Happy Melbourne fans are something we haven’t seen for quite some time. The fact that they made the finals was a momentous occasion in itself, but they have turned up in September and absolutely turned it on. They really have peaked at the right time and have lived up to the expectations put on them at the start of the year and it’s hard to not be happy for the club and the supporters.
The Hawks made the top four and went out in straight sets and in both finals that they played in, they never really looked threatening. A lot of their stars went missing in September and realistically, they never had a team that were going to be right there at the pointy end of the finals. They had a relatively easy draw because they missed the eight last year and scraped together some good wins but all in all, the Hawks weren’t up to the level and it would be very surprising if they were contenders again next year.
Richmond v Collingwood in a Prelim. Brace yourselves Victoria because we could see some levels of feral we’ve never seen before. Two of the biggest sporting clubs in the country going head to head to make the Grand Final has got to be one of the biggest events we have seen in Australia in recent times. Just quietly though, I think it’s going to end up being extremely anti-climactic because the Tigers will wipe the floor with the Magpies.
GWS have the cattle. They have superstars at every position bar the ruck, but injuries cost them dearly this year. They all came at the wrong times and to the most important players. Losing Josh Kelly who is an out and out superstar and Heath Shaw who is the most experienced finals player on the list for the finals was massive. And with more men looking like heading out of the club this off-season, they’re running out of time to get that elusive premiership that we all thought they were certainties to have by now.
Mason Cox has had a fantastic year on the footy field, but he’s had just as good a year on Twitter. He’s become a fan favourite within the AFL world for his entertaining/sarcastic tweets, but he very rightly pointed out to us all this week that our finals structure doesn’t really make sense. As Australians, we’re not overly keen on the opinions of Americans however in this instance, I think the big guy has a fair point.