SA Footy

Some things I have noticed now that finals have come around:

- low scoring
- flooding back (key part of the Roos game plan v Hawks for example)
- keepings off

I, for one, think its fair enough and teams do what they have to, to win. But what's happened to all the early season obsession with 'attractive' / 'attacking' football?

It seems to have gone away as an issue when a few teams were widely criticised for it early in the season.

Now we are in finals, have we all decided we want our teams to win regardless of how it looks? Not a big issue for us anymore? Bet your bottom dollar the GF will be lucky to reach 200 points combined. Have we realised that the successful teams in modern football simply need to be very accountable and safe?

Or will Geelong keep on kicking 20 goals per final and launch the next evolution for 2008?

Interested in other people's thoughts on this.

I really hope the Cats continue to attack and kick big scores. I can't see them changing much now and i think that it is great for the game. Hopefully they can win and win well and we see a lot more sides prepared to play this style of footy from 2008 onwards.

hondo71 wrote:Some things I have noticed now that finals have come around:

- low scoring
- flooding back (key part of the Roos game plan v Hawks for example)
- keepings off

I, for one, think its fair enough and teams do what they have to, to win. But what's happened to all the early season obsession with 'attractive' / 'attacking' football?

It seems to have gone away as an issue when a few teams were widely criticised for it early in the season.

Now we are in finals, have we all decided we want our teams to win regardless of how it looks? Not a big issue for us anymore? Bet your bottom dollar the GF will be lucky to reach 200 points combined. Have we realised that the successful teams in modern football simply need to be very accountable and safe?

Or will Geelong keep on kicking 20 goals per final and launch the next evolution for 2008?

Interested in other people's thoughts on this.

I think the other reason Hondo is that the intensity has lifted significantly ... We're now seeing two teams face off, without the benefit of knowing they have x amount of weeks left, who are leaving nothing in reserve.

Even the SANFL finals on the weekend (granted conditions were poor) were well down on their usual scoring output.

I also think the umps have officiated differently this finals series (as they always seem to do) as they have throughout the Minor round, by letting the game go more ... All bar one game (and I can't remember which OFTOMH) I've seen in the finals has been extremely well umpired IMHO.

hondo71 wrote:Some things I have noticed now that finals have come around:

- low scoring
- flooding back (key part of the Roos game plan v Hawks for example)
- keepings off

I, for one, think its fair enough and teams do what they have to, to win. But what's happened to all the early season obsession with 'attractive' / 'attacking' football?

It seems to have gone away as an issue when a few teams were widely criticised for it early in the season.

Now we are in finals, have we all decided we want our teams to win regardless of how it looks? Not a big issue for us anymore? Bet your bottom dollar the GF will be lucky to reach 200 points combined. Have we realised that the successful teams in modern football simply need to be very accountable and safe?

Or will Geelong keep on kicking 20 goals per final and launch the next evolution for 2008?

Interested in other people's thoughts on this.

Teams will always do what it takes to win. No matter how ugly it is.

It doesn't matter how much you score or how well you play in a final,
so long as you win it.

I reckon its been quite a few years since we have had high scoring finals...one of the Lions/Pies GF's was very low scoring and WCE/Sydney took it to a new level...think its here to stay...unfortuantely not pretty footy, but keeps the contest close

Hopefully we see Geelong play their usual game right from the get-go and that means that Port will need about 20 goals to win the GF. Then we will see a 35+ goal GF and it will restore our faith that players can kick goals instead of smothering a contest when they are 14 points ahead 18 minutes into the first quarter.

Those types of teams are not there this year so hopefully the breath of fresh air will push the ball through the big sticks a few more times and make it a spectacle for us as well as anyone from overseas who happens to stumble upon the game in the middle of their night.