Geared up for the Grand Final?
September, 25th 2008 05:30 AM

One day in September, the 17th in fact and the AFL Grand Final, 2008 edition is upon us.  Geelong versus Hawthorn, first versus second, the champ versus the contender, us against them and Thompson versus Clarkson on the coaches box.  I wonder if 2 coaches with surnames ending in son have ever coached against each other in a Grand Final before. 

The Geelong team will be aware of Buddy Franklin, no relation to Trish, as he had a very quiet one against the Saints last week.  Geelong should be buoyed by the return of Paul Chapman who will add another option up forward and who is a proven big game player. 

Grand Final experience counts for a lot and Geelong has the edge here with only one hawthorn player having played in a Premiership team.  That is Stuart Dew who played his with Port Adelaide a few seasons back. 

And what about the ribs of Luke Hodge?  Seen by all and sundry coughing up blood last week, not Mark, and who has surely got some sore ribs.  Expect Max Rooke to test the ribs out. 

Here is how I see the key match ups. 

Cameron Ling to tag Sam Mitchell. 

Brad Sewell to run with Gary Ablett. 

Andrew Mackie to get the tough gig on Buddy Franklin.  Scarlett on Jarryd “Giveme” Roughead and Harry Taylor to try and take Hawthorns third option Mark Williams out of the game. 

Who will miss out for Geelong?  Digger reckons it could be Matthew Stokes but what would I know? 

And here are some interesting statis, eh statis, eh sta, er facts and figures on the game courtesy of The Age newspaper. 

  • It will be Geelong's 15th grand final appearance for seven wins and seven losses so far, while Hawthorn also will be playing in its 15th grand final; it's so far won nine and lost five.
  • Geelong beat Hawthorn in their most recent match-up (by 11 points in round 17), but the Hawks have won three from the past four. In fact, they haven't lost consecutive games to Geelong since 2004-05.
  • Geelong is aiming to equal Essendon's record in 2000 of the most successful season in history; if the Cats win it will be their 24th win from 25 games for the season.
  • A win for Hawthorn will be its third consecutive finals victory, the first time it has done so since its last premiership in 1991.
  • A Geelong win will make it the first Victorian team since Hawthorn in 1988-89 to win back-to-back premierships.

 

Well there you go. 

All the races at Geelong tomorrow have names associated with the footy club so Digger has asked Trigger for some omen tips. 

Race 1 is the “Go Cats” Handicap and number 6 is Chalwin. 

Race 8 is the “Good Luck Cats” Handicap and number 13 is Acatabove. 

Geelong to win by between 20 – 39 points in the big one and if you are having a bet on the Norm Smith Medal you could do worse than having a few bob on Brad Ottens at 20/1. 

Digger

 

 

 

 

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