Fri Fix: power failure shapes AFL finals, NRL spoon bowl, Mata-fact

ABC listen podcasts radio news music and more it's an upset but it's no accident the cats get the September crme and flip the final series on its head while Port stumbles again in the spring whoa did you see that coming I mean sure maybe an upset but second ranked Port Adelaide losing by 84 points to the cats neither demure nor mindful from the power and it's just the tip of the AFL finals iceberg that we will be digging into today we're also covering spoon Bowl in the NRL plus the Newcastle Thunderdome clash between the knights and fins as finals comes a week early there a huge A- League signing and a patriotic themed sound bites I'm Patrick stack this is ABC Sport Daily finals have started in the AFL Ben Cameron's here to talk all about it we are starting with ports you humiliating finals defeat at the hands of jalong Ben the overarching reaction is that both clubs reverted to type I think power folding in a big moment cats Rising is that a simplification or is there truth to behold in that assessment I think that is absolutely right and why be complicated when you can be simple and we've seen it again from Port Adelaide I think the point posed by Corbin middlemass on our broadcast last night is Port Adelaide fans are realizing that that their team isn't what they thought they were or perhaps they're exactly what they thought they were so again poor come up short in a big final there'll be so much pressure on Ken hinley next week he'll be coaching against a rampaging Hawks or dogs and likely coaching for his career and then jalong they're through to a 13th preim in 18 Seasons so they are a truly remarkable Club from top to bottom their ability to recruit to develop and then be extremely well coached by Chris Scott is so evident so there's the whole nature versus nurture debate is it the fact that they are able to find guys that other people are missing or do they then just develop them better than anybody else the likes of Lawson Humphrey Shannon Neil sha Mana guys they just find that are these Diamonds in the Rough tapped it down straight to Mana who strikes from 20 Port adel's worst nightmare is coming to fruition their Superstar is out and jalong have pounced they are just about the Premiership favorites now they're going to stay in Victoria face Interstate sides it could well be Sydney who they up in a grand final 2 years ago so they are in pole position to win another flag come the back end of this month it is truly incredible for the cats it's absolutely Bonkers isn't it tonight sees the all Vic Clash at the G the dogs arguably have the best player in the comp the Hawks have perhaps been the formed team of the comp what's going to determine the outcome here do you think uh yeah it is very much the Hollywood Hawks you know who have brought some cool to the game of football with these young kids good KN there by Bruce off to Watson darts back inside snaps and does it beautifully up against the Western Bulldogs who are a team that can ride a Magic Carpet Ride throughout September they did it in 2016 Tom Boyd's got it Tom Boyd goes long how will it bounce the stadium holds its breath it's a goal and the western suburbs erupt Luke beverage has never coached his side to a top four finish but he's a great St story tell he invokes emotion in his team and he's able to get them rolling towards uh big moments and playing well and peing at the the right end of the season what I do think is going to decide this is Hawthorne's defense since they turned it around Hawthorne basically don't concede more than 50 inside 50s per game can the Western bulldogs and they're all conquering powerful Midfield led by the best player in the competition as you mentioned Marcus mononon pelly can they win enough field position territory get it inside 50 and expose what is quite likely quite a vulnerable Hawthorne defense that hasn't really been challenged while they've been up and running I think that'll be a key factor tonight look how often the dogs are going inside 50 and you get a pretty good idea of the way this game is trending Sydney Derby Battle of the bridge sibling rivalry however you want to frame it swans Giants it's going to be a cracker at theg I think the swans are going to bring in a wealth of talent or they have they've got papley Justin mck they've dropped Taylor Adams the Giants lose a valuable tagger in Toby Bedford to a calf injury in your view which team has more Talent across the park and who do you think wins out here I think Sydney have more Talent across the park so they are the most talented team in the competition maybe only challenged by Carlton who have stars across every line but GE this Sydney team is so Dynamic particularly when you look at their Midfield it is in my opinion the best Midfield in the competition by a fair way it is the most balanced Midfield in the competition the fact that you have the dynamism of Chad Warner Isaac Heeney who is different in his own way Errol golden running up and down the wing and one of the best kicks in the competition then you have robottom who's accountable a tackling machine and you've got James Jordan who they call the padlock who's able to just shut down on his opposition and finally they have a good Rockman straight in front 20 out no worries at all Grundy's on the board the issue is do gws who always seem to get the better of them in a big final three and zip against them all three of those games they've entered as the underdog against the Sydney Swans can they do that again they think that the swans are smug Sam Taylor said as much earlier this year I think gws win but what do I know Pat and this season's proven that for everybody Carlton perhaps the biggest Outsiders in week one no Charlie kerno he continues to battle an ankle injury but they have a raft of talented inclusions coming com in is it going to be enough against a Lions team on their home deck I don't think so this is the outcome I'm most confident in in week one of the finals I think Brisbane win and win well I do believe that Brisbane blew their chance of winning the flag in the um penultimate round of the season they were up by 19 points deep into time on against Collingwood lost by a point if they'd won that game they finish top four instead all of a sudden they'll have to win three games on the road to win the flag something no team has done since Adelaide won in 97 so I I just think that'll be too big an ask for the Brisbane Lions having said all of that I think they'll be too good for Carlton I think the Sam docky story is a beautiful story and I'm cheering for Sam docky in his comeback 183 days on third ACL two bouts of cancer he's one of the most resilient people in the AFL and I I love the person that he is but I think it smells a little bit of desperation for the blues Brisbane will be far too good for them on their home deck in my opinion and advance to the second week of the finals you can hear the entire ABC AFL commentary team including Ben Cameron all weekend live and free on the ABC listen that Ben thanks for your time always a pleasure never a Cho you stacky before we get into the NRL we've got a little mixed bag of stories you need to know about and we're starting with swimming do you remember that enormous story that broke on the eve of the Olympics involving coach Mick palfrey he'd been advising the South Korean swimmer Kim Wu Min who is taking on Australia's Elijah Winnington in the 400 meter freestyle power remained with the team because officials felt to cut him loose would leave the squad short staffed he has now been Let Go by swimming Australia for a breach of employment agreement meanwhile in football the a league has landed another big name Juan mat was one of the finest players in the Premier League during his time at Chelsea he's been snapped up by The Wanderers as a free agent after concluding his time in the Japanese J League the 36-year-old Spaniard signing comes hot on the heels of Sydney FC Landing former Juventus Brazilian Douglas Costa all of a sudden a little bit of Buzz around the AAG the socceroos have got off to a bad start in the latest phase of their World Cup qualification losing to Bahrain on the goal Coast Harry suda own goal in the 89th minute delivered a one nil defeat that's the sort of loss that can really bite you down the line the Aussies next play Indonesia in Jakarta in the NRL it's been a heck of a week Nick Campton is here to talk about everything rugby league that matters Camp got to start with spoonball tigers V eels a sold out Campbell Town Stadium teams playing to avoid the shame of a spoon who has more at stake in the race to avoid the wooden Cutlery you know sty I think the Tigers just have the slightest of edges you know both both teams are really putting an extra focus on this game you know they've both made no secret that of how badly they want this one you know no one wants to ever finish last cuz it's a long offseason all the fans talk about over the offseason is you avoided the spoon or you won the spoon so we're going to try and give our fans something to um have positive talk about in the offseason this has become something of a big game you know it was sold out on Tuesday they're talking about it breaking ratings records for its time slot there's a lot more at stake than usual but I think just because the tigers are coming off to Wooden Spoons in the last two years you know I think they're treating this as their biggest game of the season you know and they're coming into this with a little bit better form they've won their last two they look to really work some stuff out they some of their young exciting players playing young exciting footy and while param did have the that win last week it was very strange like 44 to 40 like what's doing there I think if this game gets sort of right onto the Jagged Edge and gets a little bit weird and a little bit mangy like a spoon Bowl can sometimes I think that giv the Tigers a little bit more so I'm tipping the Tigers to get the upset in uh spoon bowl there are home finals on the line across the weekend fifth place dogs hosting the sixth place Cowboys seventh place Manley hosting the fourth place sharks all of that's going to shake out and impact who gets to host final who do you think wins those respective clashes and why I'm probably leaning the Cowboys in in the in the canb North Queensland match but not with a great deal of confidence the Bulldogs have done so well this year with their tenacity and their effort and their spirit in defense that's been a real Hallmark of what they've been doing for the last couple of months as they've sort of surged up the ladder the Cowboys are a fundamentally frustrating team they have all this great talent but they can't seem to string it together for more than 10 minutes at a time but think about a boxing match between a really good well-rounded fighter and someone who just knock knocks BLS out the Bulldogs have got to be perfect for nearly the entire game to win this one cuz that's just the style that they play the Cowboys can knock you out with 10 minutes of good footing a drop ball by S he picked up by De he said a miracle ball to Val hols that wasn't a pass that was a party trick Tom de and you're a magician Harry Houdini de presents a TR tooles tipping the Cowboys but with not confidence because they have been so up and down this year when it comes to konala versus Manley konala have a really poor record at Brook Vil overal they've only won there a couple of times in their entire history and they are coming off a loss of the Warriors that would be extremely dispiriting Walker on a Johnson W here too wat n a lesnak who can score the winning try sha Johnson is found D wat n lesnak for a hattick and on the last day of his final winter Johnson may have just proven himself as the match winner for the Warriors in a famous win here at Shark Park I think it's really important if canala are going to shrug off some of their finals demons that they go go into the finals with a really good win over a tough manly side who are going to be a big out even without Tom trovich so I'm leaning crala but again with not much confidence and that's sort of the good the good thing about these showdowns for the home finals i' going Cowboys sharks but uh don't hold me to it finals come comes early in the last game of the round Newcastle Thunderdome situation two will enter only one can emerge will it be the kns playing finals or is Wayne Bennett going to extend his stay at the fins by at least one more week I'm probably leaning the NS in this one stacky the the Dolphins had such a great win over the Broncos last week their big backline reshuffle that raised a lot of eyebrows but ended up working a treat it was a really big night for them like their first win over Brisbane was always going to be an incredibly emotional Victory but when you add in the fact that both teams were playing to stay in the finals race when you add in the fact that it's the first ever win that they'll have over over big brother I just don't know if able to back up that same sort of emotional energy again I wonder if they've already played their Thunderdome game I've actually really liked some of the footy the knights have been playing in the last couple of weeks I think they've finally worked out an attacking style that really works for them I think kin pong has been playing some great fo hit about the best backing up p a doule doule catch and he wres away to score brilliantly constucted by the KN they'll have the home Crown Advantage they'll be hanging from the rafters up in NE so I'm taking the kns in that one just cuz I think the Dolphins might have they might have fired their shot last week and I'm not 100% sure if they can back it up every game across the round live commercial free on the ABC listen app Campo thanks for your time no worries mate happy spoon ball sound bites today's edition is about the intersection of nationality and fandom and we start with the Italian Grand Prix where Ferrari scored a win courtesy of charl lir have a listen to the sound of thousands literally thousands of Italians singing their national [Music] anthem how good that's the national anthem what's their national food pizza's got to be on the short list right Danny Ricardo tried to take down six pizzas over two days in Monza I'm at five five pizzas in two days I couldn't go three back to back I felt so sick after night one but do you know what's weird I weighed in light today if you're taking on an opponent in front of their home fans how do you win over that crowd Arena sabalenka had this strategy at the US Open drink on me and please uh give me some support in the next match it's a parochial crowd in New York and speaking of parochial how about T20 Skipper wa's own Mitch Marsh on the cricket squad for the games with Scotland my team had 14 West Australians in it but um I only got seven so um I'm getting there but it's it's certainly great to um have some of our young guys from Western Australia over here um getting their opportunity and the more the better do you ever wonder if the big state wants to succeed I reckon they're up for it I'm Patrick stack this is ABC Sport Daily produced by poppy Penny thanks to channel 7 the US Open Fox Sports and F1 for the extra audio you used in this episode discover more great ABC podcasts live radio and exclusives on the ABC listen app