Collingwood Beats West Coast in Finals

AFL Football
Collingwood VS West Coast
News.com.au



Links : Collingwood | West Coast | Search AFL

COLLINGWOOD last night (Friday 14th) staged an amazing comeback to beat West Coast by 19 points in extra time in a pulsating AFL semi-final at Subiaco.

The Magpies kicked 3.3 to two behinds in the two five-minute periods after full-time to win the sudden-death game 13.15 (93) to 10.14 (74).

It was the first drawn final since the Kangaroos eventually beat Hawthorn by 23 in their 1994 qualifying final.

Collingwood will now play Geelong next Friday night in their preliminary final.

Alan Didak was best for Collingwood and Anthony Rocca kicked three goals, while Dean Dox and Matt Priddis were best for the Eagles.

Leaving aside Adelaide in 1999, who failed to make the top eight, West Coast last night became the first defending premier to not win a final the following year since Carlton in 1996.

Collingwood beat the Eagles in Perth for the first time since 1992.

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Conclusion :

A lot will be said about the Eagles missing key players such as Cousins, Kerr and Judd and not a lot of mention of Collingwoods missing key players such as Fraser and the now fading Licuria, Holland, Rhyce Shaw and Prestigiacomo, Fraser was obviously the biggest player absent for Collingwood as West Coast's Cox and Embley are the big duo ruckman in the AFL.

West Coast's players standouts Matt Priddis is also gatherring a lot of media attention for his brilliant game, but what about Dane Swan and the return of form of Didak ? Dane Swan finished with 38 possessions and was the highest possession getter on the field (compared to Priddis' 37 possessions) and Alan Didak who collected 20 disposals in the last half of the game.

This game was the best game I have seen and I just hope it wont be swept aside because of the injuries to the key players before the game.

Beating West Coast at the WACA is an achievement in itself.

Kangaroos Shock The Hawks in Finals

AFL Football
Kangaroos VS Hawks
Kangaroos.com.au



Links : AFL Football | Hawks | Kangaroos

THE Kangaroos have stunned the highly-fancied Hawks by 33 points at the MCG to advance a preliminary final against Port Adelaide next Saturday at AAMI Stadium.

Thrashed by 106 points a week earlier, the Roos were a completely different unit on Saturday night and led from start to finish to record the 14.9 (93) to 8.12 (60) win in front of 74,981 fans.

Hawthorn’s tall forwards had received most of the press leading into the match but the Kangaroos’ superior pressure on the ball carrier starved them of opportunities. A rock solid Roos’ defensive unit held firm more often than not when the ball did enter its zone.

A Lance Franklin goal cut the Roos’ lead to just 11 points in the first minute of the last quarter, but the Kangaroos weren’t to be denied and thoroughly deserved to progress.

Daniel Wells led the Roos with 28 possessions, Brady Rawlings was superb with 27 touches while restricting Luke Hodge to just eight, and Brent Harvey and Aaron Edwards booted four goals each.

Edwards was the early dangerman for the Roos with his side’s first two goals of the match. It should really have been three majors, but the high-flying Roo failed to convert after he took a towering mark over teammate Drew Petrie and Stephen Gilham.

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Conclusion :

Hawks went into the game possibly to cocky with a physical approach and targetted numerous players rather than the ball, a number of times the Hawks players were targetting the player rather than the ball and in attempting to upset the players and get them away from the game - it back fired and worked against the Hawks and only put themselves in a vulnerable state and lead to an eventual shock loss.

Judd is Returning to Victoria

AFL News
Judd Leaves Eagles
News.NineMSN.com.au



Links : Chris Judd | Search AFL | WestCoast

Like so many other AFL clubs in this year of generational change for the competition, West Coast are going to have to say goodbye to a club great.

But unlike James Hird at Essendon, Anthony Koutoufides at Carlton, Mark Ricciuto at Adelaide and Glenn Archer at the Kangaroos, Eagles fans will have to stomach the sight of Chris Judd in someone else's colours next year.

West Coast's pain of surrendering their AFL premiership on Friday night was dwarfed by the news their captain and two-time club champion Judd had decided to return to Victoria after six years in the west.

After months of speculation and consistent refusals by the Eagles' skipper to discuss his future publicly, West Coast bosses and coach John Worsfold were told at lunchtime they were losing their best player.

The shock felt in Perth and beyond was immediately clear when talkback callers rang radio stations in tears and high profile fans such as WA cricket coach Tom Moody and boxer Danny Green expressed their shock.

And the curt nature of West Coast's statement confirming their worst fears - "The West Coast Eagles are extremely disappointed with the decision" - spoke more than any number of paragraphs could.

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Conclusion :

Let the bidding wars begin .... the big questions will be who can afford a player of Judd's expense, Judd would have to be the highest paid footballer of all time and the new salary wil be more than his previous contract, this means the club who scores the champ' will need to make way for the expensive Judd' by either swapping or dumping some high profile players, and West Coast wont be letting him go cheaply and nor will rival clubs - WestCoasts extended salary cap is a bonus in these situations.

Look for key clubs such as Carlton (possibly with a high draft pick trade) and Fevola trade (bait) ....