- Jul 16, 2015
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After 16 long, hard and grueling weeks the Season 25 home and away period is done and dusted and finals are here. The first Qualifying Final brings together two high performing teams in the West Coast Wonders and the Roy’s to The Colosseum. The winner will secure a home preliminary final in two weeks’ time and the loser will face the winner of the Fighting Furies and the Sin City Swamprats elimination final battle.
Seasons Review:
Wonders:
The Wonders had a very consistent season with their top four prospects never in doubt. They won 4 of their first 5 and only lost one of the 5 games that followed. A highly controversial loss to the Roys last week handed them their 5th loss for the season and robbing them of the minor premiership. They finished second place with 11 wins, 5 losses and a percentage of 111.73. Can they get their revenge as they face the Roys for the second week in a row?
Roys:
The Roys season has panned out similar to the Wonders, the Roys enjoyed a good start to the season winning their first 4 games before dropping one and then winning four more to be 8-2 by Round 10. They have lost 3 of their past 5 games, however had a very controversial win over the Wonders last round to end their home and away season. They finished 3rd with 11 wins, 5 losses and a percentage of 108.72
Last time they met:
Round 5:
The Wonders led the Roys by 2 goals at quarter time and doubled this lead by half time. The deflated Roys couldn’t get into the contest as the Wonders extended their lead every quarter they played and come out win a convincing 42 point win. The Wonders had many big performers on the day including SSwans2011, JT_the_Man, SarahSmiles, NickCC Elton Johns Wig all having massive games along with a 5 goal haul from dogs105. xenxen fought to the death for the roys dominating the ruck contest against U2tigers, Runk and @arazole were also big performers.
WON 6 2 12 7 17 7 23 12 150
ROY 4 2 8 6 12 12 15 18 108
Round 16:
The most controversial game of the season. The Roys came out determined not to let themselves be beaten convincingly and had a extremely tight battle with the Wonders all day and leading by a goal at half time. Roys inaccuracy kept the Wonders in the game who were able to get in front to a two goal lead at 3 quarter time. The last quarter was tight as the Roys fought their way back in front. @out of town crow kicked a goal on the siren which would have won them the game and given them the Minor premiership. However, the Qooty umpires decided that this goal was technically kicked after the siren and would not be awarded so the Roys got their revenge for Round 5 winning by 2 points.
ROY 5 2 8 7 11 10 16 12 108
WON 4 2 7 3 13 3 17 4 106
Interesting to note that the Roys scored 108 points both times these two teams played.
Chat with the captains
We caught up with each of the captains for a very quick chat.
Haydo:
How do you feel about your performance both on and off field this season?
Is this a personal question or about the team? Personally, I think I had a terrific season playing out of the goal square. 61 goals to end the H&A fixture is a solid effort and only 8 goals behind the eventual winners. However I do think I should have finished a little more cleaner. Kicking 61.33 at a conversion rate of 54% just isn't good enough in my eyes. Should have made more of the opportunities that I had.
Off the field, it's been one of the most enjoyable I've had at the Wonders. For the first time in a long time, we're in great shape off-field and that stems from the recruiting we've done over the last couple of seasons. With the return to posting from some of our veterans, we've got a very good mix of old and new in the squad at the moment.
Would you say it is an accurate assessment to say the Wonders were the most improved team in the off season?
You could argue that's been the case of the last couple of seasons. The Wonders have been building off the field for a few seasons now but with the introduction of EJW, U2tigers, SarahSmiles and Cactus_ to our already solid core group of posters, we've become one of the better posting teams in the competition. U2tigers is our leading poster this season with 1459, EJW 2nd with 1144, SarahSmiles 4th with 946 and Cactus_ is 9th with 343. They have all added a lot to the competition not just in the match thread but the media as well.
Add them to our already solid core group of JT_the_Man, NickCC, dogs105 and myself, we've got a great top 10 group at the club at the moment.
What I've been most impressed with though is the return of some of our veterans. Particularly SSwans2011 and PVF. These guys in my time have been rather quiet with their posting. This season has been a little different. SSwans2011 currently sits 6th in our total posts for the season with 619 while PVF has had a sensational season on the field which has reflected his output in the match threads with 191 posts to go with his 37 goals from the forward pocket.
So yes, I can certainly agree to that assessment that the Wonders were the most improved team in the off-season.
Do you believe you have what it takes to go all the way and become first to six?
Absolutely we have what it takes. You don't finish 2nd (technically first after our goal wasn't allowed in the dying seconds in the match against the Roys) without believing you have a chance to make history. We've got a well balanced squad at the moment and we've set ourselves up in the best possible position with having a home final in the first week of finals and a home preliminary final if we advance through. There's no better opportunity in my time at the club to go on and win the premiership. It's just fitting isn't it... Wonders break through to record breaking 6th premiership in the clubs 25th anniversary!
Are you still fuming about the recent #aftersirengoalgate or do you take solace in the fact that minor premiers have historically fallen short of winning SFA flags anyway?
I don't think something like that can ever be taken away. We're still furious, not about the result but about the lack of knowledge that the goal was never going to be counted towards the end result. You see something like that happen and of course your main instinct is to question the rules. I have chatted to Cloud_ about this in the committee thread we have even gotten league creator Mobbs involved and we'll come to a conclusion.
We didn't get the 4 points but that's okay, the Wonders don't need to finish 1st to show the rest of the competition that we'll be #firsttosix
Fitzroybowiedog:
*Unavailable for comment due to preview time restraints.
NDs prediction: Wonders by 10
I refuse to remind you both of the Thursday 11.59 PM deadline for team sheets.
Ophidian Old Boys
