angelopetraglia
20-09-2016, 10:17 PM
1. Momentum To win consecutive games and win the Premiership you need momentum and we have it in spades. We have dismantled both of last year's grand finalists including the reigning three time Premiership winners. Not even the great Hawks of 2015 could beat West Coast in Perth and we played them off the park. The next week in front of an intimidating 87,000+ we taught the Hawks a football lesson in toughness and intensity. If that's not momentum, I don't know what is.
2. Contested Ball Finals are about putting your head over the footy under the greatest pressure and winning it. We are the best in the AFL at it. GWS are good (ranked 4th) but we are clearly the best contested team in the comp. When the umpire swallows the whistle in finals football (we like it and don't care what you think Clarko), contested footy becomes even more important. This team was born to hunt the footy and play finals football.
3. Home Crowd (away) Home ground advantage is massive. It's huge. 70% of home teams win AFL finals. However we are going to largely neutralise their home ground advantage as we will have more passionate paid up members in the stands. Our 8,000+ are spending their hard earned coin and travelling to Sydney to cheer on their team. How much noise are our faithful going to make? Our noise and passion will drown out their plastic fans. Our boys will feel like the home team. It will lift them. It will inspire them. Our supporters will be the 19th man.
4. Our team is better than last time we played Last time we played they won. They blew us apart in two 5 minute sections of the game. However, the inside 50s were even. The scoring shots were even. They kicked some miraculous goals including two super goals from Stevie J who will be watching from the stands. Our team will look very different. We will have 8 changes with only two forced due to injuries (Jong and Wallis). Six players who played that day can't get in our best team at the moment. They are Collins, Williams, Roberts, Adcock, Stevens and Campbell. In for those eight come in M Boyd, T Boyd, Smith, JJ, Cordy, Suckling and Dunkley. We will have a stronger team than round 9 (p.s. We will not let Heath Shaw help himself to a lazy 38 touches ... no chance).
5. Bontempelli The boy from Eltham. What an absolute jet. A rare specimen. Such poise under pressure. His ability to win it in tight and then somehow find the space to break the game open could be the difference in a tight contest. His confidence will have grown from last weeks super performance on the biggest stage. Look for him to impose himself on another big game.
6. Libba, Wood and Macrae improving It was a massive gamble to play them against the Eagles potentially underdone and not match fit. But they have now survived two tough final games. They have to be better for the run. They can only improve with these games under their belt. Look for them all to put in big games this week. All crucial to our chances. Libba in beast mode around the ball. Wood intercepting like no one else can. Macrae running all night and racking them up.
7. The finals fixture How can a side that finishes 7th get such a blessed run? A week off after the home and away season. Thanks. 8 day break after our first final. Thanks. 8 day break after our second final. Thanks. So a week off and then two 8 day breaks. We have to be fresh. Who cares if they have had the week off. How much more rest do you need? We should be ready to rock 'n roll come Saturday afternoon.
8. This will be GWSs first cut throat final Yes they were amazing in the first week. They stood up to the pressure. Well done. However the stakes are different IMHO when it's do or die. There are no 2nd chances this week. This team doesn't yet know how it will respond to a do or die final. Will they handle pressure? Can they handle the weight of expectation? We don't know. We just don't know. It has to be a question mark. But we 100% know that the Dogs have stared elimination square in the eyes and told it to F*&^! off.
Any other reasons we can win?
2. Contested Ball Finals are about putting your head over the footy under the greatest pressure and winning it. We are the best in the AFL at it. GWS are good (ranked 4th) but we are clearly the best contested team in the comp. When the umpire swallows the whistle in finals football (we like it and don't care what you think Clarko), contested footy becomes even more important. This team was born to hunt the footy and play finals football.
3. Home Crowd (away) Home ground advantage is massive. It's huge. 70% of home teams win AFL finals. However we are going to largely neutralise their home ground advantage as we will have more passionate paid up members in the stands. Our 8,000+ are spending their hard earned coin and travelling to Sydney to cheer on their team. How much noise are our faithful going to make? Our noise and passion will drown out their plastic fans. Our boys will feel like the home team. It will lift them. It will inspire them. Our supporters will be the 19th man.
4. Our team is better than last time we played Last time we played they won. They blew us apart in two 5 minute sections of the game. However, the inside 50s were even. The scoring shots were even. They kicked some miraculous goals including two super goals from Stevie J who will be watching from the stands. Our team will look very different. We will have 8 changes with only two forced due to injuries (Jong and Wallis). Six players who played that day can't get in our best team at the moment. They are Collins, Williams, Roberts, Adcock, Stevens and Campbell. In for those eight come in M Boyd, T Boyd, Smith, JJ, Cordy, Suckling and Dunkley. We will have a stronger team than round 9 (p.s. We will not let Heath Shaw help himself to a lazy 38 touches ... no chance).
5. Bontempelli The boy from Eltham. What an absolute jet. A rare specimen. Such poise under pressure. His ability to win it in tight and then somehow find the space to break the game open could be the difference in a tight contest. His confidence will have grown from last weeks super performance on the biggest stage. Look for him to impose himself on another big game.
6. Libba, Wood and Macrae improving It was a massive gamble to play them against the Eagles potentially underdone and not match fit. But they have now survived two tough final games. They have to be better for the run. They can only improve with these games under their belt. Look for them all to put in big games this week. All crucial to our chances. Libba in beast mode around the ball. Wood intercepting like no one else can. Macrae running all night and racking them up.
7. The finals fixture How can a side that finishes 7th get such a blessed run? A week off after the home and away season. Thanks. 8 day break after our first final. Thanks. 8 day break after our second final. Thanks. So a week off and then two 8 day breaks. We have to be fresh. Who cares if they have had the week off. How much more rest do you need? We should be ready to rock 'n roll come Saturday afternoon.
8. This will be GWSs first cut throat final Yes they were amazing in the first week. They stood up to the pressure. Well done. However the stakes are different IMHO when it's do or die. There are no 2nd chances this week. This team doesn't yet know how it will respond to a do or die final. Will they handle pressure? Can they handle the weight of expectation? We don't know. We just don't know. It has to be a question mark. But we 100% know that the Dogs have stared elimination square in the eyes and told it to F*&^! off.
Any other reasons we can win?