Euro 2021: The first tournament of a new world
In the intervening years through 2020 and 2021, the world turned topsy-turvy dealing with both the Covid-19 pandemic, and the social and logistical ramifications…
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Footy: The Doggies won the 2016 Premiership!! Soccer: From Ronaldo to Ronaldinho to Messi and seemingly back to another Ronaldo. Full circle!
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To clarify: I did not call 1997 St Kilda hopeless, this is an edit from the website. Original line: the ‘hopeless’ St Kilda versus Western Bulldogs, meaning both of them had come from absolutely nowhere that year.
The most unconventional grand final match-ups ever
I hate player ratings in matches (they are spinal Tap “goes to 11” kind of metrics) and not so keen on these ones either. All the clubs gave it a shot to some degree. Essendon played a better first half than many of their other recent finals. Brisbane copped the two grand finalists and lost by a point. Port did play one killer final. Sydney is the overrated one, they lost to a team with 11 wins, I’m just repeating other comments at this point.
2021 AFL finals report card: How each team fared
IMO You are combining the 2007-11 Geelong team with those that came after it, which is a mistake. The former was a terrific finals team.
I reckon Geelong-Hawks prelim 13 was an exception rather than how they usually played finals in the 2010s, their previous two finals that year (Freo, Port) were really average.
Same with the three Richmond losses, in all 3 Richmond turned up the heat and Geelong clearly couldn’t go with them. In 2019 Dusty was inconsequential, it was a full team effort from Richmond that won it.
Geelong couldn’t go with Port two weeks ago either. There are countless examples.
The Roar's AFL expert tips and predictions: Preliminary finals
The Brisbane game, sure, a 1-point game is definitely decided on a free kick in the last minute, whether deserved or not. What I will also say, though, is that any team that hangs close on the opponent’s home ground in an interstate match (especially a tough final) deserves to win whatever the circumstances. As they always say, win by two goals or cop the coin toss. Brisbane were at home, they shouldn’t have needed to cop a coin toss.
Unheard of !! to win free kicks by 4 in Perth, in a game they won by 50 points. 4 more frees, in a 50 point win. Call the feds.
What the Dogs did in 16 and Richmond have done ever since is actually doing stuff instead of talking stuff like the rest of us do. Somehow actually proving something on the field, even that isn’t enough to keep the rest of us talking junk after the fact. Why don’t they just give the trophy based on people’s opinions in that case.
'Twice the ecstasy and twice the heartbreak': Preliminary finals have their own place in history
Geelong are finals experienced, sure. Finals “hardened” is debatable. 7-13 in finals since 2012, consistently wilt against pressure teams.
The Roar's AFL expert tips and predictions: Preliminary finals
Jeez Cameron bit nasty to throw away the 2016 premiership on umps. A comparable comment would be a bit like how Richmond won in 2017 by having no injuries, playing no hard games until September in a year where there were no good, consistent teams at all.
'Twice the ecstasy and twice the heartbreak': Preliminary finals have their own place in history
I watched it last year on Kayo. Very interesting seeing it as a 15 year old (live 😢 ) when all you understand is the score, to an adult who understands the mechanics of how matches happen. Mark West’s second quarter and match in general is extraordinary, he turned the entire match.
'Twice the ecstasy and twice the heartbreak': Preliminary finals have their own place in history
Big shame they couldn’t win it, to go from 6-10 to a grand final after 23 years of being terrible would have been an incredible story.
'Twice the ecstasy and twice the heartbreak': Preliminary finals have their own place in history
There’s about 5-6 classic prelims every decade. The 5 from the 90s are some of the most famous games of all time.
Others close ones:
Haw-Melb 87
Ess-Haw 01
Bris-Geel 04
WC-Adel 06
Geel-Coll 07
Haw-Adel 12
Haw-Port 14
GWS-Coll 19
Rich-Port 20
The ten greatest preliminary finals of the last 30 years
Woeful minus fifty it is, then.
Weightman wows in the wet to extend Essendon's finals drought
“The woeful Dogs”, right Chukakhan?
That literally makes Essendon woeful minus fifty.
Weightman wows in the wet to extend Essendon's finals drought
Bulldogs 4-5 against top8, your stats are wrong. They beat each of the top 4 except for losing after the siren against Geelong. They were not flat track. Get your stats right before you make blanket arguments.
'We have our flag favourites': Talking points from Melbourne's masterclass
I think culturally Adelaide deserve it too (didn’t mean to suggest otherwise). Beautiful stadium, and a safer bet than WA.
'The best football weekend of the year': Four cracking games to start the AFL finals
Culturally Perth deserve it. On the other hand, McGowan would probably bail on the idea at 1:59pm on Grand Final day and tell the crowd to GTF out of the stadium. Politically they’d have to be crazy to send it to WA.
'The best football weekend of the year': Four cracking games to start the AFL finals
I thought the same about Port last year and their 2021 patterns are exactly the same as generally flack track.
Even their 2020 finals series didn’t answer any questions. They beat Geelong on one strong quarter but only barely hung with them the rest of the match. Then they played pretty well against Richmond, albeit they were subtly but clearly second best in the last quarter. My verdict: Through 2020 I’d though they had the skills but no heart, but against Richmond it turned out to be the opposite.
I suspect they’re ready, but I can never really tell. Three home finals will help (assuming Adelaide GF).
'The best football weekend of the year': Four cracking games to start the AFL finals
Dogs in 2016 were 15-7.
After a storming finish to the season, how far can Jake Stringer take the Bombers in finals footy?
C’mon man, I know we have to fill some column space but they’re still an 11-11 team. How many of those have ever set the world on fire come finals. I’ll concede they might win this week though cause their opponent has fallen off a cliff, but that’s surely as far as it goes.
After a storming finish to the season, how far can Jake Stringer take the Bombers in finals footy?
Mmm, you´re probably right… Even so it´s not just about Kennedy´s shot, but that the whole team made a series of skill and decision errors in the last 10 minutes and showed no real composure in general.
Will the real Richmond please stand up?
2019 definitely, but for me it’s oversold that Richmond supposedly started slowly in 2020. They played one and a bit so-so games against St Kilda and Hawthorn but were mostly dominant last year.
To just base a blind assumption on the 2020 season as proof that “Richmond will come back” (not Cam, other writers though) was short-sighted in my opinion.
Will the real Richmond please stand up?
Surely the Ross Lyon comparison is with Jose Mourinho. Two defensive, moody coaches who keep getting mentioned and/or hired due to past success but whose ultra-defensive methods don’t work anymore.
Lyon is on a steak of four unsuccessful seasons.
More Collingwood carnage, no easy answers after Buckley's departure
Yep Turkey definitely would have been a place to be that month! Turkey and Russia both just came and went from that tournament, didn’t stick around in later years. I suppose it can happen with smaller countries with small pools of players, if you can consider Russia such a thing. Turkey had good players though, perhaps they should have done a little more after 2008.
Thanks for comment!
Euro 2008: Spain rises
You might even say it´s become a history for them 😉
Carlton are this century's saddest football club and it's not even close
It was probably more a debate from 10 years ago than now. In hindsight Spain definitely changed the game for the better, made it less defensive and muscular in general.
Before them, Italy won the 2006 World Cup final with a header from a corner. Same for Greece in 2004. Liverpool, Chelsea and Milan of the era were defensive as. Things were not that exciting when Spain came around.
Thanks for comment!
Euro 2008: Spain rises
The Netherlands’ national team is literally called Holland, it was completely unnecessary to edit it into Netherlands.
Euro 2008: Spain rises
There you go. I knew it was niche!
The most unconventional grand final match-ups ever