Game Day Richmond v Geelong, Preliminary Finals — Fri 20 Sep, 7:50PM AEST, MCG

[noise36]

No different from what Hawkins got rubbed out for but there is one thing the MRP is consistent at its being inconsistent.

Nervous wait for Houli

 

[Purrfect pussy]

No different from what Hawkins got rubbed out for but there is one thing the MRP is consistent at its being inconsistent.

0 chance houli gets done, miers played for the free kick big time. Nothing in it

 

[charcoalchicken]

Hawkins getting suspended really cost the cats here I reckon, geelong gave it a decent crack, reckon if hawkins was out there they may have won this as it was close for most of the night

 

[queensberryrules]

No different from what Hawkins got rubbed out for but there is one thing the MRP is consistent at its being inconsistent.

Your blind as a bat.

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[queensberryrules]

Well the AFL got what they wanted. I hope fans of other medium to small sized clubs see the perils of going down the path of the AFL turning into a scripted entertainment product, a la the wrestling divas of WWE, the Bachelor, etc.., given that the head honchos have shown no qualms in interfering to get the guaranteed result they're after.

Accept it. Deep breath. Next year.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Connoisseur]

Accept it. Deep breath. Next year.

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Geelong just wanted a fair crack at making the granny but the AFL went out of their way to make sure that didn't happen and any footy fan that values fairness should be disturbed and seriously concerned about the sad state of affairs that the game has devolved into.

 

[Purrfect pussy]

Accept it. Deep breath. Next year.

On SM-G955F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Some of us just need something to blame, quite sad really. We had a good year, couldn’t get the job done. Move on

 

[romeohwho]

Gave it a good crack but came up short. The tigers a bit too good in the end. Deserve their crack at another flag after being the best team in the comp for three years.
Go Pies though!

 

[captain cotch 9]

Geelong just wanted a fair crack at making the granny but the AFL went out of their way to make sure that didn't happen and any footy fan that values fairness should be disturbed and seriously concerned about the sad state of affairs that the game has devolved into.

Can you please provide evidence of this so we can all laugh at you a little more?
Is that you Chris Scott?

 

[Sterge]

I swear to god from where i was sitting it looked like that flog razor ray pointed our way when danger dived thats why houli called for the ball.
Bloke should never umpire finals again

It still boggles the mind that teams (my own team included) see it fit to allow a player of Martin's calibre just run around loose in the forward line unchecked a lot of the time.

He has to be tagged. Tight. He will burn you if he is allowed any space, much less the miles of room he is currently being afforded.

Maynard wouldn't be a bad match up if the Pies win, but I think De Boer would be the best fit if GWS won today

Please play de boer on dusty in the goal square that would play right into our hands.

Geelong just wanted a fair crack at making the granny but the AFL went out of their way to make sure that didn't happen and any footy fan that values fairness should be disturbed and seriously concerned about the sad state of affairs that the game has devolved into.

You lost to the better team champ, get over it

 

[kenberger]

Well the AFL got what they wanted. I hope fans of other medium to small sized clubs see the perils of going down the path of the AFL turning into a scripted entertainment product, a la the wrestling divas of WWE, the Bachelor, etc.., given that the head honchos have shown no qualms in interfering to get the guaranteed result they're after.

Of all the poorly umpires games this year, last night was not the standout

 

[Gavin Excell]

It still boggles the mind that teams (my own team included) see it fit to allow a player of Martin's calibre just run around loose in the forward line unchecked a lot of the time.

He has to be tagged. Tight. He will burn you if he is allowed any space, much less the miles of room he is currently being afforded.

Maynard wouldn't be a bad match up if the Pies win, but I think De Boer would be the best fit if GWS won today

It seems to be unfashionable among some coaches at least to employ hard tags.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Of all the poorly umpires games this year, last night was not the standout

Agreed

There were 2 that came to mind as questionable- Dangerfield push in back half time and the umpire missed a clear 50m penalty Tigers when i think it was Guthrie who encroached

Other than those thought umpiring wasnt too bad.

 

[irish]

Realy as an observer I cannot see how the cats lost this match , they had the tigers measure at the half and just needed to kill em off early in the third but yes the tigers rallied as expected but the response was so vanilla it was something cats fans will suffer for ages
Where was Danger ? Are the cats over rated , they just could not keep the foot on a snakes head and got shown up for it

 

[Americanpies]

The Chris Scott & Joel Selwood leadership combination in finals:

2012 - 6th - .L
2013 - 2nd - L W L
2014 - 3rd -. L L
2015 - 10th
2016 - 2nd - W_. L
2017 - 2nd - L W L
2018 - 8th -. L
2019 - 1st - .L W L

4 wins, 11 losses. That's just over a 25% winning strike rate.

Geelong have had 5 (five) top 3 finishes in the past 7 years for a 0-4 W/L record in Prelim Finals

Here is a long post.. which answers a few questions.

They win most of their games down in Geelong. They play that ground well by choking up space and playing an ugly brand of football, where other teams can't figure it out. They then win games against bottom feeder teams interstate, and at other Melbourne venues - MCG/Marvel.

But put them at the MCG against a good Vic team or interstate against a good team, and they will more than likely lose. This is why they can beat West Coast last week at the MCG, because West Coast are a travelling team. But they would not beat West Coast in Perth. They wouldn't beat Collingwood or Richmond at the MCG in a high stakes game. (They did earlier in the year, but when Richmond was decimated by injuries, and Collingwood had Round 1 jitters) They couldn't beat Brisbane at the Gabba.

They also had an easy draw -

Teams played twice - Hawthorn, Bulldogs, Adelaide, Sydney, North (All bottom 8 teams except the Bulldogs who got smashed week 1 of finals)

Of all top 8 interstate teams, Geelong only played one of them away - Brisbane for a loss.

In contrast this is who Collingwood played twice -

Richmond
West Coast
Bulldogs
Essendon
Melbourne

Richmond played twice -
Collingwood
GWS
Port
Carlton
Melbourne


Here is a combination of wins against good sides and all their losses.

Round 1 Collingwood - won by 7 (MCG)
Round 4 GWS - Lost by 4 (KP)
Round 6 West Coast - Won by 58 (KP)
Round 12 - Richmond - Won by 67 (MCG)
Round 14 - Port Adelaide - Lost by 11 (Adelaide)
Round 16 - Bulldogs - Lost by 16 (Marvel)
Round 18 - Hawthorn - Lost by 14 (MCG)
Round 20 - Fremantle - Lost by 34 (Perth)
Round 22 - Brisbane - Lost by 1 (Brisbane)
Week 1 Finals - Collingwood - Lost by 10 (MCG)
Prelim - Richmond - Lost by 19 (MCG)

And here are their other games for the season which were all wins (note the quality of opponent that are in these wins) -

Round 2 - Melbourne - Won (KP)
Round 3 - Adelaide - Won (Adelaide)
Round 5 - Hawthorn - Won (MCG)
Round 7 - Essendon - Won (MCG)
Round 8 - North - Won (Marvel)
Round 9 - Bulldogs - Won (KP)
Round 10 - Suns - Won (Gold Coast)
Round 11 - Sydney - Won (KP)
Round 15 - Adelaide - Won (KP)
Round 17 - St Kilda - Won (KP)
Round 19 - Sydney - Won (Sydney)
Round 21 - North - Won (KP)
Round 23 - Carlton - Won (KP)

With all this information above.. The only impressive wins were the Collingwood and Richmond wins early in the season. Nothing else stands out as a great win from anything there. All evidence points to a mediocre season from Geelong all round.

To summarize, Geelong are not as good as their ladder position suggested. This was the same as Brisbane.

Both Geelong and Brisbane had lucky draws this year and minimal injuries to key players, that boosted them up to 1 and 2 respectively. Geelong and Brisbane are more like 5 - 8 teams. If all teams had injury free runs like this, the top 3 would have 100% been (Maybe not in this order) - Collingwood, Richmond, And GWS. 4th spot would have been a battle between West Coast, Brisbane and Geelong.

But at the end of the day.. finals exposes the pretenders, with Collingwod, Richmond and GWS currently the only surviving teams.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Wow. Imagine if Richmond had have copped trade restrictions for bringing in a big forward on big money after a premiership win.

Imagine if Richmond did that under the guise of “we need more cap space than everyone else because our players need to live extravagant lifestyles”.

 

[blaisee]

Just watched the and again. Titch Edwards was fantastic, what a quality player. Does so many non stat smart things but does them so smoothly and discretely you don’t notice them normally.

Great player

Probably better than Cyril, almost as good as Burgoyne

 

[Americanpies]

Well the AFL got what they wanted. I hope fans of other medium to small sized clubs see the perils of going down the path of the AFL turning into a scripted entertainment product, a la the wrestling divas of WWE, the Bachelor, etc.., given that the head honchos have shown no qualms in interfering to get the guaranteed result they're after.

so that means GWS should win tonight?

That's what the AFL wants.

why is Gold Coast at the bottom of the ladder and never made finals? The AFL doesns't want that.

Why didn't an SA team make finals at all?

A Collingwood/Richmond Grand Final... is not what the AFL wants.

 

[The Dice Man]

It's 2 in the morning for me. I go to sleep happily thinking of all those years the Cats haunted and destroyed us, but we've managed to balance the ledger in just 2 finals series. '17 and '19.

They played well, but just weren't good enough. We used to be their bunnies, now they're ours.

 

[Marmik]

It’s Shane Edwards. Whenever he touches it... things happen (annoyingly so)

Honestly, his work in tight spaces is phenomenal. You miss a lot of it unless you’re watching him closely.

 

[Accepted 04]

I hope Miers, Dangerfield and Riewoldt all get fined for staging.

Really sick of watching players try and cheat the umps. The worst stages like Dangerfield's need to start getting a week. It's the only way to stop players doing it.

Umps have a hard enough job as it is.

I agree with all of this but why hasn't the media discussed any of these incidents?? After Grimes went down and rightly was fined for staging the media had already written several articles, the commentators had spent at least a quarter of the game discussing it and it had been replayed on every channel.

However, this time it was a non issue/non story and instead some want Houli suspended

 

[Great8]

Is Houli going to need to worry?

Depends if Shane Wakelin is in the Pies changerooms again today

 

[blaisee]

Well the AFL got what they wanted. I hope fans of other medium to small sized clubs see the perils of going down the path of the AFL turning into a scripted entertainment product, a la the wrestling divas of WWE, the Bachelor, etc.., given that the head honchos have shown no qualms in interfering to get the guaranteed result they're after.

Wtf are you on about ?

Geelong were outclassed, Tom Hawkins punched someone in the head behind play.

This is not a conspiracy, you just weren’t good enough

 

[noise36]

Your blind as a bat.

He struck a player in the neck with his elbow off the ball, player falls to the ground, no reason to do it what so ever.

I dont think Houli should miss the GF for it, but didnt think Hawkins or Greene should have missed either.

The MRP makes it up as they go, its a bit like the umping of HTB and incorrect disposal.

 

[darcytiger]

So is this going to happen for the rest of eternity now? A big club beats a smaller club and it’s an AFL conspiracy?

Because they’ll make more money from the extra 500 seats filled at the ground?

Because there’ll be more people at a parade in the city that generates 0 revenue?

Because there’ll be more people watching on TV for rights that have already been paid for?

Just grow up and accept that we have our s**t together off field and on for the first time in a very long time.