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11 UNLOAD. Season Over.

Season over.

Driving back from Melbourne after the Grand Final, through the radio zones, was like driving through two different countries in Europe. In Victoria, it was the greatest winning margin in the history of the game. In South Australia, it was the greatest losing margin in the history of the game.

There are sixteen teams in this competition; sixteen points of view.

Right now, Geelong and Port Adelaide occupy two of them – the extremes from utter domination to utter defeat.

Let's unload.

Come on, Port. Say your worst. Whatever you want to say, SAY IT.

Don't sit on your hurt.

Spill it here.

Adelaide fans? Just think about a few things for a moment.

Oh, yes, if Adelaide had beaten Hawthorn in that first final (and why didn't they?), the Crows could have met Port in the preliminary and been the ones to sneak though to the grand final against Geelong. If, if, if.

Big question: how would Adelaide have gone against Geelong last Saturday? 15 goals down or only 10?

There was a very intelligent comment on Victorian radio talkback at 5pm on Sunday afternoon somewhere around Point Fairy:

"Right now, there are 14 teams and their CEOs who are very glad they didn't make the grand final this year. All of their long term plans, all of their sponsor contracts, all of their staff contracts, and much of their pride would have been shot out of the water if any one of those clubs were the ones who had to face Geelong last Saturday."

Geelong didn't beat Port last Saturday. Geelong beat Daylight.

I was in the Port rooms after the game for the 15 minute press bit where photos could be taken. I've seen more joy in a funeral parlour.

A 3AW journalist was there too.

Later, on Sunday afternoon radio, as I was driving home to South Australia, he said: "They were all sitting around weeping. I thought that was pathetic. 'Stand up and be men,' I thought. 'You have been beaten but so what? Stand up, admit your loss and be men.'"

Is that what football is all about?

22 Comments

Posted on 02 Oct 2007

by heatherkeech @ 11 Oct 2007 12:31 pm

tealwolf, why?

by heatherkeech @ 11 Oct 2007 12:31 pm

tealwolf, why?

by tealwolf @ 11 Oct 2007 12:02 pm

Does anyone know when Adelaide will play Hawthorn next year?

by tealwolf @ 11 Oct 2007 12:00 pm

They should just leave Rucci in the APY Lands

by heatherkeech @ 10 Oct 2007 12:23 pm

Did anyone read Rucci's article in the Advertiser yesterday about football in the APY Lands? There are eight communities involved in the Far North West Sports League, under the auspices of the SANFL. It was a great read. There should be more articles like this in our paper.

by AnthiesK @ 08 Oct 2007 07:39 pm

Vincenzo giving a reason does not give justification.Could you please tell me the last team that won anything because they sledge or try to frighten the opposition, under 12 maybe.

by JohnK @ 08 Oct 2007 05:23 pm

The Dogs were trained to the minute, flattened in Round 19 by excessive training to give them the fitness base to withstand two games in five weeks.
Good coaching, there. And the valiant Roosters learnt a lot. Their time will come.

by Vince @ 08 Oct 2007 10:01 am

Anthony....Mark Williams uses every tactic in the book to get an advantage, sometimes it may work, and it’s no different in moving players on the ground.

Professional sportsmen use this tactic on the field… Anthony, it’s called, "Sledging" but in its most polite form that can be at press conference.

By the way, a difference of 59 points in your mind is no surprise when Port defeated this team by a point. I would consider the 60 point defeat a shock loss and disappointing and the same as a 119 point loss. A 10 point win to Geelong would be no surprise.

What do you consider North Adelaide loss of 65 points? Shock or Surprised. In Round19, North beat Centrals by 45 points. Once again, playing on a big THE big stage has a huge effect on players or was Centrals just too good or experienced like Geelong who played in front of 90K week prior to the GF.

by AnthiesK @ 06 Oct 2007 06:52 pm

Geelong were awesome. Had they won by 60 points not many people would have been surprised.The shock was the 119 point margin. Port have a young team they should be able to recover and go forward,Choco is a good coach he will pick them up and improve.
As good a coach Choco is sometimes humility should be used. Blabing your big mouth these days does no good to anyone especially your team.What he hoped to achieve is beyond me.

by AnthiesK @ 06 Oct 2007 06:42 pm

Mr. Tealwolf you are a person with deep, deep,issues.What has Scott Thompson and Kris Massie got to do with the Grand Final? Did they play for Geelong in the Grand Final, did they have anything to do with Port losing by 119 points.

by JohnK @ 05 Oct 2007 06:35 pm

you are hurting, tealwolf.

by tealwolf @ 04 Oct 2007 06:18 pm

Has Scott Thompson learned how to kick under pressure yet?

by coffeeman @ 03 Oct 2007 06:49 pm

billiedog imagine the young players actually take this as a spur and try harder and come back next year tougher ,hungrier,faster and more skillfull. What ateam im excited already jump on the REVOLUTION. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by coffeeman @ 03 Oct 2007 06:39 pm

well written jon and well said .I hope certain other club supporters read that and think before they laugh to loud about port cause if they look in there own back yards not many clubs will be crowing over the next few years, and i see port with the greatest future out of all the clubs.Third youngest list that can actually make it to a grand final wow!!!!! Not an ageing list with players wanting to leave(maybe read this billiedog)

by JohnK @ 03 Oct 2007 06:31 pm

Mark Willaims said that he played the media card because that was all he could do. I don't think the coach ever thought they were good enough to beat Geelong at full strength.
The older Port players will shrug that one off. The young babies may have had a ruder introduction to the realities of AFL football and may retreat into the bunker for a year or two. A good club will help them readjust... and even though it hurts me to say this, Port is, currently, a good club.
Primus and Kingsley will wipe away many tears and heal many wounds.

Time will do the rest.

The other day, G.Cornes was talking about the year Glenelg beat Central Districts in a grand final -- 48 goals to something. In the next five years, CD beat Glenelg more times than not, with each victory carving back some of their lost pride.
Football never really begins or ends. Port can build from this huge reality check over the next couple of years with a motivation that 15 other clubs currently lack.

by billiedog @ 03 Oct 2007 02:03 pm

I think Port believed their own hype too much - all they had to do was turn up because Port always win grand finals and Geelong always choke etc.
I wonder what impact its going to have on Port next year? My bet is it will take them a long time to recover from a thrashing of that size..

by coffeeman @ 02 Oct 2007 08:10 pm

tealwolf you got anything stronger bring it in please

by coffeeman @ 02 Oct 2007 08:08 pm

bring a big one

by JohnK @ 02 Oct 2007 07:36 pm

Let it come, tealwolf.
Let it come slowly, old fella.

by tealwolf @ 02 Oct 2007 05:16 pm

Is Kris Massie still on Buddy Franklin?

by vince @ 02 Oct 2007 10:35 am

Part 2

I strongly believe that Mark Williams knew that he couldn’t win that game deep down, hence why he threw pot shots at the press conferences and during the week. It may have worked other times, but he didn’t expect that the opposition to be that possessed and focused.

My only positives to come out of that GF is that Port will never lose by that margin again and that the younger and experienced players knows what it feels like to play in front of 98,000 packed stadium, also how to play a GF.

There, my bridge is now complete and I can now walk over to the Deli and get my coffee.

Well Done Geelong, congratulations you deserved it, I believe that they have the talent to do it back to back and perhaps 3 in a row.

by vince @ 02 Oct 2007 10:34 am

Part 1

After the GF I began to build my bridge. Whilst watching the game from the Alberton, it was obvious to see when Ebert missed his first shot on goal that it wasn’t going to be Port Adelaide’s day, any other day Ebert would have kicked poked it straight through the sticks.

On this day, Port Adelaide had brought its worst day to this. Alex at the deli said that it’s an amazing wave we are riding on it just a matter of when we come crushing down, well Alex, you have your answer and what a tsunami it was.

Walking back to the car after GF, my friend kept pounding in my ear that it was all Mark Williams fault that we lost by that margin, why Mark didn’t try and stem the onslaught and make some changes. I didn’t agree with him because doing so you then become defensive, you can’t win a game of Aussie rules by adopting that tactic. I said to him, Mark was playing attacking football as had done against the kangaroo’s.

But I thought about what my mate said, he did have point, why didn’t we flood in the beginning of the 2nd Quarter to try and stop these possessed cats, because that’s what they were, BIG hungry committed cats hunting in packs with drool hanging from there jaws.

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