Hawthorn v Fremantle, Grand Final, 2013

[tor01doc]

Amazing pressure - both real and perceived. Tension that I could feel through the TV. Relentless attacks on the ball. Strong marks- Fyfe, Hale, Pav, Lake. Great kicks for goal - Mzungu, Smith. Spectacular misses. At least 3 posters. Crunching bumps - Dawson, Buddy. Don't argues. Typical umpiring. Ebb and flow with Freo nearly taking the lead. But as is often the case, pressure and tension dominating proceedings.

I think that for pure football watching, preliminary finals are the go. Less tension. Fewer corporate parasites. More authentic tribal atmosphere.

And death to the Kennett curse.

Sort of agree with you q88 but as you acknowledge, it is hard from where I sit not to love it.

Bring on 2014!

[ossie85]

Did anyone else think that today was a dud GF? (Hawthorn supporters aside)

To me it just never felt like the game got going. Sloppy skill errors, missed tackles, sprayed shots on goals, lack of atmosphere, even the commentators seemed a little flatter than usual. I just didnt get that GF buzz today that I do every other year. Only other time I can remember feeling like that was 2010 in the second week of the GF because it was anti climactic to such a big one the week before and 2007 because it was over at quater time. Few people ive spoke to feel the same. GF day is my favourite day of the year, I want it to be big and electric, today just wasnt..  :-\

Yep, we've been spoilt in recent years with 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 being fantastic grand finals. We were bound for a dud!

[Mailman the 2nd]

Yeah I think as Ossie said we've become used to fairly great Grand Finals.

I think what also was a problem was the lack of standout players and moments. Sure Lake was a deserved medal winner but because of the poor accuracy they were almost all uncontested marks/ basic spoils. Issac Smith's goal was huge, but otherwise no one really stood up

[tor01doc]

Lake, Gunstall, Mundy, Fyfe and Hodge would disagree.

[Vinny]

And Jeff Kennett ;)

[tor01doc]

He disagrees with everyone - and everyone disagrees with him.

[Vinny]

Hahaha that's true.

[stew42]

You're always bound for a good GF if the Swans are in there  ;D

[PowerBug]

Yeah I think as Ossie said we've become used to fairly great Grand Finals.

I think what also was a problem was the lack of standout players and moments. Sure Lake was a deserved medal winner but because of the poor accuracy they were almost all uncontested marks/ basic spoils. Issac Smith's goal was huge, but otherwise no one really stood up

Whilst supporters want there to be the standout player(s) on the big stage, these two teams all year haven't had a standout player, which might explain why they were in a grand final. ;) Both styles based around team contributions, to which all players need to play correctly.

Freo had stagefright, why is everyone being so harsh on them? They are only human, and they were playing in front of 100'007 people. I don't have an exact number, but I'm pretty sure Freo haven't played in more than 70'000 before. And yes they lost, but to only lose by 15 points and play badly, gotta take some positives out of that for next year.

Ross is great, he can only do so much for the players before they need to take the responsibility themselves, I hope Freo get back there next year and take home the flag, would be happy for him. :)

Was still a good grand final, even when the Hawks were 30 points up I thought there was one last twist, everyone was calling it over with 13 minutes to go! Plenty of time! Ballantyne had a complete shocker though, wow he was one player that struggled yesterday.

[quinny88]

Yeah I think as Ossie said we've become used to fairly great Grand Finals.

I think what also was a problem was the lack of standout players and moments. Sure Lake was a deserved medal winner but because of the poor accuracy they were almost all uncontested marks/ basic spoils. Issac Smith's goal was huge, but otherwise no one really stood up

Whilst supporters want there to be the standout player(s) on the big stage, these two teams all year haven't had a standout player, which might explain why they were in a grand final. ;) Both styles based around team contributions, to which all players need to play correctly.

Freo had stagefright, why is everyone being so harsh on them? They are only human, and they were playing in front of 100'007 people. I don't have an exact number, but I'm pretty sure Freo haven't played in more than 70'000 before. And yes they lost, but to only lose by 15 points and play badly, gotta take some positives out of that for next year.

Ross is great, he can only do so much for the players before they need to take the responsibility themselves, I hope Freo get back there next year and take home the flag, would be happy for him. :)

Was still a good grand final, even when the Hawks were 30 points up I thought there was one last twist, everyone was calling it over with 13 minutes to go! Plenty of time! Ballantyne had a complete shocker though, wow he was one player that struggled yesterday.

Agree with some of this but disagree with some to.
I agree that these teams haven't relied on standout players but grand finals are set for standout players or moments, this really didn't have one. It was disappointing coz as a footy fan that's what you want to see.

I think people have a right to be harsh on freo though. I accepted it as stage fright in the first quater when fyfe sprayed his set shots on the full but you can't be suffering from stage fright from beginning to end. I agree that they had stage fright but that's not a good enough excuse from the opening bounce till the final siren.
The biggest crowed they played infront of before yesterday was actually only 47,000 but again, that's no excuse.
There is no garuntees they will get there again, that may be there only chance. Needed to be better than that. I thought they should have won the game. Like you said, to play that poorly and only lose by 15 points is a fair effort but really to play good football for a total of about 20 minutes of game time is very ordinary. They completely went away from how they had played all year to get themselves there. And as for hawthorn they just seemed to go about their business in 3rd gear. The game never reached any great heights

[Master Q]

Quinny makes a lot of very good points.

Freo have a lot of very experienced players anyway, and the best young players should perform on the big stage anyway.

The stage fright excuse sounds like it can be applied to any interstate team - Sydney had a relatively different team from their 05/06 days last year...

[kilbluff1985]

Ross's game plan may be very affective but I don't think it's very entertaining for opposition supporters to watch just saying

[JBs-Hawks]

Ross's game plan may be very affective but I don't think it's very entertaining for opposition supporters to watch just saying

Quite entertaining for opposition supporters yesterday ;) Its the neutrals that are complaining. #upthehawks

[kilbluff1985]

That's what I meant the neutral supporters not just the opposition teams supporters

[quinny88]

Ross's game plan may be very affective but I don't think it's very entertaining for opposition supporters to watch just saying

Yes and No. I watched them against Sydney the week before and that was exciting. Crunching tackles, fast break goals. There was none of that yesterday though