@GNR4LIFE said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142549) said:
@cochise said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142548) said:
@GNR4LIFE said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142546) said:
@roarpower said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142522) said:
@cochise said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142521) said:
@roarpower said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142519) said:
@cochise said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142516) said:
@gallagher said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142513) said:
@roarpower said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142508) said:
@gallagher said in [Wests Tigers Essential JB HiFi](/post/1142488) said:
https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwetransfer.com%2Fdownloads%2Fb2e5b92bc52d5e7e504ecfb61c99063c20200414003513%2F34314d5972ce68e0686351914a80428620200414003514%2F6ea88a&data=02%7C01%7C%7C67ff97b335404424181208d7e00dddf6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637224222465353087&sdata=UVWyjrcuRjvytDkq9pTuWfsymgnTzmvhvlQuqDllg30%3D&reserved=0
Tigers cowboys 05 semi
i was there! great game!
I moved from Sydney the year before so only got to the big dance. I wish I was able to go to all our semis games.
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Spoiler Text
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I was lucky enough to make all of them!
how did you get tickets? i was so upset i missed tickets.
I bought tickets in the members sale on I think the Monday before the GF. I could only get tickets in the Cowboys supporters bay but I wasn't going to miss the game! Was amazing to be there!
was the atmosphere better at the grand final or better at the tigers dragons semi @ SFS?
Atmosphere at the gf was garbage. The prelim was the best atmoshphere i’ve experienced in my life.
I tend to agree, though winning the GF and the aftermath of that made up for the atmosphere in my eyes!
I don’t think it was too memorable. Mainly because of all the non supporters that are at the gf. I remember it being very flat. Especially coming off the week before which was total unbridled rabid foaming at the mouth.
I think there was more to it than that.
The SFS semi was nearly sold out before Tigers even made it, because Saints had already been confirmed a week earlier and they hadn't kept back enough tickets for after the Tigers-Broncos week. So there was this crazy push for last-minute tickets, I had basically everyone in my family ring Ticketek at once on the following morning, get as many tix as possible (I think 4 was the limit) and message everyone when they were through, so we knew how many we'd gotten.
That set the stage for a massive game against Saints, who were frankly the best team in the comp that year, bar the Tigers back end of the season. So everyone was pumped well before the game, both the pressure of getting tickets, the fact Tigers had won two finals in a row, esp the manner in which we'd won those matches, belting Cowboys then storming over Broncos. 99% of the people at the match were confident the GF winner was coming from this match, such was the Tigers' recent form and Dragons consistency all year (plus they had a stacked side Dragons). All friendly with Saints fans, but just pure mad energy from desperate Tigers fans who thought perhaps 50/50 chance of winning.
At kickoff crowd went beserk and it only escalated when Benji scored that early try, it was just more of the same from Tigers, more pure football. Never been to a match with an atmosphere like that before or since, doubly so because we won, so it was positive atmosphere. I'm sure Dragons fans don't remember it so fondly.
The GF itself, totally different mindset. Tigers were favourites, we'd beaten Cowboys twice already that season including a belting 3 weeks prior. Cowboys upset the Eels and frankly I expected to be playing Parra in the finals. So leading into GF I was more nervous than excited, so worried that we'd stuff it up and lose to a team we'd beaten so well under arguably less pressure.
You then walk into a GF of 80K, not just random supporters, but up against Cowboys supporters who basically don't travel. Probably 60K nervous Tigers fans that night, and when we won, I was as much relieved as happy. That night and the next day, when I'd relaxed, the true joy of the occasion came through, but during the match I was supremely nervous, even when we got on top. Don't think I unclenched until Josh Hannay missed that conversion and I figured we were next to impossible to run-down with an 8-pt lead.
So crowd atmosphere in a match you are 50/50 and never believed you'd make it that far, vs a GF you were expected to win and the weight of expectation was huge. I didn't cheer half as loud or as frequently as I did the Saints Semi, simply because I was a nervous wreck.
