Port Adelaide and North Melbourne may be rank outsiders to claim the AFL premiership but it’s great to see new sides pushing deep into September.
Between them, powerhouses Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney have won seven of the last nine flags. That could well become eight in the space of ten years given the Hawks and Swans are robust favourites to square off the in the grand final.
It is good for the fans and the competition, however, to have some fresh blood challenging these dominant clubs.
Finals upsets add terrific intrigue to the end of the season. It had seemed very likely that the top-four teams of the regular season would, as usual, be the last quartet standing.
Then Port and North turned the competition on its head with unexpected victories last week. Neither team had made a preliminary final since 2007, when they squared off in a lopsided match in Adelaide which Port won by 87 points.
The Power last raised the cup 10 years ago while for North their most recent triumph is a distant 15 years back during their era of Wayne Carey-led ascendancy.
Port, in particular, appear to be a genuine chance of snaring an ultra-rare flag from outside the top four. They seem to be peaking just at the right time following a barnstorming start to the season, a mid-year lull and now a second surge.
As the second-highest scoring team in the league, they have the firepower to trouble Hawthorn, whose potency up forward overwhelms so many opponents.
In Jay Schulz and Justin Westhoff they have a pair of key forwards capable of booting a bag and who demand close attention from the opposition back six.
At their feet are a host of dangerous small to medium goal kickers in Chad Wingard, Angus Monfries, Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines, among others.
It is an Australian tradition to barrack for the underdog. Given the club I follow didn’t even make the finals I’ll be throwing my support behind Port and North this weekend. A grand final match-up between that pair would have been unthinkable just weeks ago. It still remains unlikely but there is that glimmer of hope, that element of uncertainty which will add significant interest to this weekend’s matches.
Snaring a grand final appearance would be a massive boon for either of the unfancied clubs, both of whom have had to dig themselves out of dire off-field situations in recent years.
Port were a basketcase on and off the field just two years ago. After a phenomenal resurgence from the side in 2013, their supporter base was energised and they have recorded an astounding increase in membership this year, spiking from 40,000 last season to more than 55,000 at last count, according to the official AFL website.
That increase is so extreme that they have gone from having one of the weakest supporter bases in the competition to having almost as many members as AFL giants Adelaide, West Coast and Essendon.
North, too, have enjoyed a crucial rise in support, with their membership going from just under 35,000 last season to over 40,000 this year.
Here’s hoping that at least one of these formerly battling clubs makes it on to the AFL’s biggest stage next weekend.
Natalie SwansFan
Guest
If it was there to give Sydney a leg up and keep them competitive in a Sydney, why did they just remove it? Your argument is ridiculous. Why would the AFL bend to Eddie and remove something that in your opinion they created to grow the market in Sydney? Redundant argument champ. Of the clubs that were looking at Franklin, none of them had them had the space that Sydney had freed up over 4 years of retirees and relevant quite trade periods (apart from Tippett in 09). Hawthorn were not offering him the years, GWS were never in the race it was a beat up to drive publicity for them in Sydney. The only club that was ever going to get him was the one he said he wanted to go to after playing in the 2012 losing grand final against them. There isn't a scrap of evidence to suggest that the Swans tiny little 9.8% makes any difference come contract talks. It's a beat up by Eddie who made every one frantic about it. Tell me, in this illustrious era where the Swans have been so successful and dominated the world because of COLA, who else have they managed to steal away from everyone apart from Tippett and Franklin? It's a load of rubbish Me Too.
Ando
Guest
My recollection has that Port did pretty much the same thing (restrict North to one goal) in a GF in the early 1900's. But I could be wrong on that.
Me Too
Guest
Of course it's an advantage - the extra room in the salary cap allowed the swans room to outbid allcomers for Franklin for starters. Clubs are always looking for just a 1% advantage (not sure if essendon ever quantified how much they were looking for) - it can be the difference between success and failure. It's purely there to keep Sydney successful and keep and grow the market in Sydney. If any clubs should get a COLA it's the smaller clubs like the bulldogs, who have a real problem in trying to attract established stars due to low marketability - Cost Of Low marketability Allowance! Give them 10% extra in their cap and see if they refuse it 'nah we don't need it, it's cheap to live in Footscray, won't help us'. And due to such assistance rival fans rightly see Sydney's success as somewhat unfairly gained. And it is obviously at the expense of other clubs.
GrumpyOldBastard@Singapore
Guest
Go for the red and whites Olivia. You cannot go wrong. South Fremantle is the cradle of WA football and Fremantle Oval - home of the Bulldogs - is its heart and soul. Go with South my dear - you cannot go wrong.
Peter Baudinette
Roar Guru
Yep, made some comments I about Sydney and substances I believe
Axle an the guru
Guest
Looks like Powerbot is in trouble. Have they Powered his Bot off to the planet Pluto maybe?
Axle an the guru
Guest
Don Freo
Guest
It's new drink...Purple COLA. We are going to infiltrate Sydney...then transfer Buddy to Freo as one of our own. Premiership by stealth.
Ryan Ranger
Roar Rookie
Olivia, East Fremantle = Blue & White, South Fremantle = Red & White. That said, what might make East Fremantle slightly more appealing to you is their team song: "Cheer, Cheer the BLUE and the white" !!! I'm an East Perth man, and I hope they win the GF this Sunday. Up the Royals!
Axle an the guru
Guest
DON!!!!! Olivia is not Purple,whats going on? Are you turning Red&White??? You need some more of purple haze stuff you smoke over that way haha :-)
Axle an the guru
Guest
Whats bot got to do with this?has he had a comment removed??
slane
Guest
If it was an actual Cost Of Living Allowance you would have a valid argument Don. In reality it should be called the Cost Of Living In A Town That Doesn't Care Overmuch For Your Sport Allowance. COLIATTDCOFYSA doesn't have a very good ring to it though.
slane
Guest
I'm sick of seeing Hawthorn, Geelong or Sydney in the GF. It would be thoroughly refreshing for literally any other team to make it through and even better if they pull off an upset victory for the ages. I design sporting memorabilia for a living, I want fresh blood to work with.
Don Freo
Guest
A capuccino is $4.30 here. How much in Sydney? Maybe we can get COLA. I think our homes are the most expensive now...and petrol is for sure.
Natalie SwansFan
Guest
Round two hey. No assumptions. I have read your comments. You have slung a lot of stuff at good people. What you are now angling in on is the Go Foundation. If you knew anything about the foundation, you would understand that it is not only Adam Goodes who is involved but also Michael O'Loughlin. Are you prejudice against him as well? They founded GO in 2009. Long before any AOTY honours. The work they have done in the Dareton community is fantastic. This launched them both into working with education. Last year they started working on a platform to provide scholarships to year 9-12 indigenous students to help fund secondary and tertiary education. Anything wrong with this in your narrow mind? They are working closely with the Australian Indigigenous Education Foundation, in partnership with the Swans (given both boys play/ed there), who provide administrative support. QBE has provided donations in the past, $25k springs to mind. Bitter much?
Mango Jack
Guest
I'm no disciple of Eddie. He's largely a buffoon, but on this point he was right. The AFL should have called it what it was - financial assistance to a team in a strategically important, and very competitive market to ensure they are successful. Trying to be clever and dress it up as assistance to poor struggling players earning 10 times the average salary just made them look silly. Anyway, back to the footy.....Go Hawks!!!
Natalie SwansFan
Guest
Well yes, it is an allowance, so it is assistance but to suggest that it is the recipe for their success is outrageous. It's no more of an advantage than a club receiving a $14m hand out, having the ability to bring in Koshie, improve performance by being able to poach one of the best performance coaches in sport (Burgess)....but no one ever talks about Ports leg up. Everyone just focuses on COLA. The cost of living isn't about a box of cornflakes, it is everything. Property prices, rent, etc. If anyone was going to complain it would be WA teams but are they making any noise? No. The only one who made noise was Eddie and then the media propaganda began and now COLA is gone. But it won't make a difference. Because at the end of the day, the allowance meant very little to the outstanding recruiting and list management of the Swans. Oh and BTW, "no other code offers it" is a pretty poor argument considering there is no other National Code that has a conglomerate of teams in VIC, where the players all come from (ok and WA/SA), and two poor teams in Sydney, the most expensive city in Australia.
BigAl
Guest
I think it would be the telecasters, Ch 7, who would hate it.
Mango Jack
Guest
Now you ARE insulting me, Olivia! Suggesting I have plagiarised Eddie McGuire. Ouch!
Mango Jack
Guest
Settle, petal. I never said COLA is wholly responsible for the Swans success, but it is undeniably a leg up, or "assistance" if you like. What's rubbish is the notion that the cost of living in Sydney has anything to do with a club's ability to attract players ("Gee, corn flakes are cheaper in Port Adelaide, I think I'll play for them instead, and save more of my 300K a year salary"). No other code offers it, and it is not applied to other regions (why doesn't Port Adelaide, for example, have negative COLA?).