Well it’s all over and the Sydney Swans have come back in a thrilling last quarter to beat the West Coast by 4 points, the best grand final by far for many years. In doing so they have broken the longest premiership drought in the AFL, having not won since 1933.
Who watched the game? What did you think?
GO THE MIGHTY SWANNIES!!!
That game was freakin’ amazing. My heart rate was up a couple notches in the final quarter. Go SWANS!!
Alex.
Go the swans lol. Id be quite interested to see if many people world wide watched the match or if it was just australians lol. Rugby league is probably bigger in australia anyway.
i managed to catch the last 15 mins while at work, definatly came down to that last few kicks, awsome for syd to get the win, hopefully the sports profile (at least in syd) will get a boost by the swans win.
It was because I visited Sydney recently.
Seriously…I enjoyed watching footy when I was there. It was on all the time!
Yeah Rugby League is probably the biggest I think in terms of numbers. AFL has Victoria, SA, WA, and Tas. NT is a tie (both sides claim it actually). Rugby League has NSW and QLD, and a fair lead in ACT ever since the Canberra Raiders came into existence.
However NSW and QLD are much more populated than the other states.
However I’m not sure it really matters. I like both sports.
Good on the Swans, being a Cats fan I was going for the Eagles (revenge dammit) but I was still happy when they won. 72 years is a hell of a drought and they wanted it more.
[quote]FlippingBman wrote:
Go the swans lol. Id be quite interested to see if many people world wide watched the match or if it was just australians lol. Rugby league is probably bigger in australia anyway. [/quote]
Another well informed comment. I hope you can feel my sarcasm smashing you in the head, you ignorant (many, many expletives). You know nothing and it shows.
[quote]vendall wrote:
That game was freakin’ amazing. My heart rate was up a couple notches in the final quarter. Go SWANS!!
Alex.[/quote]
I was literally shaking at the end of the game from the fear of losing once Sydney got back in the lead, the adrenaline rush was huge in the last few minutes when it West Coast were edging up the field towards their goal. But Sydney proved that they are the masters of controlling the stoppages and clamped down on the game enough to stop West Coast from scoring.
I still can’t believe the mark that Leo Barry took at the end to save the game, absolutely no regard for his safety whatsoever. He said afterwards that he was so focused on catching the ball that he thought that only one more player was next to him, instead of the eight or so that were there!
1)Aussie Rules is the largest spectator sport in Ausrtalia and has way more money invested in it than either rugby code.
2)West Coast was robbed, sydney had 2 free goals from bullshit calls given to them whereas we couldnt buy a free kick in our forward 50 !!
3)Barry Hall is a disgrace to the game and should go back into the gutter where he belongs, should have been suspended for this match and showed his true colours when he almost decapitated wirrapunda
4)Wirrapunda was robbed, he deserved the norm smith
5)Sydneys stye of play is boring and a detrement to the game, just because the game was close doesnt mean it was good, iv’e been to the last 3 GF’s and the atmosphere at the previous 2 was much more intense, and im an Eagles supporter !!
And lastly what is with the “Strong Words” quote ? Brett Blackwell ?? iv’e never heard of him, i think you’ll find that quote was said by Daniel Chick, a West Coast boy…
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
1)Aussie Rules is the largest spectator sport in Ausrtalia and has way more money invested in it than either rugby code.
[/quote]
Agreed
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
2)West Coast was robbed, sydney had 2 free goals from bullshit calls given to them whereas we couldnt buy a free kick in our forward 50 !!
[/quote]
That’s a bit rich considering you guys won the qualifying final on the basis of Sydney not being awarded a free kick for the tackle around the ankles of Adam Goodes directly in front of goal and West Coast getting a free kick with that “moving off the mark” penalty.
BTW, what were the calls that Sydney got in the grand final? I don’t remember any controversy being raised by the commentators over any free kicks.
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
3)Barry Hall is a disgrace to the game and should go back into the gutter where he belongs, should have been suspended for this match and showed his true colours when he almost decapitated wirrapunda
[/quote]
As opposed to Gaspar who actually did something worthy of being hauled before the tribunal by elbowing the Adelaide player in the face BEFORE the game had started!
Supporters in Sydney are more appalled at the fact that a simple tap to the stomach can even remotely lead to a player being charged. Must have something to do with the fact that we’re used to seeing bigger hits in the two rugby codes about 50 times per game…
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
4)Wirrapunda was robbed, he deserved the norm smith
[/quote]
As a Swans supporter the guy I was most worried about was Chris Judd who go the medal in the end. He was the one who held the Eagles together when Sydney was dominating and was probably the main driver behind their comeback.
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
5)Sydneys stye of play is boring and a detrement to the game, just because the game was close doesnt mean it was good, iv’e been to the last 3 GF’s and the atmosphere at the previous 2 was much more intense, and im an Eagles supporter !!
[/quote]
Sydney do what they have to do to win a game. If it’s all out attack they can turn it on as seen in the game against St Kilda last week, they blasted them off the park in the last quarter. Against a champion midfield like the West Coast’s they had to lock it up. Defense wins grand finals.
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
And lastly what is with the “Strong Words” quote ? Brett Blackwell ?? iv’e never heard of him, i think you’ll find that quote was said by Daniel Chick, a West Coast boy…[/quote]
Read the news, this came up in the last week or so, we even heard about it in Sydney. So now West Coast have two players without a ring finger…
And finally, West Coast lost, Sydney won. Get over it! There’s always next year…
GO SWANNIES!!!
great game, i was just able to watch the last 20 minutes but it was worth it,
[quote]TimmyC wrote:
1)Aussie Rules is the largest spectator sport in Ausrtalia and has way more money invested in it than either rugby code.
2)West Coast was robbed, sydney had 2 free goals from bullshit calls given to them whereas we couldnt buy a free kick in our forward 50 !!
3)Barry Hall is a disgrace to the game and should go back into the gutter where he belongs, should have been suspended for this match and showed his true colours when he almost decapitated wirrapunda
4)Wirrapunda was robbed, he deserved the norm smith
5)Sydneys stye of play is boring and a detrement to the game, just because the game was close doesnt mean it was good, iv’e been to the last 3 GF’s and the atmosphere at the previous 2 was much more intense, and im an Eagles supporter !!
And lastly what is with the “Strong Words” quote ? Brett Blackwell ?? iv’e never heard of him, i think you’ll find that quote was said by Daniel Chick, a West Coast boy…[/quote]
Couldn’t agree more! Accept with the Sydney being boring, I was riveted with the game.
As a die-hard Eagles fan though I was disgusted with the umpiring (Barry Hall gets a free in front of goals for a push in the back when Gairdner had the same thing happen 20sec previous with no free), and also disgusted with the Sydney-centric coverage. At times the commentators didn’t even know the names of the Eagles guys, even fucking up Ben Cousins (Hello Brownlow medalist!!!).
The media are all based in Sydney and are kinda oblivious to the fact that there is an entire country out there. Surely they realise that AFL is a far bigger game than Leauge and give it suitable coverage. Even with the Sydney win they still covered more on the rugby (not that I mind rugby but it doesn’t reflect the national viewer demographics).
[quote]tim290280 wrote:
As a die-hard Eagles fan though I was disgusted with the umpiring (Barry Hall gets a free in front of goals for a push in the back when Gairdner had the same thing happen 20sec previous with no free), and also disgusted with the Sydney-centric coverage. At times the commentators didn’t even know the names of the Eagles guys, even fucking up Ben Cousins (Hello Brownlow medalist!!!).
The media are all based in Sydney and are kinda oblivious to the fact that there is an entire country out there. Surely they realise that AFL is a far bigger game than Leauge and give it suitable coverage. Even with the Sydney win they still covered more on the rugby (not that I mind rugby but it doesn’t reflect the national viewer demographics).[/quote]
Ummm, which commentators are you talking about? All the TV guys on Channel 10 as far as I know are from the Southern states and therefore are “AFL-literate”. I don’t know which one would be “Sydney-centric”. Please explain what you meant by this.
BTW, all the commentators on the TV tipped the Swans because they thought they could win. I wish everyone could just acknowledge that the Swans have proven the old saying that a “team of champions (i.e. West Coast) is not always a champion team (i.e. Sydney)”.
The Swans players have shown time and time again this year that they stick together and back each other up. They have been consistent in their game plan even when everyone was critising them for it earlier in the year, and for that they deserve the premiership.
In regards to the rugby league coverage, the reason why it is so huge is that whilst the Swans have been the fairytale story of the AFL, there are TWO fairytale stories in the NRL, Wests Tigers and North Queensland who have reached the grand final this week.
The league comp has been just as close and exciting as the AFL this year, so of course it is going to get more coverage than other sports in its heartland. Thw Swans have been near the top for the past few years, they were going to make it sooner or later. The NRL grand final teams this year is the biggest surprise of all, bookmakers were saying it would have been a 500-1 chance at the beginning of the season. You also have the two most attacking teams against each other, it’s going to be a great game.
[quote]bg100 wrote:
Ummm, which commentators are you talking about? All the TV guys on Channel 10 as far as I know are from the Southern states and therefore are “AFL-literate”. I don’t know which one would be “Sydney-centric”. Please explain what you meant by this.
[/quote]
Should have clarified this a little. I wasn’t refering to the commentators with the last parragraph, I was refering to the news coverage of the events. This was why I said media and not commentators.
Which champions? We have a couple of Brownlow winners and a team of youngsters (the second youngest team in the league). Wouldn’t call that a champion team. The backbone of the Eagles this year has been guys that are only in their first or second season of AFL. And the commentators picking who’s going to win is no indication of anything. Plenty of times teams have been picked as favorites by the media (Collingwood two years ago comes to mind) and lost.
I also never denegrated the Swans for winning. I’m disappointed for my team. My comments on the umpires was fair criticism. In a game that was this hard fought free kicks can change a game.
[quote]
The Swans players have shown time and time again this year that they stick together and back each other up. They have been consistent in their game plan even when everyone was critising them for it earlier in the year, and for that they deserve the premiership.
In regards to the rugby league coverage, the reason why it is so huge is that whilst the Swans have been the fairytale story of the AFL, there are TWO fairytale stories in the NRL, Wests Tigers and North Queensland who have reached the grand final this week.
The league comp has been just as close and exciting as the AFL this year, so of course it is going to get more coverage than other sports in its heartland. Thw Swans have been near the top for the past few years, they were going to make it sooner or later. The NRL grand final teams this year is the biggest surprise of all, bookmakers were saying it would have been a 500-1 chance at the beginning of the season. You also have the two most attacking teams against each other, it’s going to be a great game.[/quote]
It’s Rugby League, who cares?! 
Seriously though most states get broadcast all the NRL results, highlights, controversies, as though we actually have a following for the game. NRL is not even close to AFL numbers, especially in other states, yet news coverage beamed interstate on weekends would have you believe otherwise.