Congratulations Bulldogs

[SaintPav]

The lesson here is that the ticker is more powerful than the $$wallet

A 'fairytale' is much better for business than Sydney winning again.

Big difference between convenient and manafactured.

[Johnny Member]

The lesson here is that the ticker is more powerful than the $$wallet

A 'fairytale' is much better for business than Sydney winning again.

Big difference between convenient and manafactured.

I know.

The AFL is basically reality TV. Popular results are good for business. The AFL aren't stupid.


These are the people who had lobbied the government to manufacture a financially beneficial result from a club wide doping program - and actually pulled it off until a neutral body intervened and overruled their corruption.

The biggest scandal in Australian sport ever, was swept under the rug due to the AFL and the Australian government agreeing to manufacture the outcome that suited the business.


Yet it's far fetched to think they don't manipulate umpiring in order to achieve results that are good for business?

[Scollop]

Face facts in 09 we won 19 straight. DOMINANT team of season but CHOKED when it mattered - we kick straight and out 5-6 on the Cats and I doubt (against the best defensive side for decades) they get us

We missed ,.... some from inside the goal square....think Schneider.... we blew it.

You can read halfway down the page on this link that Saints were still in front at 3/4 time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_AFL_Grand_Final

"St Kilda became the first team to lose a Grand Final from a three-quarter time lead since Hawthorn in 1984. Geelong became the first team to ever win a Grand Final after losing the first three quarters."

Games don't end at 1/2 time or 3/4 time. How many times have we seen teams go defensive too early and blow their lead? With 10 or 15 minutes left in a game how can you possibly expect to win if you don't score goals and your focus is on defense.

Yes we did miss a few shots in the first half half, but people finally agree (after years of watching Ross Lyon coached teams in finals) that his game plan is one of the major reasons that we failed to score a goal in the last quarter of the 09 GF.

After Freo went out in straight sets last year and after their dismal 2016 people are starting to doubt the Ross Lyon game plan. The focus needs to shift away from blaming the players and it needs to be more of a shared responsibility/ The reason that our boys feel so crushed about 2009 and 2010 is because the coach told everyone that he couldn't have done any more. Like we saw recently in 'The Final Draw' he keeps thinking and telling everyone that he wouldn't have changed anything.

[Jacks Back]

It's actually a victory for risk taking believers over the incremental improvalists' school.

They punted, so many didn't, they won, others were risk averse, good freakin' luck to 'em.

Say that again.

I shouldn't have to, S, it's blindingly obvious - look at 'em - their defence is a mixture of almost geriatrics and skinny legged kids, their midfield is a blend of pygmies and inside outers, and their front half is, according to the medya, dominated by a bloke (No) Brain Taylor calls "The Package", who stuffed his initial half dozen possies today, by punting most into the crowd.

Yet, they won.How?

Part of their win today was due to the dilution of talent across the comp - Shytney have a great midfield, well a great inside midfield, consume how big a % of their Salary Cap on 2 blokes - Franklin & Tippett - whose contributions were scarce - which leaves them playing 7 first gamers this year, most of whom played today, and aren't much chop, yet they play in the GF?!?!

Shytney's best player today was likely Grundy (4 quarter argument - Kennedy struggled after the head knock - he was clearly BOG till then).

Jesus H, Christ, Shytney had Jeremy Laidler in a KP defence post in a GF!?!? Third club, never been any better than about a 3rd or 4th 'tall', and he's key in a GF?!?!

And, who were Shytney's ruck persons? Some unknown pillock started well early (Bwuce got really excited), but Roughead and Boyd were just too talented for Neddy Noname and Kurt Overpriced.

Beveridge continued to punt, Shytney can't afford to, the right side got the prize, and the adjudicators had f'all to do with it.

Is that the same Shytney team that keeps thrashing us?

While we beat the bulldogs last time we played them, they did towel us up by 10 goals earlier in the year and we can't get close to Sydney, Adelaide of West Coast.

I think we have a ways to go unfortunately but hopefully the turnaround, when it comes, comes around quickly.

[8856brother]

Wonder whether we will get umpiring like that in ANY game, let alone a GF?

[Johnny Member]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/t ... be0797d6c6

[saints66]

Great effort Doggies. A super finals series . Fairy tale stuff. Well done Tom Boyd.

How good their coach must be. Quality person.. Great to see him get Bob Murphy up on stage.

The only downside on the game... How ironic it was that the last act of the game was a staging high tackle to Toby McLean.his second of the game. Dropped to his knees, throws up his right arm and pushes the tackle up over his neck.Get rid of it , AFL.

This win gives us hope.

I though Selwood only did that and of course none of our Saints

[saints66]

Great effort Doggies. A super finals series . Fairy tale stuff. Well done Tom Boyd.

How good their coach must be. Quality person.. Great to see him get Bob Murphy up on stage.

The only downside on the game... How ironic it was that the last act of the game was a staging high tackle to Toby McLean.his second of the game. Dropped to his knees, throws up his right arm and pushes the tackle up over his neck.Get rid of it , AFL.

This win gives us hope.

I though Selwood only did that and of course none of our Saints

[saints66]

They deserved it and made their own luck by getting there


But

Things went their way, that cannot be denied. Buddy getting injured, Hannebury the same and not even getting a free kick. Some of the umpiring was hideous and if we copped the wrong end of that we'd be tearing the place down.

But they took their chances

In 09
We did not!!!

In '09 we didn't get charity umpiring. In tight games it makes the difference.

we lost it with our kicking, stop dreaming and making excuses

[saints66]

It's actually a victory for risk taking believers over the incremental improvalists' school.

They punted, so many didn't, they won, others were risk averse, good freakin' luck to 'em.

Say that again.

I shouldn't have to, S, it's blindingly obvious - look at 'em - their defence is a mixture of almost geriatrics and skinny legged kids, their midfield is a blend of pygmies and inside outers, and their front half is, according to the medya, dominated by a bloke (No) Brain Taylor calls "The Package", who stuffed his initial half dozen possies today, by punting most into the crowd.

Yet, they won.How?

Part of their win today was due to the dilution of talent across the comp - Shytney have a great midfield, well a great inside midfield, consume how big a % of their Salary Cap on 2 blokes - Franklin & Tippett - whose contributions were scarce - which leaves them playing 7 first gamers this year, most of whom played today, and aren't much chop, yet they play in the GF?!?!

Shytney's best player today was likely Grundy (4 quarter argument - Kennedy struggled after the head knock - he was clearly BOG till then).

Jesus H, Christ, Shytney had Jeremy Laidler in a KP defence post in a GF!?!? Third club, never been any better than about a 3rd or 4th 'tall', and he's key in a GF?!?!

And, who were Shytney's ruck persons? Some unknown pillock started well early (Bwuce got really excited), but Roughead and Boyd were just too talented for Neddy Noname and Kurt Overpriced.

Beveridge continued to punt, Shytney can't afford to, the right side got the prize, and the adjudicators had f'all to do with it.

wow it a wonder why we did not beat them in the Grand Final. oh I almost forgot we did not play them in the Grand Final

[saints66]

Face facts in 09 we won 19 straight. DOMINANT team of season but CHOKED when it mattered - we kick straight and out 5-6 on the Cats and I doubt (against the best defensive side for decades) they get us

We missed ,.... some from inside the goal square....think Schneider.... we blew it.

You can read halfway down the page on this link that Saints were still in front at 3/4 time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_AFL_Grand_Final

"St Kilda became the first team to lose a Grand Final from a three-quarter time lead since Hawthorn in 1984. Geelong became the first team to ever win a Grand Final after losing the first three quarters."

Games don't end at 1/2 time or 3/4 time. How many times have we seen teams go defensive too early and blow their lead? With 10 or 15 minutes left in a game how can you possibly expect to win if you don't score goals and your focus is on defense.

Yes we did miss a few shots in the first half half, but people finally agree (after years of watching Ross Lyon coached teams in finals) that his game plan is one of the major reasons that we failed to score a goal in the last quarter of the 09 GF.

After Freo went out in straight sets last year and after their dismal 2016 people are starting to doubt the Ross Lyon game plan. The focus needs to shift away from blaming the players and it needs to be more of a shared responsibility/ The reason that our boys feel so crushed about 2009 and 2010 is because the coach told everyone that he couldn't have done any more. Like we saw recently in 'The Final Draw' he keeps thinking and telling everyone that he wouldn't have changed anything.

we were ahead in 1971, that is the common factor not Ross Lyon and your fantasies, Get real

[samoht]

I'm with Scollop on this. In 1971, I think Ditterich and Stuart Trott got cleaned up with ferocious bumps just after half time - Trott was Best on ground until 3 quarter time - and he was targeted! Anyway the coach back then had already chalked up a premiership for us just 5 years prior.
Ball on the other hand wasn't injured, unlike Stuart Trott - but the coach decided he should sit on the bench. Armo didn't get a guernsey ahead of Eddie.Armo played a blinder alongside Ball just a few weeks earlier - and we all know how Eddie's career has blossomed since.
None of this is fantasy. I'm surprised no-one has adopted saints2009 as their moniker,judging by the enduring high regard for RL.

[CarlD]

Well done to the Bulldogs on winning a fiercely contested game.

I was a little disappointed that some of the umpiring was not of a quality you would hope for in a season decider. However, in the end it did not affect the final result.

[Scollop]

Face facts in 09 we won 19 straight. DOMINANT team of season but CHOKED when it mattered - we kick straight and out 5-6 on the Cats and I doubt (against the best defensive side for decades) they get us

We missed ,.... some from inside the goal square....think Schneider.... we blew it.

You can read halfway down the page on this link that Saints were still in front at 3/4 time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_AFL_Grand_Final

"St Kilda became the first team to lose a Grand Final from a three-quarter time lead since Hawthorn in 1984. Geelong became the first team to ever win a Grand Final after losing the first three quarters."

Games don't end at 1/2 time or 3/4 time. How many times have we seen teams go defensive too early and blow their lead? With 10 or 15 minutes left in a game how can you possibly expect to win if you don't score goals and your focus is on defense.

Yes we did miss a few shots in the first half half, but people finally agree (after years of watching Ross Lyon coached teams in finals) that his game plan is one of the major reasons that we failed to score a goal in the last quarter of the 09 GF.

After Freo went out in straight sets last year and after their dismal 2016 people are starting to doubt the Ross Lyon game plan. The focus needs to shift away from blaming the players and it needs to be more of a shared responsibility/ The reason that our boys feel so crushed about 2009 and 2010 is because the coach told everyone that he couldn't have done any more. Like we saw recently in 'The Final Draw' he keeps thinking and telling everyone that he wouldn't have changed anything.

we were ahead in 1971, that is the common factor not Ross Lyon and your fantasies, Get real

ok sorry. i see where you are coming from. the team from 71 is somehow linked to the team nearly 40 years later. Our club is cursed. Ross Lyon is a great coach. Without him we wouldn't have made the grand finals. there ...is that better

[jays]

congrats and shows anyone can win it

[SuperSaint]

Face facts in 09 we won 19 straight. DOMINANT team of season but CHOKED when it mattered - we kick straight and out 5-6 on the Cats and I doubt (against the best defensive side for decades) they get us

We missed ,.... some from inside the goal square....think Schneider.... we blew it.

You can read halfway down the page on this link that Saints were still in front at 3/4 time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_AFL_Grand_Final

"St Kilda became the first team to lose a Grand Final from a three-quarter time lead since Hawthorn in 1984. Geelong became the first team to ever win a Grand Final after losing the first three quarters."

Games don't end at 1/2 time or 3/4 time. How many times have we seen teams go defensive too early and blow their lead? With 10 or 15 minutes left in a game how can you possibly expect to win if you don't score goals and your focus is on defense.

Yes we did miss a few shots in the first half half, but people finally agree (after years of watching Ross Lyon coached teams in finals) that his game plan is one of the major reasons that we failed to score a goal in the last quarter of the 09 GF.

After Freo went out in straight sets last year and after their dismal 2016 people are starting to doubt the Ross Lyon game plan. The focus needs to shift away from blaming the players and it needs to be more of a shared responsibility/ The reason that our boys feel so crushed about 2009 and 2010 is because the coach told everyone that he couldn't have done any more. Like we saw recently in 'The Final Draw' he keeps thinking and telling everyone that he wouldn't have changed anything.

we were ahead in 1971, that is the common factor not Ross Lyon and your fantasies, Get real

ok sorry. i see where you are coming from. the team from 71 is somehow linked to the team nearly 40 years later. Our club is cursed. Ross Lyon is a great coach. Without him we wouldn't have made the grand finals. there ...is that better

Club is not cursed. Bulldogs lost a number of preliminary finals before this year. They had the right level of desperation and combined effort and several players stood up. Their senior older players all played well too. That's the key and to cap it off they had a coach that magnified that desperation to win.
,

[Bluthy]

Congratulations doggies. Everything fell into place for them. The bye week before finals was huge for them. Getting a green GWS who only played 1 game in 28 probably got them over them the line in the prelim. But they had the guts to keep attacking and go for it in the big games.

They have a brilliant coach. He seems so calm and analytical. What was brilliant about yesterday was he didn't panic - he didn't make many changes trusting his system and players when the temptation when it was tight was to try and pull a supercoach move.

And what a great gesture to give his medal to Bob. To me the best coaches are deep and wide thinkers and I think Bevo fits that model. YOu get the feeling he could walk away from AFL footy and be just as happy pursuing other endeavours - he has a great perspective on life.

Dogs system lets teams to be seemingly dominating them - like Swans did for a lot of the first qtr - but not score. Its like a rope a dope. Oh you fired your best shots? Now its our turn. They never get blown away even when the momentum is against them. Teams use up a lot of energy against the dogs often without the neccesary reward. Their ability to keep the ball by hand and foot means the oppo get worn out. The swans stopped running in the second half.

Their ability to handball (including some throws) with crazy agility has gone to a new level. Watch clubs replicate their "handball academy". AFL need to do something about the throwing though. The umps should know when it is impossible to handball wiht such force from a certain situation.

And they way they rode the emotion all through finals instead of trying to keep a lid on it was a master stroke. Apparently they don't even think about the next week until the Monday - they are allowed to revel in wins and let their emotions play out and enjoy it. What a refreshing approach.

And you have to say dogs recruiting has been bold and brilliant. The Bont at 4, little Daniels, and the million dollar man Tom Boyd has been huge in the finals. It paid off spectacularly

Swans really missed Aliir's marking and height down back. Grundy did a great job but had too much to do in that last half as the only tall back. Heeney and Mills were often having to spoil marks in the oppo goal square. Thats not their job - they should have been linking up play and working the ball up the field. In retrospect I think they would not have put both MIlls and Mcveigh in and included another defenders. Mills and Mcveigh both looked underdone. Swans also have a lot of samey type mids - strong but not super quick. But that might change as they get older.

I've said all year that I think Swans are still too Buddy conscious. It reminds me so much of Rooey - Buddy just covers so much ground and is so dominant his team mates can't help but go to him so much. And then he gets double teamed and swans don't have many other options. Buddy has never worked properly with Tippet - yesterday they went for the same marks and spoiled each other. Tippet is proving one of the most over rated, over paid players in the game. He needed to stand up yesterday and just didn't

Glad dogs won and not just another added to the pile for Swans or Hawks or Cats. Dogs have probably pinched one early and with so many class players at a young age, dogs are set up to be a force for a lot of years if they can keep the desire.