Originally Posted by
PeanutsPeanuts
VFL/AFL FINAL #28 (9-18)
Can't say I've been looking forward to this one.
So Adelaide get over Geelong and we meet them in the Prelim at the MCG in front of 70,088.
Either way the result will be historic, StKilda had already won their Prelim and many were talking of the romance of the 2 least successful Melbourne clubs meeting in a GF (although it would've been Adelaide's first GF, so still a good storyline there).
We went into the game strong favourites, having beaten Adelaide comprehensively in Adelaide in R20 and having won our first final so comprehensively. Adelaide, by comparison kicked 4.2 to 1.4 in the last quarter to sneak past Geelong by 8 points in Adelaide.
I remember the first 10 minutes as similar to the Sydney final, with fierce contests, but with our defence looking really strong. We never cracked Adelaide open, but a lovely passage leading to a Matthew Dent goal late in the first really settled the nerves. At quarter time we led 2.2.14 to 0.7.7 (I don't remember Adelaide missing easy shots, more that we forced low percentage shots and rushed a couple).
In the 2nd the game really opened up and we put ourselves into a strong position, going in 31 points ahead; 10.6.66 to 4.11.35.
At this point, we really felt comfortably in control, the only dark cloud being Jose Romero's shoulder. He went in with a dicky shoulder, didn't take the first few bumps well and struggled from thereon in.
In the 3rd, Adelaide threw everything at us and made some headway, but it did feel like we had all the answers and still led 13.7.85 to 8.15.63.
The last unravelled like a nightmare, as Adelaide scored a goal or 2, it still felt like we had plenty in hand. Libba's goal given a point. All that space for Jarman. I can't put it into a proper context - it was just a nightmare. Then Granty's snap in the dying seconds that was going through, but smothered by a Crow who really should've been shepherded away.
So many shouldas and couldas. No Dogs fan old enough can forget this day. Of our disappointments, this was the cruellest. I've walked away from games angry, sad, disappointed, but this one was different, it was like something important had died - I was with 4 Dogs fans and in the hour after the match no-one said a word.
I rewatched the last quarter again before writing this. Those postmatch scenes are still so stark, Bubba pounding the turf, Plough leaving the coaches box in a daze.
James Cook was great that day, kicking 6, whilst Chris Grant and Mark West kicked 2 each.
Best players were Grant (19 possession, 8 marks, 2 tackles, 2.2), Mark West (gave great grunt and physicality once on, gathering 24 possessions, 3 tackles, kicking 2.1 although his miss was gettable at a key moment), Scott West (as always, in and under everything, 33 possessions), Cook (12 possessions, 6 marks, 6.2) and Tony Liberatore (24 possessions, 4 tackles).
The stats from the match indicate we were slightly the better team, with 302 possessions to 291, the one glaring and surprising exception being the tackle count (something I never knew until today).
In a year when we nearly always outtackled our opposition, on Prelim Day, Adelaide laid 43 (about average for the time) whereas we laid a shockingly low 17 - 13 of our players failed to register a single tackle. Given we were overrun late, it's hard not to look to this as a factor.
Anyway we had to regroup. We still had a squad right in the sweet spot for success, with the Prelim team mostly in the 22-26 range, the only exceptions being Libba (31), Wynd (27) and Hudson (27) on the older side and Johnson (21), Cox (20), Martin (20) and Brown (19) on the younger side.