The power of a champion team.

[droversdog65]

The GF result is a stunning example of this.

Sydney was the team the team of champions AFL wanted to win with their ridiculous living allowances and outrageous AFL sanctioned over cap forward line but it didn't follow the script for the AFL.

So sad.

NOT.

Hawthorn showed up the fallacy - yet again - of topping up with mature age stars to buy a flag.

It could happen when Casey bought the Roos a couple of flags.

It could happen when the AFL sanctioned the new Sydney Swans, West Coast , Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Bears, Port Adelaide and Freo to load up on talent denied the rest of the competition.

But it won't work now, or at least not so easily.

Hawthorn showed that a well managed club that backs a well coached team to the hilt can succeed even against the will of the AFL and the power of the almighty dollar.

This is the way to remain relevant even whilst rebuilding and it's becoming increasingle clear this is Buck's view.

[Bob Sugar]

Sydney were vastly overrated, hawks still had the better list IMO.

[droversdog65]

Well we all know this happens with the AFL's media driven campaign to spread the game.

Perhaps to be a little clearer I should say that 'marquee players do not a premiership make'

The other side of the coin is now apparent where everyone and his dog are proclaiming the premiers to be unbeatable and the best thing since sliced bread.

The Hawks have a great list and a tightly run organization from the Pres through to the bootstudder.

The combination of the two is the key here IMVHO, we had some pretty sensational lists in the '70's but were held back by less than professional fitness and training standards.

A champion team plays from the Pres down, everyone is onboard and all rowing in the same direction. The language is clear and common to all and the goals precisely defined.

[droversdog65]

I'm with deregistration

[yin-YANG]

The Power almost did beat the so called champion team... the Dorks certainly had a great run with the umps and really if some of those shockers were corrected they would have had one flag for the past 3 years of dominant footy! Getting Sydney and Freo in their 3 GF's has been lucky I would have backed Geelong to knock em off in 2012 or 2013... but hey that is history and despite what some may say 2015 is still a mystery

[droversdog65]

ALMOST is the saddest word in the English language. As a Collingwood supporter for over 50 years I am intimately acquainted with ALMOST and can assure you that ALMOST is just as bad - if not worse - than nowhere near it.

BECAUSE the champion team are a champion team they were - ALMOST - beaten . . . but the cup still has their name on it and the ALMOST also rans appear nowhere.

As a matter of fact possibly the finest atidote for ALMOST is being a champion team.

[yin-YANG]

Champion teams are described and celebrated after the fact... The Hwaks are declared a champion team by some after they win back to back. Such a fine line between also ran - potential and celebrated champions... the fine line between pleasure and pain. Port where very close - some fairer umpiring and they are celebrated as a Cinderella story.

The line is thinly drawn between joy and sorrow - yin and yang - for me that is the beauty of it

Are the Hawks on the wane? I hope so.

[Woods]

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

(If, Kipling)

[Pebbles Rocks]

Yeah, recruiting mature age stars are a waste of time.....like Burgoyne, Hale, Lake...

[droversdog65]

We are all on the wane from the day of our birth Y-Y just some quicker than others lol.

Although from my end of life's freeway it seems a lot quicker than it used to

Champion teams don't necessarily win the whole box and dice but that doesn't stop them being a champion team - it merely means they haven't yet got the ultimate reward - if you want to call it that.

Both my parents were athletes and I was brought up to understand that the journey enables the performance but that the journey should be experienced for its own sweet sake, lest the future steal our present.

So yes people declare this and that after the fact but the athlete themselves KNOW if their journey and performance are worthy - what the punters think is irrelevant.

[droversdog65]

PR mature age stars are NOT the issue, it's imagining that mature age stars will get you accross the line if the rest of the organization isn't up to scratch that's the issue.

[HAL]

[E]