NAB Cup preview

So this week is the biggie, well for now that is.....the NAB Cup Grand Final!

To me the Footy Season is like a 3 course meal. The NAB Cup is the Entréé. That being you are hungry wanting to get into the main season that any footy will do to kill a bit of the hunger. The main season is the main course fills you up, has a lot of flavours etc. The finals is the desert. A nice finish to the year with the Premiership (for those who get it) being the cherry on top.

This week is the Grand Final in that entréé, St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium Saturday night!

Both teams have impressed everyone over the pre-season. Both teams having not won too much silverware over the past 50 plus years but of late have impressed me. St Kilda having come so close last year against Geelong and the Dogs coming so close to getting into the Grand Final says to me that both teams are due for Premiership success. St Kilda are almost there, just need things going for them more than anything with a little different ingredients. For the Dogs they needed a key position forward, simple and they have that now with Barry Hall being at the club. There is not much now between these two teams.

So getting to this game. To me it's hard to be honest to pick out of these two teams. It will come down to this. Who wants to win more? St Kilda like Geelong will have the pain of the previous year burning within them to want to win this, for them, for their supporters and for pride. The Western Bulldogs will have the premiership drought of 40 plus years egging them on plus being oh so close to getting in their first Grand Final in many years after making the Preliminary Final two years running, ironically getting beaten by the team that loses the Grand Final. Hmm.

It's not so much sentiments here of who I want to win because both teams deserve to win this. They have shown so much already and whoever wins this will have a lot of confidence leading into the season proper. On the otherhand the other team will gain a lot of confidence.

To me and I have said this all week that St Kilda will win this by 8 points because of the hurt of last year. But the battles between these two teams during 2010 are going to be awesome!

More to follow....