Great grand final matchups we were robbed of

[SSSSSS]

Anybody suggesting Collingwood would have been a better match up are simply put crazy. Let's compare everything relevant between Sydney and Collingwood this year. Sydney:

1. Were better offensively
2. Wer better defensively
3. Had the better percentage
4. Won both head-to-head match ups
5. Had a superior record against top 8 sides (8-3 compared to 4-7)

So yeah, this result was happening either way. The idea that a side that lost the prelim to the losers would have been better is always a silly one to me. If that were the case you would have won the week before.

Collingwood have a lot more experience on field who would have settled the younger kids better than Sydney.

Geelong still would have won but the result much closer.

Sydney simply shit the bed. Was boys against men.

 

[eth-dog]

If you need it explained to you, then you obviously don’t watch enough footy. Collingwood defied a lot of statistics in their run late in the season before putting up two unbelievable finals against Sydney and Geelong.

No-one is even arguing Collingwood was more deserving than Sydney, and I’m not either, so I don’t get why you’ve got your knickers in a twist about Collingwood having put up a better fight than Sydney. I don’t think Collingwood would’ve lost by 81 points to Geelong. It’s pretty straight forward.


I’m with you - I also said yesterday I don’t reckon anyone would’ve stopped Geelong yesterday. I still reckon it would’ve been a far more cracking contest if it was Cats v Pies.

Don’t understand why it’s such a big deal for some of these other nuffies if someone has this opinion.

You literally said anyone who thinks that Collingwood wouldn't have been a better match up is biased and has rocks in their head. Sydney were the second best team this year, it's just that the best team was much, much better when it mattered.

 

[eth-dog]

Collingwood have a lot more experience on field who would have settled the younger kids better than Sydney.

Geelong still would have won but the result much closer.

Sydney simply s**t the bed. Was boys against men.

If that were true (which it isn't) they would have won the prelim. No ifs or buts about it.

 

[SSSSSS]

Geelong choking at home to Freo robbed us of a Geelong Hawthorn GF in 2013.

The intensity of the prelim was grand finalesque. Would have been great on the big day.

Would have loved to rub in yet another Grand Final win against the handbaggers but will settle with the Prelim and kick starting our threepeat.

 

[SSSSSS]

If that were true (which it isn't) they would have won the prelim. No ifs or buts about it.

Pretty sure my nephew's under 14 team would have played Geelong with greater intensity and application than Sydney.

I don't think it's as much of a stretch to suggest Collingwood would have been more competitive.

 

[eth-dog]

Pretty sure my nephew's under 14 team would have played Geelong with greater intensity and application than Sydney.

I don't think it's as much of a stretch to suggest Collingwood would have been more competitive.

I feel it's disinegenuous to say a side that didn't make the Grand Final would have performed better than the side that did. If you don't make it, you aren't good enough, it's as simple as that.

 

[Corn Cobbers]

If that were true (which it isn't) they would have won the prelim. No ifs or buts about it.

Rubbish, even your team would have played better than the Swans yesterday, they were inexcusably pathetic

Pies... missed our chance in the QF, that turned out to be the real GF

Once Geelong got past us, they took it up several notches, they would have won easily against anyone else yesterday but it would have been a contest for longer than 10 minutes

EVERYONE knows that Hawkins grabs it out of the ruck and has a ping, the idiot Swans fell for that obvious trick twice in the first 10 minutes and it was game over

Zero preparation

 

[eth-dog]

Rubbish, even your team would have played better than the Swans yesterday, they were inexcusably pathetic

Pies... missed our chance in the QF, that turned out to be the real GF

Once Geelong got past us, they took it up several notches, they would have won easily against anyone else yesterday but it would have been a contest for longer than 10 minutes

EVERYONE knows that Hawkins grabs it out of the ruck and has a ping, the idiot Swans fell for that obvious trick twice in the first 10 minutes and it was game over

Zero preparation

Normal people logic: Hey, the side who were the scond best team most of the year and won the prelim final probably would have been the best team to play in the Grand Final.
Collingwood supporter/anybody who hates Sydney logic: LIES! Collingwood would have been better even though we didn't beat either side throughout the year and were demonstrably worse in every single facet.

 

[beerbandit]

Collingwood would of been a better game but we weren’t there. We weren’t good enough the week before against Sydney. Let’s all just move on.

Congrats Geelong on a well deserved Premiership, a long time in the making and well deserved. I hope Selwood retires and goes out on a high, one of the true greats of this era.

Until next year!! Go Pies!!

 

[Corn Cobbers]

Normal people logic: Hey, the side who were the scond best team most of the year and won the prelim final probably would have been the best team to play in the Grand Final.
Collingwood supporter/anybody who hates Sydney logic: LIES! Collingwood would have been better even though we didn't beat either side throughout the year and were demonstrably worse in every single facet.

Hates Sydney? I was barracking for Sydney!

They only beat us by 1 point in the prelim and we were level with the Cats with 2 minutes to go in the QF, wouldn't call that demonstrably worse

We would have done better, not a lot better but still better

 

[eth-dog]

Hates Sydney? I was barracking for Sydney!

They only beat us by 1 point in the prelim and we were level with the Cats with 2 minutes to go in the QF, wouldn't call that demonstrably worse

We would have done better, not a lot better but still better

There were two categories there. Guess which one you fell into? I didn't think I'd have to spell that out but here we are.

Demonstrably worse. As I outlined above, Sydney were better than Collingwood throughout the year in every facet. They were better offensively, better defensively, had a better percentage, beat Collingwood twice, had a better record against top 8 sides. In what area were Collingwood better than Sydney?

If that were true you would have won the prelim. It's not a hard concept to grasp.

 

[Corn Cobbers]

There were two categories there. Guess which one you fell into? I didn't think I'd have to spell that out but here we are.

Demonstrably worse. As I outlined above, Sydney were better than Collingwood throughout the year in every facet. They were better offensively, better defensively, had a better percentage, beat Collingwood twice, had a better record against top 8 sides. In what area were Collingwood better than Sydney?

If that were true you would have won the prelim. It's not a hard concept to grasp.

What area? We played better finals against Geelong at the MCG

Anyway this is not going to cost me any sleep, those last two games by Geelong was the best footy of the year, we would have struggled

But we wouldn't have given up after 10 minutes

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

If you need it explained to you, then you obviously don’t watch enough footy. Collingwood defied a lot of statistics in their run late in the season before putting up two unbelievable finals against Sydney and Geelong.

No-one is even arguing Collingwood was more deserving than Sydney, and I’m not either, so I don’t get why you’ve got your knickers in a twist about Collingwood having put up a better fight than Sydney. I don’t think Collingwood would’ve lost by 81 points to Geelong. It’s pretty straight forward.


I’m with you - I also said yesterday I don’t reckon anyone would’ve stopped Geelong yesterday. I still reckon it would’ve been a far more cracking contest if it was Cats v Pies.

Don’t understand why it’s such a big deal for some of these other nuffies if someone has this opinion.

I'm certainly not getting my knickers in a twist about it. I just think it'd be pretty rare in this thread for a team to be nominated when they didn't beat either grand finalist during the season and lost to both in the early weeks of the finals. Similarly I think it's a bit Captain Hindsight to say a team on a nine game winning streak and pretty impeccable form going in shouldn't have been there. Have two sides with 9+ wins on the trot ever met in a grand final? It was expected to be a dream match up between the two best teams of the year.

I think you have to be really careful nominating your own team for this unless you're prepared to cop some ridicule and you probably need a better reason than "We came very close in an earlier final". People can't see Collingwood losing in the grand final like that if they made it? Well no-one saw Sydney losing like that either until it happened.

 

[Soggy2112]

The thing about arguing that Collingwood would have put up a better fight than Sydney, is that if you flipped the script and Collingwood scraped through and were the ones to get rolled, you could make very similar arguments based on Sydney’s performances throughout they year.

So yes, based on the numbers Collingwood probably would have put up a better fight, but it’s a silly argument.

Geelong and Sydney were the two best teams of the year IMO, Collingwood’s season was super impressive, but they had not performed as well as Sydney.

 

[JyeDye]

Should have been us there yesterday

 

[CrowToon]

If it is conceivable that Sydney put in a crap performance on GF (this is despite winning what? 10 on the trot or something) then it is even more conceivable that Collingwood could have done the same. You can't just assume because they kept it close against them in QF that it would have repeated in the GF. The form lines coming into the game suggested we got the right match up. One team just had a stinker - that has ALWAYS been the absolute frailty of a single final and hence why several leagues around the world don't do it this way (either a final series best of or otherwise rewarding the top team over the course of the season)

There was a clear best team this year and they went on and got the job done. I doubt even a combined Sydney/Collingwood best 22 would've beaten them given how well Geelong played.

But hey, keep telling yourselves your little fairytale.

 

[The King!]

collingwood were lucky to scrape into the finals .

Melbourne were probably next best after geelong this year , just stuffed september up

given the pies got a crack at both grand final teams and lost im not sure why there is delusion they are some threat to anyone .

 

[Corn Cobbers]

All good points, I'll let it go

Maybe we dodged a big nasty bullet!

 

[kickazz]

Pretty sure my nephew's under 14 team would have played Geelong with greater intensity and application than Sydney.

I don't think it's as much of a stretch to suggest Collingwood would have been more competitive.

Mate even if Sydney played that game 5 times over in parallel universes they'd have been more competetive. Was not their day.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

Sydney simply s**t the bed. Was boys against men.

Given they made the Lions appear to have their own nocturnal emissions issues, I think a lot of it can be down to the determination of the Cats, and the level of improvement after the QF. I would back them to have applied the same blowtorch to the Pies younger and smaller frames around the ground with similar results.

Agree on much of 2013 - if that hypothetical GF ended with the same scoreline as the PF that was played instead, you'll forgive me for feeling a little relieved we're not a bigger part of that unholy trilogy.

 

[MisterMarcus]

I get the argument that 'anybody' could have put up a better show on Saturday, but some of the arguments that applied to Sydney could also apply to Collingwood.

Some key players who are relatively young/inexperienced and either froze in the moment or were physically monstered?
Team played in grueling prelim and were absolutely buggered by the second half?
Fast play-on style not suited for the hard edge of a Grand Final?

Could say all these things about Collingwood too.

 

[PieLebo87]

collingwood were lucky to scrape into the finals .

Melbourne were probably next best after geelong this year , just stuffed september up

given the pies got a crack at both grand final teams and lost im not sure why there is delusion they are some threat to anyone .

The fact Sydney could only generate one goal in the whole second half (McDonald’s goal) against Collingwood in the Prelim (McInerney’s from a Moore brainfade and Papley’s from a push/dropped mark) tells me you were lucky to make the GF all together.

 

[Doss]

The fact Sydney could only generate one goal in the whole second half (McDonald’s goal) against Collingwood in the Prelim (McInerney’s from a Moore brainfade and Papley’s from a push/dropped mark) tells me you were lucky to make the GF all together.

This is a reaching argument if I’ve ever seen one.

 

[kickazz]

The fact Sydney could only generate one goal in the whole second half (McDonald’s goal) against Collingwood in the Prelim (McInerney’s from a Moore brainfade and Papley’s from a push/dropped mark) tells me you were lucky to make the GF all together.

I dunno you could just as easily look at the magpies' slow start in the PF compared to Geelong's fast start in the GF and ponder how truly ugly it could have been.

That's the problem with these what-ifs - too many variables that you can manipulate to suit a given argument.

And on Moore's "brain fade" - one of the side effects of always having to come from behind is that you need to play higher risk/reward football so those sorts of things are inevitable.

 

[adammania9]

If that were true (which it isn't) they would have won the prelim. No ifs or buts about it.

West Coast beat Collingwood this year, so are West Coast better than Collingwood?