Prelim finals - better than the big one

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Wes Tiger

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May 11, 2014
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I've always enjoyed the prelims more than the actual big dance itself. Sometimes the granny can be an anti climax or with so much at stake be quite an ugly affair or one sided barring some better ones in recent times. at least in terms of closeness with the epic swans-eagles duels, pies-lions of 2002 and the great game between hawks and swans of 2 years ago. Loved the 2008 grand final too btw one of favourite ever games.

Anyway, point I was raising here is here have been some absolute belter of a contests in the prelims over the years as well as some unlucky losers. Throw port into that mix on the weekend now too. Here are some classics over the last two and a bit decades that I've had the pleasure of witnessing.

1991 - west coast defeat Geelong by 15 points in the wet at WAverly where spearhead Peter Sumich snagged 6 of the 11 west coast majors.

1993 - bombers erase a 7 goals ht deficit where they trailed the crows 12.12 to 6.6. Literally doubled their score and shots on goal. Berwick and salmon snag 6 each if memory serves correct.

1994 - cats beat kangas by a goal with g Ablett kicking it after the siren

1996 - swans beat the dons by a point where plugger kicks a behind after the siren

1997 - western bulldogs. Ahhhh the western bulldogs. So close yet so far yet again. Chris grant smothered shot right at the end. Crows come from behind to erase the 1993 demons and pip the doggies. Trailed by about the same margin they led by in that prelim 4 years earlier. Won the game by 2 points, may have been 3. Darren JArman was the saviour.

1999 - the great upset. Kouta, brown, blues, 1 point, Essendon tears. 6th place Carlton shock the football world and beat the no 1 bombers. One of the great upsets in football history.

2001 - dons eclipse hawks by 9 or 10 points. Great contest. Hawks so close. Trent Croat hit the post which would have put them in front where once again a team chased or almost chased down a prelim deficit.

More to follow. Battery is about to go dead:)

2002 pies vs crows was great for the sheer support of the frenetic collingwood faithful. Beat the crows by 4 goals.

2004 lions beat the Carter's by 10 points on a Saturday night at the mcg.

port beat the sainters by a goal on a Friday night at aaimi. Fraser Gehrig notched up a century of goals during the game


2005 - not a classic but not bad nonetheless. Eagles beat the crows by 15 points at subi. The night before the swans and Barry hall run over the saints in the final term at the g and win by 33 points.

2006 - west coast beat the crows at aaimi coming from behind at half time. Judd and cousins master class. Won by about 10 points. That margin or there abouts sure has been around the mark a lot in prelims.

2007 - cats beat the pies by 5 Friday night at the g

2009 - saints beat the doggies Friday night at the g. Poor dogs, another close lose. I think they lost by 4 but could have been 10 with a late Riewoldt goal?

2011 - pies beat the hawks by 3 points enter luke ball

2012 hawks beat the crows by 5 points

2013 - hawks beat the cats by 5 points

2014 hawks beat the power by 3 points.

Gee that 5 point and 10 point margin or so has come up a lot. Anyway some rip roaring contests there and with their football livelihood on the line they've played out some epic encounters.
 
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Wes Tiger

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May 11, 2014
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Most of those games were not as good as the following recent GFs: 2012, 2011, 2010 draw, 2009, 2006 and 2005. We have been blessed with high quality and close grand finals in recent times
Y bad. Brain lapse with those great 2009-10 granny's. Pearlers. Been some epic prelims as well as granny's. Some great qualifying finals one too with the swans- wce, pies lions in 2003, pies-power 2002 and crows saints in 2005 as well as many more going back to 93 blues-dons.
 
Sep 15, 2007
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You also tend to get more proper footy followers at big Prelims, not as many corporate tickets.

This is it.. The live atmosphere in prelims may be better. But the games themselves are no better. In fact, grannies have a better strike rate.

It's just that there are two prelims every year to every one gf.

Op, what about these recent prelims:
Syd/north 2014
Freo/syd 2013
Syd/coll 2012
Geel/wce 2011
Both prelims 2010
Geel/coll 2009
Both prelims 2008
Port/north 2007
Syd/freo 2006

And so on.

None of these games were tight.

For every nail-biting prelim, there is a lopsided one.
 
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Jul 5, 2012
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Kidding, right?
Most of those games were not as good as the following recent GFs: 2012, 2011, 2010 draw, 2009, 2006 and 2005. We have been blessed with high quality and close grand finals in recent times
Yes, lucky us.

My memory may be playing tricks, but it sure felt like most GFs in the 70s and 80s were over by three quarter time.
 

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The Passenger

The passenger, I am...
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There have been some great prelims over the years but there have also been some great grand finals. between the 1989 and 2005 grand final encounters the only one that was close was 2002 lions and pies which is a pretty good game but from memory if it weren't for the close score line wouldn't have been largely forgotten a bit like 2013's. the 1996 grand final (replayed on FF the other day) was an absolute pearler for one half before the Swans dropped off.

we've been lucky since 2005 - every GF except 07 and 10 replay have been either a really high quality game of football, or a close one, a lot of them have been both.
 

Wes Tiger

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May 11, 2014
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This is it.. The live atmosphere in prelims may be better. But the games themselves are no better. In fact, grannies have a better strike rate.

It's just that there are two prelims every year to every one gf.

Op, what about these recent prelims:
Syd/north 2014
Freo/syd 2013
Syd/coll 2012
Geel/wce 2011
Both prelims 2010
Geel/coll 2009
Both prelims 2008
Port/north 2007
Syd/freo 2006

And so on.

None of these games were tight.

For every nail-biting prelim, there is a lopsided one.
That's a very good point about the 2 prelims to one gf. I realised i forgot to mention that a while after I posted.

But what about these grand finals that happened from 91 onwards when i listed my time frame of watching footy first started.

1991 hawks belt wce by 53
1993 - dons blitz the blues by 40 odd points
1994 wce smash Geelong by 80
1995 blues defeat the cats by 61
1996 - roos beat the swans by about 8 goals
1999 - roos beat Carlton by 35
2000 dons by 60
2003 lions by 8 goals
2004 power by 40
2007 cats by 119
2010 replay pies by a country mile
2011 cats easily over pies

Granted the 2004 and 2011 grand finals were good for 3 quarters but the margin blew out. Other contests similar that they were still good but come the games end were hardly a contest with wce in 92 winning by 28 and hawks vs the cats in 08 by 26. Still gripping contests nonetheless. Even the crows victories in 97-98 blew out a bit at the end with 31 and 35 point victories respectively.
 

Duskfire

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 30, 2007
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There is a certain magic in a close prelim. I don't know what it is but the anticipation in a close tight prelim is intense. Even as a neutral supporter watching the game just gone by was just amazing. I don't know if it's better then the grand final but even close prelims I remember fondly tears after
 
Jul 5, 2012
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Kidding, right?
As a neutral I love Prelims but when you are part of it there is nothing worse to me. I'm usually alright with Grand Finals but I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to Prelims. It certainly doesn't help that our ones tend to be closer than most.
Yes, you guys do do it the hard way, don't you?
 
May 8, 2007
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One thing for sure - the 2 prelims work better than one - which was the situation pre final 8.

I always thought the prelim weekend was the worst for the whole season. I can really only remember a couple that were really memorable - 1987 Hawks/Demons (Stynes/Buckenara) and 1973 Coll/Richmond (Royce Hart comeback).

Now the prelim weekend is almost better than the GF - 2 games are nearly always better than one.
 

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