It's Footscray vs South Melbourne!

Hoping Doggies get up. It would be one of the best fairy tale stories I've ever seen in pro sports.

Tipping Swans in a tight one. So consistent all year, deep midfield and Buddy loves the big stage. First quarter is key, after past couple of weeks

Hope the Bulldogs win, but expect the swans will.

^ ditto. Tipping the Swans.
Would love the dogs to get up but I like both teams so the only bad outcome for me today is if it turns into a blowout.

Buddy has tweaked his ankle early, doesn't look right.

The fairytale is complete! First Leicester City, now the bulldogs!

Next Townsville crocodiles will win the championship

If the doggies can do it from 7th then why not.

Go crocs go!!

Awesome GF.

Ok, basketball time now.

Just incredible.

The most amazing premiership win of my lifetime. Astounding for several reasons.

So much history has been made. Records have tumbled.

All the records are fantastic (7th position, interstate finals, 62 year drought, 55 year GF drought), but more impressive is their ability to keep winning in the face of adversity with so many injuries continually happening.

The dynasties in recent history- Brisbane, Geelong and Hawthorn- rarely, if ever, had more than 1 or 2 of their best 22 players unavailable come grand final day. The Dogs were missing their captain plus a stack of other players, and this was happening all year and they kept winning.

17 of today's 22 are aged 25 or less. Add Crameri, Cloke, into the mix, get all the injured players back and they'll be very strong next year. Should be right up there for 5+ years

Yes, it's not a truly national competition (even though the league has given both Sydney sides plus Gold Coast all kinds of concessions in the interests of growing the game and getting ratings in the big Northern markets)

Yep, was glad to see the dogs beat the gws "#1 picks" giants. The fact that gold coast are so bad despite all their concessions speaks to their mismanagement and poor club culture

ANZ Stadium (The Olympic Stadium) in Sydney is a huge stadium. If it was good enough for the Olympics, then it is probably good enough for the GF. It's not about size, it's about Victorian bias.

There's not much home ground advantage for the bulldogs playing at the MCG, it's not their homeground.

Also, ANZ is horrible for Aussie Rules as the surface is never up to scratch, it's too inconsistent through winter. That's why there probably won't be any more games there at all as I understand it.

Off topic on an off topic thread but I might put some money on Cairns to take the Dr. to FNQ.

Cavaliers, Leicester City, Western/Footscray Bulldogs and now the Cronulla Sharks.

#yearofthedroughtbreaking

Mate, there was an advantage playing there. Just look at the crowd. It was 100,000 and probably at least 70 per cent of it were Dogs fans. I wasn't at the game but commentators who had been to several grand finals kept talking about the amazing atmosphere and support created by those fans. Also, the Dogs wouldn't have had to travel and get to stay in their home town. Advantages of sleeping in your own bed etc. So even if they prefer Etihad Stadium as a ground, there was definitely an advantage.

I didn't say there was no advantage, just not as much as you'd think as I don't think they played there too often during the year. Sydney had both won and lost GFs in the past few years, so they knew what they were in for.

Probably the same situation that the Storm faced playing at ANZ.

I was blown away at how good the two big football grand finals were this weekend. Sure the Storm went down and the Swans also got drowned out by a local team backed by huge local support, but there were some incredible moments and I just want to touch on them.

The codes and the fans were the winners, no one can take away the importance and nostalgia created for teams from traditional football/league heartlands that have waiting over half a century for ultimate glory.

Some unbelievable sportsmanship and humility was shown in post game acts and speeches, worthy of the amazing results and inspirational to those watching.

The Bulldogs have an opportunity to build a culture, based on the selfless act of their coach giving away his medal to the team's injured captain and inspirational leader. They should mount a famed image of them over the cup and build on that to foster that spirit of selflessness for future generations.

The Storm captain Cam Smith, with his humble and sportsmanlike acknowledgement of the first premiership win for Cronulla and what it means to their club, their fans and the shire speak volumes for a man hated by so many NSW faithful. Yet in a place that suffered race riots years ago, such words can sometimes be a powerful incentive for people to come together and the crowd's reaction in that instance is testament to how respected this guys should be in so called 'enemy territory'.

Yes, the AFL and NRL will always have a heartland and home base for their respective grand final games, as they should. The best team will usually win, no hard feelings and no remorse or regrets, just tough and hard fought contests that will live on in history.

Some things the NBL can look at as its league establishes itself once again is how a culture of rivalry and loyalty between fans and clubs can be built, because that's where the foundations and future success of a league are formed!

There is always next year...

Anon^, surely you cannot compare a basketball court with the MCG or the equivalent in NSW, why even the NFL plays its Superbowl at different venues every year, based on certain specifications and agreements that make the venue equal to the occasion.

Based on your theory Geelong should hold the grand final if they are the top team, but even I can see the stupidity of that reasoning!

Just to clarify, neither grand final this weekend was won or lost on decisions made or not made, seriously you have to be kidding, right??

Great post Bear.

I think the results in both leagues were great for their respective leagues.

Cronulla has been one of those teams plagued with controversy over the years and has always been an also ran team despite having some great players. (e.g. ET) The area itself has a large cultural mix and this win can be used to unite that area.

Despite covering basically the western half of Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs has struggle with poor membership, talk of moving interstate etc. It has been the battlers team and over the last 16 seasons has played finals 6 times and over the last 25 seasons has averaged 22,000 members and 25,000 to their games, which is quite low in AFL standards.

I've always maintained that a great league is a fair league and when the success is shared around, it keeps fans interested. Leagues where one or two teams dominate are just boring.

Both wins are great for both leagues and I think both teams (and areas) will ride on their success.

the free kicks in the Swans Dogs game were a disgrace. In the order of 12-4 at half time and finished at 20-8 dogs favour. Swans did not get a free in the 2nd and 3 rd quarters. Half a game of footie and the Dogs did not infringe???????

Take 2 similar tackles, late on Jack early in the game , no 50m penalty, Swan player late on a dogs player later in the game , 50m given. Legs taken out, and no frees given to the Swans. All yr the leg slide has been a free kick.

Yes i am pissed off. 2 teams playing tough, but refs only seeing it one way.

Stats for the season, the finals and the GF all show the Dogs were on the good end of the whistle!!

Honestly, watching it as a neutral I was surprised to hear the free kick count was so one sided. There's no rule that says it has to be even though.

The slide rule was an interesting one, the Hannebery one wasn't a clear cut free kick as most of the contact was on the knee or above, not below the knee. The rule is forceful contact below the knee, and it wasn't that. However, there was another one that was worse and I can't remember who it was, should have been paid though.

If there's a trend of one side getting more free kicks over the year it can be to do with how they play also, not just umpire bias.

362, sure the Swans had players who played poorly, but reverse the free kick count and the Swans would have won the game!!!!

370, did the dogs deserve a 20-8 free kick count? did they not infringe for half the game? We are not talking about who deserved to win, we are talking about an extremely lopsided free kick count in a hard game!

Was that just on the basis of the free kick count?

Sorry my question was to 371...

373, the comment on reversing the free kick count and the Swans win the game was made to get people to actually think about the game without emotion. I do not think any person who watched the game would have thought it deserved such a one sided free kick count.

In all sports you want the teams , NOT the refs/umps deciding a winner. IF the count was the other way and the Swans had won, imagine the re action that would have followed. Everyone, umps included, have been caught up in the cinderella story. (it was a great story)

the +12 free kick differential in favour of the dogs is the largest differential in history in a grand final!!!

Try that again, shall we...

@Anon #594 you make some interesting points in a very long post, I think if Stevie 'J' plays for the Giants they win it in Melbourne against Sydney, so the Bulldogs are very much deserving winners no matter what.

You can only play who you have and who you are scheduled to play, you can only control those things you can control and you can rarely if ever control the officials.

@Anon #028 are you unaware that Melbourne is the sporting capital of the universe? I would be happy to allow the AFL grand final be played at any venue and in any location where a crowd of about 100,000 is guaranteed.

Do you have the same opinion about this year's NRL final, should they have played that at the Storm's home ground in front of 30,000? Seriously!!

And a comment on the AFL GF entertainment, WTF is it with paying over a $Million for acts like 'Sting' to come in and play three average tunes then fly out immediately?

Surely the AFL can use this kind of coin more wisely, crazy stuff that makes us look pretty stupid IMHO...

Then you understand that the Bulldogs home ground is Etihad Stadium and the Cats played the Hawks away from home in their first final and even the Cats v Swans was a neutral game and..... Oh god, I'm over it!