Photos from yesterday's game (courtesy of the Herald Sun's collection online)... Just taking the best-of-the-best here: GF action: Ben Cousins breaks free. Picture: Darrin Braybrook GF action: Barry Hall and Darren Glass tangle. Picture: Darrin Braybrook Chris Judd drives the Eagles forward. Picture: Darrin Braybrook Still wishing I had made a wager on the winner-margin-Norm Smith winner trifecta.
Barry Hall collects David Wirrpunda high. A small brawl erupted after this one, I think... Ben Cousins tries to get into the clear. Cousins struggled for much of the day to stamp his name on the match, although I think he did finish with 20-odd possessions. Adam Goodes celebrates a goal. Goodes, the former Brownlow Medal winner, also had some very key touches in the third quarter that provided a calming influence for the Swans, just as the Eagles were beginning to threaten.
And the mark that sealed the Swans' first premiership for 72 years... Swan Leo Barry pulls in the match-winning mark in front of a big pack on the Eagles' forward line in the last play of the Grand Final. "Leapin' Leo" to the rescue!
I got a kick out of Sydney's, ahem, fight song. It's Notre Dame University's, with "the Red and the White" and " the Sydney Swans" substituted for "Old Notre Dame."
Tell me about it. Working all sorts of Grand Final-related functions as a waiter and bartender this week, I could have been excused for thinking I was at some kind of sort of Notre Dame reunion party. Looking about to see if Regis Philbin was around. And for the Swans fans... these are just the jokes. But Sydney's not the only AFL club that's adapted its club song from somewhere else. I know a few others have, as well.
Congratulations to the Sydney Swans -Paul Roos is a class act. Leo Barry has just entered the hall of fame in that pack mark of TEN players. We will be back next year bigger and brighter - The Eagles have the second youngest list in the AFL. Great promo with the photos of all the action.
Absolutely inevitable -- and now a Swans title should see that coming about in short order. Also, found this in The Sunday Age, the Grand Final from (as Billy Joel once sang about) a New York state of mind... Carn the Big Apple Pies -- The Sunday Age Good read, and a fine bit of insight about one corner of the niche following the AFL has in the USA.
OK, I'm recovering nicely from the match...here's my take. One of the greatest ever? I don't think so. Though there's no doubt that the last 10 minutes were one of the most pulsating finishes in history, the match could have been won much earlier with more accurate kicking at goal either way (hello, what alien posessed Michael O'Loughlin in this match?). There appeared to be some tight sphincters all around the ground which I didn't expect from two teams loaded with class players. But there's even less doubt that Leo Barry's last-second game saver will take a place in history alongside Alex Jesaulenko's mark as the greatest Grand Final mark of all time. And if I had votes for the Norm Smith medal, they would have gone as follows: 1) Tadgh Kennelly 2) Amon Coughlan 3) David Wirrpunda
Of course, I meant Amon Buchanan. How the old Irish steeplechaser Eamonn Coughlan got in my head I'll never know.
One of the best Grand Finals ever and my bleeping dish lost the signal at half time in the middle of the night. I feel like ripping the dish off the side of my house. Always been a West Coast fan, but have to congratulate the Swans. Those of you who have stayed fans through the 70+ year drought deserve to be praised for your loyalty. Hopefully, I can catch the replay on FSC this weekend, but won't be the same knowing the final result.
Alright, so this is my first post in the realm of Australian Football after some posts back in week 1. Somehow, this year I just didn't find any time for closely following AFL (considering that I've religiously followed the playoffs for many seasons). It was always one thing after another (especially ability to closely follow La Liga and Serie A after a long time in the US). Not to mention MLS, EPL, Champions' League, World Cup qualifiers, Gold Cup, Formula 1, Tour de France, Ashes tour, Tri Nations, Super 12, Wimbledon, US Open tennis, Lions tour, Nelson Mandela challenge, track and field world championship, and on and on and on. (I'm sure I'm forgetting something else. How much sport can a human being possibly follow closely?) It always meant AFL fell on the backburner. Enough with the excuses. I know, I have already found a better solution for accomodating AFL to the already rich diet. It's called multitasking. Anyhow for what it's worth, here is a highlight video of the Grand Final: http://media01.news.com.au/foxsports/video/240905AFLupdateWebSat.asf
Hmm. That's an interesting question. See, in the US (unless you pay dough to AFL), TV coverage is very sketchy. There is a weekly 2 hour highlight show, out of which 90 minutes are highlights of a weekly match. This is almost always the Friday night football match. I couldn't follow the season closely this year, so I don't know if it was still true. The rest of the 30 minutes were used to quickly run down rest of matches, hardly 1 or 2 minutes per match. It's very difficult to follow a single team very religiously this way. Most of the fans I know (which aren't that many) are fans of the sport and the league itself. Having said that, I did feel some affinity towards 2002 and 2003 Magpies, simply beacuse of some underdog sympathy factor. I also thought Nathan Buckley was a pretty good football player. I've also liked Matthew Lloyd's play, and so Essendon Bombers a little bit. I could in no way be considered "a fan" of these or any other AFL teams however. Unlike the Aussies, I don't have a historical perspective of old rivalries etc. Talking of scrappy TV coverage, this year's international coverage for the Grand Final was worse than years before. For example, it used to be possible to watch it live on Star Sports in all of China, India, Hong Kong, etc before. But in 2005, this just wasn't possible. I think the coverage went down in few other countries, e.g. South America. I feel AFL has been shortsighted in promoting itself worldwide. It is very stupid and greedy of them to charge money even to watch match highlights over their official site. I can understand it for full match videos, but not highlight clips. P.S. Oh, and as if above long post wasn't enough, I rememberd few more events which kept me from being able to follow AFL this year. These were the Confederations' Cup, FIFA Youth World Cup, Copa Libertadores and the Afro-Asian cricket cup. Not that you wanted to no about it, but whatever.
That's because she's from Geelong, actually. Met her at the Grovedale Hotel (near Geelong) once. Doesn't surprise me one bit.
Photos from the Swans' celebratory parade through Sydney that took place on Friday (courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper): Swans coach Paul Roos and captain Barry Hall at the victory parade. The victory parade arrives at Town Hall. Swans coach Paul Roos and captain Barry Hall with the AFL Premiership Cup arriving at Town Hall. The Swans' name is etched in the sky over the parade along George Street, Sydney That last one, 'tis way cool...
More photos... Swans star Nick Davis holds up a fan's sign in front of the Town Hall after the tickertape parade. Nick Davis is happy to wear the AFL Premiership Cup whilst enjoying the fans welcome on the steps of Town Hall. Geelong fans are still cursing Nick effin' Davis... The champs show off the AFL Premiership Cup and their medals on the steps of Town Hall. The Swans club flag flies on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It may not be the same as hoisting the American flag upon the sands of Iwo Jima in World War II, but this last picture could wind up as an enduring image signalling the conquering of Rugby League territory for the Aussie Rules code, 23 years after the Swans set up shop in Sydney upon moving their base from South Melbourne.