ABL 2012 Grand Finals

The season has reached its pinacle and what a tight season it has been in both the mens and womens. Final positions were still being jockeyed for going into the last round and hinged on results. There's been some excitement and tears too along the way. I would like to think that the four teams playing off are the four best teams over the entire season, but I think the best thing about the grand finals this weekend is that four clubs are represented. Wouldn’t Div 1 be boring if it was two teams from the same club?

Women
North v Norwood
North have had a stellar run home to secure a grand final spot. Their players have played to the best of their abilities and should be proud of their spot. COYR Barry has choreographed his team’s course to finals like John Travolta on the dance floor. Do the flares and open neck polyester top still fit Barry? Norwood have had a great season too and dominated the competition from the opening tip-off. The Norwood team relying on oranges, not apples, for their energy, but 7 of their last 9 games have been tighter than a lift full of Sumo wrestlers.

In Round 2 Norwood won the boards and steals to take the game easily over the Rockettes. In round 11 they outshot the Rockettes and won the boards once more. In their third meeting the Rockettes jumped them in the first Q, won the boards and won the battle of the threes. Seems whoever wins the first quarter wins the game, so the first ten minutes is the key.

You would think Norwood has this in the bag given their lineup, but they are under more pressure than a traffic cop to get their monthly TIN quota. The Rockettes are well placed to take advantage of this and could put the Flames into foul trouble early. Norwood are a bit like the Titanic, said to be unsinkable, and North has the potential to be their iceberg. Whoever wins the first quarter will win the game and so I expect Norwood will come out of the blocks faster and should get a well deserved title.

Men:
Sturt vs Forestville
If there’s a boy’s or men’s grand final, you can almost put your house on it that one of the teams will be Sturt team. They truly are the Sith Lords of Basketball in this state who know how to do great junior development and get the most out of their players. But along comes the Forestville Jedi. The Jedi have had a great season and stopped the fairy tale run of Norwood last round. (I suspected the fairy tale was over when Brad Davidson didn’t arrive on his unicorn and hadn’t slaid the dragon earlier)

Sturt is all about D. In your face, niggly, pestery, grabby kinda D. The D that puts players off their game and gets under their skin like some exotic African parasite that lays their eggs that hatch larvae that squirm around and pop out of your skin leaving you scratching and on the verge of insanity. Forestville is all about offensive flair. They have an impressive arsenal at their disposal and when this is firing, they have cracked the ton 5 times out of 20 games this season, a strikerate better than Ponting, and one even Don Bradman would be proud of.

Both of these teams have good reasons to gatorade their coach, cut the net down, and lift the silverware to the adorning Adelaide Arena crowd. It’ll get down to attention to detail and I think the surgical precision of Ng will be hard to contain and the Tom Daly show will take centre stage. Let’s face it, a Woollacott means nothing unless you can drink beer out of a silver cup with your mates and spill it all over you. Forgive me Father for I about to sin, Sturt.

Topic #29194 | Report this topic