In the past fifteen seasons, the team which finished top of the ladder after the minor round has gone on to win the premiership just five times (Carlton 1995, Essendon 2000, Port Adelaide 2004, West Coast 2006 and Geelong 2007). Of most concern to Collingwood followers will be their side’s poor goal-kicking.
Key forward Travis Cloke has declared he doesn’t want the ball in his hands should a key game be in the balance and Dayne Beams missed a shot in the dying minutes of the Magpies’ final round match against Hawthorn which would have won Collingwood the match.
How the Collingwood players manage their goal-kicking yips this September will have a significant bearing on whether the Pies win their first flag in twenty years.
Will Geelong stake its claim as one of the greatest teams of all-time?
Were it not for Hawthorn’s upset win in the 2008 grand final, Geelong would be aiming for four successive premierships heading into this year’s finals.
If the Cats can take out the big one this year, they will equal Brisbane’s feat at the start of the decade of three premierships in four years. Greatness beckons for the Cats.
Will the scars of last year help or hinder the Saints?
The Saints were narrowly defeated in last year’s epic grand final in a match neither side deserved to lose. It remains to be seen whether the hurt of that loss will inspire the Saints onto bigger things this year.
Faced with another tight finals match, will the Saints rise to the occasion, or will the ghost of their grand final loss last year come back to haunt them?
Can Hawthorn hold their best form long enough to progress deep into finals?
As Rohan Connolly noted in last Saturday’s Age newspaper, there have been two Hawthorn sides this year – Good Hawks and Bad Hawks. If the immensely talented Hawthorn line-up can string together several matches of their best form, the Hawks are capable of going deep into September.
Bring out the tripe they displayed at the start of this season, and it could be curtains at the end of this weekend for the 2008 premiers.
Can the Blues regain their giant-killing form?
If the Blues can win their first final against the Swans in Sydney on Sunday, they will return to Melbourne fancying their chances of causing an upset or two against the top four Victorian sides.
In a purple patch mid-season the Blues defeated Geelong and St Kilda comfortably, and their fellow Victorian sides will be mindful of the Blues hitting form given their giant-killing heroics earlier this year.
Have the Bulldogs run out of puff?
Pre-season fancy the Western Bulldogs stumble into the finals minus Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney and key defender Dale Morris. Compounding their injury woes, the Bulldogs’ form heading into the finals has been poor. Two big losses late in the season to Sydney and Geelong and an indifferent display against a struggling Bombers outfit doesn’t auger well for the Bulldogs’ final chances.
At their best the free-flowing and attacking play of the Doggies can trouble the very best sides but right now that form looks a long way off.
On current form, the Bulldogs risk being the first side since the Eagles in 2007 to finish the minor round in the top four only to lose two straight finals.
Michael Filosi
Roar Guru
Thanks Mr Football, nice work on the research you've done.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
bf I've written a long post below referring to the use of the term in the very earliest years of the VFL, but the evidence suggests that the term disappeared by the 1930s. Interestingly, someone on big footy wrote that he thought the expression came from SA. Perhaps the term had wider ciculation in WA and SA than Victoria?
Mister Football
Roar Guru
MF I owe you an apology. Someone on big footy alerted me to some of the funny finals systems used in the early years of the VFL, and sure enough, the terms "minor premiership" and "minor premier" appear in the very earliest years of the VFL. I replicate my post: I've been checking 100 years of Australian Football. It discusses highlights year by year, starting 1896, and it provides direct quotes from newspaper articles of the day, so that's effectively recorded evidence of how the term was used. For example: May 14, 1898 VFL tries another Premiership system The eight teams will now play two matches against each other, for the Minor Premiership. (Essendon are described as Minor Premiers, lost grand final to Fitzroy) This system operated 1898 to 1900, but the term minor premier appears a few times after that. The McIntyre final four system was introduced in 1931, and the term starts to drop out of circulation. From that point on, finishing first is no different to finishing second, and the only thing that matters is winning the grand final. For instance, with the introduction of the final five in 1972, we read: "on the second Saturday, the winner of the Qualifying Final meets the top team in the Second Semi Final." I can't find any evidence of the use of the term: minor premiers or minor premiership in the modern age (this book goes up to 1995). A few on big footy back me up that it's something that has only come into our lingo very recently. Certainly, when the McClelland trophy was changed in 1991 to be awared to the team that finished top at the end of the H&A season, that's precisely the way it was described - at that point - no one involved witih the AFL used the expression: minor premiership.
beaver fever
Guest
I prefer H&A rather than regular, H&A gives the feeling of us V them IMO.
beaver fever
Guest
I have heard it for many years as well, and i thought it was common in Australian football, although i did not grow up in Victoria, so maybe it is more of a rugby league term, but at any rate it should have more importance bestowed upon it than currently is.
Michael Filosi
Roar Guru
To Pablo and Redb, Good spotting with the "Geelong 2008." It was a typo rather than an oversight, my apologies. Article has been updated now.
Mister Football
Guest
Someone from NSW who doesn't follow the game may not care, that's fair enough. Someone else thoroughly immersed in the unique culture that is Australian Football, might ponder to him or herself: when did this term "minor premier" enter our vernacular? Afterall, language is an important element of culture, and vice versa. A curious aspect of Australian Football culture is that we have never, ever placed any importance at finishing top of the ladder at the end of the home and away season (beyond the advantage a team wins in the first week of the finals), which helps explain why we have never had a term for it. For instance, there is no hoopla about teams winning the McClelland trophy - it barely gets a mention in the media. A few posters on BF have suggested that the term "minor premier" has gradually permeated AFL circles because of the concentration of sporting news infrastructure within Sydney - and that's probably right. Does language matter? You are saying it doesn't, and yet look at the efforts the FFA and many soccer fans are going to overturn the use of the word soccer in this country - which is effectively an attempt to override the Australian vernacular and accepted usage within Australian English. So at least in some circles, language does appear to matter.
Art Sapphire
Guest
+1000
Luke W
Guest
I think you have proven it is a relatively new term. But the fact is now it is pretty widespread, with both The Age/Hun and the AFL themselves using it. Still, a big who cares?
Mister Football
Guest
Yeh, but it wasn't almost the games - it wasn't even half the games.
Art Sapphire
Guest
I said "almost all the games" - quoting inaccurately is a no-no "we don’t recognise any such thing in Australian Football" quoting accurately :)
Art Sapphire
Guest
Speaking of jokes Q. What do you call a female Collingwood fan in a tracksuit? A. The bride Q. What do you say to a Collingwood supporter with a job? A. Big Mac please.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Michael -sports language is an ever evolving creature. We have embraced Americanisms, terms such as a club being 10 and 4 after 14 games to describe a team's record. But "regular season" has not really caught on. "home and away" season is still the term used by the majority of AFL fans.
Mister Football
Guest
If people think that the terms "minor premier" and "minor premiership" are part of the common AFL parlance, let us look for references to such a term, say, pre-1995, e.g. an example of the footy record using it, or any other documentation or publication pre-1995. My bet is that you won't find any such examples.
Pablo
Guest
On another matter in relation to this article, it states '...the team which finished top of the ladder after the minor round has gone on to win the premiership just five times ... Geelong 2008...' It goes on to say '...Hawthorn’s upset win in the 2008 grand final...' It can't be both, can it? Facts should be check before publication.
Michael Filosi
Roar Guru
On the issue of "minor premiership," when Port Adelaide finished minor premiers in 2002 and 2003 only to not make the grand final it gave rise to the joke.... Q: What's the difference between an arsonist and Port Adelaide? A: An arsonist wouldn't waste 22 matches. You can be sure that if Collingwood don't win the flag this year, this chestnut will get a re-run. Stay tuned.
Mister Football
Guest
If you read what I quoted - the conclusion is that it HAS NOT been in use for 20 years - that's the point!!! It is a very, very recent phenomenon - and it is still not a term used widely in AFL circles. If you were an AFL fan, you would understand that only too well. And by the way, you were wrong about SBS broadcasting all the games in 1986.
Michael Filosi
Roar Guru
I must admit, I didn't think the term "minor premiership" would be such a talking point. On a related topic, do Roarers feel "regular season" is an AFL term, or indeed a term used within Australian sport, or have we adopted it from the American sporting scene? The NBA particularly has the "regular season" and then the "finals," and I am curious if anyone has heard the term "regular season" used in relation to any of the Australian footy codes?
Redb
Roar Guru
Geelong did not win in 2008.
Art Sapphire
Guest
To sum up, for you to say "we don’t recognise any such thing in Australian Football" is then incorrect. Its been in use for 20 years. Michael's use of the term is correct. What it was refered to back in the day is irrelevant. Flooding and frontal pressure were meteorological concepts back in the day. Now they are also AFL concepts.