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Giants and Bulldogs lead the changing of the AFL guard

13th September, 2016
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The Giants take on North in the JTL Community Series. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Expert
13th September, 2016
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Out with the old, in with the new. That was the story of the first week of finals.

Last year’s grand finalists, West Coast and Hawthorn? One gone, one going. North Melbourne have played in the prelims the last two seasons. That won’t happen for a long time now. Goodbye.

Sydney, the perennial contender? Beaten-up, bruised and bowed.

Those four losers played a combined 21 finals for 14 wins in 2014 and 2015.

The four sides that beat them – Geelong, GWS, Western Bulldogs and Adelaide – played five finals for one win in the same period.

This wasn’t just a changing of the guard. This was the new shift stripping down the old, putting their feet in cement and throwing them in the river.

Swaggering into the second and third week of finals are the new sheriffs in town.

No team has more strut than GWS. Previously, it was seen as unearned, but now they have a preliminary final berth at home ground Spotless Stadium, where they will likely start favourites to make their first grand final regardless of which team they play.

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The Giants produced a physical onslaught to take down the Swans. First they broke bodies and then they broke minds. In a game where the evenness of the stats betrayed what happened on the field, one statistic stood out – GWS laid 50 per cent more tackles than Sydney despite having slightly less of the football.

Adelaide is the unmatched scoring behemoth that evokes memories of Geelong under Malcolm Blight, big on goals and bigger still on entertainment. They may not have Gary Ablett senior in their side, but Eddie Betts is a modern day version in his ability to set the crowd alight and turn the freakish into the commonplace.

The Crows were the only side to top the 100-point mark in the first week of finals, and they didn’t just edge over the line, they smashed through it.

The Western Bulldogs have become everyone’s second favourite team, and if you don’t have a dog in this finals fight, you’re on their side. It was their job as underdog to spark the finals series on opening night, and if their game against West Coast was a boxing match scored at a point a minute, the Dogs would have won 120-0.

The Dogs had the most unorthodox finals preparation, having lost in Perth in the final round against a team that hadn’t won for ten weeks, and bringing in a host of potentially underdone players.

They were the lowest scoring team in the top 12 this year, yet were the second highest scoring side this week. Finals brings out the best in some players and some teams, and this might just be the case for Luke Beveridge, his men and his club.

When it comes to confidence, no player embodies that more than Patrick Dangerfield, both on and off the field. He has injected his brand into the Geelong Football Club and turned around their fortunes after a year or two in the wilderness.

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The Cats aren’t so much a new kid on the block as that kid that failed the same school level twice. Kind of new, but kind of the same too.

The Kennett curse must still linger. The Hawks kicked the last-second match-winning goal against every other side they tried it on this year (and it seemed like half of them), but were unable to do so against the Cats.

Isaac Smith won’t be allowed to sit at the same lunch table as James Sicily, Paul Puopolo, Cyril Rioli and Jack Fitzpatrick this week.

GWS, the Bulldogs, Adelaide and Patrick Dangerfield are the faces of the new generation of finalist, the breaths of fresh air to blow away the stale stench of Hawthorn and company. (Click to Tweet) It’s about time.

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