So, for anyone who hasn't kept up with the season, we are in the middle of round 23 (the final part of the regular season) and it has been juuuust a bit exciting. Here's my quick summary... First, Port Adelaide (#3) faced off against the Western Bulldogs (#4), with the winner possibly moving into 2nd place on the ladder (home game in the first round of the finals). Port scored 3 straight Q4 goals to inch ahead, then held on for the win despite a late push by Western (their last kick with :03 left fell just short). Melbourne (#1) played Geelong (#2) and found themselves down 40+ points in Q3... only to roar back in the 4th and kick a goal after the siren to win and take the top spot for the home and away season, and the top seed for the finals. Honestly can't say enough about how exciting that last quarter was. If you can find a replay, you should watch it for yourself. Brisbane started out their game vs. West Coast (playing for #8, the last spot in the finals) in the fifth spot, and also behind the Bulldogs on percentage (teams with the same number of points in the standings are ranked according to their total percentage). The top four teams basically get into a sort of double-elimination bracket for the finals (i.e. playoffs), which is a huge advantage. That meant that even if Brisbane won, they were likely to be ranked behind Western because they hadn't won their games by as many points as the Bulldogs. After a close game for 3+ quarters, Brisbane starts pushing ahead and increasing their lead, which subsequently pushes up their overall percentage - in fact, they found themselves tied w/ Western's percentage at 132.8% with just a few seconds left... and then they kicked a behind to go to 132.9%, and secure that fourth place spot. Definitely felt like an NCAA tournament buzzer beater IMO. I know Obelix could do a better job wrapping up all that, but it's been a super fun round so far and just wanted to share.
LOL - nope, seeing as the only game I had the chance to watch was tigs v hawks I'm pretty sure I couldn't. You did a brilliant job btw. Like you said, some pretty interesting results this week - just a shame that some of these games are in empty stadiums .
The shit he does w/ the ball looked kind of ordinary when I didn’t have any idea about the game, but the more I learned the more amazing it became. The control he had on ground level kicks will never not amaze me now. Also, for the curious, the official Finals bracket is out:
Here's the updated bracket after GWS fell (unsurprisingly) to Geelong... Looking forward to the Brisbane/Western match later tonight. I've been high on the Bulldogs all season, but not sure they've got the juice at the moment. Thinking the Lions will probably get it done, setting up what should be some awesome games for next weekend.
The end was unreal TBH. Just fantastic back and forth action. Thought Brisbane was going to stretch it out when they went up three scores, but Western just dug down, got an immediate goal back and then outworked the Lions the rest of the way IMO. Worried about Bontempelli and Weightman both potentially being out vs. PA, but they looked great last night. Like I said earlier, should be awesome games next weekend - think I’ll be pulling hard for Melbourne the rest of the way, but Port looks really tough too. Just hope Geelong gets whacked (cheers to Obelix for getting me straightened out there).
I think Melbourne should be fine, but it might be closer than people think. Geelong should have beaten them 2 weeks ago and only lost with a Melbourne goal after the final siren. I suspect the week off and having a healthy list will be invaluable for the Dees. Port & Bulldogs... that could go either way. Again, Port won by a couple of points 2 weeks ago when the Bullies weren't in great form, but they're back to some of their best now. Probably Port but I hope not.
So why do some of you guys hate Geelong? I've always liked the way they play and they have some of the great footy players of the game. I know we all have our favourites and those teams that aren't (like Port & Collingwood ) but I've never quite got the Geelong hate.
Check out the second half of post #109. It's a bit long so I won't go through it again - only to say that Richmond fans aren't going to move on from that in a hurry.
Not sure if it's necessarily legit, but it was certainly an interesting read. One thing we agree on, though - Hocking's a colossal douche. So glad he stepped down from his AFL role a little while back.
Fair enough, make up your own mind mate, but it's certainly not something I came up with that's for sure. It's not exactly a secret that this is what happened - plenty of media commentary out there about it. If you're not sure, try watching a match or two from 2 years ago and compare it to what you see today and decide for yourself if it has affected the game or not. It's pretty obvious that it has. Makes me wanna
I'm not necessarily saying you're wrong, it's just something I hadn't heard about before. My understanding was that the 'stand' rule was brought in to try to increase scoring in general, not make it harder for certain teams to win the flag. But we've got a mad Richmond supporter in the office so I'll ask him tomorrow if this is something he's aware of.
LOL. No worries mate - go for it. I mean, you're actually right in a sense; the AFL press-release did say that the stand rule was introduced to increase scoring - that's true. "Hey, it's good for the game guys." They also said that it would produce more "Dustin Martin moments", which is pretty funny if you ask me because the season's almost over and we're still waiting to see if any of those are going to happen. Nonetheless, the AFL's war on the RFC and how Hocking studied Richmond to see if he could find a way to eliminate the tiger pressure game is not exactly a secret - there were plenty of media articles written about it. And no one at the AFL has tried to refute it either. If your buddy's a fair dinkum Richmond supporter then he'll be up to speed with that for sure.
For any US-side footy fans, FYI the Grand Final is on tonight/tomorrow morning (3:15 AM MT): Demons vs. Bulldogs. Looks like it will be live on Fox Sports 2 if anyone else (other than myself) is planning on watching live at that time. Here's a decent preview of some of the storylines for anyone who wants to catch up beforehand. Cheers!
Going to have to record it and watch Saturday morning. Will avoid spoilers and this thread until after.
Nah you're good on here. I can avoid this thread. It's general social media I'm worried about but I can certainly abstain.
SUPER swingy game. I've seen some big momentum swings in games before, but nothing like this one. After being down 20+ in the 1st, I really thought the Dogs were close to a KO when they were up 59-40 in the 3rd and threatening to score more, and next thing you know, the Dees run off 12 straight goals. Totally bonkers - never seen anything like it. Petracca was ridiculous. 40 disposals and 25 contested possessions is just wild IMO. When the Dogs came out after half time and knocked in a couple to start the 3rd, I thought we might be seeing Bontempelli get going toward the NS, but Melbourne did just enough to keep him from being a consistent factor. Kudos to their D. Thought Rivers was an underrated part of the Dees' victory - he seemed to always make a play when they needed one. Cool to see the streak ended - they were the best team I watched this season.
Unreal play by Melbourne in the last 45 minutes of the match. If they can keep their squad together for a few years, this could be the first of several flags.
Sooo, who’s in for 2022? My already tempered excitement about seeing the Kangas move up the ladder took a huge hit after watching their two pre-season matches. Melbourne game was essentially men against boys, and then Sydney did whatever they wanted against them in the 2nd half of their AAMI game. Not expecting them to clear the bottom four now, and wouldn’t be surprised if they were wooden spooners again.
im back working nights so i'll be able to easily enjoy the season this time around. got my year sub in.
Dockers at Carlton on Fox Soccer Plus currently. As TMB's #1 Dockers fan, I invite you all to join us for this.
Should be a great GF - those two sides (Geelong & Sydney) definitely deserve to be there. And I shouldn't gloat about Collingwood losing a Prelim Final by a point. I really shouldn't...
They were much improved but don't quite have the manpower yet to take that next step. But it sounds like they're attracting some talent their way next year.
Geelong at their best are comfortably the strongest side in the comp. Swannies just got smashed all over the ground.
Great to see so many Americans getting into AFL. It really is an amazing sport. 2023 should be a great season. Hopefully my Western Bulldogs can bounce back! aussiefooty I gather your Kangaroos are going to continue being shithouse?
It was the only sport (other than Belarusian football) still going when Covid started which is what spawned this thread I think. It's fantastically entertaining though. Games are on sporadically here though unless you buy the package that has everything. Sometimes there will be ones that start at 8 or 9 PM for me and some weeks they're on in the middle of the night.
Did I see that you support the Dockers? They should be right up there this season. Got some great talent on their list now.
I adopted North Melbourne but I will watch whoever is on. I think if not for the immense time zone differences it would catch on here more. Just kind of restricted to insomniacs and those of us on the west coast.
Ahh right. Yeah North Melbourne are a bit if a basket case. They have a lot of decent kids now and a decent coach so you would think they will improve. However their coach has been accused of telling young aboriginal players he coached that they have to abort pregnancies and all kinds of shit so there is a chance he gets booted out of the game for good if it’s proven.
Give us time! Rebuilds don't happen overnight. Your bulldogs are in need of a rebuild as are richmond and geelong. Also there are a lot of dickheads in the media who accuse everyone of racist stuff. Most of those accusations are defamation.
So aussiefooty and Jimmy the Saint are both packers fans and north Melbourne fans? You’re practically besties
2 weeks until the new season starts. My Bulldogs absolutely destroyed aussiefooty’s Kangaroos in a warm up game this afternoon. Another long season ahead for the Roos.