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2010 wafl grand final

ok, it's been a few days now so i guess it's time to speak of the devastating disappointment of sunday's grand final loss to the inbred hillbillies. a one point loss always throws up "what if's". what if the best full forward in the league had not torn his hamstring? what if the most courageous captain in the competition hadn't had his jaw shattered in a gutless behind the play attack? could either of these players have made that one point difference? the past two meetings between these sides would suggest that it would have tipped the balance in our favour but ultimately it's irrelevant as the history books will show that swans were the better side on the day and ended up 2010 premiers.

nonetheless, i remain so proud of all my boys have achieved this year. this time last year we'd finished second bottom on the ladder and narrowly missed the wooden spoon. still, i was optimistic that we'd challenge for a spot in the top four as i thought we had some good young players and we'd appointed simon mcphee as coach. as it turned out, we did so much more than just make the top four. we dominated the competition and only lost two games for the season. sadly our third loss was in the only game that really matters.

so, onto the grand final. it clearly wasn't our best game for the year and there were some boys who will be a bit embarrassed by their performance but there were also some pretty good performances. rory walton played a ripper, as did brandon franz. 'franger' had a tough time early but ended up dominating ashley 'the big albino' hansen. schammer and blackwell both played good games through the midfield and crawford was a good target up forward. i thought 'ninja' looked a bit overawed early on but got better as the game went. ian richardson never gives in and tried hard all match. i've probably left some out as it's been a few days but they're the fellas who stick in my mind.

so this year was a great success in jumping from second last to minor premiers and next year promises even more. i can't wait.

filthy dirty mongrel

whilst yesterday's humiliation of swan districts in the 2nd semi final was wonderful, to lose our captain to a cheap shot by a gutless hillbilly was heartbreaking. clancy rudeforth is as tough as they come and leads by example. he thoroughly deserved to have the opportunity to hold the premiership trophy aloft in two week's time but instead he's having his shattered jaw put back together and will watch the grand final from the sidelines. having seen the incident live and subsequently watched the footage, there was no excuse for luke pratt lifting his elbow to hit a bloke coming in for a shepherd. it was a dog act by a dirty player. for pratt to have labelled ian richardson a dirty player a few weeks ago simply beggars belief. richo is as far from a dirty player as they come whilst pratt has shown his true colours on the weekend. if there's any justice he'll be rubbed out by the tribunal for a long time.

great weekend of footy

wow.. what a brilliant weekend of footy. it's hard to believe that last season freo finished 3rd bottom and claremont 2nd bottom. on saturday freo went into our first final in 4 years as a huge underdog but emerged supremely victorious. considering hawthorn beat our reserves side by 116 points two weeks ago, it was a remarkable turnaround. yet again the young players really stood up and played outstanding footy. hill and morabito were excellent and exciting whilst broughton was unstoppable in defence. matt de boer was as hard as nails and when he straightens up in front of goal will be an even better player. as for the older players, i reckon mcpharlin was BOG as he completely humiliated buddy franklin. mcphee was also brilliant on hodge.

i have to admit i couldn't understand why harvey kept playing mcphee early in the season as i thought he was awful. i guess that's why harvey's a senior coach at the top level and i'm not because he's been proved right as mcphee is now a crucial part of the side.

and then yesterday my mighty tigers absolutely destroyed swan districts who finished second on the ladder. despite us missing chad jones who is the best full forward in the competition and schammer who has been a key midfielder throughout the season, swans still weren't able to put up any sort of a challenge. so now we're though to our fourth grand final in seven years. unfortunately we've been like geelong of the early 90s when they made a number of grand finals without winning any so it's vital we go the final step this year. i'm still stinging from us losing the 2007 grand final after finishing top of the ladder and would be devastated for it to happen again. thankfully i don't believe it will.

so go you mighty dockers on friday night an eat 'em alive tigers in two week's time.