Key events
The Melbourne local tests the waters with a shout out to the Fremantle fans, then on to those dressed more in maroon. An early win to the Dockers for the loudest cheer as Get Outta My Way is followed by On a Night Like This (maybe next year?).
Kylie takes centre stage in the middle of the MCG and launches into Love at First Sight. And before the crowd can catch their breath, next up is In Your Eyes. All killer, no filler …
G Flip has done their thing and Mike Brady has busted out his timeless classic Up There Cazaly. Next up is a certain rising star from the local scene …
A handful more than 100,000 fans are expected at the MCG with purple the colour of choice as the stands are filling up. But not every Dockers supporter could make the long trek across the country with the Cappuccino Strip in Fremantle filling up for the occasion.
Final teams
Teams are in with no late changes.
Fremantle are unchanged from the side that edged Geelong in the semi-final and then ran over the top of Sydney in the preliminary final. Key defender Brennan Cox has been unable to force his way back in after suffering a calf injury in the final round of the home and away season. The Dockers also resisted the urge to call on pacey defender Brandon Walker to lock down on the Lions’ fleet of half-forwards.
Brisbane are also unchanged from the side that won a classic preliminary final clash with Hawthorn after Lachie Neale had a one-game ban to come out of that game overturned on appeal. Noah Answerth misses out after injuring an ankle in the qualifying final loss to Sydney though there would have been a temptation to recall the defender with the likes of Shai Bolton presenting a danger to the Lions. Jarrod Berry missed out last year due to a shoulder injury when Neale started that decider as the sub, but the dual Brownlow medallist looks more at ease this time as the Lions hunt a premiership three-peat.
Jack Snape has made it to the MCG in a reasonably dry state and just in time to enjoy the best of the pre-match entertainment.
The ponchos are piling into the MCG ahead of the Grand Final, in a rain-sodden start to Saturday afternoon’s proceedings. Musician G Flip kicks off the entertainment shortly, ahead of the much-anticipated pre-match performance by Kylie Minogue, scheduled for 1.39pm.
Attendants have been frantically attempting to remove water from the four-pronged stage as fans pile in. Despite the inclement weather, and a path of mud ringing the MCG through Yarra Park, the eyes of fans are bright – especially those wearing purple.
The traditional half-time sprint will feature Cathy Freeman … on the starting gun. The 100m dash across the MCG will see last year’s winner Jed Walter (Gold Coast) up against Willem Duursma (West Coast), Luke Davies-Uniacke (North Melbourne), Arthur Jones (Western Bulldogs), Jarman Impey (Hawthorn), Ollie Florent (Carlton) and Aliir Aliir (Port Adelaide).
The Lions long run of sustained success has helped build the connection between the old Fitzroy and Brisbane. The Royal Derby in Melbourne has leaned right into the bonds that reach across state borders and – as Jack Snape found – don’t hurt the pubs’ bottom line with Chris Fagan’s side in a fourth consecutive AFL grand final.
As the publican at Brisbane’s official pub in Melbourne, the Royal Derby in Fitzroy, he has over the last few years come to understand one thing about his hospitality business. When the Lions are in the big dance, his cash register sings.
‘That’s probably about a hundred-grand kick for me,’ Tancredi says of McCluggage’s dramatic go-ahead goal against the Hawks. ‘I don’t know how not to budget for it now. It’s that big. I was basically praying to the footy gods on Saturday, not just for my team but for my bottom line.’
Not sure whether to throw your support behind the Fremantle fairytale or a Brisbane juggernaut? Luckily Alex McKinnon has you covered is his guide for the undecideds, casuals and neutrals.
Casuals will find plenty to like in characters like Patrick “Prancing Pony” Voss, who was fined earlier this year for the unforgivable crime of ruffling an opponent’s hair. Captain Alex Pearce has stood tall on and off the field, refusing to apologise for social media posts in support of civilians in Gaza. The Dockers have recruited a host of unheralded cast-offs with a sprinkling of stars from other clubs and turned them into a premiership force.
Collectively they’re a colossus, and on the whole the Lions players are annoyingly likable. The Ashcroft boys – Will and Levi – are the AFL’s own Williams sisters, winning everything in sight and being wholesome while doing it. Veteran small forward Charlie Cameron went from playing for the Newman Saints in between shifts down a Pilbara mine to becoming one of the game’s biggest stars. Even Dayne Zorko is compelling in a love-to-hate-him sort of way.
Adelaide’s two-time premiership player Andrew McLeod returns to the Norm Smith panel as chair. He is joined by three more players who have all dazzled on grand final day in Shaun Burgoyne, Chris Judd and Michael Voss, as well as AFL reporter Lauren Wood. The 2009 Norm Smith medallist Paul Chapman will present the honour to the player adjudged best-on-ground.
Who is your tip? I’ve taken the huge leap and gone with Will Ashcroft to make it three in a row. But I am, admittedly, one of his biggest fans.
The From the Pocket weekly AFL newsletter includes a quiz each week. This week we asked which club has the best finals win-loss percentage in their VFL/AFL history, with Gavin Edgar first to reply with the correct answer, saying “Brisbane has the best finals win rate … It doesn’t matter if you just recognise them as the Lions or if you include the Bears.”
The Lions win rate (post merger) is 65.9% with 29 victories from 44 finals. The Hawks are next best on 61.3% with 57 wins in 93 finals. The Dockers (42.9%) sit at the lower end of the scale with only the Saints (40.9%) and the Bulldogs (37.3%) below them.
Fremantle and Brisbane players have started to arrive at the MCG with the first ball-up now less than two hours away.
Fremantle have permission to hit the “Wharfie Time” button if and when the grand final calls for it at the MCG. What on earth is “Wharfie Time”? And does it involve Kylie in any way? Funny you should ask …
I’m seeing a lot of “Wharfie Time” mentions in my feed and it seems to have to do with sport, but I need your help. Where shall we begin?
Perhaps with Fremantle’s rich maritime and dockworker history, which has had a heavy influence on the port city’s AFL club.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Dockers will contest this Saturday’s grand final against the Brisbane Lions – aiming to break a longstanding duck and win the club’s first premiership flag.
A grand final day tradition in one of my more prolific chat groups is to tip the winner, Norm Smith medallist, first goal and first bounce. FWIW here are my supposedly educated guesses – send yours, if you dare, with an email.
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Premiers: Brisbane by 11 points
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Norm Smith medallist: Will Ashcroft
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First goal: Shai Bolton
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First bounce: Shai Bolton
Brisbane fans might be more familiar with grand final week. But as Joe Hinchliffe found, the traditions that have become a staple of the day – and perhaps even a small part of the side’s success – are at risk of turning into superstitions.
This Saturday at about 10am Scott Fletcher will put a lead on Louis the Cavoodle, pump out Angry Anderson’s Bound For Glory and pound the pavements of the Melbourne suburb of Pascoe Vale. Fletcher fears that, should he not repeat the familiar routine to which he has adhered on the morning of the AFL grand final for the last two years, his beloved Brisbane Lions will be denied another three-peat.
‘If we don’t win, and I hadn’t done that, then I’m going to wear it, you know?’ he says. ‘The Lions losing will be on me.’
Our man on the ground in Western Australia – Brendan Foster – might be a rusted on West Coast fan. But he hasn’t been able to help up but get swept up in the wave of enthusiasm flowing around Fremantle and the port city in particular.
After the Dockers’ spectacular win over the Swans in the preliminary final, Fremantle’s streets erupted in chaotic celebrations that resembled the wild scenes in New York after the Knicks’ drought-breaking NBA championship.
Maybe not that bonkers, but the port city’s CBD became a vibrant sea of purple as hundreds of jubilant fans danced, hugged and partied in the pouring rain. Although the explosive chants of ‘MCG, MCG’ from the hollering horde seemed to terrify several bus drivers trying to weave through the purple pandemonium.
Our and free AFL newsletter – From the Pocket – includes a quiz each week. The last edition of the season wondered which club has the best finals win-loss percentage in their VFL/AFL history?
If you think you know the answer, get in touch with an email …
Lachie Neale is one Brisbane player who should be arriving at the MCG with a huge smile on his face after the dual Brownlow medallist had a one-match ban overturned on appeal on Thursday night.
The former Dockers midfielder is thought to be playing his 186th and final game for the Lions today, with a move to the Magpies reportedly on the cards. But some of our From the Pocket subscribers were keen to question whether he should be playing at all today.
“The penalty for punching an opponent is 1 week suspension,” Harry Collins said. “The consequences of that are immaterial.”
“All season the AFL has been trying to clamp down on off-the-ball hits like that,” Nick Seuss added. “But Lachie Neale does it in a prelim and [Tim] Watson thinks he should be granted clemency??? Barry Hall got away with one long ago, but thuggery is thuggery. We have seen the video.”
Neale, of course, is not the first – and surely won’t be the last – player to miss a grand final with a preliminary final brain fade. I can still feel the pain of Kangaroos defender Jason McCartney’s swinging arm that collected Lions ruck Clark Keating in 1999.
Jacqueline Randall also had an incident to recall: “I’m pretty sure Steve O’Dwyer from my beloved Dees’ also missed a GF too – he was suspended in the prelim and missed the belting Melbourne received at the hands of the terrifying Hawks a week later. I’m still haunted by that awful loss.”
Will Mrongovius went even further back: “Phil Carmen missed two GF after being suspended in 1977.”
Brisbane fans are showing no signs of grand final fatigue even as their side marches into a fourth AFL decider in as many years (while their AFLW team has appeared in the past four women’s grand finals!).
Jonathan Horn explores the introverted enigma that is Justin Longmuir as the Dockers coach bucks the trend to lead his side into an AFL grand final.
While you’re here, begin your preseason now and ensure you get more gems like this by signing up for our free weekly AFL newsletter – From the Pocket.
Justin Longmuir has always been something of an outlier – a classic introvert who can come across as nervous and awkward in press conferences, a man who had to steel himself to speak to large groups when he started coaching. He’s not a coach who picks fights or creates diversions or speaks in riddles. He says he’s an over-thinker. He says he’s harder on himself than any critic, and there has been plenty of those. As one of just two senior coaches who have never played in or coached a grand final team, it’s something that can make him an easy target when the side are underperforming – that he doesn’t have the playing record, the aura, the eloquence, the polish, the prick in him.
Fremantle fans are arriving at the MCG as they hope to create the everlasting memory of seeing their side break the 32-year premiership drought and claim a first AFL grand final.
Fremantle and Brisbane each have a slice of history within touching distance as the best defensive team and the top attacking side of the season meet in a final for the first time. I have gone deep into where the game will be won – and lost – as well as the players set to shape the decider. And also throw in a prediction for how it will all play out – send us your tips on email.
The Dockers are the top-ranked defence with an average of 74 points conceded this year and showed in the come-from-behind victory against the Swans how they can control a game, and limit the opposition scoring, by dominating the territory battle. …
The Lions have flipped the script on how to reach the pointy end of the season as they lean into their enviable spread of firepower to become an offensive juggernaut. The Lions have averaged 118 points since they put three straight mid-season defeats behind them to win 12 of their past 14 matches.
How did Fremantle and Brisbane take the last step to the grandest stage? Only with a victory in one of the more remarkable weekends of football in memory.
The Lions’ nail-biting win over the Hawks has strong claims to be the best game of Australian rules football ever played – and Jonathan Horn presents the case for both the prosecution and the defence.
Jonathan was at the SCG the night before as the Dockers flicked a switch late in the third term and surged past the Swans to book a spot in just their second AFL grand final.
Jai Arrow is at the official AFL grand final breakfast in Melbourne as the rugby league player’s diagnosis with motor neurone disease at the age of 30 crosses the divide between Australia’s most popular sporting codes.
Brisbane are into a fourth straight grand final but the first in that run where they start as the favourites. While we can’t be sure how the added expectation will weigh on Chris Fagan’s team, they have already shown they are at their best when playing a game that truly matters. Jonathan Horn will be at the MCG to report on the Lions’ chase for a premiership three-peat, and has already looked at why they have spent seven years at the pointy end of the ladder.
‘Give me 80,000 people at the MCG and I was Hercules,’ Brent Crosswell once said. ‘Give me a grey day at the Western Oval and I wasn’t worth a cracker.’ Crosswell, who probably would have won two Norm Smith medals if there was such a thing back then, would have been right at home in this Brisbane Lions team. They need a big occasion. They need the game to have weight. When it’s a sleepy shift in western Sydney or Tasmania, they drift. They drive their coach spare. When it’s all chips in, they are peerless.
The weather in Melbourne is … a reminder that this is a winter sport. It is currently 12C with an expected high of 15C. There is plenty of fog and a bit of drizzle hanging around though the forecast suggests the latter might clear up by about quarter-time.
The last properly soaked grand final in Melbourne was in 2011 when Geelong ran away from Collingwood for their third flag in five years. But the Cats win against the Saints two years earlier is another that remains burned in my memory (humble brag: I was there!) for the tough and tight contest that wet and wild conditions can bring. The 2020 grand final played at the Gabba was another slippery clash when heavy storms and rain lashed Brisbane hours before the opening bounce.
Preamble
Martin Pegan
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the AFL grand final between Fremantle and Brisbane. After more matches than in any previous AFL season we have finally arrived at our destination with this year’s minor premiers meeting the two-time reigning premiers at the MCG.
Fremantle are one win away from finally sealing their own fairytale ending. The Dockers have had more lows than highs across their 32 years in the league. But all that pain could be washed away with a victory against the Lions in the two teams’ first finals encounter. Justin Longmuir’s side have already broken new ground with 19 now their most wins in a home-and-away campaign off the back of a club record 14-match winning streak between rounds one and 16. Whether the Dockers throw the biggest monkey off their back and win a first AFL premiership will be decided at about 5.30pm AEST/3.30pm AWST today.
Brisbane have their own slice of history all but in their grasp as they hunt a premiership three-peat that would underline their status as both a modern-day great team and the powerhouse club of this century. This is the Lions’ fourth straight grand final and a third consecutive triumph would make them just the second club to win a pair of premiership three-peats in VFL/AFL history. Chris Fagan’s finals-hardened side rarely make life easy for themselves and again had the main character energy of Lachie Neale taking centre stage in the build up to the biggest game of the year. But all this should be like second nature to the Lions with only two players – first-year recruits Sam Draper and Oscar Allen – on the grand stage for the first time.
This is the grand final matchup that was widely predicted late in the season as Fremantle booked a top-two spot with a few weeks up their sleeve and soon claimed the club’s second AFL minor premiership, while Brisbane were thought to have a clear path to the decider with the embattled Sydney their first opponent in the finals. But both the Dockers and Lions were forced to take a longer route through a home semi-final and a remarkable preliminary final victory on the road to book their spot in the grand final.
First ball-up in Melbourne will be at 2.30pm AEST / 12.30pm AWST – possibly the last time the grand final will start at the traditional time. I’ll be seeing us through the pre-match hype and entertainment before Geoff Lemon takes the reins for the main event. There is more than enough action to keep us busy as Kylie hits the stage, G Flip gets things warmed up and Mike Brady belts out his usual classics. Meanwhile, let us know your tips and predictions, and any other thoughts on how the game will play out – shoot me an email or find me on Bluesky @martinpegan.bsky.social. Let’s get into it!
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