Opinion AFL 2023 Finals Week 2 - Liked, Learnt, Hated SEMI FINALS EDITION

[Supercoach Bargain]

Liked: GWS have sticky fingers, excellent one grab marks all over the ground.

Learned: The Dees make me scratch my head. went out and got Grundy, he's at Casey and they played TMac.
TMac did very little and had to pich hit in the ruck and did nothing forward. Surely Grundy could do at least that?
Then they did not use their sub Schache.

Hated: The first Sunday off for a while, the remote was on auto pilot at 3:30 Sunday. Had to mow the lawn!

 

[Stamos]

Sigh I meant if the positions had been reversed ...

Yeah, but the top rated Qualifying final winer earns the Friday night prelim.
That's the fairness.

 

[Viceregal]

Yeah, but the top rated Qualifying final winer earns the Friday night prelim.
That's the fairness.

sigh again.

IF the position had been reversed and it was Collingwood travelling away to Adelaide to play (which by definition means that they came in at 5-8 spot) and they had to travel again to play the next week ... do you think that the game would have been held too late to travel home and arranged so as to include a 6 day break even if it was say GWS who had been the minor premier.

 

[Stamos]

sigh again.

IF the position had been reversed and it was Collingwood travelling away to Adelaide to play (which by definition means that they came in at 5-8 spot) and they had to travel again to play the next week ... do you think that the game would have been held too late to travel home and arranged so as to include a 6 day break even if it was say GWS who had been the minor premier.

Yeah

 

[The acurate one]

Loved the Giants

Biggest disappoint Port, out of their depth at this level.
Always do ok in the SANFL

 

[gamer1]

Liked crowds
Learned goodwin can't coach
Hated how can you choose schache over grundy or brown, why not keep mcdonald on all game when he did nothing but schache given was there didn't get a go geez goodwin you asleep during the game your sub selections both games wtf laurie last week and even last game you don't use the sub who could have made a difference sorry that's ridiculous

 

[PizzaPie]

Liked:

• All things GWS. Especially the mother of one of the players getting blackout drunk and crashing every interview she could after the game. Major LOLs when she called them the Green Army, presumably meaning to say the Orange Tsunami. Cheers to you, mum!
• Carlton's thrilling last minute win over Melbourne, and the energy only a massive fan base starved of success can generate as its team charges towards a grand final (à la Collingwood 2010 and Richmond 2017).
• We are two results away from a Collingwood vs. Carlton Grand Final. I hope both sides can get up and make it happen.
• From a purely football tribalism perspective, I enjoyed seeing Melbourne lose after what I felt like was too much of an internal focus on playing the victim during the week leading up to the game. It's important to be noble in victory. So hey, Melbourne, bad luck... ya dickheads!

Learnt:

• The strong form line of Melbourne contrasted against Collingwood's poor form leading up to the finals was not a reliable indicator of what was to come, with the former going out in straight sets while the latter is playing in a prelim this week.
• With only four teams now remaining in contention, the premiership race is still as wide open as the H&A season suggested it might be.
• Two finalists making it to the preliminary finals from outside the top 4 will serve as a cause for optimism for 5th-8th placed finalists for many years to come. Even more so should the journey continue beyond the prelims for GWS and/or Carlton.
• Collingwood's path to a grand final was always going to be considerably less difficult by winning QF1 and avoiding having to beat Carlton in a SF only to have to play a prelim against the Lions @ the Gabba. But whilst the path avoided would have been a near impossibility, there is nothing easy about a path to the GF that requires beating GWS in a prelim this Friday. They are a huge threat and the game is close enough to being a genuine 50/50.

Hated:

• Not being able to get behind a GWS fairytale premiership run since my own side stands in their way!

 

[VinnieB]

sigh again.

IF the position had been reversed and it was Collingwood travelling away to Adelaide to play (which by definition means that they came in at 5-8 spot) and they had to travel again to play the next week ... do you think that the game would have been held too late to travel home and arranged so as to include a 6 day break even if it was say GWS who had been the minor premier.

The Collingwood game would always be on Friday night. Broadcasters would want that and the AFL would accommodate them.

I’m sure the AFL would love to see GWS win the Premiership more than any team. Would do wonders for the team’s profile and growth in Sydney.

 

[Demon13304]

Liked:

• From a purely football tribalism perspective, I enjoyed seeing Melbourne lose after what I felt like was too much of an internal focus on playing the victim during the week leading up to the game. It's important to be noble in victory. So hey, Melbourne, bad luck... ya dickheads!

I'll bite. This is such bullshit. Do you think the club got all their players, officials and coaches and sat around in a circle and discussed Maynard?

Goodwin said one thing about the incident in his press conference right after the game. That's the only time anyone from the club really talked about it. That is literally it as far as anyone from the club talking about it.

Petracca talked about how Gus was going , as you would, still no mention of the actual incident itself.
And Gawn only talked about Maynard (when he went to Gus' house) when asked on triple M, and he said it blown way out of proportion

It's a total media beat up trying create a "they're focusing on Maynard/playing the victim rather than winning the game" story and its honestly embarrassing that they're still running with it and its even more embarrassing that a lot of people have fallen for it.

As for the Dees fans being filthy about it, sure you can say it was over the top or whatever, but they don't run the club or speak for the club.

We didn't lose because we "played victim all week" we lost for many reasons (s**t coaching/atrocious forward half/Carlton playing well and taking their chances) , this storyline isn't one of the reason we lost

 

[PizzaPie]

I'll bite. This is such bullshit. Do you think the club got all their players, officials and coaches and sat around in a circle and discussed Maynard?

Goodwin said one thing about the incident in his press conference right after the game. That's the only time anyone from the club really talked about it. That is literally it as far as anyone from the club talking about it.

Petracca talked about how Gus was going , as you would, still no mention of the actual incident itself.
And Gawn only talked about Maynard (when he went to Gus' house) when asked on triple M, and he said it blown way out of proportion

It's a total media beat up trying create a "they're focusing on Maynard/playing the victim rather than winning the game" story and its honestly embarrassing that they're still running with it and its even more embarrassing that a lot of people have fallen for it.

As for the Dees fans being filthy about it, sure you can say it was over the top or whatever, but they don't run the club or speak for the club.

We didn't lose because we "played victim all week" we lost for many reasons (s**t coaching/atrocious forward half/Carlton playing well and taking their chances) , this storyline isn't one of the reason we lost

If the football tribalism disclaimer wasn't clear enough, basically I was saying I got into Pies vs. Melb at the most nuffy theatrical level. I probably read about 10 social media posts and a couple of mainstream media beat ups and chose to make a weekend of footy my team wasn't playing in fun by manufacturing a team to root for/against. I'd be disappointed if a professional football club's approach to a big final was anything remotely like my deliberately dumbed down, zero actual knowledge behind it, decision to get into some tribal boooo your team yay mine kinda s**t.

 

[Angus Young]

Liked- Giants brand of footy
How passionate and loud carlton fans are. Amazing. Love them.

Learnt- Kicking straight in finals is crucial

Hated- Melbourne throwing another opportunity in the bin. They are better than that.