Shannon Byrnes joined Meg McDonald for this week’s episode of ‘To the Final Bell.’

Here are the top moments.  

Reviewing the Hawks Game – Tom Stewart’s Impact

(Timestamp: 2:49 – 19:05) 
 
Meg McDonald: "Tom Stewart's second week in the midfield and has ended up with 26 disposals, 11 marks, five tackles and a number of clearances including that first one that led to the first shot on goal.  
 
How have you seen his impact two weeks in?” 
 
Shannon Byrnes: “It has been very positive.  
 
I feel like he and Dangerfield are working really well together, those two big bodies in there.  
 
We touched on it last week but the willingness of our players to accept a new role, I feel is as good as anywhere and Stewart is the example of that at the moment.  
 
Someone that has been given a new challenge, he has taken to it like a duck to water and the midfield have loved having him come through.  
 
He puts his stamp on the game with the way he goes about it, some of the tackles you saw early in the game just sends a message to the opposition that you are going to have to earn every kick.”

Reviewing the Hawks Game – Sam De Koning’s Performance

(Timestamp: 2:49 – 19:05) 
 
Shannon Byrnes: “My other forward craft standout was big Sam De Koning.  
 
He was so dangerous in our forward line, but all over the ground as well. 
 
That is what makes him a real threat in the ruck, he is not just a threat in the air but he actually gets after it at ground level.  
 
For any key ruck, to get the tap is great but for them to become a fourth midfielder after it hits the ground, that is where their value really goes to another level.  
 
Meg McDonald: “His handballing has always been exceptional I have felt, it is the basics of hand eye coordination.  
 
He doesn't seem like a typical tall.” 

Byrnes’ Memories of the 2007 Preliminary Final

(Timestamp: 21:41 – 24:15) 
 
Shannon Byrnes: “This takes me back to the 2007 and 2009 Preliminary Finals, they were the loudest games I have ever played in by a stretch.  
 
The 2007 game in particular was really close, we were up by five points at the end of the game.  
 
I was playing at half forward on Heath Shaw, there was a ball up on their 50 metre arc and Shaw just shoots forward. 
 
All of a sudden I was one out in the goal square with Heath Shaw, never played back in my life.  
 
There was a stoppage and I am thinking this is going to be a quick kick out, it will be he and I one on one and potentially to go into a Grand Final.  
 
The ball gets thrown up, siren goes and that was the sweetest sound I have ever heard.  
 
I could barely hear it though, you could hardly hear a thing because it was so loud.  
 
These sort of games take me back to those moments, just how loud the Collingwood and Cats games can get. 

The Ebbs and Flows of an AFL season

(Timestamp: 32:52 – 34:55) 
 
Shannon Byrnes: “I think Scotty touched on it, to say that you have one way of playing and that's the way that will win you a premiership, it just doesn't happen in today's football.  
 
Teams study their opposition's way of playing within an inch of its life, so they are going to work out what you are trying to do.  
 
The best coaches and the best teams are the ones that have a good foundation which stays solid for a whole year, but you need to be able to adapt and have adaptable players to what the opposition will throw at you.  
 
What we have done the past couple of weeks is probably a clearer example of making bigger changes, but there are smaller tweaks within a gameplan that aren't as obvious.  
 
These are the changes you need to make every year to be able to adapt to the opposition.  
 
Meg McDonald: “Within that process you can't teach something in a team meeting one week and then have it work perfectly on the weekend, it takes time.