There'll be a catch-all thread for the first three weeks of the finals, with a separate tipping competition involved (sort of a "get even with babytiger2001" competition, if you will). Here's the draw: And the draw for the finals series, which starts next weekend: Code: [CENTER][FONT="Georgia"][SIZE="3"][I][B]Second qualifying final: [/B]Port Adelaide v West Coast, at AAMI Stadium, Friday September 7 at 7.50pm (CST). [B]First elimination final: [/B]Hawthorn v Adelaide, at Telstra Dome, Saturday September 8 at 2.30pm (EST) [B]Second elimination final: [/B]Collingwood v Sydney, at MCG, Saturday September 8 at 7.30pm (EST) [B]First qualifying final: [/B]Geelong v North Melbourne, at MCG, Sunday September 9 at 2.45pm (EST)[/I][/SIZE][/FONT][/CENTER] All the news, etc., to follow throughout the week -- along with the announcement of Setanta Sport USA's broadcast schedule for Week 1 of the finals. Get your tips in, by Friday night, Melbourne time. As for a prize for the finals tipping comp, I'm thinking of a AFL-related DVD of some sort... watch this space.
Re: AFL, 2007 Finals And already, there's some disenchantment (as there almost always is) over the finals draw -- this one coming from the Hawthorn camp.
Re: AFL, 2007 Finals Hey Hawkers...WAAAAAH! If you'd have taken care of business, you'd have been in the top 4 and had a double-chance. Accept your lot and win out.
How about the Grand Final DVD? I'll need one for the collection...and for the annual (now late) Grand Final party I'll be throwing.
Second qualifying final: Port Adelaide v West Coast First elimination final: Hawthorn v Adelaide Second elimination final: Collingwood v Sydney First qualifying final: Geelong v North Melbourne
Can I join this competition? If so, here are my finals tips... Port Power Hawthorn Collingwood Geelong
Port Adelaide v West Coast Hawthorn v Adelaide Collingwood v Sydney Geelong v North Melbourne So Geelong's home advantage sees them playing away in the city of their opponent? There's logic in there somewhere.
Good idea -- although I was thinking more along the lines of the "World Of Sport" retrospective DVD. In any event, I'll leave it in the hands of the punters here.
It's an absolute crime against humanity that the Cats are not allowed -- via the MCC Agreement, among other things -- to host "home" finals at Kardinia Park. If they can't have high-profile matches there, they why the hell did they re-develop the ground with an outstandingly-looking grandstand on the Moorabool Street wing in the first place? I am among those who are livid about this. (And part of my platform to replace Daryl Somers, that tool who hosts the Aussie "Dancing With The Stars", as the Number One Ticket-Holder of this massive club, by the way.) But in any event, this is a home final for the mighty Geelong Football Club -- who has had more home matches at the MCG this year than has North Melbourne, just for point of reference.
Of course you can, my friend. The finals tipping comp is open to all comers. My tips... Port Adelaide v West Coast Hawthorn v Adelaide Collingwood v Sydney Geelong v North Melbourne And those of mrsbabytiger2001: Port Adelaide v West Coast Hawthorn v Adelaide Collingwood v Sydney Geelong v North Melbourne Happy tipping, all!
And Setanta Sport USA has all four AFL finals matches LIVE this weekend. Great news for U.S. footy fans.
Port Adelaide v West Coast too strong everywhere Hawthorn v Adelaide but i think a draw first then hawks by 7 Collingwood v Sydney fraser rusling and didak back.... look stronger then before Geelong v North Melbourne odd tip of the week.... port for flag
It doesn't matter where we play, we'll beat the Kangaroos this week. I'm enjoying hearing the words coming out of Dean Laidley and his team this week, saying that there's no difference finishing 1st from 4th, and that we're on the same level. Come Sunday afternoon, his boys are going to be in for one hell of a rude wake up call, as the Cats show why they won 3 more games then anyone else this year!
Very much agreed. In the run-up to the end of the season (eg., once the Cats were crowned minor premiers with about four weeks or so to go, in the home-and-away season), the debate started in the GFC Social Club's Members Lounge -- where I happen to have been tending bar recently on match days at Kardinia Park -- about who would be our best opponent for the opening week of the finals. One man summed it up best when he stood up and bellowed, "We will play anyone, anywhere, anytime, any place, anyhow!" Sort of along the same lines of Herman Edwards' now-legendary line of, "You play to win the game!" -- and even more emphatic, methinks.
And the teams story, posted late yesterday... Teams story: Hawks to stick with losing 22 -- sportal.com.au
Port Adelaide v West Coast: Port Adelaide Hawthorn v Adelaide: Hawthorn Collingwood v Sydney: Sydney Geelong v North Melbourne: Geelong
It's been at least 20 years. I remember a preliminary final draw which forced a replay on the last Saturday in September, and the Grand Final pushed into October. If I remember right, it got international press coverage because of the number of weddings that had to be rescheduled in Melbourne...and that the sitting president of the AFL would not be attending the Grand Final due to Yom Kippur. Isn't there some sort of overtime scheme now to prevent replays and the need for reshuffling the schedule?
That is the case, indeed. I would have to check matters on the AFL's official site, but I'm sure they'd play extra time (just as they do in soccer's important tournaments, ten to fifteen minutes each way, I think) rather than schedule a replay seven days later. And it even makes more sense than doing a replay midweek, for various logistical reasons. I would say that my particular industry, the hospitality industry, is another one of those larger bodies that would lose out if replays pushed back a Grand Final again. That's always been the case, but now moreso than ever before.
The finals results, so far... On Friday night, at AAMI Stadium, in Adelaide, to open the finals series for 2007, Port Adelaide v West Coast: [result]Port Adelaide 9.14 (68) West Coast 9.11 (65) A very good Warren Tredrea-inspired comeback by the Power -- but they were aided and abetted by an underdone West Coast midfield, which will now be without Ben Cousins for the remainder of the finals series.[/result] On Saturday afternoon, at Telstra Dome, Hawthorn v Adelaide: [result]Hawthorn 15.15 (105) Adelaide 15.12 (102) Lance Franklin led the Hawks' charge -- not just with seven goals off his own boot, but the all-important decisive major in the final minute that edged Hawthorn ahead at the death. And a disappointing output from Crows legend Mark Ricciuto in his final AFL match.[/result] And on Saturday night, at the MCG, Collingwood v Sydney: [result]Collingwood 18.17 (125) Sydney 13.9 (87) Anthony Rocca kicks six of the best, as Sydney -- Grand Final participants in the previous two years -- are out without as much as a whimper.[/result] And in an update of teams news for Sunday, Geelong has dropped former captain Steven King to the emergencies along with Travis Varcoe and Tom Hawkins for tomorrow's match against North Melbourne -- instead preferring Mark Blake as a second-ruck option to the in-form Brad Ottens. Max Rooke, however, comes in for Matthew Egan, whose season ended last week due to a broken foot.
Well i have got a good footy head hey! not sure. BUDDY BUDDY BUDDY Buddy show!!! Thats a good one for me. including Port
Back from helping tend one of the bars at the MCG... Geelong v North Melbourne: [result]Geelong 23.18 (156) North Melbourne 8.2 (50) A seven-goals-to-one outburst in the second quarter broke open a tight match in favor of Geelong, who will now play either Collingwood or West Coast at the MCG in two weeks, as the Cats have earned a week's break. Cam Mooney and Paul Chapman kicked five goals apiece for the Cats, while a Matthew Scarlett-led defense held the Kangaroos to without a single player able to kick more than one major score. A record finals result for Geelong, whose 106-point margin of victory today betters the 94-point win over Essendon in the 1989 preliminary final. North Melbourne plays Hawthorn next week in one elimination final, while Collingwood and West Coast play in the other one.[/result]