AFL 2017 Second Semi Final, Geelong Cats v Sydney Swans 19:50 AEST : Melbourne Cricket Ground

[kirky]

Just think they're in good enough touch bar that Richmond game and will carry that momentum into next week. It isn't personal, just my opinion. They also play well against you and finished second for a reason - they're a good side.

Fair enough call.

All but one of their wins over the past 6 seasons against the Crows have been at Simounds Stadium.

This year we won after having a 6 day break against their 7 and we were returning from Darwin.

Yes, there were convincing last night but not sure they will back it up. There only interstate wins this year were against Freo (round 1) and Brisbane. Lost to Adelaide, West Coast, Gold Coast and drew with GWS.

Adelaide will be stronger with Lever and Hartigan in the backline. Don't think that Walker, Jenkins and Betts will only kick two goals between them as they did last time.

Conditions will be fine and dry.

 

[demondavey]

Fair enough call.

All but one of their wins over the past 6 seasons against the Crows have been at Simounds Stadium.

This year we won after having a 6 day break against their 7 and we were returning from Darwin.

Yes, there were convincing last night but not sure they will back it up. There only interstate wins this year were against Freo (round 1) and Brisbane. Lost to Adelaide, West Coast, Gold Coast and drew with GWS.

Adelaide will be stronger with Lever and Hartigan in the backline. Don't think that Walker, Jenkins and Betts will only kick two goals between them as they did last time.

Conditions will be fine and dry.

I think statistics matter less in finals, 90% of people tipped Sydney last night on the back of strong form against Geelong. I think the Cats have a pretty good group who've played finals a fair bit now and that win will propel them on to win the flag. It will give them great confidence.

 

[chefmeister]

Should I start tipping the Cats then ? That would really make you get skidmarks in your underwear!

You were so certain we were gonna get flogged and Sydney were paying $1.32 yet you didn't even have a look in..?

But wasn't it you who said, - "at $1.32 thats better interest than any bank is paying for such a sure thing". ..?

 

[kirky]

I think statistics matter less in finals, 90% of people tipped Sydney last night on the back of strong form against Geelong. I think the Cats have a pretty good group who've played finals a fair bit now and that win will propel them on to win the flag. It will give them great confidence.

Possibly but home ground advantage is significant as well no matter whether it is a final or not.

Geelong have a lot of youngsters who will be tested in the cauldron of Adelaide Oval.

 

[Xtreme]

You were so certain we were gonna get flogged and Sydney were paying $1.32 yet you didn't even have a look in..?

But wasn't it you who said, - "at $1.32 thats better interest than any bank is paying for such a sure thing". ..?

You're getting your hawkflogs confused. I've not mentioned betting odds this week.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

So I flicked through some pages in here, are all main board posters massive whingers about umpires or are they all confined to this thread?!
EVERY post is a sook about umpires.

 

[chefmeister]

You're getting your hawkflogs confused. I've not mentioned betting odds this week.

That's lucky, you didn't really lose yesterday at all then.

 

[Xtreme]

That's lucky, you didn't really lose yesterday at all then.

I didn't do what other Hawkers do and gamble on avatar/sigs either

 

[Perth Cat 11]

It'd be pretty easy to drop your heads when you get destroyed by the worst umpiring I've seen in my life.

I hope Geelong get the same treatment in Adelaide.

Still learning the rules? Flog comment.

 

[Perth Cat 11]

Swans will get back in this.....the umpires will help them

They did their best!

 

[Perth Cat 11]

That's the first free kick Franklin's even received for a hold against.

You obviously do not watch much football......

 

[Perth Cat 11]

We've come back from worse than this before. Just need the payback calls to go our way.

Geelong did not receive a holding the ball decision in that half..... safe to say there were more than a few there that should have been paid.

 

[Perth Cat 11]

Agree with that. And he's the best diver in the game too. Another massive Geelong cheat. Seems to work for them.

Rioli? Poppy? Smiss? Squib Lewis (when he was there) They all dive- give us a break please

 

[Perth Cat 11]

Wow, Roosy looking a bit flat..

Jordan Lewis looked even flatter.

 

[Perth Cat 11]

Melbourne. First round pick.

Great come back hahahah love good banter

 

[dazbroncos]

Swans by 89 points.

Match winning lead of 5 goals by qtr time. Only for the Swans to extend the margin as the game moves on.

The result is even more obvious than Matty J picking Laura in The Batchelor!!

uh... no.

Go Catters

 

[dazbroncos]

Fat lady has sung GAME OVER for the Cats!

if ever one went early..

Go Catters

 

[Seeds]

Sometimes in a final you have 2-3 players off their game and you get beaten. Other times, you have 17-18 players off their game and you get pumped by 10 goals.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

sometimes you have no players off their game but still get beaten cos the other team is just better.

 

[bungwahl]

sometimes you have no players off their game but still get beaten cos the other team is just better.

Yeah absolutely!

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Are you talking about the Hawkins one?

No, Henderson punching a chaos ball clear deep in Sydney's forward line late in the first quarter and the ball going over the line after a couple of bounces, giving Parker (I think) a shot on goal.

Now Henderson was probably not under huge pressure, but if he'd taken the time to gather the ball, he would have been tackled about 25m out, pretty dead in front and you're rolling the dice, because Henderson's 'chosen' to take possession. So, is he supposed to just punch it centrally and hope for the best? That's a fundamental (and unacceptable, in my opinion) shift in the way a defender has to play.

You always punch to the boundary in that situation. It's a really stark contrast in what a player has to do to effectively perform his role and an umpire's understanding of not just what a player's doing, but why he's doing it.

If Henderson's punch had gone over on the full, perhaps I could live with deliberate. But a defender simply has to have the option to get the ball out of the central corridor in that situation. It will be interesting to see if the AFL considers that decision to be correct or not.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Great win by the Cats, but I hope they were over it and fully focused on Adelaide by the time the woke up yesterday. The question remains whether they're capable of a comprehensive performance like that without requiring a kicking in the media for a week to draw it out and whether their composure will stand up playing in front of a crowd that is overwhelmingly against them in a 'win or go home' scenario. Great to finally have an outstanding performance in a final, but at the end of the day, if we lose on Friday, it's another disappointing September.

At this stage, you can be fairly comfortable in Joel Selwood, Patty Dangerfield, Zach Tuohy, Mitch Duncan, Lachie Henderson, Tom Lonergan, Andrew Mackie and you can probably add Harry now doing their bit. So the question - as it's been for a fair while - is what we get out of Hawkins, Menzel, Menegola, Motlop, Smith, Blicavs, Kolodjashnij, Stewart (if he plays), Stanley (if he plays) and Bews. For many of those players, their best is outstanding and their worst is just about VFL level. If a suitable number of them step up, then whatever the fringe players (Parsons, Parfitt, Lang, Z.Guthrie, maybe Murdoch) provide is a handy bonus and we'll go a long way to winning the game.

 

[chefmeister]

Swans by 89 points.

Match winning lead of 5 goals by qtr time. Only for the Swans to extend the margin as the game moves on.

The result is even more obvious than Matty J picking Laura in The Batchelor!!

 

[base615]

Geelong did not receive a holding the ball decision in that half..... safe to say there were more than a few there that should have been paid.

Righto. I sometimes forget that HTB is the only offence to result in a free kick in Aussie rules.

 

[Saint]

Geelong have a horrible forward line and the Swans rely on pushing numbers back and then springing out of defence. It's the perfect game style against the cats.

The cats are walking wounded, they're no chance whatsoever.

The wet just might make it close. It'll be a pretty horrid affair, the swans will be all over them and probably have the cue in the rack by 3/4 time.

Having Menzel out against the tigers but back in the wet against the swans is just ridiculous. How Parsons wasn't dropped after last week too, is beyond me, he's on one leg like Selwood, but not even a quarter of the impact. I don't know who else is on the Geelong match committee, but they must be from another planet.

This was obviously wrong, but the key was that Dangerfield completely re-structured the Geelong forward line and Blicavs' job on Kennedy was outstanding. It was a big team effort, particularly from the second-string mids like Menegola, Selwood, even Lang.

Who should we have replaced Parsons with?

The injured Nakia Cockatoo, the injured Lincoln McCarthy, the injured Cory Gregson... or perhaps play Cam Guthrie up forward? Oh, wait, he's injured too.

Should have been Darcy Lang a week earlier. Cockatoo right to go this week, Parsons put in another shocker. It's his first year and he's clearly cooked.

Thurlow would be better in attack than Parsons at the moment. Parsons is lucky Gary Rohan was around to make him 2nd worst on ground.

 

[StevenwellerHFC]

Cats are so s**t Carlton would have beat them tonight.

After a big weekend, this isn't even the stupidest thing I said.