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Finals Opponent

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bird Man
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I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we won't be playing at Etihad regardless of opposition. Aside from the clubs preference for home ground, we command too much support now to ever be considered for Etihad regardless of opponent. Collingwood don't play Etihad in finals and neither do Richmond. Even if we play Port 70,000+ will attend. AFL know this and would make sure we are playing at MCG... A double header is more likely because the 20,000 extra fans is worth over a Million to the AFL.

As for opponent. Good Luck to North playing us on a normal sized ground when it counts. Good Luck to Carlton playing us in a match that counts. Good Luck to West Coast, Adelaide, Brisbane and Port Adelaide against us at the MCG Good Luck. We are a cut above now and as long as we don't shit out pants (which I highly doubt) we will smash all those teams.

Just for the record...

We would play Fremantle Semi, Probably Hawthorn Prelim and Geelong GF..... Possible!
 

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carn tigez said:
Any idea what day we will play? My cousins bucks night is next Saturday and I need to RSVP by before Monday apparently...
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I would have thought Sat night (finish 6th and its Sunday) but not certain on that. My understanding is the Top 4 play the first 2 games (Fri night & Sat arvo) to maximise the time for the losers to prepare for the following week. Then it's 5th (Sat night) and 6th (Sunday) Either way, I've asked for Sat night off work just to be safe. :thumbsu:
 
docko911 said:
Just for the record...

We would play Fremantle Semi, Probably Hawthorn Prelim and Geelong GF..... Possible!
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Incorrect. The winner of 5v8 plays loser of 1v4, we will be playing Sydney if we win & they lose unless something silly happens this weekend.
 
Gee apparently north have turned into absolute world beaters overnight. They are sitting tenth for a reason because as much as they push teams like cats and hawks without getting up they lose to Brisbane, eagles, adelaide and good coast. In fact they lost to lions and crows twice.

They also are missing Scott Thompson and Andrew swallow and we will be playing at the G. Not to mention they have a big final this week while we are playing a dead rubber against the dons.
 
Bird Man said:
IF we win we will most likely play the loser of Geelong or sydney :/
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All good, Just let us no where the party is after the game ;) Haha Enjoy mate. In saying that, I would imagine it would be Saturday night. Then there is a perfect 1 day break between top 4 losers and bottom 8 winners going into the next final, That is ofcourse if the AFL are smart and do it that way....

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 
amcre said:
Gee apparently north have turned into absolute world beaters overnight. They are sitting tenth for a reason because as much as they push teams like cats and hawks without getting up they lose to Brisbane, eagles, adelaide and good coast. In fact they lost to lions and crows twice.

They also are missing Scott Thompson and Andrew swallow and we will be playing at the G. Not to mention they have a big final this week while we are playing a dead rubber against the dons.
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But Garry Lion...
 

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I think this will be week 1 of the finals.

Friday night: Hawthorn v Sydney - MCG (both play Friday night this week)
Saturday Afternoon: Geelong v Freo - Etihad (both play Saturday this week)
Saturday night: Richmond v Whoever gets 8th. MCG
Sunday Afternoon: Collingwood v Port - MCG. (Collingwood play Sunday this week so will be given the Sunday game week 1)
 
Don't be surprised if the AFL schedules Collingwood on Saturday so they can then send them to Perth for Friday night in week 2 (on 6 days rest instead of 5) and avoid the catastrophe of not having Subiaco available for the Saturday night game.

That would bump Richmond to Sunday.
 
amcre said:
Gee apparently north have turned into absolute world beaters overnight. They are sitting tenth for a reason because as much as they push teams like cats and hawks without getting up they lose to Brisbane, eagles, adelaide and good coast. In fact they lost to lions and crows twice.

They also are missing Scott Thompson and Andrew swallow and we will be playing at the G. Not to mention they have a big final this week while we are playing a dead rubber against the dons.
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We dropped some howlers over the season but we also held up against Geelong when they came at us hard in the second half and I felt we were badly depleted player-wise vs Hawthorn and still held up okay, didn't get the chocolates but Thompson kept Buddy goalless and Grima kept Roughy to one goal last time we played at the MCG, they kicked 9 goals against lesser players and that was it really.

Grima might be available this week, Thompson will be by week 1 of the finals. Adams should be okay this week and Hine our tagger probably this week or next week. Swallow is the only core player who wont play again but his role we have covered okay. It was harder for us to cover the key defenders because our second tier defenders are down as well.

I don't think we are world beaters, but in all bar two games we have either been in the game to the very end or had built a significant lead, that makes opposition sides a tad nervous because we are good enough to build strong leads even against the contenders. Most of the sides outside the top 4 have done better against the contenders than Freo or Swans have, I seriously doubt Geelong or Hawthorn would want to rock up to a SF or PF having to play us which is the mindset of the media.

However, I am not convinced we will make and do not really want us to make it and wallpaper over the cracks that have shown up this season. We need to be better defensively, we are a lot better than last year but not defensive enough to contest. We also need to play footy on the road a lot better than we have this year or in recent years. Most of our disappointing losses were on the road.
 
Tas said:
We dropped some howlers over the season but we also held up against Geelong when they came at us hard in the second half and I felt we were badly depleted player-wise vs Hawthorn and still held up okay, didn't get the chocolates but Thompson kept Buddy goalless and Grima kept Roughy to one goal last time we played at the MCG, they kicked 9 goals against lesser players and that was it really.

Grima might be available this week, Thompson will be by week 1 of the finals. Adams should be okay this week and Hine our tagger probably this week or next week. Swallow is the only core player who wont play again but his role we have covered okay. It was harder for us to cover the key defenders because our second tier defenders are down as well.

I don't think we are world beaters, but in all bar two games we have either been in the game to the very end or had built a significant lead, that makes opposition sides a tad nervous because we are good enough to build strong leads even against the contenders. Most of the sides outside the top 4 have done better against the contenders than Freo or Swans have, I seriously doubt Geelong or Hawthorn would want to rock up to a SF or PF having to play us which is the mindset of the media.

However, I am not convinced we will make and do not really want us to make it and wallpaper over the cracks that have shown up this season. We need to be better defensively, we are a lot better than last year but not defensive enough to contest. We also need to play footy on the road a lot better than we have this year or in recent years. Most of our disappointing losses were on the road.
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Look I am not suggesting you aren't a decent side, but I find it bemusing people are essentially saying if north make it they will just waltz through to week 2.

Again I don't mind north but we beat hawks by 10 goals just for some perspective.
 
Tas said:
We dropped some howlers over the season but we also held up against Geelong when they came at us hard in the second half and I felt we were badly depleted player-wise vs Hawthorn and still held up okay, didn't get the chocolates but Thompson kept Buddy goalless and Grima kept Roughy to one goal last time we played at the MCG, they kicked 9 goals against lesser players and that was it really.

Grima might be available this week, Thompson will be by week 1 of the finals. Adams should be okay this week and Hine our tagger probably this week or next week. Swallow is the only core player who wont play again but his role we have covered okay. It was harder for us to cover the key defenders because our second tier defenders are down as well.

I don't think we are world beaters, but in all bar two games we have either been in the game to the very end or had built a significant lead, that makes opposition sides a tad nervous because we are good enough to build strong leads even against the contenders. Most of the sides outside the top 4 have done better against the contenders than Freo or Swans have, I seriously doubt Geelong or Hawthorn would want to rock up to a SF or PF having to play us which is the mindset of the media.

However, I am not convinced we will make and do not really want us to make it and wallpaper over the cracks that have shown up this season. We need to be better defensively, we are a lot better than last year but not defensive enough to contest. We also need to play footy on the road a lot better than we have this year or in recent years. Most of our disappointing losses were on the road.
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I rate North and would prefer to play the Blues over you guys but I'm also not sure how you guys will play on the MCG either as most of your big wins were on the Etihad deck.
 
stevo75 said:
Last game at the tip ever + port will want to go into the finals fresh and confident. Go Port..
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But do you want to play North Melbourne..? On their day, North is a great contested ball and stoppage team and that concerns me.. particularly if we have to go to bloody Etihad!

I'm not as worried about Carlton. We absolutely crushed them early and then our extra training load caught up with us. Go Carlton..
 

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Grechy said:
I rate North and would prefer to play the Blues over you guys but I'm also not sure how you guys will play on the MCG either as most of your big wins were on the Etihad deck.
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This week should be a good test, i think now that it is heating up and the track will dry out somewhat it wont be a massive issue. We ran over the top of the Hawks earlier in the season at the MCG when it was also a pretty dry track so not sure it impacts our game in a negative way. If it is raining it would be a big factor, we do not play wet weather footy very well.
 
amcre said:
Look I am not suggesting you aren't a decent side, but I find it bemusing people are essentially saying if north make it they will just waltz through to week 2.

Again I don't mind north but we beat hawks by 10 goals just for some perspective.
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You beat them by 41 points, but it was a good victory regardless. You did lose to us by a significant margin which is probably the more worrying result and you haven't had a great recent record against us. Not that it means a lot, finals is a different ball game.

I don't think any North supporters are suggesting we are a monty to waltz into week two, the vast majority still think we wont even make the finals. I think the general consensus is that our form over the entire season has been very good and despite the poor start due to a very tough draw which was confidence sapping we have generally been consistent and very competitive in Melbourne and that competitiveness would worry some sides.

Richmond are a good side but I think from the outside looking in the perception is contain Cotchin and Lids and the next tier despite being good quality haven't been able to compensate against the better sides. Hawthorn couldn't stop Lids or Cotchin and they lost badly. Lids was BOG vs Freo, they lost. While our midfield doesn't have the class of a lot of midfields out there, it can be a strong and imposing one on the inside and if Goldstein is playing well, which is a lot more often than not, we can choke out some good midfields.

It is the teams like Freo and Swans whos strength is flooding and defensive rebound which has been problematic for us, the sides that rely on a strong midfield performance tend to be vulnerable against us. I think it would be a good contest if we should happen to meet.
 
Tas said:
You did lose to us by a significant margin which is probably the more worrying result and you haven't had a great recent record against us.
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Probably our worst game of the year. Lacked run with Houli and Ellis (I think) out, and we kicked about 4 goals 30 while you guys couldn't miss. Plus it was at Etihad. Regardless of conditions and how well you guys do, or don't play the G, we're a far better side at the 'G than Etihad.

Not suggesting it'd be all in our favour, but I'm not too concerned about the prospect. Rather the Blues though, if for no other reason than the fact that they're a traditional, big 4 rival.
 
Damo80 said:
Probably our worst game of the year. Lacked run with Houli and Ellis (I think) out, and we kicked about 4 goals 30 while you guys couldn't miss. Plus it was at Etihad. Regardless of conditions and how well you guys do, or don't play the G, we're a far better side at the 'G than Etihad.

Not suggesting it'd be all in our favour, but I'm not too concerned about the prospect. Rather the Blues though, if for no other reason than the fact that they're a traditional, big 4 rival.
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P.S. we don't have a great record against anyone over the past decade or so... hopefully that's beginning to change!
 

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