Richmond vs Hawthorn @ the MCG --- Qualifying Final, 2018

[Rodgerramjet]

What a joke

Why?

Thursday night is a stupid timeslot, driven by TV

It is not family friendly, crap for people who work and have early starts 

Would think the game that is going to get the biggest crowd would be primetime on Friday

You'll be there and so will everyone else, the networks know that and are driving for maximum revenue as you said.

[Diocletian]

If all the other finals were the same as last year's schedule  I could accept it but they're not. Typical random AFL bollocks. 

[Rodgerramjet]

If all the other finals were the same as last year's schedule  I could accept it but they're not. Typical random AFL bollocks. 

They want Geelong playing in prime time on a friday night so they can get smashed in front of the whole country, god what a dream come true, make it so Melbourne.

[wayne]

Sam Landsberger's early tip in the HUN is hawks by 2 points 

[Tiger Khosh]

Sam Landsberger's early tip in the HUN is hawks by 2 points 

Guy from the age also tipping hawks by under a goal. Can’t temember what his name is.

[Lozza]

Looks like we go into the game as underdogs, happy with that.

[wayne]

Looks like we go into the game as underdogs, happy with that.

Yeah, good ammunition to get the guys fired up.

[one-eyed]

After the siren: Stand by for a September special

Ashley Browne
afl.com.au
Aug 27, 2018

... there is one match-up which stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the opening weekend of the finals.

It is the qualifying final between Richmond and Hawthorn, which as AFL.com.au noted last week, is 93 years in the making.

After 24 flags between them and nine Septembers in which both clubs have been combatants at the same time, this will be the first time they have met in a final.

It will be billed in many quarters as a ‘master versus pupil’ match-up between coaches Alastair Clarkson and Damien Hardwick, but that is a lazy description and perhaps insulting to Hardwick.

The Richmond coach has engineered an almost flawless premiership defence to this stage of the year. Unbeaten at home, the Tigers bring their game with them and challenge their opponents to find a way to beat them. And nobody has.

The Tigers are giving every impression of a side that has another gear in them. They've been playing dead rubbers for the best part of a month, simultaneously giving exposure at the level to every player that might be needed through the finals, resting any player with a significant niggle and still fulfilling important objectives such as getting Jack Riewoldt the Coleman Medal and Dustin Martin enough of a sniff in the last month to suggest a second Brownlow is not out of the question.

So why are we so excited for the Thursday night clash? Because of the Hawks.

Clarkson’s men enter the finals with six straight wins under their belt. After losing to Brisbane in round 16 the Hawks were 10th, lines were being drawn through their players futures (this columnist would like to personally apologise to Ricky Henderson and Paul Puopolo), obituaries for 2018 were being written and supporters were openly calling for the club to ‘tank’ the rest of the season in anticipation of an early selection at the so-called ‘super draft’ later this year.

But that was to discount what a proud group these Hawks are, and a coach at the peak of his powers. The Clarkson of 2012-2016 was more of a manager, juggling the pieces on the chessboard and using his significant powers of motivation to extract the best from an experienced group. Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis at al didn't need to be taught how to play, their collective talents just needed to be harnessed.

But what Hawthorn people say is energising Clarkson now is that he is coaching once again in the purest sense of the word. He has gone back to his teaching roots and the rapid development of Harry Morrison, Conor Nash, James Worpel and Teia Miles over these last few weeks has brought a freshness to the Hawks and zest to their coach.

As recently as last week he said he believes next year and the year after is when this group will be at its peak. But as he said on Saturday night after the comeback win over Sydney, an “opportunity” has now been presented to the Hawks and “who knows where it will take us if it stares us in the face?”

As he walked the SCG boundary line post-game, he was already scheming. The Tigers are high and mighty, but their fearsome MCG advantage will be largely negated when they take on the Hawks. Opportunity has indeed come knocking, which is what makes this qualifying final such a mouthwatering encounter.

What can the master tactician, with 10 days to prepare, come up with to challenge the best team in the competition?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-08-27/after-the-siren-stand-by-for-a-september-special

[one-eyed]

'Very hard' for fans: Hawks and Tigers on Thursday night final

Michael Gleeson
The Age
27 Aug 2018

Richmond were blindsided by the timing of the Thursday night blockbuster final which left both the Hawks and Tigers disappointed for fans who won't be able to be there for the weeknight blockbuster.

Richmond had been led to believe they would be scheduled to play a Friday night final and had instructed marketing, sales and ticketing staff to work on that basis.

Both clubs said it made no difference to them in a football sense but they were surprised and disappointed that families with young school age children, and country members, would not be able to attend the qualifying final on Thursday night at the MCG.

Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said the decision was "tough" and "very very hard for a lot of those who might wish to be there".

Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said the club had expected to be playing their final on a Friday.

"We had assumed and had told our people internally to plan around a Friday night final based on history and the fact Thursday lent itself to an interstate game," Gale said.

"I had assumed we would be Friday night and we were surprised to be scheduled for a Thursday night final.

"From a football point of view it is no different, but it is going to make it hard, with strong regional support and families, for many of our members to attend.

"It will stil be well supported but it makes it that much harder for families."

The AFL revealed the week one fixture of the finals on Sunday night, opting to open with the Tigers and Hawks on Thursday night, followed by the Melbourne-Geelong elimination final on Friday night at the MCG, the Sydney derby elimination final on Saturday afternoon at the SCG, and the West Coast-Collingwood qualifying final on Saturday night at Perth's Optus Stadium.

Kennett said it would be extremely difficult for families to go to their final, and that the fixture on a Thursday night "does make it tough".

“The AFL are in control of this, we have no say in real terms as you appreciate,” Kennett said on SEN on Monday morning.

“We not going to satisfy our members, Richmond and Hawthorn, we are not going to satisfy our membership requirements. I am cognisant of our membership.

"It’s going to be very hard for a lot of families, younger people to attend the ground because of the hour and the fact of Thursday night.

“It’s almost impossible for any of our 10,000 members from Tasmania to come across, let alone our other 10-15,000 around the country.

“Putting it at night and particularly on a Thursday night is very very hard for a lot of those who might wish to be there.

“Putting the interests of our shareholders, our stakeholders, our members first, it does make it tough. We have no say in that.

“There is no point me complaining, I’m just stating the reality that it does eliminate, not just ours, but a lot of Richmond supporters from even contemplating being there.”

This will be the first time that Richmond and Hawthorn have played in a final.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said on Monday that the football perspective was different to that of the administration.

"I think you get a different perspective from a player and coaching point of view than you might get from a chairman of a footy club," said Clarkson.

“We’re pretty much just in the space of being delighted that we’ve been able to qualify and get the opportunity to play against a formidable opponent at the MCG."

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/very-very-hard-for-fans-kennett-disappointed-at-thursday-night-final-20180827-p4zzy7.html

[one-eyed]

AFL defends Tigers/Hawks Thursday final decision

By Luke Sicari
SEN
27 Aug 2018

The AFL has defended their decision to schedule the Richmond versus Hawthorn Qualifying Final.

Fans are outraged at the decision to put two big Victorian clubs on a weeknight, but AFL fixture boss Travis Auld believes it’s no different to the Perth and Adelaide Thursday night finals over the past two years.

“They go to school in Western Australia and South Australia,” Auld told SEN’s Whateley.

“Families and kids getting to the game from outside of CBD or having school the next day, that issue applies anywhere where we play.

“Our expectations are we will get 90,000 plus, we are confident with those teams and the strength of those teams that there will be a really strong crowd.”

Auld also described how the fairness of rest for all eight finals clubs is another factor in placing a game on Thursday night.

“It’s the week off between the home and away and the first week of the finals that’s given us an opportunity to launch finals with a Thursday night, which then has taken a game out of the Sunday,” he said.

“It also makes it easier in terms of day breaks.

“If you look at week two of the finals, we will have an eight day break and a seven day break and two seven day breaks.

“That’s really important to the clubs that are competing.”

However, dual premiership player David King isn’t buying that argument from the league, saying teams why finish first should be able to determine their own fixture.

“If you finish top on the ladder, I think you should choose when you want to play,” he said.

“That should be one of the benefits of finishing top of the table.

“They’ve got Dan Butler, who is not a marquee player by any stretch, but he is an important player for Richmond.

“There is no way he can play next Saturday (in the VFL) and then back-up on the Thursday into a final.

“Why are Richmond ruling a player out now because of the fixture?”

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/08/27/afl-defends-tigers-hawks-thursday-final-decision/

[georgies31]

Top of the ladder biggest support yet don't even have the right to pick Friday go figure these clowns at the afl.Yet we get shafted as minor premiers even with vfl side or players playing there.

[Francois Jackson]

his last point about butler is the most important. Yet over at the lexus try hard centre you cant tell me that edward didnt have a say in that fixture to allow an extra 2 days for his guys(treloar/goldsack) to recover from their injuries and subsequent weekend vfl games.

what a load of poo

[one-eyed]

The breaks of the game behind finals fixture

By Jake Niall
The Age
27 August 2018 — 7:07pm

Ideally, Richmond and Hawthorn would be playing on Friday night, rather than on the Thursday nights that are less friendly to families and especially regional folk. That said, the MCG will still be filled with 90,000-plus when these heavily supported clubs play in what will be the first final between the clubs in VFL/AFL history.

The television ratings will have Channel Seven doing cartwheels, too. The AFL made this call, safe in the knowledge that the game would sell out, no matter when it was played.

It's unlikely there will be ramifictions from fixturing the game a day earlier, besides some irritated country and Tasmanian members. The Tigers still expect Kane Lambert and Dan Butler to play, albeit Butler will probably require a run in the VFL this weekend to ensure he's match-ready.

Just as the Tigers weren't entirely happy with being forced to wear an alternate jumper on grand final day but quickly forgot about it as the big day beckoned, they've already moved on. As the members' voice, Jeff Kennett isn't happy, but Alastair Clarkson doesn't give a fig.

The major surprise in the week one finals fixture was that the AFL did not fixture West Coast versus Collingwood on the Thursday evening. It had been widely assumed this would be the first final, with the Tigers and Hawks on Friday night, the Sydney derby on Saturday and Melbourne and Geelong on Saturday night.

When the AFL makes a call such as this, our natural - well-founded - tendency is to look at the box office appeal of these games. This time, though, the AFL insists that the decision was a case of prioritising football considerations - namely, that the lower ranked winners would be disadvantaged in week two of the finals when they played the losers of the Eagles-Pies and Tigers-Hawks games.

This is an interesting argument, because the top four losers are higher ranked and one could argue that the advantage of finishing higher in the regular season has already been greatly diluted by the establishment of the pre-finals bye.

Had West Coast versus Collingwood been on Saturday, the loser would get a nine-day break compared to Sydney and Greater Western Sydney's seven days; the league suggested this wasn't fair. Collingwood certainly isn't complaining about being fixtured on Saturday night.

They were always playing the Eagles in Perth at night and the extra two days will give them the option of playing the likes of Flynn Appleby and Jeremy Howe (less likely) in the VFL this weekend. Under the discarded alternative, the winner of the Melbourne-Geelong game would have had a six day break in the second week, compared to Richmond and Hawthorn's seven days.

The AFL judged that they couldn't schedule the Sydney derby final on Friday night because they couldn't play two MCG finals on Saturday. This leads us to new reality that if the Sunday final is not dead, it is certainly comatose and will only be revived on those rare occasions when there are four MCG finals - as the AFL acknowledged on Monday.

Thursday nights have supplanted Sundays in the first finals.This is a direct consequence of the bye before the finals, which has enabled the AFL to play Thursday night finals.

While the AFL can say that Sunday finals create a shorter break, it is also convenient that the television audience on Thurday evening will dwarf that of Sunday afternoons.Sunday finals are in an induced coma, while afternoon finals are an endangered species, as night footy becomes entrenched and the grand final awaits the twilight zone.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-breaks-of-the-game-behind-the-finals-fixture-20180827-p5004c.html

[one-eyed]

Clarkson said the Tigers' defenders were key to the side's game plan, ... as he seeks a strategy that can end Richmond's 21-game winning streak at the MCG.

[Paywall:] https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/hawthorn/alastair-clarkson-details-the-keys-to-beating-richmond-and-its-not-stopping-dustin-martin/news-story/390c5fd4dc917960078fdb73c13656f9

[Andyy]

Anyone having my type of drama trying to get tickets?

Have been sitting here since 0855 with my member numbers copied on a computer and mobile phone. Can't get past 'Please wait, we're processing your request.'

Never gets further than this. Then it times out. Absolutely gutted. About 55 years of membership between the 3 of us and we'll probably miss out...