"At the party to end all parties Wildest one in the book Party to end all parties Step inside and take a look .. at the party" Skyhooks 1977

When it comes to rivalries in the Big V, the Two Bays Cup between the Morning Breakers and the Western Port Steelers readily springs to mind, amongst others.  But one that is often overlooked, even within their own division, is the massive rivalry that exists between this years State Youth Champion League One grand finalists, the Diamond Valley Eagles and the Melbourne Tigers.

Whilst this division has gone from strength to strength despite the new rule at the start of the season restricting players to under 24, it is the Tigers and the Eagles who have dominated in a league that is now stronger than ever.  Both teams have been the standouts in 2K12 with the Eagles helping themselves to the 'perfect' season to date, on 23 zip, and the Tigers on 20 and 3, their only losses being to the Eagles in round 7 by 39, Geelong the very next game by 24 and the Eagles again in round 17 by 13.

The 'perfect season' is something all teams aspire to across all divisions, but the reality is that it is a rarity.  Despite being achieved in regular season only 6 times before across 86 divisions since stats were kept in 2004, only one team has managed the near impossible and gone on to also clean sweep the finals, being Southern Peninsula in D1M in 2005, going 18 zip in regular season and 3 zip in finals.  Some great teams have tried and failed; D1W Warrnambool in 2006 going 20 zip and losing one final in a championship year, D2M Melbourne Uni in 2009 going 18 zip, also losing one final in a championship year, D1W Warrnambool again, in 2010, going 20 zip and losing the grand final series.  Most notably and coincidentally the most recent was the Eagles State Youth Champ women who went 19 zip in 2011 getting knocked out in the semi against eventual champions Waverley.

So now on 23 zip the chances of the Eagles succeeding with a perfect record in such a stella season is nothing short of a resounding 'maybe'.  And you can bet the Tigers have every intention of raining heavily on any thoughts of an Eagle's parade!

What is without doubt, is that these two teams have dominated the Youth League men's competition since the Eagles entered a team in 2005, the Tigers entering two years later in 2007.  Since that time these Youth League teams have collectively picked up 3 championships, 4 runners up, 2 thirds and a fourth.  No other two teams in any division come even close to that sort of record.  Add to that, since entering the competition in 2005 and 2007 respectively, the Eagles and the Tigers and knotched up an amazing 76.6% winning record; that's right, a winning ratio of exactly the same across all games played.  They are also the only two teams that have played in every final series since entering the competition.

It's when you start comparing them in terms of head to head that it becomes even more interesting, if not absolutely incredible.  They have met a total of 22 times since 2007, and the score is now tied at 11 each.  It's here that the similarities actually start to get a bit scary.  In the 22 games played, 9 have been decided by 5 points or less, and the average score per game stands at 81 to the Eagles and 80 to the Tigers.

They have played in two grand final series, in 2007 and 2010, the game score is 3 games each, and the title score is also all tied up at one each.  You don't get much closer than that.

There has been many a battle over the years, and regardless of ladder positions at the time, both teams step up a considerable notch with a lot of the game being played on pure emotion.

Who could forget the grand final best of three series of 2007, where the Eagles snatched game one of the series at home.  The Eagles got off to a flying start with a 21 to 14 first quarter, but the Tigers pulled it back by 2 at the half time break with the Eagles leading by 5.  In a high scoring 3^rd quarter, the Tigers were the better team reducing the deficit to 2.  It was shaping up to be a cracker of a last quarter and it didn’t disappoint.  However the Eagles finished strongly to win the quarter by 8 and the game by 10.

The second game of the series was played on the Tigers home turf, with the Tigers up by 2 at the end of the first, 5 at the end of the second and 5 at the end of the third.  They pulled away in the last to win by 9 setting it up for a deciding third game the next day. 

That third game was point for point all game, with the Eagles up by 4 at quarter time, 1 at the long break and 2 at three quarter time.  The last was a real arm wrestle with neither side able to break away.  With literally seconds to play, the Tigers snatched an amazing turnover, whipping down the court to score a layup and grab the title with the buzzer sounding.

We then move forward to the 2010 grand final series, and it’s the Tigers v the Eagles ........... again. And another close series it was too with the Eagles getting home in game one by an impressive 13 points at the Tigers home court.  Week 2 at Diamond Valley and the Tigers had to turn that around to stay in the race.  It was the Eagles by 2 at quarter time and 7 at the long break.  The Tigers dug deep to bring the Eagle's lead back to 2 at three quarter time.  The final quarter was all Tigers storming home scoring 11 from 18 to the Eagles 6 from 21 to get the job done by 8.

The decider the next day, again at the Eagles home court was played in front of a packed house and was as tough a game as you will see, with the Tigers in front by 1 at quarter time, 3 at half time and 6 at three quarter time.  Whilst across all areas it was very even, the Tigers had controlled the game where is mattered and that was on the scoreboard.  The game was slipping away from the Eagles and they had to act.  But you don’t go round the block as many times as Coach Lee without knowing how to get the best out of your players, and they rallied, completely controlled the boards at 17 to 7 in that final term storming home to get a 9 point win in the last to take the championship decider by 3.

So it's 2012, and it's the Tigers v the Eagles ........... again.  This week we see the first game in a best of 3 series.  Whilst it has been proven that, traditionally at least, both these teams can recover from a slip up in game 1, no one wants to go into the second game of a best of three series one game down.  So in game one for both teams a win this weekend is essential, it is as simple as that.

Melbourne has some better than reasonable fire power with 5 players averaging double digit scoring every week, Brygiotis, Hughes, Pineau and Australian under 17 representatives Von Hofe and Purchase.  Both Brygiotis and Pineau have played significant minutes in the State Championship team this year so with them out of playoff contention, this may mean a bigger performance from them.  Pineau particularly is in fine form picking up 27 points shooting at a lazy 62.5%, 16 boards, 7 blocks, 2 dimes and 4 thefts against Hawthorn last week.  The Eagles are not without their own big guns who can pull the trigger with significant success, also featuring no less than 5 players who average double figure points every week.  It has been reported many times that they like to 'share the love', and they do it well.  Add to that the now veteran three time coach of the year in Trevor Lee and a very handy bench that goes so deep some of the them have to sit in the car park, and you stop wondering why they have been thereabouts for a good number of years.

So when you talk Eagles v Tigers, history at the very least dictates that you better believe that it will be a blood and guts affair where nothing, absolutely nothing will be left on the floor.

In the last two years, the Eagles have picked up a championship and a third, they know the taste of success and are desperate to make up for what they consider was a poor finish in 2011.  The Tigers on the other hand have been bridesmaids for the last two years in a row, and with 7 of their current crop playing in last year's finals series and coming up short, they will be more desperate than ever to go one step further.

Anything can happen in finals, and if my good mate Murphy is any judge, if something can go wrong it generally has a habit of doing so.  That just means that both teams need to bring their 'A' game for a full 40 minutes or they will be on the back end of a loss that will see them going into game 2 one game down.

Regardless of what the result may be, if you want to see the "party to end all parties" between two of the great rivalries in the history of the Big V competition and two of the great teams in the 2k12 competition, then "step inside and take a look", but do so early, it is likely to be sold out!!