At the end if the day in any sport defence wins tiltles, premierships etc, and that’s a fact.
[/quote]
The evidence does suggest that - there are exceptions but mostly you are right about that.
At the end if the day in any sport defence wins tiltles, premierships etc, and that’s a fact.
[/quote]
The evidence does suggest that - there are exceptions but mostly you are right about that.
[/quote]
TBH though if you were a Crows supporter you’d be bitterly disappointed with that effort.
Well done Richmond!
You Ate 'Em Alive by 8 Hoals.Like The Tiger of Old,eh?!
Most pleased for Damien Hardwick,who I always liked as a tough No nonsense player at Essendon and even Port.Our loss if we ever looked elsewhere instead of you as Our Coach.
Commiserations to Don Pyke,who was let down by his players,who seemed to show little heart for the hard contest.Something to learn to take the next step?Or just be regular pretenders for the crown?
Is there a football competition anywhere in Australia that is not compromised or contrived?
We all know the joke that is the WAFL competition at the moment where only 3 sides can realistically win the flag every year (Subiaco vs Alignment side) but the supposed national comp is really no better.
Take for example this year where Adelaide finish on top win both of their minor finals comfortably to reach the GF and then have to travel to Melbourne to front up to the 4th placed team after the H&A season on their own home ground! :ohmy:
That now makes it 10 of the last 11 Premierships have been won by Victorian sides with 6 coming against Interstate sides and 5 of those Interstate Grand Finalists being the higher ranked side having to play away to a lower ranked opponent on their very own home ground.
The Vics must absolutely piss themselves that they have total domination and direction of Australian Rules Football and their infiltration into the WAFL will end up with a similar result here if not already!
BH there is a problem with Don Pikes coaching.Hes very slow to change game plan and strategy when things are going bad.Hardwick totally out coached him ysrda.
Two years running now the umps have been sucked into fairy tail endings, not as bad as lastnyear but another blatantly favoured umpiring display , Betts not getting a free kick summed it all up, 19 to 24 free kick count in favour of Richmond.
Anyway wouldnt saved crows in the end, I think Pyke stuffed up , he had shut down Martin early part of the game , but then couldnt counter the move, pretty poor stuff from Crows , they looked the goods early but went Awol in the 3rd.
Another drought nroken, must be Melbournes OR St Kildas turn next year…
Baz did you think Dusty was the standout for the Norm Smith.Richmonds defenders killed the Crows fwds.I though Houli and Rance had fantastic games.
One of the highlights of the 1st quarter was a field umpire explaining to an Adelaide player his decision was based on commonsense! 1st time for everything I suppose. Consistency is usually a problem and the Tigers were given plenty of leeway by the umpires.
I think ruckman Jacobs played into the Richmond high pressure tactics. He had double the hitouts - but would just tap it straight down to a teammate who would of course be set upon. Away from Richmond’s end he could of tryed thumping the ball long towards his end and try to open things up.
BH the 4th placed team won their minor finals comfortably as well and the GF too…fark everyone knows the drill…GF day is at the MCG…the atmosphere looked fantastic 100 000 plus people…of those 10 Victorian premierships…3 were won by a fantastic Hawks team, a couple by a great Geelong team…really don’t see what the problem is… in the late nineties Adelaide went back to back…Brisbane won 3 on the trot, Port won one, so did WCE and Sydney…all non Vic clubs and funny enough all won at the MCG and all in the space of a decade too…no doubt the AFL were responsible for that…it happens!
And you remember the outcry by the Vics about that lead by serial whingers McGuire, Elliott et al lead to calls for an enquiry on Vic footy and low and behold 10 of the last 11 all won by Vic sides!
Swans have won 2,
Yep, I reckon he was a worthy winner. 2nd half was amongst it and created heaps.
I for one thought that Houli did a power of hard work early to set the tone.Martin followed after. I would have had Houli.But not surprised or disappointed that Martin received it.
How the Eddie Betts free was missed is beyond me.Even the Tigers would have been surprised it wasn’t paid.May not have been a match winning kick, but it would have taken some sting out of the Tigers tail at half time.
Bazza I know SS have won two but I was talking about the decade between 97 - 06 where Vic teams won very few flags …because BH seems to think the AFL has conspired against the non Vic sides, to make sure the Vic teams win 10 flags since 06…even though they have ploughed shit loads of money into their love child the GWS and GC to be successful and at the same time allowed SS extra perks in terms of salary cap allowances etc…
I am not too sure how the AFL was able to rig it, that enabled that great Hawks team to win a 3 peat or that equally great Geelong side to win 3 flags in 5 years…or even rig it for the WBD to play 4 sudden deaths on the trot and beat WCE in Perth, then reigning champs Hawthorn at their beloved MCG and then travel to Sydney to beat AFL love child GWS, than to top it off, beat cashed up SS to win the GF…fark me talk about conspiracy at its finest or what?..about as logical as a losing sides FB winning the Norm Smith medal…LOL
Freeze how did Rance play?..was a touch unlucky not to win the Norm Smith as I predicted he absolutely slaughtered the likes of Tex Walker & Jenkins thus totally destroying Adelaide’s hopes of kicking a winning score yeah?
And secondly if the a(VFL) was serious about having a fair & equitable comp then 5 of those 11 GF’s would have been played at either Subi, SCG or Adelaide rather than Richmond & Hawthorn’s home ground considering the Interstate team had finished higher on the ladder than the local Vic mob…but no the a(VFL) went and signed a 50 year agreement to keep the Grand Final for themselves thus denying other states including the developing NSW and showing their true colours that they are not a true national comp and wont be until the GF is shared around the country and not kept for Victorians only!
So now you have 2 of the most ordinary Premiership sides in history in Richmond & Footscray winning flags because they have the advantage of playing at home despite not earning the right just because they happened to play an Interstate side…talk about being kissed on the Vic dick! 
This was discussed a bit on PR yesterday, I think there is something in it to say that the Victorian Clubs are probably going to have a run at a few flags going forward, with quite a few clubs lifting ratings, Essendon, Melbourne, Collingwood, Carlton won’t stay down forever.. and with them playing most games at the MCG will be hard to beat come finals time. I cant see either WA teams having any impact in new few years, bookies already have both finishing well out of the 8 next year.
I have to agree though that the last two winning sides Richmond and Bulldogs are very ordinary sides, quite incredible they won tbh, Bulldogs flashed in the pan then bombed out this year, will Richmond have a massive Hangover in 2018, I reckon so.
Spin it anyway you want BH…you conviently forget that Etihad is WBD home ground…also WBD FLEW to play WCE in Perth for the elimination final, played Hawthorn the 3peat reigning champs at the Oval they had owned in September since 2012 called the MCG…then FLEW to Sydney to play GWS…then played an experienced harden GF side like SS and won…you call that the achievements of an ORDINARY side fark me …
Imagine a GF at Subi oval…farken boring and lifeless. 40K v 100K…fark me get out of ya insular Perth cocoon mate…as for Rance great game BUT you picked Crows to win and Rance winning the Norm Smith…like I have said the only chance Rance had of winning if Richmond won NOT lost…how in fark does a losing teams FB win a GF BOG?..like I said however you want but you are speaking total bullshit about AFL conspiracies etc…
Have to agree a GF away from the MCG just would not be the same.
Albeit the new Perth Stadium is far far better concept than Subi,a GF at Subi would of been an embarrassment.
Rance was good early, but as Richmond had so much inside 50 as the game went on Martin well a truly dominated the second half so deserved it.
How did they go this year Freeze? Was quite the spectacular fall from grace or actually more likely their actual rightful ladder position! Yep scraped into 7th or 8th last season, freshen up with the weeks bye break, win a few finals against opposition either on the way down or just not ready and end up with a home GF against the top side Sydney and a lets just say some favourable officiating on the day…yep they were kissed on the Vic dick mate!