So the Saints have made the first Grand Final in 12 years and remain on track for a first premiership in more than four decades.
And they did it tough.
The Western Bulldogs threw everything they had at St Kilda for 120 minutes and one thing you can’t accuse the Dogs of is giving up. They won the possessions, they won the contested ball and they won the inside 50s by a huge margin of 56 to 40. The only area they lost was where it mattered – on the scoreboard.
Without a key forward to kick to teams simply will not win premierships. Look at every premiership team from the last 20 years. They’ve all had good to great full forwards.
They don’t have to be absolute superstars like Matthew Lloyd, Lance Franklin or Jonathon Brown – the Cats showed that in 2007.
But they have to at least force a contest and give you something to kick to – and for the two sides without a dominant key forward in those years in West Coast and Geelong, they at least had big bodies who could do that.
Ash Hansen, Quinten Lynch and even Andrew Embley could give you a target for West Coast and for the Cats it was Cameron Mooney and Nathan Ablett.
The Dogs have no-one. If they don’t go after Barry Hall it will be one of the more baffling decisions this year.
For the Saints, the biggest week of the footballing lives awaits, and they were certainly made to earn that right.
The tenacity of Lenny Hayes and the unrelenting work rate of Nick Reiwoldt were what saw them over the line.
Reiwoldt is in the top five players in the competition now, there’s no doubt about that. The only question over his game for me is his readiness to go to ground looking for free-kicks. He milked one off Brian Lake just after half time and looked forlornly at the umpires on a number of occasions. He’s too good for that – maybe that’s the most frustrating thing – he doesn’t have to resort to those tactics.
The atmosphere at the final siren was astonishing. There was a perceptive outpouring of emotion from the Saints fans around me. Hundreds stayed for 15 minutes, after the players had left the field, singing the song. They will certainly enjoy the week ahead and why not – they’ve earned it and on the balance of play this season they deserve to be Premiers.
But you don’t always get what you deserve on Grand Final day.
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Gazza's Goal
Paul Gascoigne scores against Arsenal in the first FA Cup Semi-Final to be played at Wembley, April 14, 1991
Matthew Lloyd a Superstar? Not for a while my friend. Anyway, obviously not a great Prelim for my boys, but as these days i spend more time hating the Collingwood football club than loving them i couldnt help but feel some sorrow for the Dogs and their fans. Absolutely robbed, yes St Kilda had the Giant Lab Rat to stand up when it was needed but 2 goals 20 meters out from goal in the 2nd half from him were gift wrapped by the men in Yellow. Even one soft as butter before the opening bounce of the 3rd quarter to start the momentum that the Saints needed and then in the dying stages when the dogs are desperate to hold onto a 4 point lead, they pull out a deliberate out of bounds. Resulting in a pass and mark to the Giant Lab Rat and a goal to change the lead and Dogs heart. The Umpiring is a discrace and one of the reasons why people like myself who used to go every week have turned their backs on the game.
ReplyDeleteFor me St Kilda have 3-4 matchwinners, Geelong have far more. Geelong take Goddard and Lab Rat out of the game and they are easy winners.
Beazles
I wonder how long it will take the Saints to get back there? Last time it was over 10 years.
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