Hoops

NH: AFL Grand Final Predictions!

Football is far more physically brutal on ones body that basketball, hence why you can play basketball two or three times per week, but you cannot do that with football becuase the recover period needs to be longer...

I know this is really obvious to most of us, however it appears that the obvious is kind of lost to some!

5 of the top 6

"And Cute man- the Eagles vs Hawks previous encounter was over at 3 quarter time. Don’t let the final margin deceive you."

Correct

Because the Eagles finished higher they did,have the choice on what playing strip they wanted to wear. The Eagles chose their away playing strip, royal blue with yellow and blue shorts.

It was an easier than average draw for us, but the point is that unlike other recent seasons we still beat most of the good teams we played.

The only teams we failed against were North - a team that matches up well against us, and the Hawks - who got us by 2 goals in a game we were missing both our starting rucks.
Nic Nat will be key for us on Saturday.

"West Coast stumbled over the line with serious umpiring assistance"
I know that was one of the big talking points after the game, but it's also way overblown IMO.
There were a couple of shockers in our favour for sure, but a) we would have won anyway, and b) we should have won by a lot more. Kicking 10.20 with so many of those being regulation set shots made the margin look flattering. The game was all but in the bag at the final break after a 5 goal to 1 3rd term.

Hawks kicked an amazingly accurate 15.4 and their final margin was a whole 2 points better than West Coast's. Both GF participants have better footy in them than this weekend showed.

Tough one to pick. The best footy of both sides is exceptional. I also think we match up with the Hawks a lot better than we do against the Roos, so I don't take too much negativity out of the prelim.

If pressed and I had to tip a winner, I'd probably have to say that the Hawks experience will get them over the line on the big stage. They've got proven big game players and will not be overawed on the day. West Coast looked very nervy on Saturday, not just in general play but we also got the yips in front of goal, and that can really get into your head & be fatal, as Freo showed in the 2013 GF. Both prelim losers failed to capitalise on good opportunities to increase their early dominance.

Carn Eagles!!

My prediction is, there will be blood...

Hawks have already alluded to the game plan, like last year they will go out to intimidate their opposition early, why, because they have the finals experience to control their emotions and get back to playing football and scoring goals after beating up on their opponents.

Less experienced finals teams, like Freo or teams that are not prepared for this tactic like last year the Swans in the GF, can't recover in time and once the Hawks gain control it can be too hard to fight back in time.

The officiating in last year's GF was a disgrace, especially early on and I was an impartial observer, so in my opinion it favoured the Hawks!

If the umpires once again allow Hawthorn a free reign to jump into their opponents backs, hold them off the ball and illegally tackle or block them, they will gain an early ascendancy but more importantly get into the Eagle's heads making them look over their shoulders for the remainder of the game.

I hope this doesn't happen and the Eagle fight fire with fire early on, but the Hawks are masters of the thuggery style of game.

If the Eagles can stay close, in the final minutes, it could be a cracker of a game, I am hoping for a close one, good luck to both teams!

Because the Eagles finished higher they did,have the choice on what playing strip they wanted to wear. The Eagles chose their away playing strip, royal blue with yellow and blue shorts. Which is their best outfit and the one they have worn in all their grand finals. Go Eagles

IMHO this isn't a clash game at all:

WCE playing strip is Blue/white/yellow, they wear blue shorts and their number is white on a blue back.

Hawks playing strip is Brown/gold, they wear brown shorts and have a brown number on a gold back.

Why are they doing this, makes no sense to me?
Anyway, is I was WCE I would just go with their original strip of blue, with the gold wing stripes as the clash top, problem solved...

Not only do Hawthorn get the game at their home ground, they get to wear their home guernsey. West Coast will be forced to wear their clash guernsey.

Because Melbourne.