Australian Football Finals

[Glenn2164]

As one of my favourite pastimes, is watching football, I thought I would say that next weekend are the Grand Finals. AFL ( Australian rules football ) Grand Final on Saturday 29th Sept. 2.30pm aest, West Coast Eagles v Collingwood and the NRL ( rugby league) Grand Final on Sunday 30th Sept. 7.20pm aest. Sydney roosters v Melbourne Storm ( the team I follow, Go Storm !! ).

[rokkerr]

Never watched those finals... I have to say that the players are amazingly tough. Are you based in Melbourne Glenn? Always wanted to go to Australia and figured that might be a good place to start...

[PeterL22]

Thing that amazes me about Aussie rules - you cannot get sent off for anything! You may get reported and punished afterwards, but can't get sent off DURING the game.

[Glenn2164]

Yes, rokkerr, I live in Melbourne. A great place to live for leisure activities as well sporting events.Sports including aussies rules. Rugby league and union, soccer, cricket at the great MCG ( melb. cricket ground ) as well as football. Also tennis, Australian Open. Yes, not a bad place to live. Glenn

[rokkerr]

But what about the strip joints Glenn? lol

[CGYMike]

I love watching Aussie Rules...but damn it...those uniforms have got to go!! Those friggin' shorts are wayyy too short...know what I'm sayin???

[Glenn2164]

Yes, there are plenty of strip joints in Melbourne. So called gentlemens' club like Mens Gallery etc. Also Sexpo on, I think annually, in November.

[Glenn2164]

The 2019 final series has commenced. For anyone, interested, so far, the West Coast Eagles defeated Essendon by 51 pts. on Thursday in an elimination final and last night, Friday AEST, Collingwood defeated Geelong by 10pts. Today, Saturday, here, the Brisbane Lions play Richmond and Greater Western Sydney ( GWS ) play the Western Bulldogs. The other qualifying and elimination finals, respectively. After 3 weeks of finals, the Grand Final will be on September 28.

[WalterB]

Thanks, Glenn

[Glenn2164]

Just an update. GWS def. Western Bulldogs by 58 pts. and Richmond def. Brisbane Lions by 47 pts. Next weekend, Friday and Saturday, AEST the semi finals. Geelong v West Coast Eagles and Brisbane v GWS.

[Glenn2164]

Another update. As Geelong and Greater Western Sydney ( GWS ) won their semi finals, the Preliminary Finals, next Friday and Saturday AEST are Richmond v Geelong and Collingwood v GWS. The winners play in the Grand Final on September 28. Also, in the National Rugby League finals, the team I support, Melbourne Storm lost to Canberra Raiders, disappointed, but Storm have 2nd chance and play Parramatta Eels, next Saturday.

[CGYMike]

I love watching Aussie Rules...lots of action, fast, tough, and the best friggin' officials in team sports :)

[Glenn2164]

With Richmond and Greater Western Sydney (GWS) winning, this weekend, in Prelim. Finals, the AFL Grand Final on next Saturday, 28 September at 2.30pm AEST will be Richmond v GWS. Also, in the National Rugby League, the team I follow, Melbourne Storm, after winning in the semi final, play next Saturday, 7.50pm, against the Sydney Roosters, in one of the 2 Prelim. Finals.

[Glenn2164]

With the Aussies rules season ending last Saturday, the AFL Grand Final won by Richmond, there is still the Rugby League Grand Final still to be played on Sunday 7.30pm AEST between the Canberra Raiders and Sydney Roosters. Unfortunately, my team, the Melbourne Storm did not make the final, losing the prelim, final, last weekend.

[CGYMike]

I was watching the finals live last weekend which started here @ somewhere around 11:00pm. Thats where it all went bad as I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes and woke up 6 hours later...missed the whole damn thing...gggrrrrrr :)

[Glenn2164]

Actually, you didn't miss much, Mike, after the 1st qtr. it was a one sided match, even looking like a training run by Richmond beating GWS by 89pts.

[enternight]

Rugby League is better in my opinion.

[Glenn2164]

Due to the coronavirus and the lockdown in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, the home of Australian Rules Football, the finals are now being played interstate with even Victorian clubs in the finals, have to be play interstate, mainly in Queensland and the AFL grand final will be played in Brisbane, Queensland on October 24. This will be the first time the Grand Final will not be played in Melbourne in the 100 + year history of the VFL/AFL (Victorian Football League then with interstate clubs joining in the 80's and 90's becoming the Australian Football League from 1990 ). I was unable to attend any football matches this season. Watching it all on tv, the matches played interstate.

[WalterB]

Is it like over here, Glenn?? No one is allowed into the stadiums (well, the players, lol) so they have recordings of crowd noise. So you're watching a tough game, quarterback makes a 40 yard completion, the crowd roars, and the camera shows the empty stands. Kind of ridiculous, but I have to admit, a pro football game with no crowd noise is just sad, lol.

NASCAR is a different story. The car noise overwhelms the crowd noise, so you don't notice the loss. In NASCAR you pretty much only see the stands on rare occasions. In football, the stands and crowds are a big part of the broadcast, so it's quite noticeable that no one is there, lol.

[Glenn2164]

Walter, as the restrictions are much more eased and daily cases real low or zero in the other states, there are crowds at the football matches. However, the stadiums can't have a full house. Spectators are spread out around the ground due to social distancing. For example, the stadium in Brisbane for the grand final, normally holding 42000 will only be allowed 30000 spectators to attend. Bit different to normal times, when the grand final is at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, capacity and most years having 100000 ( or close to it ) spectators.