Bonz
🤺🤺🤺
Isn't sport just wonderful? I know some (well more recent fans) are saying things cannot get much worse than this season (close losses, general atrophy with some of our play, an injury list that resembles a 1916 German Bunker), but I would like to point out, that actually it can get much worse.
Last year I wrote a delightful piece "The Greatest Controversy in Sport" so I felt like I may as well use that wonderful piece of content instead of talking about how poor our season has been.
LANCE ARMSTRONG and Cycling.
Majority of people know what happened with Lance Armstrong, had cancer, fought back and became what was considered right up to January 2013 the single greatest Athlete of all time, a heart warming story and inspiration to all showing everybody that no matter what you are against it is possible to come out on top.
Unfortunately as we are aware good ole Lance was cheating (EPO, HGH and Blood Doping) so his wins were more than a bit tainted. So why is the 2016 Grand Final more controversial than this? Well between 1998 and 2010 only ONE Tour De France was won by a clean rider who has never been convicted of doping (Cadel Evans <3) so you can argue at least it was a level field. The Swans on the other hand never really had a chance for the field to be level as the Dogs had won the free kick count in all 5 of their Victorian Matches against interstate opposition in Victoria by large margins (58% vs Freo, 67% against Brisbane, 70% vs Adelaide, 71% against WCE and 61% against GCE) the Swans were up against it before the ball was even bounced.
OJ Simpson
The Trial of the century and the most publicised criminal trial in American history with a very large pay out to the families of those who were murdered and somehow no jail time. My argument for why 2016 Grand Final was more controversial was simple. At least OJ Simpsons Victims had a trial and got a pay out, the Swans had neither. Instead they just king hit from behind and woke up to find their goals were crushed. (Or at least the paying supporters of the Swans can have their tickets refunded after being robbed).
Tonya Harding
Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were fierce rivals for the US National Figure Skating Championships but nobody realised just how fierce until Kerrigan, then the US’s best female figure skater and a gold medal favourite for the 1994 Olympics, was attacked and injured by an unidentified man. It was found later that Tonya Harding had hatched a plan to take out her competition behind the scenes. How was 2016 more controversial than this? Well at least after Tonya hatched her plan she was barred from all competition, whilst the umpires in the 2016 grand final continue to stain the AFL to this day (Did I mention that they somehow didn't blow the whistle once in Sydney's favour in either the second or third quarters? Or do anything when Dan Hannebery's knee's were basically murdered in front of 100,000 thousand witnesses).
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Vestrappen Win)
The one result that I actually believe is nearly on par with the blight on humanity that is the 2016 AFL Grand Final Result. Essentially what happened was the Race Director (Michael Masi) broke the rules during the final race to give Formula One its grand stand finish, allowing Vestrappen to overtake Hamilton on the last lap of the race giving him both the race and championship wins. Issue with this was originally there were 5 (thats right) 5 lapped cars that were between the two racers yet somehow Vestrappen was given approval to change onto fresh tyres and the 5 cars were allowed to unlap themselves in circumstances that should NEVER of happened.
This result was definitely nearly on par with the 2016 Grand Final BUT the key difference is the Grand Final is a winner takes all, whilst Formula One has an entire season of races that help decide the winner. So technically Hamiliton had opportunities to wrap up the championship in earlier races.
2016 Grand Final
The Single Most One Sider Free Kick Count in Grand Final History.
20-8 at the end of the match
15-4 at Three Quarter Time (With no free kicks given to the Swans during the Second or Third Quarters)
Multiple free kick calls not given to the Swans, Dan Hannebery's is the most famous, but Jack should have received 3 different free kicks inside 50 on the day.
Just watch this video to feel enraged -
Anyways onto the official preview.
Round 18 - Sydney Vs Bravedogs
Formguide
Season so far
Sydney - Less said the better, injuries, lack of composure, finishing and lack of skills under pressure have really cost us this season, honestly I don't think it is as bad as some people are saying it is, if we had pinched two of the Geelong, Richmond, GWS and Port games we would be up to this season in our eyeballs.
Western Bulldogs - Have struggled for consistency, but have generally won when they have needed to, A few of their gun players (Bont in particular) have found form at the right time of the season and they could have won against Collingwood. If a few things go right on their run home will be very dangerous in September.
What I would like to see from this match
Sheldrick - Would love to see Sheldrick in at the stoppages from the first bounce, he has shown some real nous at the stoppages so let's back him in and see how he goes with 80% game time.
Heeney - Stick him in the goal square and allow some havoc, Heeney was great on Thursday (one of our few), so would love to see us build on his confidence for next season.
Logan McDonald - If we are playing Buddy, allow Logan to move up the ground and be the link player within the arcs, honestly believe he will create some chances for himself running back.
Melican (Not Melican't) - Melican has been in some great touch since his return and I would enjoy watching him go head to head with Naughton.
The sub - Running forward or midfielder please (Wicks or maybe Stephens here), NOT a tagger or key position player again.
Final say
Expect Sydney to start out strong, match the Bulldogs in the midfield and cause problems up front in the first half, due to our lack of fitness (youth and injuries) we are falling away in our second halves, so if we are behind expect the Bravedogs to run over the top of us in a VicBias rousing effort.
Final Prediction
Western Bulldogs 24 free kicks
Sydney 13 free kicks
Last year I wrote a delightful piece "The Greatest Controversy in Sport" so I felt like I may as well use that wonderful piece of content instead of talking about how poor our season has been.
LANCE ARMSTRONG and Cycling.
Majority of people know what happened with Lance Armstrong, had cancer, fought back and became what was considered right up to January 2013 the single greatest Athlete of all time, a heart warming story and inspiration to all showing everybody that no matter what you are against it is possible to come out on top.
Unfortunately as we are aware good ole Lance was cheating (EPO, HGH and Blood Doping) so his wins were more than a bit tainted. So why is the 2016 Grand Final more controversial than this? Well between 1998 and 2010 only ONE Tour De France was won by a clean rider who has never been convicted of doping (Cadel Evans <3) so you can argue at least it was a level field. The Swans on the other hand never really had a chance for the field to be level as the Dogs had won the free kick count in all 5 of their Victorian Matches against interstate opposition in Victoria by large margins (58% vs Freo, 67% against Brisbane, 70% vs Adelaide, 71% against WCE and 61% against GCE) the Swans were up against it before the ball was even bounced.
OJ Simpson
The Trial of the century and the most publicised criminal trial in American history with a very large pay out to the families of those who were murdered and somehow no jail time. My argument for why 2016 Grand Final was more controversial was simple. At least OJ Simpsons Victims had a trial and got a pay out, the Swans had neither. Instead they just king hit from behind and woke up to find their goals were crushed. (Or at least the paying supporters of the Swans can have their tickets refunded after being robbed).
Tonya Harding
Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were fierce rivals for the US National Figure Skating Championships but nobody realised just how fierce until Kerrigan, then the US’s best female figure skater and a gold medal favourite for the 1994 Olympics, was attacked and injured by an unidentified man. It was found later that Tonya Harding had hatched a plan to take out her competition behind the scenes. How was 2016 more controversial than this? Well at least after Tonya hatched her plan she was barred from all competition, whilst the umpires in the 2016 grand final continue to stain the AFL to this day (Did I mention that they somehow didn't blow the whistle once in Sydney's favour in either the second or third quarters? Or do anything when Dan Hannebery's knee's were basically murdered in front of 100,000 thousand witnesses).
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Vestrappen Win)
The one result that I actually believe is nearly on par with the blight on humanity that is the 2016 AFL Grand Final Result. Essentially what happened was the Race Director (Michael Masi) broke the rules during the final race to give Formula One its grand stand finish, allowing Vestrappen to overtake Hamilton on the last lap of the race giving him both the race and championship wins. Issue with this was originally there were 5 (thats right) 5 lapped cars that were between the two racers yet somehow Vestrappen was given approval to change onto fresh tyres and the 5 cars were allowed to unlap themselves in circumstances that should NEVER of happened.
This result was definitely nearly on par with the 2016 Grand Final BUT the key difference is the Grand Final is a winner takes all, whilst Formula One has an entire season of races that help decide the winner. So technically Hamiliton had opportunities to wrap up the championship in earlier races.
2016 Grand Final
The Single Most One Sider Free Kick Count in Grand Final History.
20-8 at the end of the match
15-4 at Three Quarter Time (With no free kicks given to the Swans during the Second or Third Quarters)
Multiple free kick calls not given to the Swans, Dan Hannebery's is the most famous, but Jack should have received 3 different free kicks inside 50 on the day.
Just watch this video to feel enraged -
Anyways onto the official preview.
Round 18 - Sydney Vs Bravedogs
Formguide
Season so far
Sydney - Less said the better, injuries, lack of composure, finishing and lack of skills under pressure have really cost us this season, honestly I don't think it is as bad as some people are saying it is, if we had pinched two of the Geelong, Richmond, GWS and Port games we would be up to this season in our eyeballs.
Western Bulldogs - Have struggled for consistency, but have generally won when they have needed to, A few of their gun players (Bont in particular) have found form at the right time of the season and they could have won against Collingwood. If a few things go right on their run home will be very dangerous in September.
What I would like to see from this match
Sheldrick - Would love to see Sheldrick in at the stoppages from the first bounce, he has shown some real nous at the stoppages so let's back him in and see how he goes with 80% game time.
Heeney - Stick him in the goal square and allow some havoc, Heeney was great on Thursday (one of our few), so would love to see us build on his confidence for next season.
Logan McDonald - If we are playing Buddy, allow Logan to move up the ground and be the link player within the arcs, honestly believe he will create some chances for himself running back.
Melican (Not Melican't) - Melican has been in some great touch since his return and I would enjoy watching him go head to head with Naughton.
The sub - Running forward or midfielder please (Wicks or maybe Stephens here), NOT a tagger or key position player again.
Final say
Expect Sydney to start out strong, match the Bulldogs in the midfield and cause problems up front in the first half, due to our lack of fitness (youth and injuries) we are falling away in our second halves, so if we are behind expect the Bravedogs to run over the top of us in a VicBias rousing effort.
Final Prediction
Western Bulldogs 24 free kicks
Sydney 13 free kicks
