Grasshopper17
They're goin' all the way the orange tsunami
- Mar 12, 2003
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- Brisbane
Back in May I succumbed to the lure of trolldom, and had a bit of a crack at Mark Williams over his (lack of) success at Port Adelaide. I posted a somewhat childish poll asking who would be coaching the Power next year. It's here. Anyway I just wanted to get that off my pathetic little chest. Turns out I got it very very wrong, and am happy to eat humble pie as a result.
I just wanted to say well done to you and your footy team for Saturday, and September, and the last 4 or 5 seasons, as much for persevering as anything. I've been doing it pretty tough over the last few days, which is why I've taken so long to trundle over here and post this. I don't know when the Magpies last lost a Grand Final, but for any of you who have never experienced the feeling, I can't say I recommend it. Anyhow, all that is made doubly difficult when you go round with people having a crack at you (people who's teams finished somewhere from 3rd to 16th - I don't need to tell Port Adelaide supporters about that though!), and here you are trying to be gracious in defeat.
But when your team is the best for 3 years you kind of don't care about letting people know who you barrack for, and I guess the slide back down isn't quite as painful. More to the point though, being (or trying to be) gracious in defeat is made so much easier when the team that beats you plays a brand of footy that is so damn entertaining, as well as brutal and physical to boot, which I for one didn't think the Power were capable of.
From my point of view, it all went wrong at the toss. I watched the coin fall to the ground, saw Vossy point to a set of goalposts and thought "you beaut". Every little thing counts in a Grand Final. THEN I REALISED HE'D KICKED THE WRONG FLAMING WAY!!! I was at the ground in Round 14, and I dunno what's changed since then but that weekend the gaping hole in the side of the ground sure favoured kicking to the Punt Road end!
Anyway. That's only a little thing. The bigger thing came when your tough nuts - Carr, Hardwick, Cornes junior etc etc etc decided to get stuck into some of Brisbane's "tough nuts". And I don't think the Lions players were quite ready for it. Hopefully that serves as a lesson to them - anything and everything is possible in a Grand Final. So anyway on you went, with the job completed to perfection, your boys went about attacking the footy, while Brisbane went about attacking the man. And whaddya know, it showed on the scoreboard. 3 goals to nil. Funny that.
Anyway I could go on and mention the totally legless Lions' forward line, and while it sure didn't help proceedings, it doesn't have anything to do with Port Adelaide. So I'll drop it. Suffice to say that your backline did an excellent job (had to laugh at Choco's yellow polkadots story), your midfield completely strangled Brisbane's, and your forward line put Brisbane's defence in a headlock. Never seen the Scotts and Chris Johnson make so many pressure induced mistakes in a game of footy. I reckon that if you'd told me this time last week "Lade and Tredrea will kick 1 goal each" I would have been highly excited. I don't think many people counted on blokes like Pickett, Wanganeen and the Burgoyne boys all having such massive days, at the same time, when it counted the most.
And I guess Mark Williams has to take most of the credit for that. I have always been a fan of his man management skills - you don't coach 3 minor premierships in a row, simply by chance. I just didn't know if he had what it took to be successful in September. All that has now been put to rest, in emphatic style too.
And that reminds me of another thing. Don't your lot know how to celebrate! I thought they'd all done their dash last week when they were high fiving the crowd and what not, but again, credit to Mark for bringing his players' feet back to ground level in time for the big one. And then Tredders and co jumping up on the fence. That is great to see. That's another thing that makes you not feel so bad about losing - the fact that it means so darn much to the winners.
And then Williams himself after the game. Typical Mark Williams. Anybody who tries to say he was stupid for carrying on like he did has got rocks in their heads. It was just raw passion. Typical Mark Williams like I said. He is a character, and the game badly needs people like him. I just suppose it goes to show that sport allows all kinds of people to be successful - you could hardly get two more opposite coaches (and maybe people) than Mark Williams and Leigh Matthews.
I thought both the captains spoke well too. I knew Vossy would do a good job, and I thought Warren spoke with good grace and class too. A fantastic player, a great skipper, and a top bloke to boot. Then Mark's speech - again, typical raw Choco at his best, but what I liked most about it was that he paid great credit to Brisbane (and again at the Punt Rd night and then at Alberton the next day). I know that is me sounding pretty selfish, but I wasn't sure if he had it in him. He's a pretty emotional and passionate kind of bloke, and afterwards he even admitted he'd wanted to say other things, so I think the fact that he remembered to mention the vanquished shows that there is a fair bit of class about him as well, in his own unusual way.
So yeah, I know I took a long time to say what I wanted to say, but I'm glad I said it. Congratulations again, make sure you keep enjoying it to the max, because it is darn hard to get there (not that I really need to tell you guys that!), even harder to get there a 2nd and 3rd time, and even more importantly, as Lethal himself said, there's a chance it'll never happen again. And let me tell you, that's a feeling I'm wrestling with at the moment. 71 years and counting for South Melbourne.
In the mean time, can anybody please enlighten me to as to what exactly is that "inanimate carbon rod"?
I just wanted to say well done to you and your footy team for Saturday, and September, and the last 4 or 5 seasons, as much for persevering as anything. I've been doing it pretty tough over the last few days, which is why I've taken so long to trundle over here and post this. I don't know when the Magpies last lost a Grand Final, but for any of you who have never experienced the feeling, I can't say I recommend it. Anyhow, all that is made doubly difficult when you go round with people having a crack at you (people who's teams finished somewhere from 3rd to 16th - I don't need to tell Port Adelaide supporters about that though!), and here you are trying to be gracious in defeat.
But when your team is the best for 3 years you kind of don't care about letting people know who you barrack for, and I guess the slide back down isn't quite as painful. More to the point though, being (or trying to be) gracious in defeat is made so much easier when the team that beats you plays a brand of footy that is so damn entertaining, as well as brutal and physical to boot, which I for one didn't think the Power were capable of.
From my point of view, it all went wrong at the toss. I watched the coin fall to the ground, saw Vossy point to a set of goalposts and thought "you beaut". Every little thing counts in a Grand Final. THEN I REALISED HE'D KICKED THE WRONG FLAMING WAY!!! I was at the ground in Round 14, and I dunno what's changed since then but that weekend the gaping hole in the side of the ground sure favoured kicking to the Punt Road end!
Anyway. That's only a little thing. The bigger thing came when your tough nuts - Carr, Hardwick, Cornes junior etc etc etc decided to get stuck into some of Brisbane's "tough nuts". And I don't think the Lions players were quite ready for it. Hopefully that serves as a lesson to them - anything and everything is possible in a Grand Final. So anyway on you went, with the job completed to perfection, your boys went about attacking the footy, while Brisbane went about attacking the man. And whaddya know, it showed on the scoreboard. 3 goals to nil. Funny that.
Anyway I could go on and mention the totally legless Lions' forward line, and while it sure didn't help proceedings, it doesn't have anything to do with Port Adelaide. So I'll drop it. Suffice to say that your backline did an excellent job (had to laugh at Choco's yellow polkadots story), your midfield completely strangled Brisbane's, and your forward line put Brisbane's defence in a headlock. Never seen the Scotts and Chris Johnson make so many pressure induced mistakes in a game of footy. I reckon that if you'd told me this time last week "Lade and Tredrea will kick 1 goal each" I would have been highly excited. I don't think many people counted on blokes like Pickett, Wanganeen and the Burgoyne boys all having such massive days, at the same time, when it counted the most.
And I guess Mark Williams has to take most of the credit for that. I have always been a fan of his man management skills - you don't coach 3 minor premierships in a row, simply by chance. I just didn't know if he had what it took to be successful in September. All that has now been put to rest, in emphatic style too.
And that reminds me of another thing. Don't your lot know how to celebrate! I thought they'd all done their dash last week when they were high fiving the crowd and what not, but again, credit to Mark for bringing his players' feet back to ground level in time for the big one. And then Tredders and co jumping up on the fence. That is great to see. That's another thing that makes you not feel so bad about losing - the fact that it means so darn much to the winners.
And then Williams himself after the game. Typical Mark Williams. Anybody who tries to say he was stupid for carrying on like he did has got rocks in their heads. It was just raw passion. Typical Mark Williams like I said. He is a character, and the game badly needs people like him. I just suppose it goes to show that sport allows all kinds of people to be successful - you could hardly get two more opposite coaches (and maybe people) than Mark Williams and Leigh Matthews.
I thought both the captains spoke well too. I knew Vossy would do a good job, and I thought Warren spoke with good grace and class too. A fantastic player, a great skipper, and a top bloke to boot. Then Mark's speech - again, typical raw Choco at his best, but what I liked most about it was that he paid great credit to Brisbane (and again at the Punt Rd night and then at Alberton the next day). I know that is me sounding pretty selfish, but I wasn't sure if he had it in him. He's a pretty emotional and passionate kind of bloke, and afterwards he even admitted he'd wanted to say other things, so I think the fact that he remembered to mention the vanquished shows that there is a fair bit of class about him as well, in his own unusual way.
So yeah, I know I took a long time to say what I wanted to say, but I'm glad I said it. Congratulations again, make sure you keep enjoying it to the max, because it is darn hard to get there (not that I really need to tell you guys that!), even harder to get there a 2nd and 3rd time, and even more importantly, as Lethal himself said, there's a chance it'll never happen again. And let me tell you, that's a feeling I'm wrestling with at the moment. 71 years and counting for South Melbourne.
In the mean time, can anybody please enlighten me to as to what exactly is that "inanimate carbon rod"?
