Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Gearing up for the AFL Premiership


This is it folks... the Dockers are three wins shy of being the AFL Premiers - the best side in this national competition, or as Steve Irwin may have described them, 'the duck's guts'.

We take on the Adelaide Crows this Saturday and if we turn them into humble pie for the second time in a month, it's straight into the preliminary final.

We're the underdogs, the team without finals experience, the team that surely has to drop a game at some stage... but with all that, we're also the team with 11 years of fire in the belly and a purple passion that's set to explode like TNT.

AND, we've got Jeff 'The Purple Jesus' Farmer on our side - bring it on!

11 comments:

Kales said...

COME ON ADELAIDE!! Sorry to hear that you're a Dockers supporter, that must be hard :) Actually I like the Dockers, too, I am originally from WA. But I still hope you lose!

Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Ya clock 2 hours slow mate!

Cookster said...

ahhhh... anonymous, I assume you're on Crow time? Your clock would be about 20 years slo ;-)

gakbro7 said...

Rock On!!!!
FREEEEEOOOOOO!!!!!
All the way to the Grand Final
This is our year!!!!
Heave Ho!!!!
Way to Go!!!!

Kales said...

Bad luck Freo! But we were TOO GOOD TOO GOOD TOO GOOD!!

*Sing it now* We're the pride of South Aust-raaaa-lia, we're the mighty Adelaide Croooows!

Sorry. I felt bad in doing this. For about thirty seconds. :P

COME ON ADELAIDE!!!

Cookster said...

Yeah, a win - ugly, but a win - good luck winning a Grand Final though with 10 goals!

Anonymous said...

Fans irate over $1600 faresBraden Quartermaine

September 09, 2006 04:00pm
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WA footy fans are fuming over the cost of flights to travel interstate for AFL finals - especially Dockers fans who paid dearly to see their team lose.

They claim airlines are taking advantage of their loyalty and passion to turn a profit.

Fremantle supporters who flew to Adelaide for yesterday's qualifying final showdown with the Crows paid up to $1600 for a return ticket.

Perth people could have made the same trip last weekend for just $450.

While the purple army still made their presence felt at AAMI Stadium, it appears many more Dockers supporters would have attended the match if not for the cost.

Flight Centre in Fremantle said many shocked fans decided against going after being told of the huge cost.

Dockers banner team leader Maria Giglia said airlines were using fans' passion to make money.

"They're definitely taking advantage of us,'' she said.

"A lot of people can't afford it -- that's a lot of money. It's very sad, but what can you do?''

Both Qantas and Virgin Blue denied they were cashing in on the AFL finals series.

The airlines said because of the huge demand for flights to Adelaide the cheapest seats had sold out quickly, leaving fans to buy the remainder at higher prices.

Qantas put on two extra flights to help cater for demand.

"We're not taking advantage of anyone,'' a Qantas spokesman said.

"It's purely to do with demand. We don't charge a premium for putting these special services on.''

Virgin Blue spokeswoman Amanda Bolger said: "The seats are revenue managed, like all airlines, so as the aircraft fills up, the airfares increase.''

A spokeswoman for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it had not received any complaints about footy flights.

There was nothing it could do anyway, she said.

"We don't have the power in Australia to set the prices for any particular good or service,'' she said.

"The market will bear what the market will pay.''

The Fremantle Dockers said many fans who could not afford the flights still made it to Adelaide by either car-pooling or taking the train.

A Dockers spokeswoman said other fans had probably decided against the trip in the hope of instead going to Melbourne in three weeks' time to see Fremantle in the Grand Final.

Ms Giglia said that despite the price barrier, many fans were still desperate to ``be a part of history'' yesterday.

"These are the sacrifices that you make,'' she said.

"It's our first away final ever. There's about 10 of us in the banner team who have gone over -- some have driven, some have gone by train and some by plane.''

Despite the expense of getting to the match, local Docker fans were overjoyed about their team flying east.

Rob Carnemolla moved from East Fremantle to South Australia with his family when he was just 18 months old, but he never severed his ties.

Yesterday he was proudly wearing the purple scarf with his sister Jo.

"I used to go for West Coast, but when the Dockers started there was no other choice,'' he said.

"You get a bit of stick, but who cares. It's all good fun ... until we play each other.''

Adelaide Dockers fan Damien Pearce was more blunt about his reason for flying the Dockers flag.
"When I lived in WA, I developed a strong hatred for the Eagles,'' he said.

"Over here they are either bogan Crows supporters or bogan Port supporters.

"I might get 30,000 dirty looks from the bogans here today, but I got one high five from another Freo fan so that made it worthwhile.''

Another SA Dockers fan, Glenn Roebuck, began supporting the team when he lived in Dampier.

"There's no other choice is there? This is huge,'' he said.

LAST TRAIN FROM FREO: Many Dockers fans took the train from Perth to Adelaide for the final against the Adelaide Crows.
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Anonymous said...

Go The Swans, stuck it right up The Weeping Weagles!!!

Anonymous said...

Still three wins from holding the cup high!

Thank goodness the Swans took care of the Weagles,
otherwise... Perth would have been unbearble

Anonymous said...

You are obviously too thick to notice your photo of Freo is at least 10 years old!!!

Cookster said...

Yeah anonymous - you talking about the team or the town of Freo?

The Farmer image isn't mine and quite frankly, who gives a toss?

Obviously your attention to detail means you haven't got a life!