#AFL Finals Week 1 weekly discussion thread

[barry]

Really getting silly now.

Stupid people recognise silliness like an old friend.

[dimelb]

If Brisbane had kicked goals instead of HALF of their behinds, they'd have won.

A bit too much more pressure than the youngsters are used to.

[neilfws]

Fairly ordinary first week of finals I thought. Tigers look ominous.

So good to see the Dogs get smashed though. So good.

[barry]

Brisbane are perhaps a year too young. Richmond are going to be very hard to beat. They are a premiership team with the addition of a gun full forward (lucky not to have a trading ban on that one).
They do have the hard side of the draw though.
Brisbane, GWS, and degoey-less pies is an easier road to a granny than tigers, eagles and kitty cats.

[barry]

One for thing about the results of the first week is that all final venues are now earnt on merit.

[Bloods05]

Stupid people recognise silliness like an old friend.

But silliness it remains, regardless....

[lwjoyner]

good to see umps continue love for bulldogs again pity it didn't help like 2016

[Nico]

I think the bye really helped the Giants. Getting AA (or very close to it) level players like Greene, Haynes & Williams back
was a huge boost. The polar opposite to the H & A game with the Dogs barely raising a yelp after half time. Interesting
crowd, just over 19,000 there (I'd say 12,000 GWS, 7,000 Dogs judging by the colours). Though the Dogs fans were just
as loud when they had something to cheer about, which wasn't often.
Very even contribution by GWS. If they all turn up like they did today, they will be a handful for whoever they play next week.

Mumford was BOG or mine. Dominant ruck display and in the end the Dogs had Macrae trying to shepherd him out of the contest at every ball up. He had 21 pressure acts.

[barry]

Mummy is made for finals, but has he taken a mark at all this year?.

[stellation]

I'm with you on the Giants Daisi. The idea of Swans supporters getting behind GWS because they're a NSW team makes as much sense as Carlton people supporting Collingwood if they play GWS or the Eagles or Brisbane. It's nonsense. This is a club-based competition, not a state-based one, and it always will be.

The issue of fairness in the competition is an entirely separate one.

I'm a Swans fan, and I'll readily admit I get behind the Giants when they're not playing the Swans. I grew up playing footy in Sydney in a time when there wasn't anywhere near the interest there is now (and think about how little coverage there is at times now!), I think it's great having a second team in Sydney and I want them to succeed.

[Hotpotato]

I'm a Swans fan, and I'll readily admit I get behind the Giants when they're not playing the Swans. I grew up playing footy in Sydney in a time when there wasn't anywhere near the interest there is now (and think about how little coverage there is at times now!), I think it's great having a second team in Sydney and I want them to succeed.

That’s a ‘like’ from me . If I didn’t have work on I would have definitely gone out to Giants Stadium to support them.

[Bloods05]

I'm a Swans fan, and I'll readily admit I get behind the Giants when they're not playing the Swans. I grew up playing footy in Sydney in a time when there wasn't anywhere near the interest there is now (and think about how little coverage there is at times now!), I think it's great having a second team in Sydney and I want them to succeed.

Each to their own. No problem with that. I understand the argument about encouraging greater interest in the game in Sydney. What I object to is the assumption, indeed the expectation, that we as Swans supporters will automatically favour GWS over other teams because they are from NSW.

My issues with GWS are: that they are a manufactured team which has not grown out of any groundswell of local support (as the Bulldogs' banner put it, "Our club grew from blood and boots, not AFL focus groups"); that they were given absurd advantages with the explicit intention of making them successful quickly rather than having to earn success; that they play like thugs; that they make it harder for the Swans in Sydney; that their chairman is a plutocrat; and that Toby Greene plays for them.

Otherwise I wish them well.