SainterK wrote:External ridicule has made me a little paranoid that everytime I maintain that the weather impacted our big guys on GF day, I feel like someone will pick me up and accuse me of making excuses.
However I am convinced that no ruckman in the AFL would have enjoyed or excelled in the conditions that day. Try lugging a big frame and tree trunk legs around a rain sodden MCG for 4 quarters, and tell me again it's because they were inadequate talents to sufficiently fill the ruck role for us in 2010.
Personally I hope Gardiner will take the field come finals time, King and McEvoy can fight between them for the other spot.
I also hope that should we make it, the weather is kind.
You know I like your practical commonsense and perspicaciousness!
On the rucks though, number one Gardiner with Kossie and McEvoy for support IMHO!
IMHO, King is yesterday's news, back up at best and should NOT have been selected to play in the Grand Final!
A mistake IMHO, but you won't hear me banging on for the last six months about it, because I'm just grateful that we now have a coach who as it happens has invented a game plan the rest of the competition is now trying to copy and one which got us into a Grand Final to begin with and but for a bit of bad luck he would be a premiership coach already!
The reality is as I see it, many things had to go Geelong's way for them to win as it turned out,
1. Pissed down with rain, Geelong are the best wet weather team in the comp and we never play in it, most definitely advantaged them!
2. Riewoldt does an adductor at the final training session!
FAIR DINKUM can we ban Thursday training before a Grand Final and have a longer inhouse team meeting instead!
3. Goddard breaks his collarbone or rather Baker does it for him in the second quarter, at the time Goddard was dominating or at the least was one of our best!
4. Goal Umpire awards a goal when Hawkins hits the post which results in Geelong kicking two goals in twenty seconds from an obvious umpiring error.
5. Many easy goals missed when we had a chance to bury them, to capitalize on our dominance, again I have no doubt the rain contributed towards theses goalkicking errors, with ball handling much more difficult!
6. Geelong kick accurately for the first time in a long time and hardly miss a shot on goal, 7.7 to 7.1 at half time, they were lucky to be that close!
7. Umpire Shaun Ryan is a Geelong supporter grew up barracking for Geelong as a kid, still looks like a kid if you ask me and also happens to be a lawyer, so obviously he cannot be trusted,
Schnieder has his jumper pulled off into Lennox st without the ball thirty five metres out with us still two points ahead and the Geelong supporter calls play on,
similarly, Riewoldt has Taylor grab his shoulder while Scarlett jumps into him front on with no eyes for the ball in the goal square with scores level deep in the last quarter and again no free kick paid!
8. Chapman wins the game and the Norm Smith medal for Geelong, but only managed to play with the aid of a medical procedure that has now been outlawed as illegal!
Anyway, my point is if any one of the above eight things does not happen, then it's very likely St Kilda would have won, Geelong needed everything going their way and it did!
On the thing about the weather!
I was thinking a couple of days ago that the three Grand Finals we've played and lost since 1966 have all been on heavily overcast days in inclement weather!
When we make another one, hopefully this year, can the sun please shine for a change!
DO THE MATHS AND THE SQUARES ARE ALL ROOTED.