If West Coast lose to Hawthorn will Fremantle "throw" the Derby?

[King LeBron]

I'd rather we kicked the snot out of them personally and then hope they miss top 4...

High chance of us missing top four altogether, especially if Richmond continue their recent form. I have us losing to Hawks, Dockers, and Adelaide away, which would condemn us most likely to fifth. Bulldogs at home isn't easy either..

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Pretty sure the Dockers would sooner throw the Grand Final than a derby.

There is a difference for Freo between the two?

 

[estibador]

With our luck, if we try to engineer a result like this the footy gods will punish us by letting the eagles beat us in the grand final. * that!

 

[W.C. Fry]

3. General uproar about not taking the Derby seriously - I think the only reasonable result were Freo to throw the Derby would be in 2016 to only play one Derby in Perth - an Eagles home game

That would actually hurt the Eagles more than Freo. Result being Eagles would play 11 away games interstate rather than 10.

 

[The_Reaper]

Q: Why did Fremantle move to Cockburn?
A: To get closer to Success

That joke is less stupid than the idea of Freo throwing a derby

 

[Mogumber]

We'll win the Derby, and the Hawks will win this w/end.

 

[Whatname]

Would love a journo to ask Ross this curly one.

 

[bringbackbucky]

If they have top spot sewed up before round 23 - will they leave their stars home or bring them across to play Port?

 

[Paracleet]

The bigger question should be: Would the Eagles consider throwing a game to finish 4th instead of 3rd?

If that is a possibility come round 23, why would the Eagles want to finish 3rd and travel to the MCG to play Hawthorn, when they can finish 4th and stay at home to play the dockers with a 50/50 crowd split? Would also be able to rest players round 23 before the finals.

They made rule changes after freo threw the round 23 game against the saints in 2013 that would make this illegal (although ironically not what freo actually did)

 

[Seadog]

As if they'll get a choice

 

[TheInjuryFactory]

OP is a Saints supporter?

 

[hawkman]

Q: Why did Fremantle move to Cockburn?
A: To get closer to Success

That joke is less stupid than the idea of Freo throwing a derby

The better one is that Success will always be Freo's neighbour but never its location

 

[bradrowe#32]

I want a Western Derby Grand Final.
Good for Football.

So do I. Work would be epic for a week before the game and for six months afterwards.

 

[juss]

Surely you wouldn't flirt with form in that big a match this close to September

 

[juss]

I want a Western Derby Grand Final.
Good for Football.

If my team can't be in it, I'd love this as the scenario.

 

[peppy la pew]

Make me laugh talk of throwing games

We have to beat Saints first

 

[im_a_lazy_sod]

Let's beat St. Kilda first, shall we?

We have found that hard of late

 

[MightyHawks]

That would actually hurt the Eagles more than Freo. Result being Eagles would play 11 away games interstate rather than 10.

Don't think the Fremantle marketing department would be excited about it though

 

[Randomizor]

If they have top spot sewed up before round 23 - will they leave their stars home or bring them across to play Port?

Leave them at home I'd say. Why would we send them?

 

[Marley10]

Fremantle wouldn't throw a game unless you're St Kilda or Hawthorn in Tassie

 

[PottSie2]

It's 50/50 at best. Bookies have Hawks as massive favourites. We'll see.

Surely the bookies learnt from last week. Richmond were paying $5.50 for the win. Ridiculous odds.

 

[Peter Bosustow]

Assume the Top 4 at the end of H&A is Freo, WCE, Hawthorn and Sydney. If Hawthorn were to beat the Eagles this week, I still think Ross would be foolish to throw the Derby; his forward line is dysfunctional and they really need to start hitting their straps again. He almost had egg on his face at the end of 2013 when Geelong pipped the Lions at KP by 1 point, but all is well that ends well! Although anything can happen on "Any Given Sunday", I don't see the Eagles losing a game beyond the Derby (Adelaide will be mentally and almost mathematically cooked by then, especially if Geelong knock off Sydney this weekend) and that would give us a WA front row, thus increasing the likelihood of both WA sides hosting PFs. But if only one WA team were to win their QF (a 1/3 chance), their home ground advantage in the PF is effectively gone if the loser wins their home SF. What would Ross prefer? A PF against a battle weary, jet-lagged reigning back-to-back premier Hawthorn or just a battle weary WCE?

Point of the exercise: The premier will eventually have to beat at least 2 (most likely 3) Top 4 sides. Since 2000, the most deserving team has almost always won the competition IMO or at least made the GF unlike my Blues that were smashed in Brisbane by 15 goals and one of the Adelaide sides that got belted by Melbourne. Screw the permutations - they are heavily dependent on assumptions and it is way too soon to be thinking like this. If it were R23, I might say something entirely different. And if we were doing this last week, we would have assumed WCE would roll the GC. A WA team could have 3 straight finals at Subiaco...what would have that been paying at the start of the year?!

 

[master bate]

The problem is I think the Eagles are far from certainties against the Dogs and Crows and Freo are far from certainties against North and Port (and maybe even the Saints this week, they are their bogey team).

Losing the derby doesn't guarantee the Eagles 2nd place OR Freo first place. In fact in opens up the unlikely but possible chance that Hawthorn go all the way to up to first and Freo slip to 3rd. It likely takes away Freo's chance to rest players for round 23. And sure they can probably rest players for round 22 v Melbourne but ideally you'd want both options.

If you were to manipulate it you'd be wanting:
Option A) - The easiest path for Freo in to the grand final is finishing first and beating Sydney and West Coast in the qualifying and prelim finals or vice versa.
To be replaced with:

Option B) - Lose the derby to create the best chance for Freo to win the flag by having Hawthorn play (and hopefully lose) to West Coast in week 1 of finals before coming back to play Freo in a prelim but that's asking for a lot.

I'd be happy with option A, winning 2 home finals hopefully with ease and then taking my chances on the day with Hawthorn. It's not like Freo were destroyed by Hawthorn in the 2013 grand final.

 

[Hinkley29]

.... It's not like Freo were destroyed by Hawthorn in the 2013 grand final.

It is fair to say that Freo destroyed themselves in the 2013 GF.

 

[Proud SJW]

Would love a journo to ask Ross this curly one.

A: "I don't deal with Hypotheticals".