 | Fremantle owe the Swans a great deal of gratitude. They beat the Eagles in the Grand Final and saved us all from a fate worse than death. That close call saw Freo lift their game for 2006 so they wouldn't have to rely on others to do the work for them ever again. So, when Peter Bell walks out to toss the coin on Friday night, he'll shake Kirk's hand and say "cheers mate, we'll take it from here" | |
Strangely enough though, some of the Swan types around the place seem to think that the game on Friday night will be what George Grljusich would pretension call a fait accompli or, to put it another way, une promenade de gâteau. In other words, they think the Dockers are mugs.
It's a confusing attitude to the impartial public. Most people are too polite to mention it to them but everyone knows that the Swans premiership win was the softest flag since Melbourne won back to back to back flags while everyone else was off at the war. They're not the triple premiership winning Brisbane Lions at the height of their powers, Kevin Sheedy's turn of the century invincibles or any of the clubs that claim to be the 'team of the nineties'. They lucked out. They caught teams with injuries while they had a dream run with injuries themselves, they caught teams with big name players out suspended while they seemed to have an almost suspicious run at the tribunal themselves, they forced clubs to play at their tiny cricket ground that makes a mockery of the sport and they were handed the fixture of their dreams at the start of the season. | | Sydney not making the Grand Final would have been a bigger shock.
Once they’d made it into the big one, they came up against the only team who'd been given an easier run into September than they, notorious finals choker The West Coast Eagles - and even then they just fell over the line after Leo Barry, who'd played like a busted crab for the entire game, took one lucky mark, at the end of the game, while his man was being held by the jumper.
We all let them have their fun because we felt sorry for them but things have gotten out of hand and they're dead set full of themselves. Someone needs to take them down a peg or two.
The odd thing isn't so much that the late drinking, alpaca wool wearing, let's throw a fireworks display every day of the bloody week Swans supporters are confident, it's that the local media in WA seem to have jumped on the little red and white wagon as well.
It seems strange that a team with the best travelling record in the country, who have won 10 of their last 11 games, finished a spot higher on the ladder than the Swans, boast the most dangerous forward line ever assembled without an Ablett and have just thrashed the Melbourne Demons in a Semi Final would be given little to bugger all chance of winning. Particularly in their home state.
But then you realise why. The Swans beat the Eagles a couple of weeks ago. According to popular theory, the Eagles are the greatest team ever assembled. Ergo, if Sydney beat the Eagles they must be even better than the greatest team ever assembled. Following that sound theory through to it's logical conclusion, if the Eagles can't beat Sydney then no one can.
A gallant effort by Sydney and an extremely fortuitous bounce, saw the Swans run down the Eagles in the finals minutes and get up for a dramatic 1 point win. 'What a game' they cried. 'The best game of football ever played'. There was nearly a tickertape parade afterwards they were so excited by it.
Fremantle beat the same club in front of the same 40,000 rabid supporters 2 weeks earlier. Well, beat is probably an understatement. The metric conversion is 59 points but the imperial measurement is a walloping. Fremantle kept the Eagles goalless for half the game while the Swans were fortunate that poor kicking by the Eagles limited their score to just 12 goals.
If you've ever come into contact with an Eagles supporter, apart from needing to visit the clinic, you will be aware that they have a remarkable ability to wipe any Derby loss from their mind by the following Tuesday afternoon., so they would be genuinely surprised to hear about the loss.
The only other thing that could possibly be causing the confusion that the Swans have a chance is the result of the Sydney v Fremantle game from earlier in the year. The Swans were lucky enough to get the better of Fremantle in the last quarter after the Dockers had them covered for most of the day. It was a good effort by Sydney to beat an undermanned Fremantle side, one game after their lowest point for the season on a ground which the Dockers haven't won on in a decade.
There are a couple of handy inclusions for Fremantle since that game. Aaron Sandilands may make a difference. Justin Longmuir was given all the rucking duties last time the Dockers played Fremantle despite having been out of action for a month and still needing a couple of weeks for his busted leg to recover. Two fully fit ruckman versus one half fit one is always a nice change but, in Fremantle's case, they are going from one half fit ruck man to one fit ruckman and one man eating monster. The Swans have basically lost every ruck tap for the day with Sandilands on the ground. The bloke is 7 foot tall and 8 feet wide and for some reason Darren Jolly thinks the best way to play him is to get physical with him. It's an accident waiting to happen. It'll probably get to the stage where Naomi Robson will have to run onto the ground to rescue Jolly from the big fella's stomach.
There's also a bloke by the name of McPharlin making his 2006 debut against the Swans. The All Australian centre half back for the last two months of the season will be filling the spot occupied by teenager Marcus Drum in his first AFL game. He can mark, he can run, he can goosify his opponent - and he's going to line up on Big Bad Banana Bending Barry Hall this week. Nick Davis kicked his monthly goal few weeks ago, so that's half of Sydney's forward line beaten already.
Another big change from the last time the two side met is the ground. When the players line up at the SCG they have to spoon each other to fit on the ground. Down Sydney way that probably enhances a player’s performance but they don't go in for that kind of shenanigans down at Fremantle (well maybe in the west end). The switch to Telstra Stadium means that all 18 players will be able to fit on the ground at the same time. Pavlich will have some space to swing his opponent off in, Jeff Farmer will be able to celebrate without bumping into the waterboys and Josh Carr will be able to find a quiet spot to sink his fist into one of Brett Kirk's kidneys.
The other big difference between this game and the Swans narrow win over Fremantle earlier in the year is the little fact that it's a final.
A young kid making his AFL debut might find it all a bit overwhelming. He'd look around and see faces he'd only seen on the television before - champions like James Hird, Matthew Lloyd and ..well that's about it at Essendon nowadays and the nerves would kick in but, he’d get a few kicks, build a bit of confidence and before long, he's doing ads for insurance companies and menswear outlets.
That’s how things have gone for the Dockers. Fremantle showed a few nerves in some of their early finals but, after pushing the minor premiers to the wire then disposing with Melbourne, they've hit their stride. Finals hold no fear for them (which pretty much completes the bingo card of fears Fremantle no longer have). They've won 10 of their last 11 games, they’re full of excitement and energy, they've got nothing to lose and everything to gain and they're coming up against a tired, aging side going through the motions, who've had their day in the sun and, let's face it, haven't had any success in the last 50 years without good fortune and charity.
Book you're tickets to Melbourne, tell the engraver to practice his letter F's and organise the parade route - the city of Fremantle will have a new flag to fly by the end of the month.
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