niceslacks
Senior List
The AFL grand final is getting pretty easy to pick when there is an MCG tenant involved against a team from another home ground.
The last 13 have had 10 grand finals between an MCG tenant and another side, with 8 of those going to the MCG team. The other two were close games, 5 and 10 points respectively. Of those 8 wins, 5 were blowouts, and another became a blowout after Collingwood won the replay in 2010 easily. Of those, 4 times the team finishing lower on the ladder, but having the advantage of being at home on the MCG have won, with Adelaide, Fremantle, Sydney and St Kilda finishing seasons on top but losing to MCG teams come the Grand Final.
Now I know this has been brought up many times and many will just say that's just how it is, and these things change over time and whatever, but the reality is, the competition seems to be getting more lopsided towards the MCG home teams (For the GF anyway), and making for some very ordinary grand finals in recent years, with last year an exception. We settled in yesterday with the BBQ fired up, and eskies full, deep down just knowing the game was only going to go one way, and most of us would have stopped watching before half time. Thus it came to pass.
Of course the whole basis of the competition is pretty much unfair, with the uneven fixture etc, but I do wonder if this current trend continues whether there will end up being a bigger push for the GF to be moved around. If not, can Essendon please move back to the MCG? Just in case we get a half decent side together some time in the next whenever.
Of course, this could all flip again, and we have a club like Brisbane doing what they did 01-03, but with the era of teams being evened out via the drafts, and dilution of talent with more clubs involved, the home ground advantage seems to be more important than ever. (note: I know many will disagree, and that's ok, I'm just bitter that we've had to sit through another junk Grand Final)
The last 13 have had 10 grand finals between an MCG tenant and another side, with 8 of those going to the MCG team. The other two were close games, 5 and 10 points respectively. Of those 8 wins, 5 were blowouts, and another became a blowout after Collingwood won the replay in 2010 easily. Of those, 4 times the team finishing lower on the ladder, but having the advantage of being at home on the MCG have won, with Adelaide, Fremantle, Sydney and St Kilda finishing seasons on top but losing to MCG teams come the Grand Final.
Now I know this has been brought up many times and many will just say that's just how it is, and these things change over time and whatever, but the reality is, the competition seems to be getting more lopsided towards the MCG home teams (For the GF anyway), and making for some very ordinary grand finals in recent years, with last year an exception. We settled in yesterday with the BBQ fired up, and eskies full, deep down just knowing the game was only going to go one way, and most of us would have stopped watching before half time. Thus it came to pass.
Of course the whole basis of the competition is pretty much unfair, with the uneven fixture etc, but I do wonder if this current trend continues whether there will end up being a bigger push for the GF to be moved around. If not, can Essendon please move back to the MCG? Just in case we get a half decent side together some time in the next whenever.
Of course, this could all flip again, and we have a club like Brisbane doing what they did 01-03, but with the era of teams being evened out via the drafts, and dilution of talent with more clubs involved, the home ground advantage seems to be more important than ever. (note: I know many will disagree, and that's ok, I'm just bitter that we've had to sit through another junk Grand Final)
