Well, it's September, and it's time for the footy finals. Anyone interested in them?

For the AFL, I'm going for the Swans to win, but even though they may defeat North Melbourne this weekend, I doubt they'll do any good against the likes of Hawthorn and Geelong. If luck goes Geelong's way in terms of injuries, then they should win the title again. But, I'll barrack for the Swans regardless. Barry Hall needs to relax so he doesn't get suspended again.

For the NRL, the Storm are pretty much untouchable...or are they? The Knights defeated them, and they're a team who are next to no chance of making the top 8. There's still one round left, but it seems it'll be another Storm-Sea Eagles grand final, with the Storm becoming victorious again. I will be cheering on the Dragons, because I live in the Illawarra, but they're a very hot and cold team. Hopefully they can stay hot throughout the finals series. History would say...no.

Discuss away!

Seeing as the eagles didn't qualify for the finals I'm not really sure who to go for. Geelong's dominance over the year suggests that they will win, and that they deserve to win. I wouldn't mind that; but overall I'd be hoping for a non-victorian team to win. As long as Collingwood don't, but since they're 8th that's rather unlikely.

I just want an all Victorian grand final and for all you interstate fuckers to piss off. Going for Geelong though, and desperately hoping the entire Adelaide team dies violently in a freak accident. And as for Sydney, Mikey, I couldn't imagine anything worse. Most boring team I have ever seen play footy. Them and Adelaide. Geelong vs Hawthorn would be a great grand final though.

Long gone are the days of Geelong progressing quite far into the finals series only to fuck it up royally, I think . I reckon they'll win quite comfortably, though I really do not want them to.

Hey, the Sydney and Eagles grand finals (and any game the two teams played from 04-07) were anything but boring. Best rivalry (albeit quite short lived) this game has ever seen, imo.

Boring, maybe, but their style has (partially) worked. A Geelong v Hawthorn grand final is destined to occur. Hawthorn did well, though, after coming last or near-last just a couple of seasons ago.


Too bad the Eagles couldn't replicate that this year. They were dreadful.

I just hope anyone but the Storm win, mainly the Roosters.

Too bad the Eagles couldn't replicate that this year. They were dreadful.[/quote]

It's pretty perplexing, really. Losing to Melbourne? It was bad enough to suggest that we were deliberately tanking.

Whatever, priority picks FTW.

What? 8 or so games in a row decided by a goal or less? That's some epic rivalry, right there. As far as I can tell no other two teams have had such a run of close matches.

And not only was it close, but it was dramatic, it was fair, and it was always fierce.

That might be the best rivalry to develop within the last ten years or so, but going back to the 80s Hawthorn and Essendon had one hell of a vendetta against one another. And that isn't even considering the biggest traditional rivalries such as Carlton vs. Collingwood and so on.

it's pretty rare you have a good carlton v collingwood match, these days. They get a big crowd, but a good game certainly isn't all that guaranteed. Most of these traditional rivalries don't mean much, these days.

80's Haw vs Ess was pretty good. I guess "best rivalry ever" was pretty hyperbolic, regardless it's been the best one for 20 years or so.

1) Carlton is laughable, even when they do win games. It's fucking CARLTON damnit!

2) Collingwood...

3) As long as the Vics don't win, I'm happy.

4) Sharks in the NRL finals?

While I support Hawthorn, I don't see them doing all that well, the latter half of the season has been quite poor the main part from them and to be honest they don't seem all that effective again the better teams, they're just a little too sloppy. Also, I want them to lose horribly, because they knocked me out of my knock out tipping comp in round fucking 20. 5 people left out of like 400 who entered. would have made me over a grand.

I don't want Geelong to win, but they really deserve it, although I hate watching their games, because they exploit the rules in that you can't tackle people until the ump says play on, every game I see they get 50 from playing on right in front of people. Also, I used to play Basketball against Joel Selwood, and his ridiculous natural ability in everything is irritating.

I'd like to see the Saints win, mainly because it seems like it'd be a pity for Harvey to go out on a loss. It's never going to happen, because they're nowhere near as good as most of the good teams, let alone the Cats but on their side is the fact that about 5 of the teams in the 8 seem to be out of form.

Carlton vs Ess seems to have killer games, even when the teams are out of form, they just seem ot be consistently evenly matched.

I think the Storm deserve it...they've played really well all year. I'm still going for the Dragons. With Sailor in their team, they're practically unstoppable!

It's pretty perplexing, really. Losing to Melbourne? It was bad enough to suggest that we were deliberately tanking.

Whatever, priority picks FTW.[/quote]
Guess that's what comes of losing basically your entire midfield, and with a midfield like the Eagles' that a big loss. I mean, Judd going to Carlton, Cousins being a fuckwit and Kerr constantly getting suspended would screw over any team, but especially the Eagles because your forwardline and backline aren't really that great.

My dear Cats will win the AFL again, and we have enough stability, quality and consistency to win the next two as well and equal Collingwood's record of 1927-30.

The Storm, I'm not so sure. They've been great again this year, but a little inconsistent. We'll at least make it to the preliminaries; however I'm not sure about back to back flags for Melbourne this year. Though it would be nice.

I'm also in agreement about a Geelong v Hawthorn GF; I hope it happens as if we got a GF against the Bulldogs, I'd be inclined to take pity on the Bogs (I have a soft spot for underdogs, but don't all Aussies? ) since they've only won one final since 1925. Hawthorn on the other hand, it would be all out war (since my uncle, the only other AFL fan in the family, is a Hawks fan.)

A Saints win is extremely unlikely, but it would be sweet if his last game was a premiership. A fitting end for a true legend.

He should've played one more year, too. The 400 club is pretty damn elite.

Well in their favour, at least they get two shots at it.

Well, the Dragons lost their last premiership game against the Roosters 10-0. Kind of expected, since it was pouring rain and the Dragons are not good in wet conditions, but they tried their hearts out and their defence was pretty good.

So, that loss means they'll probably finish 7th. The Raiders can leapfrog them with a win over the Bulldogs, which is likely. If they do finish 7th, they'll most likely play the Storm in Melbourne. When the Dragons played the Storm in Melbourne earlier this year, it finished 26-0 to the Storm. Dragons are gone.

I'm sad that there's no Eagles playing this time in September as I've become accustomed to it for the past 3 years but I've taken a liking to Geelong, I really like J Bartel and Selwood and hoping they can win the premiership because I think every other team in the 8 has shown they're not worthy of playing in the Grand Final (dropping games that they shouldn't have) but having said that the Hawks are probably somewhere near the place to be.

I think the Hawks are capable of beating Geelong when they play their best, but from all the games I've seen this year, they haven't been able to play at their best for more than a half of a game. Hell, when they played them earlier this year they outplayed Geelong in the second half, just they were utterly pathetic in the first.

Damn Selwood, being so good at everything.

Did you guys have any injuries last night? I saw that several Chooks players got on report for doing illegal dreadful things against you guys, and with the rain and that, was there anything serious? I saw Mason's out for the season though.

Yeah, Mason's gone, and O'Meley's on report for a high tackle, but he should be right. Ben Creagh was taken off the field from what looked to be a head clash or something. With any luck, he'll be okay for next week.

We hope so. I'd like the Dragons to do well. I don't buy the Storm-Dragons rivalry; I hate the clubs that I choose to hate

I think that rivalry came from the 1999 grand final. Anyway, if they play next week, then it's goodbye Dragons, as I seriously can't see them defeating the Storm in Melbourne.

For the NRL the Sharks are going good, so maybe they will win their first premiership, but knowing them they will somehow fuck it up and overall blow dick in the finals. I'm tipping Manly/Melbourne for the win.

For the AFL, I don't care too much about it but I think Collingwood will retain the premiership.

this is a joke, right?

Well, Adelaide bombed out. I was hoping that would happen, but I was a little worried during the second quarter when Collingwood was trailing by a bit.

I did not expect Collingwood to win at all, but they surprised me.

Tonight is the game I'm waiting for: Sydney v North Melbourne. I'm going for Sydney, and they should win, but anything can happen.

Sydney ended up beating North Melbourne! Woot! They were sketchy in the first half, but came back after that. Now they'll play Western Bulldogs, which is a game I, once again, don't expect them to win.

As much as I like Sydney, I'm tending to dislike Barry Hall. He's an idiot, and thinks that every decision is supposed to go his way. The sooner he's out of the team, the better.

I hate Sydney quite a lot, boring assed team, plus they're Sydney . Really thought the Roos stood a good chance of winning that one.

lol fuck, I mean Geelong.

Son of a bitch! The Raiders beat the Bulldogs 52-34 (no defence in that game, it seems). The Raiders had to win by 17 to overtake the Dragons on the ladder by points differential, and they won by 18. Now that means the Dragons will finish 7th and are likely to play the Sea Eagles or Storm. I hope for their sake it's the Sea Eagles, because they will have no hope against the mighty Storm.

Also, Geelong defeated St. Kilda, which was wildly expected. Swans play Western Bulldogs on Friday. Go Swans!

So what does this mean for the NZ Warriors? Obviously this is Warriors territory, so everyone else here is keen to see how they do - did NZ scrape in?

2 teams I absolutely hate: Sydney and Collingwood all made it through!!!

Out of premiership contention, I hope . However, both of the matches between the two sides this year have been decided by three goals or less so it should be an interesting match. I'm looking forward to the St. Kilda v. Collingwood match moreso than that game though, as they're more exciting sides to watch than stodgy Sydney.

Yeah, they came 8th, so they'll play the Storm. I can't see the Warriors winning at all, actually. Not against Melbourne.

Hope Collingwood make it all the way to Hawthorn, Buddy loves the Collingwood defense. Last time they played he almost out-scored them by him self.