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NO MELBOURNE TEAM IN GRAND FINAL,CRAZY BEING PLAYED IN MELBOURNE.
WHATS HAPPENED TO THE GREAT MELBOURNE TEAMS OF THE PAST ?




Eagles set up grand final against Swans



Story By James Dampney



Saturday, 17 September 2005: West Coast and Sydney will meet in the AFL grand final for the first time after the Eagles held on for a 16-point win over Adelaide at Subiaco Oval.

West Coast and Sydney will meet in the AFL grand final for the first time after the Eagles held on for a 16-point win over Adelaide in Saturday's preliminary final at Subiaco Oval.

The Eagles kicked five goals to one in the third quarter and fought off Adelaide's final-term challenge to advance to next Saturday's grand final at the MCG with a 14.9 (93) to 11.11 (77) victory.

It will be West Coast's first grand final since its 1994 premiership, while Sydney reached its first title decider since 1996 with Friday night's 31-point win over St Kilda at the MCG.

This will be the second successive grand final not involving a Victorian team.

Sydney coach Paul Roos attended Saturday's match and the Eagles' performance, particularly their third term, would have given him plenty to ponder.

Eagles midfielder Daniel Kerr was best afield with a game-high 31 possessions.

Daniel Chick and Ashley Hansen kicked three goals apiece for West Coast and Ken McGregor kicked three for the Crows.

Kerr, Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and youngster Adam Selwood again demonstrated why West Coast's midfield is regarded as the best in the competition.

Tyson Stenglein's tagging job on Crows captain Mark Ricciuto was also superb.

Adelaide's stingy defence was expected to be pivotal - instead, the Eagles backmen suffocated the Crows attack.

After McGregor opened the match with a goal before the ball had been bounced, the Crows could only manage another five goals to three-quarter time.

Trailing by 32 points, the Crows attacked desperately at the start of the last term.

But they could only manage four successive behinds in the opening 10 minutes.

The game then looked over when key position player Adam Hunter goaled to put West Coast 33 points ahead.

Adelaide refused to lie down, kicking the next four goals to trail by only nine points with less than three minutes left.