LostDoggy
09-09-2009, 09:53 AM
INTRO
The Dogs played Brisbane, Geelong and Collingwood in the last three games of the H&A season, and now in the finals we’ve played Geelong, and will now play Brisbane – will we end up playing Collingwood in the Grand Final? Stranger things have happened. The last time we played Brisbane up at the Gabba a mere four-plus weeks ago, we won comfortably by 18 points, but the score-line masked a few scares in the last quarter when Brisbane came storming home, only to be stopped in their tracks by an inspired Jason Akermanis – who else – who kicked a stunning, trademark goal from the left pocket to effectively kill off the contest.
mpouZm2NV20
WHY THIS MEANS SO MUCH TO US
Does anyone need reminding that the Dogs are a genuine premiership chance? For all the doom and gloom after last week’s loss to Geelong, win this game and Footscray are into their second preliminary final in a row, no mean feat in itself in a very even competition. However, success-starved fans are desperate for the Dogs to go at least one further and make the Grand Final, something that hasn’t happened since before bell-bottom flares and the Beatles. Man hadn’t even landed on the moon yet when the Dogs last made it to the big dance, the longest stint between drinks of any AFL club. Even poor old St. Kilda has made a Grannie as recently as 1997, and won their only premiership three-quarters of a decade after the Dogs won theirs. We truly are the embodiment of ‘long-suffering’, something Richmond fans only think they know.
A Grand Final appearance, followed by the lifting of the premiership cup, would be the catharsis to half a century of down-troddenness, and will send the strongest possible signal that the Western Bulldogs are announcing themselves as a force to reckon with in the 21st century, the previous hundred years be damned. Following a spanking new training and community facility, state-of-the-art training programmes, a forward thinking board, and one of the best lists we’ve had in a while, a premiership would be the perfect icing on the cake to top it all off.
A premiership would also awaken the sleeping giant that is Melbourne’s west. The fastest growing corridor in Australia bar none, the next generation of Western Bulldogs supporters lie dormant, confused by the lack of another club to follow but also bemused by the utter lack of success of their hometown club. A premiership would lay the ghosts of doubt to rest and mobilise the hundreds of thousands of new émigrés to rally behind the red, white and blue.
FALL-OUT OF A LOSS
On the flip side of the coin, a loss would be same old, same old – performing dismally in the finals despite coming in as THE form team of the competition wouldn’t be anything new to Dogs fans, unfortunately. It would surely mark the end of an era, with a raft of retirements possible, almost probable, if coach Rodney Eade decides on a mini end of season clearout. It would also be another string to the bow of those who claim that the multi-pronged small and medium sized forwardline of the Dogs, while heavy scorers in home-and-away games, does not and cannot stand up to general finals pressure, especially if Brown and Bradshaw kick a bagful this weekend.
Despite a loss, however, perhaps a silver lining can be sought – timing is a key to premierships, and it has been to the bad fortune of the Dogs that Hawthorn last year, then the Saints this year have found a spark to take them to the top of the ladder. The Dogs have been arguably the better performed side than either of those over the entirety of the last two years (the Saints finished fourth last year, Hawthorn ninth this year, while the Dogs have finished third both times). Other than Geelong, we have been the strongest side in the competition over the last two years, and this is nothing to sneeze at – there is no reason at all why we couldn’t be the side that finds the spark and takes the next step next season and become the dominant team, the way Hawthorn and St. Kilda did. After all, the core of the team will remain the same, and there is a raft of young, powerful talent coming into the team (Ward, Everitt, Reid, Wood, Stack, Boumann et al). For those who believe in premiership windows, ours isn’t shut yet. After all, didn’t everyone think St. Kilda’s finally shut two years ago?
PLAYERS WHO NEED TO STAND UP:
Adam Cooney – They don’t give out Brownlows to just anyone except Shane Woewoedin, and unless Coons wants to join that lonely band of one, he had better start getting on his bike. The last three games of the home-and-away season saw Coons start to gather some form and momentum, but like many of his team-mates on the weekend, he seemed to falter under the burden of expectation. Will he bounce back this week like the champion we all know and love, or will he flatter to deceive once again?
Will Minson – being big and angry is useless unless you can bring it. Will knows what I’m talking about. He wants to bring it. You can see it in his eyes, in his snarl, in his lumbering gait as he chases uselessly when a nimble-footed defender runs away from him. His heart is as big as Phar Lap’s, we just need his hands to be also.
Mitch Hahn – Mitch is the schoolyard bully who disappears when the real gangsters show up. However, there is this legendary story where a high school is under siege during World War II, and a bunch of Nazis are coming in to rape and pillage the nubile schoolgirls, and who should stand up and fight them off but the schoolyard bullies who had previously terrorised their own schoolmates. This is a story of courage overtaking cowardice, and the turning of destructive tendencies to constructive means. This story is also completely made-up-on-the-spot, but you know what I mean.
Daniel Giansiracusa – I don’t care if you look like Rob Lowe. I don’t care if women faint when you walk past them. I don’t care if your teammates think your ‘pits smell like flowers even after a half-marathon. I also don’t care if half your possessions result in goals, if your other half results in turnovers that lead to opposition goals. Besides, half of zero is still zero.
Ryan Griffen – look, there are around 10 million kids in Australia who play AFL. There are around 1 million of them who will actually be able to kick the ball. Only 10,000 of those will play at some representative level, be it primary school or whatever. Of those, maybe 5000 of them will get to play TAC at some point and have someone from an AFL club come look at them. Of those, maybe 1000 of them will have some hope of making it onto a list of some club at any level (VFL etc.) only 100 of them will have a real hope in hell of getting picked up by an AFL club. Only 16 of them will get a chance to be a ‘first-round draft pick’. Only three of them will be a ‘top three draft pick’. Of those three, all of them will be potential superstars, but they will all be hoping that they would be able to run like the wind, kick like a mule, jump like a horse, be as strong as Samson, and be as gifted as Ryan Griffen. The only person who doesn’t think Ryan Griffen is the most gifted player on any list in the AFL at the moment is Ryan Griffen. Play like it, FFS! (Note: all stats made up and hyperbole used liberally to make a point.)
Ryan Hargrave – it is a fact that a kick that goes up high and aimlessly in the air and comes down slowly and aimlessly is 100% more likely to be spoiled or marked by an opposing defender. It is also a fact that if you kick Ryan Hargrave high and aimlessly up in the air he is likely to come down slowly and be spoiled by an opposing defender.
MANTIS FACT:
Mantis believes that “in reality” we should pummel Brisbane and the 'crunch game' will be against St.Kilda. He also thinks that Nathan Eagleton is a .. good person .. and played reasonably well against Geelong.
The Dogs played Brisbane, Geelong and Collingwood in the last three games of the H&A season, and now in the finals we’ve played Geelong, and will now play Brisbane – will we end up playing Collingwood in the Grand Final? Stranger things have happened. The last time we played Brisbane up at the Gabba a mere four-plus weeks ago, we won comfortably by 18 points, but the score-line masked a few scares in the last quarter when Brisbane came storming home, only to be stopped in their tracks by an inspired Jason Akermanis – who else – who kicked a stunning, trademark goal from the left pocket to effectively kill off the contest.
mpouZm2NV20
WHY THIS MEANS SO MUCH TO US
Does anyone need reminding that the Dogs are a genuine premiership chance? For all the doom and gloom after last week’s loss to Geelong, win this game and Footscray are into their second preliminary final in a row, no mean feat in itself in a very even competition. However, success-starved fans are desperate for the Dogs to go at least one further and make the Grand Final, something that hasn’t happened since before bell-bottom flares and the Beatles. Man hadn’t even landed on the moon yet when the Dogs last made it to the big dance, the longest stint between drinks of any AFL club. Even poor old St. Kilda has made a Grannie as recently as 1997, and won their only premiership three-quarters of a decade after the Dogs won theirs. We truly are the embodiment of ‘long-suffering’, something Richmond fans only think they know.
A Grand Final appearance, followed by the lifting of the premiership cup, would be the catharsis to half a century of down-troddenness, and will send the strongest possible signal that the Western Bulldogs are announcing themselves as a force to reckon with in the 21st century, the previous hundred years be damned. Following a spanking new training and community facility, state-of-the-art training programmes, a forward thinking board, and one of the best lists we’ve had in a while, a premiership would be the perfect icing on the cake to top it all off.
A premiership would also awaken the sleeping giant that is Melbourne’s west. The fastest growing corridor in Australia bar none, the next generation of Western Bulldogs supporters lie dormant, confused by the lack of another club to follow but also bemused by the utter lack of success of their hometown club. A premiership would lay the ghosts of doubt to rest and mobilise the hundreds of thousands of new émigrés to rally behind the red, white and blue.
FALL-OUT OF A LOSS
On the flip side of the coin, a loss would be same old, same old – performing dismally in the finals despite coming in as THE form team of the competition wouldn’t be anything new to Dogs fans, unfortunately. It would surely mark the end of an era, with a raft of retirements possible, almost probable, if coach Rodney Eade decides on a mini end of season clearout. It would also be another string to the bow of those who claim that the multi-pronged small and medium sized forwardline of the Dogs, while heavy scorers in home-and-away games, does not and cannot stand up to general finals pressure, especially if Brown and Bradshaw kick a bagful this weekend.
Despite a loss, however, perhaps a silver lining can be sought – timing is a key to premierships, and it has been to the bad fortune of the Dogs that Hawthorn last year, then the Saints this year have found a spark to take them to the top of the ladder. The Dogs have been arguably the better performed side than either of those over the entirety of the last two years (the Saints finished fourth last year, Hawthorn ninth this year, while the Dogs have finished third both times). Other than Geelong, we have been the strongest side in the competition over the last two years, and this is nothing to sneeze at – there is no reason at all why we couldn’t be the side that finds the spark and takes the next step next season and become the dominant team, the way Hawthorn and St. Kilda did. After all, the core of the team will remain the same, and there is a raft of young, powerful talent coming into the team (Ward, Everitt, Reid, Wood, Stack, Boumann et al). For those who believe in premiership windows, ours isn’t shut yet. After all, didn’t everyone think St. Kilda’s finally shut two years ago?
PLAYERS WHO NEED TO STAND UP:
Adam Cooney – They don’t give out Brownlows to just anyone except Shane Woewoedin, and unless Coons wants to join that lonely band of one, he had better start getting on his bike. The last three games of the home-and-away season saw Coons start to gather some form and momentum, but like many of his team-mates on the weekend, he seemed to falter under the burden of expectation. Will he bounce back this week like the champion we all know and love, or will he flatter to deceive once again?
Will Minson – being big and angry is useless unless you can bring it. Will knows what I’m talking about. He wants to bring it. You can see it in his eyes, in his snarl, in his lumbering gait as he chases uselessly when a nimble-footed defender runs away from him. His heart is as big as Phar Lap’s, we just need his hands to be also.
Mitch Hahn – Mitch is the schoolyard bully who disappears when the real gangsters show up. However, there is this legendary story where a high school is under siege during World War II, and a bunch of Nazis are coming in to rape and pillage the nubile schoolgirls, and who should stand up and fight them off but the schoolyard bullies who had previously terrorised their own schoolmates. This is a story of courage overtaking cowardice, and the turning of destructive tendencies to constructive means. This story is also completely made-up-on-the-spot, but you know what I mean.
Daniel Giansiracusa – I don’t care if you look like Rob Lowe. I don’t care if women faint when you walk past them. I don’t care if your teammates think your ‘pits smell like flowers even after a half-marathon. I also don’t care if half your possessions result in goals, if your other half results in turnovers that lead to opposition goals. Besides, half of zero is still zero.
Ryan Griffen – look, there are around 10 million kids in Australia who play AFL. There are around 1 million of them who will actually be able to kick the ball. Only 10,000 of those will play at some representative level, be it primary school or whatever. Of those, maybe 5000 of them will get to play TAC at some point and have someone from an AFL club come look at them. Of those, maybe 1000 of them will have some hope of making it onto a list of some club at any level (VFL etc.) only 100 of them will have a real hope in hell of getting picked up by an AFL club. Only 16 of them will get a chance to be a ‘first-round draft pick’. Only three of them will be a ‘top three draft pick’. Of those three, all of them will be potential superstars, but they will all be hoping that they would be able to run like the wind, kick like a mule, jump like a horse, be as strong as Samson, and be as gifted as Ryan Griffen. The only person who doesn’t think Ryan Griffen is the most gifted player on any list in the AFL at the moment is Ryan Griffen. Play like it, FFS! (Note: all stats made up and hyperbole used liberally to make a point.)
Ryan Hargrave – it is a fact that a kick that goes up high and aimlessly in the air and comes down slowly and aimlessly is 100% more likely to be spoiled or marked by an opposing defender. It is also a fact that if you kick Ryan Hargrave high and aimlessly up in the air he is likely to come down slowly and be spoiled by an opposing defender.
MANTIS FACT:
Mantis believes that “in reality” we should pummel Brisbane and the 'crunch game' will be against St.Kilda. He also thinks that Nathan Eagleton is a .. good person .. and played reasonably well against Geelong.