Unofficial Preview Finals Week 1 - 2nd Qualifying Final - Geelong VS Fremantle @ Simonds Stadium

[Freo Big Fella]

Something I've been thinking about the final last year was how we absolutely smashed Bartel. I think we had Clancee and De Boer gang-banging him for most of the night and he looked absolutely rattled.

Hopefully something we can replicate.

 

[Fred Ziffel]

Something I've been thinking about the final last year was how we absolutely smashed Bartel. I think we had Clancee and De Boer gang-banging him for most of the night and he looked absolutely rattled.

Hopefully something we can replicate.

The big difference this year is we'll be fit and refreshed .

 

[holy diver]

Something I've been thinking about the final last year was how we absolutely smashed Bartel. I think we had Clancee and De Boer gang-banging him for most of the night and he looked absolutely rattled.

Hopefully something we can replicate.

No Clancee to bring the pressure - de Boer is going to have to have another partner.

 

[estibador]

FORM GUIDE

Fremantle: WWWWL
Geelong: LWWWW*

Both teams go into the finals on the back of a loss last week, the only difference being Geelong's loss won't be officially recorded in the history books thanks to 5 minutes of the most cowardly home town umpiring seen since the eagles last appeared at Subi. Thankfully the culprit, Steve McBurney, has been duly dropped for the finals and will be unable to save Geelong two weeks in a row.


FREMANTLE

Freo enter the finals something of an unknown quantity; while the other big boys have been smacking the crap out of each other Freo has been quietly dispatching lesser teams with ease. Whether this soft run will have them primed or a little off the pace remains to be seen. While the quality of opposition has been admittedly lacking, Ross Lyon will no doubt be heartened by the ruthless manner Freo disposed of what was put in front of them.

R19 Etihad - defeated Carlton by 36
One of Freo's most impressive performances of the season. With finals on the line Carlton came to play but were overwhelmed by the tougher, harder, more committed Dockers. This performance scared Geelong so much they lobbied the AFL to have the coming final moved to Simmonds, saving them from certain defeat at the hands of the Etihad specialists... or so they think.

R20 Subi - defeated GWS by 113
Party time as Freo broke their club record for biggest winning margin. All you can ask for against sub-standard opposition really.

R21 MCG - defeated Melbourne by 95
Disappointing result for Freo, falling short of breaking the record twice in two weeks.

R22 Subi - defeated Port by 74
Probably Freo's best home performance of the season, completely overwhelming Port and making the surprise finalist look like the bottom 5 team from last year.

R23 Etihad - lost to Saints by 71
Tankapoolooza! Ross Lyon showed his caring nature by generously donating 22 bodies in purple jumpers for his old team to use as witches hats during their big farewell party. Senior players looked under instruction to avoid hurting themselves, to the extent that a colour blind viewer could be forgiven for thinking they were watching Melbourne out there.


GEELONG

As always Geelong are looking ominous at the business end of the season, half-hearted effort against Brisbane aside, so much so that some sections of the Freo fanbase began to wonder whether the Dockers were better off facing the Hawks in the first week.

R19 Etihad - lost to North by 10
Hard to know what to take from this one. The downhill skiers from Arden St were just embarking on their traditional dead rubber winning streak after choking their season away once again when the pressure was on earlier in the year. Still somewhat embarrassing that Geelong couldn't chase down the chokers like every other team has, and probably added to Geelong's fear of facing Freo at Etihad.

R20 Skilled - defeated Port by 25
Perhaps a hint that Geelong aren't as impervious at Skilled as they like to think, scraping out a moderate win against a Port team Freo would duly spank two weeks later.

R21 Subi - defeated WCE by 66
Was anyone actually impressed by this? Letting this pathetic excuse for eagles team get within 11 goals of you is as good as a loss (derbies aside, because it's a documented fact the eagles treat them as grand finals and lift accordingly)

R22 Skilled - defeated Sydney by 44
Now this was an impressive result whichever way you slice it. Geelong completely overwhelmed Sydney, restricting them to just 48 points while recording double the scoring shots and, perhaps most impressively, 30 more tackles despite dominating possession. Made all the more impressive by Sydney's gallant showing the next week when they went down narrowly to Hawthorn.

R23 Skilled - defeated* Brisbane by 1
Geelong chose the more traditional form of tank popularised by Melbourne - naming all your starting players but then playing like crap. Nothing to be gleaned from this match other than the fact that Steve McBurney doesn't deserve to by umpiring AFL matches, and no doubt the result would have been vastly different if Geelong had known they needed to win to stay ahead of Freo.


CONCLUSION
After running an exhaustive analysis of all the results listed above (ie comparing the two winning margins against Port) computer says Freo is mathematically a better team than Geelong to the tune of 49 points.

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

One of the greatest preview threads in the history of the Freo BF Board. Well done all of you.

Now I'm excited, can't wait for the 11AM Saturday steam train to Sleepy Hollow...

 

[freo84]

Quality write ups guys and girls

All of them are funny, articulate and well researched.

Much appreciated

 

[Jmac2225]

estibador your most impressive performance was a six goal win against Carltank this year?

That's a little sad I hope you can dish up better than that or this won't even be a contest.

 

[Boppo]

Looks like McP a big doubt according to the paper. A bit worried now with three top shelf defenders gone.

 

[Seppo]

Looks like McP a big doubt according to the paper. A bit worried now with three top shelf defenders gone.

I believe Harry, Salim, Irish and EShed more than anything from the paper. If they say McPharlap is good to go, that enough for me!

 

[go_the_dockers]

This is the first time Fremantle have achieved back to back finals. Bond, Lloyd and Lyon have done a brilliant job to achieve this and I do not see any reason we will drop out the finals in the next 2-3 years.

 

[strobe00]

Apparently McBurney has been benched (emergency) due to his crappy call on the Chappy holding the ball. Probably won't get a run in the finals now.

Sounds positive initially, until you realise it increases the chances of getting the other three. And from what I've seen in the last couple of years, McBurney hasn't been as bad towards us as he has been previously.

Overly technical... yes, that hasn't changed... but his calls haven't seemed to land in the oppo's favour quite as frequently/painfully as the other three have in recent years (from my memory at least).

 

[Arcassius]

Sounds positive initially, until you realise it increases the chances of getting the other three. And from what I've seen in the last couple of years, McBurney hasn't been as bad towards us as he has been previously.

Overly technical... yes, that hasn't changed... but his calls haven't seemed to land in the oppo's favour quite as frequently/painfully as the other three have in recent years (from my memory at least).

We'll know the AFL has it in for us when Farmer and friends rock up.

 

[Big Animal]

While we are on umpiring, I think it would be good policy to put Neale on Selwood. Try ducking a tackle from a midget Duckwood!!!!!!!!!

 

[jusjoshin]

We'll know the AFL has it in for us when Farmer and friends rock up.

Freo make the granny...

AFL Changes
out : reason
in : Farmer, Nicholls, Margetts

 

[PapaJ]

Not that it means too much, but I like to check the betting odds to get an idea of things; we're sitting around $3.35 Geelong $1.33. So Cat's pretty strong favourites. Interesting to see which way they go. I suspect we're going to come in a bit, but those odds aren't far off when you consider where it's being played etc.

 

[Arcassius]

While we are on umpiring, I think it would be good policy to put Neale on Selwood. Try ducking a tackle from a midget Duckwood!!!!!!!!!

Reminds me of the derby when Ballas tackled someone and they went to duck out of it then thought better of it

 

[ozzie69]

Not that it means too much, but I like to check the betting odds to get an idea of things; we're sitting around $3.35 Geelong $1.33. So Cat's pretty strong favourites. Interesting to see which way they go. I suspect we're going to come in a bit, but those odds aren't far off when you consider where it's being played etc.

Where it's being played isn't as big a deal as is being made out - providing we don't get a Geelong hurricane!

 

[Harry Reems]

I believe Harry, Salim, Irish and EShed more than anything from the paper. If they say McPharlap is good to go, that enough for me!

Hi Seppo, I was wondering if you happened to catch Ross Lyon's interview with 3AW last night?

They don't have the link up on their web site as yet so I can't post it, but it was a great interview with Gerard Healey and Dwayne Russell.

Anyway, Ross said that Luke had been training well and was expected to train fully all week with the side in order to play on Saturday.

And from what we all witnessed yesterday at the start of training that's exactly how it looked to us too.

However 10 minutes in Luke went off and wasn't seen again. Ross said in that interview that Luke felt a bit tight in the hamstring and left the track early as a precaution.

"He will be managed this week and we will see how he trains on Thursday before deciding on selecting him" was pretty much the quote from Ross if memory serves me correctly.

He was moving very well before he went off though, so I would say he is 50/50 to play this week.

 

[PapaJ]

Where it's being played isn't as big a deal as is being made out - providing we don't get a Geelong hurricane!

As far as odds go, my guess is it would be adding 50c odd. But sure, the 'etc.' bit was important. Geelong have been here done that year after year now, they come in pretty healthy (Hawkins and a handful of the 'fringe players' aside), they don't have to travel and this will be their 3rd home game in a row - so that will give them a certain freshness to them, at the same time they've played and performed against some quality teams coming into the final. We're in pretty good shape ourselves, but I don't think we should kid ourselves, they're primed.

 

[blue shark]

The coaching of both clubs is first class, and would be on par with each other. The difference is in the recruiting, development of players.
Geelong are A grade, and have been the best over a decade, four grand final appearances, Brownlows, Norm Smith medals, what havnt they achieved?
If our department can keep our window open for that long, the rest will take care of itself.
Our dept. gets a B grade from my point of view, but has huge upside for next year. Our next generation of players are quality, glad I dont have to be the one cutting players for next year.

 

[ozzie69]

He was moving very well before he went off though, so I would say he is 50/50 to play this week.

Sounds like Silva could be lining up for another run. That would leave a back six of Silva, Dawson, Spurr, Duffman, Johnson and Hill(?),

 

[vinum coupe]

I'll find the time to read this thread properly later.
But at a quick glance there's some brilliant write ups that are pretty bloody balanced

 

[Seppo]

I'll find the time to read this thread properly later.
But at a quick glance there's some brilliant write ups that are pretty bloody balanced

That's how we roll on the Freo Board...

Here, have a rainbow

 

[Kaney321]

Sorry guys, been under the pump this week, will hopefully get to it tonight.

 

[vinum coupe]

R20 Subi - defeated GWS by 113
Party time as Freo broke their club record for biggest winning margin. All you can ask for against sub-standard opposition really.

Had a giggle at this.
We've won grand finals by more.