2016 Prelim revisited

[Daughter of the West]

I had joked with hubby before the Hawthorn game that if we won, I'd have to be in Sydney for the prelim. It suddenly dawned on me that Sunday that I actually had to book a flight!

That crowd at Spotless was like nothing I had ever experienced. Just primal.

The moment that stood out for me was Jack Macrae's goal. The sheer emotion that poured out of him when he flung his fist through the air after he nailed it was something else. I was sitting behind the goals down that end and I could feel his energy from the back row.

The siren. My sister dissolving into tears and me just hugging her. The high fives. The lack of voice afterward. Standing on the hallowed turf of Spotless and then making snow angels in the turf. The grass was so soft!

Then finding a pub near Central Station and grabbing well earned parmas for all of our group. Later we noticed that the replay was on, so we went out to the front bar to soak it all up again. Got to three quarter time, and I turned around and realised that the pub was full of fellow supporters! With two minutes to go in the final, the cheeky security guard changed the channel and the whole pub erupted! He had the good sense to change it back quick smart after that. Then all of the fans cheering and high fiving all over again.

The next morning, I caught the plane home, and Smorgo was a couple ahead of me in the queue. I introduced myself, congratulated him and shook his hand. A couple standing in front of me (originally from England I think) asked, "Who is that man? Everybody seems to be very friendly with him!" I explained that he was the former President of the Bulldogs and what had happened the night before. And the smile on Smorgo - like the cat that caught the cream!


I still maintain that that was a better day for me than the grand final. Don't get me wrong, the granny was damn, f-trucking awesome, but there was something about getting the prelim final monkey off our back, against the odds, interstate but feeling like a Bulldogs home game, it was just... relief that an old curse had been broken.

[westdog54]

The world stopped when JJ kicked that ball and then went into that slo-mo car accident thing. At one stage I saw the world in its entirety.



There's an article or even a book in that. Who said what to who and when they said it during the 2017 Prelim Final. I'd love to watch that game with the commentary turned off and the umpires mics turned on. It would give it a great context.

I've been watching the prelim final again this morning (I'm on nightshift and its a slow night), and its Clay Smith that Shaw is eyeballing, not Libba.

[AndrewP6]

End of the Hawthorn game, I said to Mum "Want to go to Sydney?". Mum can't afford membership, so I wanted her to be there as much as possible. Spent an absolute F***load of money to get us up there. Nervous as hell the day of the game, but just went in thinking we would have a crack. Sat in a great spot, right on the wing, behind the Smorgon family, not far from Mark Seymour, ripping seats.

Thought all game "We are in this, they're still fighting". Smorgon's son was getting time updates in the last quarter (I couldn't even hear the radio in my earphones), and he said several times "Two minutes left!" - problem was, he said it for about ten minutes! I seriously thought I was going to keel over. When that final siren went, and the place erupted, what an unbelievable feeling. My family aren't an emotional, hugging sort of family, but I gave mum a huge hug, as well as several complete strangers. There were several GWS fans in the bar behind us, giving us grief when they started to get on top of us. On that final siren, I gave it right back to them, telling them, as they had done to us, to "get on the plane", "Start your holiday now!"... I thought the cops next to me might have a word, but they just stood silently I sung that song with everything I had, over and over again. In my lifetime, the Dogs had been at the bottom, near the eight, in the eight, to the prelim, but never in the big one. Always everyone's favourite team, we were down to the final two. I only had one drink that day, due to the horrendous catering at Soulless Stadium, but I felt as high as ever for hours and hours after. We were going to the big dance!!!

[Twodogs]

End of the Hawthorn game, I said to Mum "Want to go to Sydney?". Mum can't afford membership, so I wanted her to be there as much as possible. Spent an absolute F***load of money to get us up there. Nervous as hell the day of the game, but just went in thinking we would have a crack. Sat in a great spot, right on the wing, behind the Smorgon family, not far from Mark Seymour, ripping seats.

Thought all game "We are in this, they're still fighting". Smorgon's son was getting time updates in the last quarter (I couldn't even hear the radio in my earphones), and he said several times "Two minutes left!" - problem was, he said it for about ten minutes! I seriously thought I was going to keel over. When that final siren went, and the place erupted, what an unbelievable feeling. My family aren't an emotional, hugging sort of family, but I gave mum a huge hug, as well as several complete strangers. There were several GWS fans in the bar behind us, giving us grief when they started to get on top of us. On that final siren, I gave it right back to them, telling them, as they had done to us, to "get on the plane", "Start your holiday now!"... I thought the cops next to me might have a word, but they just stood silently I sung that song with everything I had, over and over again. In my lifetime, the Dogs had been at the bottom, near the eight, in the eight, to the prelim, but never in the big one. Always everyone's favourite team, we were down to the final two. I only had one drink that day, due to the horrendous catering at Soulless Stadium, but I felt as high as ever for hours and hours after. We were going to the big dance!!!

It is the best high I have ever had. I chased the Dagon hard when I was a younger man but that night I couldn't stop smiling and my head was pinging until it hurt.