categories, they are always season averages but when you take out our rounds 1-6, we are top of so many. Full confidence to get the job done, anywhere, anytime, one game at a time.

Bring on Richmond in the GF I say, they're bottom half dozen players would not get a game with us and that's a big factor on the biggest stage against the best team (R7-23).

[Industrial Fan]

We just seem so composed at the moment. With the exception of the Bombers game during the season we havent really lost control of a game, and even then we didnt panic and got a miraculous win.

I was really impressed by the last few minutes of the Crows game. After Papley put us in front, we seemed to have all the systems in place to see out the time. We didnt really look like conceeding a score in that last minute or two.

Anything is possible this season, but no question for me that if we play as we want(no serious injuries, suspensions, etc) to in the last 3 games we'll take the flag.

[Markwebbos]

I wish I shared your confidence. I'm already really nervous about losing the unloseable game against Geelong.

If we do win the premiership we will definitely have done it the hard way. It will be looked back upon as a miracle.

It will also be some form of justice re: the end of season bye. It disadvantaged us last year, works in our favour this time.

[AnnieH]

Bought my granny airfares to Melbourne yesterday... just in case.

[liz]

Injuries could still play a part. At the moment, we have a remarkably healthy squad. Not just in terms of who's available, but the apparent lack of significantly hampering niggles. I am sure there are some players restricted in what they can do (and we know Hanners has been struggling with a hip) but most look to be playing close to their potential. Last year we had a very good run with injury until the final month or so when each of McVeigh, Mills, Aliir, Parker, Rohan, Tippett (to add to his earlier injury) and Buddy and Hanners (both in the GF) were cut down to varying degrees.

I have no doubt our current side is better than last year. Our top tier of players, with the possible exception of Hanners, are in as good form as they were this time last year (and Hanners is still playing pretty good football, just in a slightly different role). Hewett is a very much improved player with the extra experience he's gained, and is proving to be an important workhorse in the midfield. Jones was good at the end of last year but he's clearly better this year. Papley is more experienced and better for it. Lloyd's improvement hasn't been as great as Hewett's (because he was playing at a higher level last year) but he's clearly more confident in his role and seems always to be in exactly the same spot. Similarly, Mills was pretty good last year but I think he's a better player now. McVeigh and Jack are in better form than this time last year. Sinclair is in as good form at the moment as Tippett was last year.

The only backwards move is the loss of Mitchell (who was very good in last years finals series, especially the grand final) but I think the improvement of others more than makes up for it.

This weekend's game is definitely losable. Bad as Geelong have been in recent years coming off a bye, their record 2nd game after a bye is strong. If they play close to their best it will be a tough contest. But I think we have a more balanced, even team across the ground, so if we play at our best, we should still come away with a win.

[Swansongster]

I thought this was a really interesting article on the ABC website. This shows what finals can mean to footy fans.

AFL finals: West Coast Eagles' extra-time post-siren winner gets the heart racing - Sport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I don't think last Saturday's game would have produced this sort of graph.

I'd hate to see one for my beating red and white heart from 2005 or 2012 Grand Final

[Blood Fever]

Injuries could still play a part. At the moment, we have a remarkably healthy squad. Not just in terms of who's available, but the apparent lack of significantly hampering niggles. I am sure there are some players restricted in what they can do (and we know Hanners has been struggling with a hip) but most look to be playing close to their potential. Last year we had a very good run with injury until the final month or so when each of McVeigh, Mills, Aliir, Parker, Rohan, Tippett (to add to his earlier injury) and Buddy and Hanners (both in the GF) were cut down to varying degrees.

I have no doubt our current side is better than last year. Our top tier of players, with the possible exception of Hanners, are in as good form as they were this time last year (and Hanners is still playing pretty good football, just in a slightly different role). Hewett is a very much improved player with the extra experience he's gained, and is proving to be an important workhorse in the midfield. Jones was good at the end of last year but he's clearly better this year. Papley is more experienced and better for it. Lloyd's improvement hasn't been as great as Hewett's (because he was playing at a higher level last year) but he's clearly more confident in his role and seems always to be in exactly the same spot. Similarly, Mills was pretty good last year but I think he's a better player now. McVeigh and Jack are in better form than this time last year. Sinclair is in as good form at the moment as Tippett was last year.

The only backwards move is the loss of Mitchell (who was very good in last years finals series, especially the grand final) but I think the improvement of others more than makes up for it.

This weekend's game is definitely losable. Bad as Geelong have been in recent years coming off a bye, their record 2nd game after a bye is strong. If they play close to their best it will be a tough contest. But I think we have a more balanced, even team across the ground, so if we play at our best, we should still come away with a win.

Went to a Q&A session with Paul Roos on Monday night. Karen Lyon was the interviewer and she was very good as Roosy was spruiking his new book. When asked about the flag, he said Adelaide and Sydney were the best teams with the swans best football better than anyone else. He said if Sydney bring their best, they would beat Geelong 9 times out of 10 but that Geelong could still win if the Swans were below par. Interestingly, he said he hoped Richmond wins because it would be good for the game. It was in Melbourne so perhaps he was playing to the crowd. He really is an entertaining speaker and can literally talk under water. It went for over an hour but he could have gone on indefinitely without being boring. The effort he put in to change the Swans culture should always be honoured as it is as strong today as when he was a major player in setting it up.