Australian Football Discussion Thread

[Wumo 3,002]

[Wumo 3,002]

The regular season of the 2018 AFL premiership  concluded today:

 

The final "Ladder" 

 

The defending "premiers", Richmond Tigers, tops the ladder  with an impressive 18-4 record. 

In the bottom, Carlton lost its first seven matches, the longest losing streak to start a season in the club's history. Their final record of 2-20 is the worst season in their history. Their preivous worst season was in 1901.

Another notable story from this season is that Port Adelaide became the first team since the "Final Eight" was introduced in 1994 to fail to qualify for the finals after having 12 wins and 6 losses at one point. They ended with a 12-10 record. 

Finally, and on a more happier note, Melbourne Demons qualified for the finals for the first time since 2006. 

 

Next is the "Finals series". The best eight teams of season are ready to battle for a place in "The Grand Final", which takes place September 29 at legendary Melbourne Cricket Ground. 

 

"The Finals Tree" 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2018 by wumo26

[Wumo 3,002]

Here is a link to the official site, if anyone is interested:

http://www.afl.com.au/

[Wumo 3,002]

Tomorrow starts the first game of the "Finals series", and what a game! The defending "Premiers", Richmond Tigers, meets Hawthorn Hawks. Both teams are on a 6-game winning streak. Hawthorn Hawks is not a bad team, but Richmond Tigers hasn't lost at home this season (12-0). Richmond hasn't lost their last 18 home games! 

Richmond is the clear favourite, mostly because of home advantage, but Hawthorn is not without chance. 

[Wumo 3,002]

Richmond Tigers is now only one match away from the Grand Final, after a solid performance against Hawthorn Hawks. Richmond won 95-64. 

As this chart shows, Richmond was in front most of the game, after a close first half, Richmond showed their strength in the second half. 

 

Richmond continues their streak as undefeated at home this season, now 13-0 record. They have now won their last 19 games at home soil. 

 

Highlights of the game: http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/24/rich-v-haw

One of the highlights was this great goal by Richmond Tigers

 

Updated "Finals tree"

[Wumo 3,002]

The "Demons" are back 

Melbourne Demons first Finals match in 12 years ended with their first victory in 12 years. They won 75-46 over Geelong Cats in front of almost 92.000 fans at Melbourne Cricket Ground. 

 

Highlights: http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/24/melb-v-geel

 

Their was never any doubt that the "Demons" would end up winning this match. Cats maybe have nines lives, but quickly the "Demons" took every single one of them. 

 

Geelong Cats had won the last 4 meetings between the two clubs, a 2-0 record this season. Geelong only scored 46 points. Last time they scored 46 points or fewer was in 2006 against Collingwood Magpies

Last time Melbourne Demons conceived fewer than 46 points in match was in 2015 against Brisbane Lions

 

 

 

Updated "Finals Tree"

 

[Wumo 3,002]

There were two matches today.

The first match was between Sydney Swans and Greater Western Sydney Giants.

GWS won the match 79-30.

 

Highlights: http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/24/syd-v-gws

 

In the second half GWS showed no mercy. Sydney Swans didn't score a goal between the seven-minute mark of the second quarter and the 23-minute mark of the last.

 

Sydney only scored 4 times, which is the lowest in Sydney Swans' history in a "Finals" match.

 

The second match of the day was between West Coast Eagles and Collingwood Magpies.

59,585 fans attended Optus Stadium this Saturday, which were the highest number of fans ever to attend an AFL match in Western Australia.

West Coast won 86-70, in a match where the leading switched teams many times. 

 

Highlights: http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/24/wce-v-coll

 

West Coast started out strong in first quarter. The next two quarters was dominated by Collingwood, but in the end, West Coast came back with a strong 4th quarter, scoring five times. 

 

With the victory West Coast can take a week of, while 4 other teams will compete in next week's semifinals:

 

Updated "Finals Tree"

 

[heywoodu 15,152]

Wow, what a Grand Final

 

 

[heywoodu 15,152]

I must say, I love competitions with an official YouTube channel where they place good, spoiler-free highlights shortly after the match

 

The Grand Final used to be live on one of the Dutch paid sports channels, but apparently this year that's not the case anymore, so I was hoping for a good highlight video without any result in the title  

 

NFL has the same thing, much better than the highly annoying NHL where the highlights videos have names like "Sharks beat Bruins" instead of simply "Sharks - Bruins highlights".

Edited September 29, 2018 by heywoodu