Yes I was thinking of the Adam Treloar quote Birdman. Can you also picture Treloar getting those beautifully weighted Dusty handball feeds so he can run and carry? He would have settled beautifully into that side and would now be a premiership player.

True Tiger Fan, what some don’t mention with Cotchin and Dusty is how selfless they play. There were numerous times in the finals that Dusty could have gone for one of his trademark runs and looked an even bigger star but you know what…his first choice is to hand off to a teammate in a better position. They play as a team these Tigers and Cotchin has just become a remarkable leader. It’s a remarkable story. Soak it up and enjoy…what a boom time for the Tigers now as no doubt they will also rise to the top of the membership table next year, sponsors will clamour to get on board, the AFL will give them a swag of Friday night games too. It’s Tiger time alright and the momentum will be huge.

There’s no doubt the Tigers are a powerhouse, perhaps even a bigger army than the Pies. The AFL powerbrokers must be now rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of another of the big Vic clubs climbing up to challenge the Tigers in finals next few years. Who will it be first I wonder, Carlton, Essendon or the Pies? If one of them does rise the finals will be insane. Meanwhile the Crows need to reset again, the Swans, GWS…..Port, it all starts now and the long, long climb begins again. Could it be Melbourne or the Saints that pull off the next fairytale?

Philby, the one who I haven’t seen mentioned here is Adam Treloar. Treloar infamously chose the Pies over the Tigers as he considered the pies had the better list. Can you imagine Treloar receiving those perfect handballs from Dusty and sprinting away? He would have looked amazing in this Tigers team and would now be a premiership player. My understanding is Prestia chose the Tigers over the Hawks, a choice that also nabbed him a medallion.

Thanks Philby,
It is one of the most gut wrenching, awful hollow feelings to lose a GF. As a supporter you want answers to your pain. What is more painful I wonder a 48 point belting or a 1 point loss?
As we know, there are no guarantees both sides will be back in the big dance next year. The last three grand finals have featured Hawthorn, West Coast, Bulldogs, Sydney, Richmond and Adelaide. 6 different teams in three years.
Richmond were magnificent but for me the greatest pain is that our coaching staff tried nothing to get us going. I’m not saying any coach could have got us back from 6-7 goals down but blimey Blighty would have at least swung things around and tried.

I guess all these hypotheticals give us all stuff to talk about as there are 17 teams who didn’t win and all are hurting for various reasons. They are just hypotheticals though as the Gil Mclachlan administration make whatever decisions they like on the fly. All these hypotheticals will count for nought. Meanwhile, there’s a group who just couldn’t care less as they are way too busy watching non stop replays of one of the best days of their lives…Richmond fans. good luck to them, they deserve it.

Can I give you another point?

Why did the Adelaide coaching staff do nothing all day, change nothing all day?

Our opportunity to come back was when Tex kicked the third quarter goal to get us back to 20 points. Once Richmond got the next three surely it was time to do something, anything!!!!! Throw Lever on to Rance, throw Cameron into the middle, take Jenkins and Tex off…do something! They tried nothing they did nothing. I would rather they tried something radical and get belted by 80 then settle for an 8 goal loss while sitting on their hands.

As a sad Crows fan Dusty was fantastic but the guy who hurt us the most when the game was still on was Houli. Houli should have won it.

Oh boy do I wish we could this year, what I would give to still be a chance but sadly no and I can’t see this ever happening. For a start it would put the two grand final sides four weeks behind all other teams in preparation for the following year.

As a Crows fan I feel your pain Owen however to blame the umpiring, venue, MRP etc IMO doesn’t cut it.
The Tigers totally out hunted us, outnumbered us at the ball. Our forward line was totally ineffective and maybe three players can hold their heads high. Our coaching staff appeared to do nothing, change nothing to get us going. When the game was essentially over early in the last why not try something, anything????

IMO we got stage fright on the biggest stage and now we have a hell of a lot of work to get back there again. The Tigers deserve to celebrate their amazing finals and flag without all these excuses. I am hurting too but we did it to ourselves and the Tigers smashed their three finals to well deserved glory.

As a Crows fan who has waited 19 years for another crack at it I am devastated my team failed to perform on the biggest stage. This loss was not caused by any AFL conspiracy, by the umpiring, by Cotchin and Ellis escaping scrutiny in the prelim or by the venue. This loss was because we were beaten by a better team on the day. The questions the coaching staff need to address are:

Why did Richmond outnumber our players at every contest?
Why did our coaching staff not react to stop Rance doing as he liked in the back half?
Why do just one or two of our players actually play like Richmond players in Sloane and the Crouch brothers?
How can a kid playing his 5th game in a Grand Final kick 3 goals?
Wjhy weren’t we showing any physical presence at the start of the game? Where was the physical stuff on Dusty?
Why, when you freeze frame stoppages were some of our players standing off to the side, flat footed?
Why were some of our players hesitant, reactive, looking backwards instead of forward?
Why on earth when we are 6 goals down in the last quarter didn’t our coaching staff heed John Kennedy and “Do Something”? Surely that is the time to clear the forward line, put Lever on Rance, throw Cameron into the middle and instruct the players to go straight through the corridor? I would rather have lost by 70 than done absolutely nothing as the coaching staff did.

For the Tigers, wow, what can i say but an amazing unbelievable finals series by an underdog for the second year in a row. The Tigers manic pressure is absolute. They play for teammates, look how often Dusty hands off to a teammate in a better position, Cotchin too, all of them. They are premiers after three finals in which they decimated the opposition. This wasn’t a fluke, an injustice or an AFL conspiracy. The way they play and the way they beat us they would have won without Cotchin, Eliis, and even Rance and Dusty. They were too good and are etched in AFL history forever. It’s Tiger time and may be for some years to come.

I have been a huge fan of Heath Shaw however I have noticed this year his clearing kick is pretty much consistently a boot and hope down the line. It stands out in modern footy where short target clears are first priority. Heater still seems to be playing the way he did back at the Pies when the clearing boundary line kick was the Malthouse script. A great player but I wonder why Cameron allows this? Leon Cameron lacks spark or initiative IMO they need to move him on to take the next step.

Yes Birdman the Saints arguably could have had two flags by a dodgy goal umpire call and a dodgy bounce eluding Milne.

Roger, I truly believe the AFL needs to delineate AFL and VFL history officially. The VFL was wonderful, amazing and set everything in place for our national game but it finished in 1989. The most successful teams of the VFL era then were Essendon and Carlton followed by Collingwood. The AFL era Hawthorn, with 5, lead from Geelong, Brisbane and West Coast with 3.

Got on over $25 for both Crouch boys a few weeks back…happy with that! Seedsman at $51 might be worth a sniff though….he loves the G and won an ANZAC day medal not long ago on the G.

Very confident Swannies! For me when I look closely at the balance my team I just can’t see how Richmond can beat us but only if we play at or near our best. We have a powerful story of our own after the tragedies that have hit our club in our recent past that should galvanise the group. Crows by 23.

I believe this is another classic case of splitting up AFL history and VFL history now we have so much AFL history. They are different competitions. VFL history ended in 1989 with one of the most classic VFL grand finals of all. For AFL history my top 5 would be:

2016 Doggies fairytale
2010 Coll v St K draw
2005 Sydneys first flag, Leo Barry you star.
2006 West Coast by 1 point. a flag by a point is tough to beat
2009 Cats over Saints with Scarlett toe poke

Damian Barrett today claims Stringer could become a Dusty Martin in a couple of years….surely that’s a stretch?

I think comparing the Ablett move to the Cats with the Daniel Wells move to the Pies is fair. Both great players when on song, both plagued by injuries and the wrong side of 30, Ablett a better player but Geelong need to give up something of value to land him, the Pies didn’t as he was unrestricted and the Wells Pies move so far is a flop.

Please don’t get me wrong True Tiger Fan. I have nothing but admiration for what the Tigers have done this year. If anything, their healthy injury list is a credit to your sports science staff. What I am saying is the stars are all aligning for you this year, even with Cotchin and Ellis having no case to challenge. The stars aligned for the Doggies last year and they capitalised with the cup. This year the stars are aligning for your Tigers who have every chance to capitalise as well. So far it’s only been the Cats, Swans and Hawks who have had sustained runs at the top recently. Even my Crows have been a little up and down. I don’t believe either of the grand final teams can take it for granted that they will challenge again next year by right as the AFL is designed to equalise.

gee Mitchell was handy for the Hawks!

some great memories in there Conor thanks. The Jetta Rioli sprint, Leo Barry you star, the elusive bouncing ball that deprived Milne and the Saints of the flag, The Doggies fairytale, Licuria crying alongside Malthouse in 2002, Stevie J playing on one leg in 2011 and the remarkable Hawks….for sure let’s see what Saturday brings….will be special.

Interesting isn’t it…Jack Riewoldt is 1.95 m and 93 kilos, Stringer 1.92 and 91 kilos. Stringer is young, turning 24 next April. I believe he has the potential to become as good as Jack Riewoldt now he has had a huge kick in his ample backside and Jack seems to be playing largely a decoy role for the Tigers in the finals.

Great read Maddy. I go back to the start of the year and all the doom and gloom about Richmonds small forward line by media experts. Clubs can look like geniuses when the magic formula works but I just wonder how much credit we give to the initial recipe and how much is just the natural flavours simmering and coming put of their own accord. For example, did the Tigers all sit down and say “right we are going to be the trail blazers for a small forward line”…or did they simply look at the Doggies small forward line last year and emulate it? What comes first the chicken or the egg? Take the Hawks this year in their inevitable fall…suddenly players like Breust and Gunston and Puopolo didn’t appear quite as good as they were previously. Are these second tier Richmond players just really good players or are Cotch and Rance and Dusty making them look that bit better? Has the Tigers recipe just come about naturally this year on the back of a favourable draw, next to no injuries and incredible seasons by Dusty, Rance and Cotch? I’m not devaluing the Tigers performance, they have been remarkable just posing the question of “Have the stars aligned for the Tigers this year much the same as the Doggies last year?” If the answer is yes, The Tigers want to strike right now and get their flag or they may drop back next year when the stars aren’t quite in perfect alignment.

Josh, IMO that’s a brilliant sum up of where the Cats are at and also one enjoyable read, you would be a ripping replacement for Robbo at the Herald Sun….like the analogy of the organ transplant and also the Ark of the Covenant especially. The impact of landing Danger is huge isn’t it with a real domino effect on the whole strategy of the club. Just shows what one of the best two players in the competition can do to a club as well as for a club. They are a fascinating club and as Cat stated yesterday they give their fans expectation of contending every year. While others go back to go forward, they just top up and stay up. Their so called finals fails well if you make a prelim final perhaps they just found themselves the wrong side of the prelims…the big surprise for me in your summary was Hawkins contracted until 2020. Not sure if he can play another three years as a big impact forward. Could they think like a Richmond forward line and offload Hawk this year as a strategy while he still has currency? Stringer would replace his 50 goals and is just 23?