That is us for the day. A close, tense, highly competitive grand final, and one of the most dramatic finishes. Well done Fitzroy, as well. Some scraps of the DNA live on, especially in the red Lions clash strip they wore today. Perhaps a few of that lineage can go and sit in the old wooden grandstand at Brunswick Street Oval.
Now it’s officially cricket season. See you for the Tests in South Africa.
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Match Report
If you’d like to remember what happened, here’s Jack Snape’s report. If you’re a Fremantle supporter then I don’t recommend it. Head to Clancy’s and try to wipe it from your memory with whatever’s new on tap. For Brisbane types … maybe Felons, where you can look across the river and read every paragraph back to one another.
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Three in a row also leaves us the question, what does Chris Fagan do next? He’s not the youngest coach going around, and he has spoken about not being sure whether he’ll continue. Three in a row is a pretty great way to go out. But… it has been done before, in living memory. Four in a row requires going back to the 1920s, when it was a far smaller comp. And Fagan does have one more year on his contract. Surely, surely, you have a swing at it?
The team has gathered, the photos are being taken, and now it’s time to parade around the storied old ground as they’ve been able to do on this day the previous two years as well. It was a proper slow build for this Brisbane team over a number of years leading up to this, if you think back to their 2020 preliminary final loss to Geelong during the pandemic, when the season was played in Brisbane and they had home ground advantage for that game, and would have done for the decider as well. They seemed a young and somewhat callow team then, but had a lot of promise. That promise could not have flourished more fully.
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Simon Black presenting the cup to the Lions… a true club champion of course, but it really should have been Lethal, shouldn’t it, as the architect of the last threepeat? Anyways, the current Lions don’t care, they just want their hands on the silverware, and now they get to jump around in a confetti shower. Happy days.
Brisbane’s multitude of captains mill around to get more medals, then Chris Fagan steps up. Congratulates Fremantle of course, citing their year of travel. “I know you’ll be feeling tremendously disappointed right now, but if I was being completely honest, you guys probably deserved to win today. But my boys, they’ve got a stack of heart, and they know how to fight right to the end. They’ve done that two weeks in a row, and now we’ve got three premierships to show for it.”
Leigh Matthews is among the Lions alumni assembled on the field. We’ve all heard about the Leigh Matthews Rule: you can still win a game if there are more minutes available than goals required. Well, Brisbane needed three goals in three minutes, and nailed them in two minutes. Then added a fourth goal for good measure.
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The medal presentation is happening now. Logan Morris getting the biggest cheers, the guy who kicked accurately when it mattered. Lachie Neale, his appearance sponsored by the AFL, gives the crowd three fingers. Zorko and Rayner embrace while passing one another.
Shai Bolton a surprise Norm Smith medal winner
It’s not unheard of for a player from the losing side to win the Norm, but surely if anyone from Freo it should have been Caleb Serong? He had 13 clearances today, not far off Brett Ratten’s record of 16 in 1999. Ratten was on the losing side that day, too.
Bolton, though? 26 disposals and kicked two points? Maybe if he’d kicked straight and won them the game …
It does indicate that this was a very tight, contested game without a lot of obvious standouts.
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As for Fremantle, that is going to go down as an all-time grand final botch. They had it, they had the energy going their way, and just had to close the game down. Instead they let Ashcroft burn out of a centre clearance, let Bailey shove his way clear from a stoppage, and let Brisbane streak the length of the field, for three goals in the blink of an eye.
Fremantle is a club and a community that has been through plenty of footy hurt, but nothing, nothing, has hurt as much as this. Team of the year, top of the table, ahead of the game, and effectively dropped a premiership by a point.
“Is Wharfie Time now officially cursed? The sound of getting ahead of yourself,” writes Daventrine in an email to us, and right now it does feel that way. They didn’t try to use it as a motivating force when the game was there to be won, but held it back until they thought the result was done. A coronation, not a motivation. That’s not what it’s for.
Josh Dunkley says that Brisbane’s players had already discussed using Wharfie Time as motivation for them, turning it against Fremantle, and it might just be a coincidence of timing, but that’s what they did.
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Three in a row from 2001 to 2003, then a grand final loss in 2004. That was the previous Lions’ dynasty. This one has their loss first, in 2023, then won from 2024 to 2026. They did it the hard way this time, with a qualifying final loss, and they were back and forth with the lead all day before seeing it slip late. Biggest deficit of the day, 17 points down, Fremantle almost in position to start running down the clock, and somehow Brisbane kicked four goals in the last three minutes.
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Brisbane go three in a row... again
Q4: 0 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 14.12.96
Fremantle in absolute disbelief. Brisbane on some other plane of elation. The Dockers have botched it, the Lions have snatched it. There’s a centre bounce with a minute to go, and a point the difference. Bolton gets the ball going Freo’s way, a driving run and kick inside 50. All they need is a point, something to take them to extra time. But nobody can get enough of a handle on the ball. Brisbane’ defence scrags and scraps, and finally comes away with it. Up to the wing with 30 seconds to go. Dockers need to get possession, but one of their defenders fists the ball away when he needs to mark. Brisbane get the crumb, Ashcroft takes off with a series of bounces into the forward 50, then finds Morris loose and he kicks the sealer! Doesn’t need it, with 8 seconds on the clock as it goes through, could have just run in circles and won by a point, but he ices the cake.
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Q4: 1 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 13.12.90
Brisbane in front! Finally they get loose. Berry out of defence, finds Neale on the wing, sloppy kick but McCluggage gets the loose ball, inside 50 and finds Morris… and he kicks the set shot!
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Q4: 2 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 12.12.84
How Fremantle would love to have their captain, Alex Pearce, marshalling the backline instead of sitting on the bench next to a pair of crutches. Treacy takes a clutch mark on the wing to get them out of defence. Forward they go, the ball rolling inside 50, and Voss lays a tackle as crucial as any goal to hold the ball up at the right end of the ground for Fremantle.
Q4: 3 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 12.12.84
And again! Bailey this time, hasn’t been prominent today, but he finds the middle of the sticks when it matters. Ball-up just inside 50, Bailey grabs the loose ball, shoves off an opponent, and off balance, off a step, 40 out, tumbles a drop punt through.
Less than a goal in it.
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Q4: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 11.12.78
Brisbane hit back immediately! The stars lifting, Will Ashcroft in heavy traffic, running towards goal after the centre square tap, low kick inside to find Cameron, brilliant pickup at full speed running away from goal, then turns back to snap it through!
Q4: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Neither has Matthew Johnson, with a long set shot from outside 50, missing to the right, but perhaps Patrick Voss has finished off the reigning premiers. Zorko’s ball out of defensive 50 goes awry, Bolton picks it up off the ground, runs back inside and crosses to Voss right in front of goal. Shoots from about 25, nails it, and now they hit the button for Wharfie Time. Biggest roar of the day, from the crowd and from Voss, both arms spread wide as he runs a huge semi-circle.
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Q4: 6 min remaining: Fremantle 11.16.82 – Brisbane 10.12.72
What?! Treacy has missed from two metres out! Serong inside 50, clears the pack, Mason Cox tries to run back but he’s like a jeep in sand, somehow the ball is knocked back towards goal, Treacy runs back onto it under severe pressure, and his flailed kick skews off the very outside of his boot from inside the goal square, and goes wrong side of the post! Could have finished off Brisbane, but he hasn’t.
Q4: 7 min remaining: Fremantle 11.15.81 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Frederick is paid a fortuitous mark! A desperate Brisbane kick out of defence in the forward pocket, but the Freo player is in the way. Harris Andrew protests that the ball didn’t travel 15 metres, and he has a point, but perhaps umpires are more receptive to turnover passes than ones from the same team.
Frederick goes around the body from the left pocket and… goals!
Where is Wharfie Time? We haven’t had it. You’d think seven minutes to play would be the time!
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Q4: 8 min remaining: Fremantle 10.15.75 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Hipwood down behind play after a knee in the ribs. Bolton runs down the wing and again makes a hash of it, half pass and half shot from 50, the ball ends up rolling into space and is repelled by Brisbane. The next foray forward is intercept marked by Andrew. Freo don’t have a route to goal at the moment. Voss tried to provide it, wrestling with Andrew in the pocket, the only two within 50 metres of goal. Voss eventually wins the fight, gets possession, handballs to Amiss, and his kick is smothered! Young gets a snap away a little later, but misses.
Q4: 11 min remaining: Fremantle 10.14.74 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Bolton kicks his second point of the day. McKenna returns serve at the other end. Three points, 12 minutes to go. Brisbane with the experience. They keep on pushing forward, will Fremantle break? Oh, Freo get lucky as Rayner snaps another behind.
Q4: 13 min remaining: Fremantle 10.13.73 – Brisbane 10.10.70
Is that the moment for Fremantle, the one they’ll look back on? Lohmann lines up to kick from outside 50, then tries to run around the man on the mark to decrease the distance. McVee gets across and dives to smother! Reid picks the ball up and sprints back towards his defensive goal, picking the one gap to get between a couple of defenders, then kick long across the face to find Frederick and get out of trouble. Incredible defence.
Well, perhaps not, because Brisbane kick the next one anyway. Back inside Lions territory, Dunkley lays a tackle, ball spills free, and Morris finishes from 40 metres out on the snap!
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Q4: 16 min remaining: Fremantle 10.13.73 – Brisbane 9.9.63
Ashcroft gets pinged for a throw even though he got a knuckle on the ball. So fast with the release that it looked like he tossed it. It doesn’t cost Brisbane though, they end up with possession again and go forward through Rayner. Lohmann is tackled as he attempts to pass, and it drops short and is repelled, but back come Brisbane through McCluggage, whose name hasn’t been called too many times today. He misses his gettable set shot, slight angle to the left.
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Q4: 18 min remaining: Fremantle 10.13.73 – Brisbane 9.8.62
The last tilt begins. Ball out to the wing, Serong with a huge long kick forward, but Brisbane intercept mark via Gallop. Bolton a similar kick from the other wing, but again it’s picked off. Spoiled, ball loose, Gallop picks it up, and Voss nails him with a tackle. He screws up the kick though, tries to play on and run around the man on the mark from 50, runs into trouble, and is hampered in his kick, which doesn’t make the distance. Rushed behind.
3QT: Fremantle 10.12.72 – Brisbane 9.8.62
Fremantle lifted in that quarter, then Brisbane dragged it back. Freo looking just the stronger team here, but only by a whisker.
Grand finals level at half-time have been rare: this year, last year, then 1909 and 1905 the only others, in the days when scores were rather lower. But by three-quarter time, the teams that lead go on to win. Geelong overrunning St Kilda in 2009 is the only exception in the last four decades.
If ever that’s going to change, it’s today. This one is closely matched.
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Q3: 0 min remaining: Fremantle 10.12.72 – Brisbane 9.8.62
Oscar Allen’s playing a game today. Fights at ground level in the forward 50 and manages to win back a ball that looks like it’s Fremantle’s, setting up Morris for a play-on shot from the pocket, but Morris misses. Fremantle get to the far end quickly from the kick-in, where Levi Ashcroft gets a bit fancy trying a tap to a teammate, instead allowing Fremantle to get possession. There’s a kick out wide to Young, who marks a millimetre inside the boundary, deep in the right pocket… and shoots truly from his set shot around the body! Just inside the paint, on the left foot, he curls it back.
Q3: 2 min remaining: Fremantle 9.12.66 – Brisbane 9.7.61
A couple of huge spoils from Harris Andrew, after Chapman takes a soaking intercept mark at half back that looks destined to set up a Fremantle goal. Not to be.
Q3: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 9.12.66 – Brisbane 9.7.61
Scratch that, Freo in front! This lead is going back and forth like a ping-pong ball. Out of the centre bounce, kick up to Switkowski on 50, hands off to Young, slots it on the run! Easy as you like.
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Q3: 5 min remaining: Fremantle 8.12.60 – Brisbane 9.7.61
Brisbane are resurrected, and so is Charlie Cameron! How did that happen? He was hobbling off with the trainers two minutes ago. Now he’s back in the forward line, bobbing up to mark, after Bailey receives a handball from Neale in heavy traffic in the centre square, and runs clear of the pack.
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Q3: 7 min remaining: Fremantle 8.11.59– Brisbane 8.7.55
Charlie Cameron is down now, done an ankle. Hobbling. Oof, twisted under him in a tackle, yuck. In better news for Brisbane, Will Ashcroft from the centre square finds Allen, marking low to the ground 35 metres out, and he goes back and kicks the goal. We’re back to four points!
Q3: 9 min remaining: Fremantle 8.10.58– Brisbane 7.7.49
Brisbane hanging on at the moment. Amiss spearing inside 50 to Voss, looks a certainty to mark on the lead, but Harris Andrews does superbly to get an arm around the body and spoil. Chris Fagan coaching from the bench is getting animated. The margin only 15 points but the game has been so tight all day that 15 feels a lot, and 21 would feel like double that. Vibe Maths, go with me.
But no! What’s the vibe on nine points? Because Lohmann has just cut the gap to that, after a long chain of counterattacking possession, after Rayner digs it out in the centre square, finds a flying McKenna, who kicks to Morris, who hands over the top to the goal square.
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Q3: 12 min remaining: Fremantle 8.10.58– Brisbane 6.7.43
DUDLEY! What a goal from the goalsneak! He bobs and weaves, he’s a human game of Whack-A-Mole. Ball coming shallowly inside 50, he slaps it to his own advantage, runs onto it while going laterally to goal, traps it, doubles back, dodges one tackle, ducks underneath a second, pops up again, and sends the ball home around the body from 45!
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Q3: 12 min remaining: Fremantle 7.10.52– Brisbane 6.7.43
Looks like an Achilles snap for Pearce. He’s getting a huge ice chunk glad-wrapped to his lower leg. Freo’s captain is gone for the day.
Q3: 13 min remaining: Fremantle 7.10.52– Brisbane 6.7.43
Uh oh. Alex Pearce has something seriously wrong. In a contest on the wing, sprinting for a ball, suddenly his leg gives way under him. Calf tear? Seemed to be lower leg, the way he collapsed. He’s been helped off the field. Switkowski kicks a long point, another wasted chance by Freo. Brisbane are scrambling to make changes off the bench to take advantage of Freo being down a key defender.
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Q3: 15 min remaining: Fremantle 7.9.51– Brisbane 6.7.43
This time Brisbane get out of the centre square after a second bounce, but the long kick forward is picked off. Back go Fremantle the other way with some run and handball, and Amiss on the 50 is scragged in the marking contest, nothing glaring but enough for the umpire to whistle it up. On the left from 55 he hangs it left and Draper punches it through.
Q3: 16 min remaining: Fremantle 7.8.50– Brisbane 6.7.43
Ashcroft goes long to a pack on the wing. Jackson gets up there like Jezza (finish that name with either lenko or Cameron, as you wish) but doesn’t quite haul down the mark. Freo get back inside 50 but the ball is locked up for a time. Finally Young squeezes a low flat kick out of the pack, and Amiss marks! Near the goal line, but on a severe angle … he kicks it anyway!
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Q3: 19 min remaining: Fremantle 6.8.44– Brisbane 6.7.43
First centre clearance to Fremantle, Jackson perfect tap down to Bolton, into 50 to find Treacy, huge chance to start the second half with a bang, but his set shot fades right after looking on target off the boot. That point gives Fremantle the lead…
A huge cheer for Brandon Leary of Tasmania, the first time a Tassie rep has lined up in one of these races. Another cheer for Cathy Freeman, firing the starting gun. A bit tough to invite Jarman Impey back to the MCG on grand final day to be doing this rather than playing, but he has a smile on his face as he applauds Jed Walter of Gold Coast who streaks away from the field to win the sprint as he did last year. An omen for the Lions, about history repeating?
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Lining up for the Grand Final Sprint…
HT: Fremantle 6.7.43– Brisbane 6.7.43
Scores are level at the half. Wasn’t that also the case last year, before Brisbane dropped the hammer? They looked by far the better side then, and they don’t today. Neither side has dominated, both have been pretty scrappy given the conditions, with occasional bursts of class. It seems like a question of who can turn a burst like that into a three-goal run, and take control of the game.
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Q2: 1 min remaining: Fremantle 6.7.43– Brisbane 6.7.43
Finally, Freo slip the noose via a high tackle. Worner pushes forward, Switkowski gets hold of it near the 50, but then two Josh Dunkley smothers in ten seconds defuse two attempts at gold! First from Bolton, after Switkowski hands off, then from Serong who got the loose ball inside 50! Another botch from Fremantle going forward, they’ve had a number of those today. Finally Freo get a shot away, but Karl Worner from 55 wouldn’t be their first-choice route to goal. He misses and ties the scores.
Q2: 3 min remaining: Fremantle 6.6.42– Brisbane 6.7.43
Stuck in Brisbane’s right forward pocket as we count down towards half time. Two boundary throws, two ball-ups, no Moses to part the seas. Another ball-up. Erasmus toes a kick 20 metres. Out of bounds, another throw-in. Another ball-up. Soccered up to the wing by Freo for another throw-in.
Q2: 6 min remaining: Fremantle 6.6.42– Brisbane 6.7.43
Now the Lions are starting to click. Little momentum shifts through the day. Will Ashcroft streaming down the wing with that mullet flowing, kicks inside to find Neale. Also finding Neale is Mason Cox, who has not been sighted otherwise today, and crashes into the Brisbane player, knocking him to the ground. Neale wants a 50 metre penalty. Several Brisbane players want a fight with Cox, who is game to take them all on. Getting heated out there. But after all that, Neale misses the simple set shot to the right. Gives Brisbane the lead by a point.
Q2: 7 min remaining: Fremantle 6.6.42– Brisbane 6.6.42
Poster from Hipwood! Kicking a set shot around the corner from the left forward pocket, he never looked entirely confident. Had marked a ball that drifted across the face of goal. Brisbane get another chance though, Andrews a chiselled pass to Draper, who’ll have a 52-metre shot … and dumps it right through the middle! Scores level again!
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Q2: 12 min remaining: Fremantle 6.6.42– Brisbane 5.5.35
Control C, Control V! Dudley to Voss, that is! After a couple of fierce tackles at half back, winning possession for holding the ball, Dudley is in position to take a handball from Jackson in traffic, burn away, take a bounce, then thread a 40-metre pass to Voss between two Lions at full forward. Until today, a Voss slamming goals on grand final day was good news for Brisbane. Not any more.
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Q2: 12 min remaining: Fremantle 5.6.36 – Brisbane 5.5.35
Brisbane look like they’re out, down the wing in front of the Southern Stand, but Lester’s long kick forward becomes a shorter kick forward, and Freo pick it off. Dudley finds Voss just inside the boundary, but from 45 metres out his shot is narrow. Freo up by a point.
Q2: 15 min remaining: Fremantle 5.5.35 – Brisbane 5.5.35
Voss handballs to Bolton, whose snap misses. Brisbane try to slow the game down a bit with some possession footy. Easier said than done in grand finals. Lots of tackles being laid. Then Brisbane benefit from a horrible handball on the wing, Cameron applying pressure around the contest, and three of their stars combine. Cameron into 50 to Lohmann, who doesn’t mark but taps to his own advantage and butters up nicely, goes over the top to Ashcroft, and Levi Ashcroft can kick a goal from 30 out straight in front. Scores level again.
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Q2: 16 min remaining: Fremantle 5.4.34 – Brisbane 4.5.29
Frematnle back in front! Serong prominent twice, sharp handball from the centre bounce, but Young is caught holding the ball. Brisbane take the advantage but make a mess of it, and Serong eventually gets another chance, a long kick inside 50 to Amiss who kicks his set shot. The lead keeps changing here.
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Q2: 17 min remaining: Fremantle 4.4.28 – Brisbane 4.5.29
And back Brisbane go the other way! This has been so tight on the scoreboard. McKenna in the pocket, Punt Road End, right pocket, deep near the paint. Under pressure, through traffic, somehow scuffs the ball off his toe with no angle and watches it dribble through along the turf.
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Q2: 19 min remaining: Fremantle 4.4.28 – Brisbane 3.5.23
First strike for Fremantle! Treacy makes up for the last quarter’s disappointment with a big mark outside 50, then a long kick to full forward and Voss in from the side clunks it! Goes back and kicks the set shot.
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QT: Fremantle 3.4.22 – Brisbane 3.5.23
Rainy, chilly, but still a decent standard of skills on display at times in the first quarter. That will likely deteriorate as the game goes on. Both teams have botched a few chances. Thinking of last year though, you’re always waiting for a Brisbane switch to flip. Fremantle need to push.
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Q1: 0 min remaining: Fremantle 3.4.22 – Brisbane 3.5.23
Footy gods do the right thing as Logan Morris dives like a Swiss striker. Literally ran into Alex Pearce in an attempt to mark and then threw himself on the ground with arms waving everywhere. Umpire gives him a shot from 25 metres out and he butchers it utterly, all the way across the face and not even a behind.
Down the other end with seconds ticking down, and again it’s a big umpiring call on the siren! Chapman, handball, Erasmus, kick, Treacy marks coming out from goal, and everyone assumes that it’s a mark. The Brisbane defenders stop, Treacy starts walking back to take his shot, and everyone’s waiting for it except the umpire nearest, who says the kick was too short! Play on! Finally Oscar Allen gets the memo, and mows into Treacy in a huge tackle.
Touch and go, the kick was pretty short, and they have called several of those already in the quarter. Rare that you see it paid for a stab pass to a leading forward, though.
Anyway, no quarter time shot after the siren for Fremantle.
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Q1: 1 min remaining: Fremantle 3.4.22 – Brisbane 3.5.23
Shocking bit of decision-making from Reid. Runs up the wing, has a bounce, runs inside 50, then instead of finding a teammate, cuts inside past a defender, and tries to snap on the run from 45 out. Unsurprisingly, doesn’t have the distance on that style of kick after a 90-metre sprint. But as with Lohmann and Dudley, he gets another chance moments later, reading the ball well from a boundary throw-in and snapping Freo’s third!
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Q1: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 2.4.16 – Brisbane 3.4.22
Lohmann is starting to get into this game now. Misses a shot from deep in the pocket, one that doesn’t make the line, but he gets another chance moments later, again on the run but this time from right in front. A brilliant little flip handball to set up Lohmann burning past the contest.
Q1: 5 min remaining: Fremantle 2.3.15 – Brisbane 2.3.15
Who do you expect to see dancing past defenders and slotting them on the run? Is it Oscar Allen? Probably not top of the list. But that’s what happens, as he turns receiver to Kai Lohmann’s provider in the forward 50. Looped handball over the top, Allen does a candy-sell, and can run into goal after getting rid of the defender.
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Q1: 7 min remaining: Fremantle 2.3.15 – Brisbane 1.3.9
Charlie Cameron doesn’t have the leg for a shot from the pocket on the run, with plenty of space. It’s marked on the line. And Fremantle go coast to coast! Dudley makes good! A familiar trip for the guys from the West. Young drills a long kick down the line to the attacking arc, Jackson grabs it just on the boundary and holds it back into the field of play before handballing, Dudley has overcommitted in leading up, and the ball goes over his head. He has to double back, dive at the ball to knock it clear from Brisbane’s defence, then pops back up, grabs it off the deck about 45 from goal, and slams it through.
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Q1: 8 min remaining: Fremantle 1.3.9 – Brisbane 1.3.9
Like a dollar coin in a pair of tight jeans, the ball is trapped in the pocket. Finally it gets squeezed out, then suddenly Fremantle have space through the middle. Young and Switkowski by hand through the centre, but Frederick overcooks his kick forward, setting up Voss to get flattened by Andrews rather than have a chance at a mark. Scrambling in the forward line, Bolton gets a snap at goal but it falls just short and is punched through. Then when Freo mimic Brisbane’s example in getting another attempt through defensive pressure, Isaiah Dudley flashes a shot wide on the run.
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Q1: 11 min remaining: Fremantle 1.1.7 – Brisbane 1.3.9
Pressure footy from Brisbane. Murphy Reid is hassled out of possession on the wing, Brisbane drive the rolling ball forward, but McKenna misses his shot on the run, then there’s another rushed behind moments later. Lions locking down their forward 50 pretty well, Freo’s next attempt to escape is also shut down, and there’s a series of ball-ups near the boundary until Pearce gets a free for a ball that skews out of bounds off a Brisbane boot.
Q1: 13 min remaining: Fremantle 1.1.7 – Brisbane 1.7.7
Voss botches another chance, this time dropping a mark in the pocket on the lead. Ball back outside Freo’s 50, where Shai Bolton has his head removed, puts it back on, and has it ripped off again. Gets a free from at least one of those amateur surgeries. Goes back into the pocket, but the ball is spoiled despite a big fly attempt. The Lions almost make them pay, good movement to the other end, Cam Rayner marks on the lead, runs wide of the man on the mark, and misses to the far side from the right forward pocket.
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Q1: 16 min remaining: Fremantle 1.1.7 – Brisbane 1.0.6
The immediate reply from Fremantle to take the early lead, as Josh Treacy marks strongly on the lead after a perfect centre clearance, and despite the wet conditions, absolutely flushes the kick from outside 50!
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Q1: 17 min remaining: Fremantle 0.1.1 – Brisbane 1.0.6
First break out of the centre square goes Brisbane’s way, in a vortex of tackling and flying limbs, the ball scrambled forward rather than delivered. Fremantle repel the first two entries into 50, then an incredible pick-up at top speed by Jye Amiss on the wing helps neutralise a dangerous situation.
Ball back inside Lions 50, looks like a rushed behind but there’s a Freo free for a push, so the score is chalked off. Dockers get out via Frederick down the wing, into the pocket for Voss, but he misses a checkside on the run from the pocket. Freo point, and Brisbane rebound immediately, down the other end, finding Charlie Cameron in space… goal!
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Harris Andrews wins the toss of the coin, such as it matters, and chooses to kick… in one of the directions. Hard to tell on the close-up. I think he went City End?
Welcome to Country takes place, and now the national anthem. Get ready for the cheer…
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Here comes the premiership cup, carried onto the field by Luke Hodge, then handed over to Fremantle rep Shaun McManus and Brisbane rep Simon Black, a couple of huge names from the histories of these two clubs.
Thanks Martin. That was actually quite affecting, the way that Kylie’s show started with a whole montage of her as a kid and then as a young woman, then it cut to a girl in a school uniform walking onto the MCG wearing big Walkman headphones, the kid dreaming of being there one day… and the cameras panned over to Kylie’s centre stage. Where she ended up. Top marks.
OK, I’ve almost got my head back in the game after that incredible performance from Kylie. I’m sorry, but it was. And it’s time for me to grab a cuppa. Thanks a lot for following along today. Here is Geoff Lemon to guide you through what should be an absolute cracker.
Wow! An early contender for best on ground from Kylie. I need to collect my thoughts but back to the footy – here are the two lineups as named:
Fremantle
FB: 6 Jordan Clark, 25 Alex Pearce, 17 Judd McVee
HB: 23 Karl Worner, 21 Oscar McDonald, 5 Heath Chapman
C: 44 Matthew Johnson, 8 Andrew Brayshaw, 28 Neil Erasmus
HF: 32 Michael Frederick, 16 Murphy Reid, 39 Sam Switkowski
FF: 24 Jye Amiss, 35 Josh Treacy, 20 Patrick Voss
FOLL: 9 Luke Jackson, 3 Caleb Serong, 10 Shai Bolton
INT: 18 Mason Cox, 34 Corey Wagner, 26 Hayden Young, 13 Luke Ryan, 43 Isaiah Dudley
Brisbane
FB: 22 Ty Gallop, 31 Harris Andrews, 35 Ryan Lester
HB: 44 Darcy Wilmot, 27 Darcy Gardiner, 15 Dayne Zorko
C: 7 Jarrod Berry, 8 Will Ashcroft, 33 Zac Bailey
HF: 23 Charlie Cameron, 13 Logan Morris, 4 Oscar Allen
FF: 30 Eric Hipwood, 16 Cam Rayner, 1 Kai Lohmann
FOLL: 32 Darcy Fort, 5 Josh Dunkley, 9 Lachie Neale
INT: 2 Sam Draper, 3 Jaspa Fletcher, 6 Hugh McCluggage, 10 Levi Ashcroft, 26 Conor McKenna
Kylie takes flight to sign off with Can’t Get You Out of My Head. This is going to take some topping from the Fremantle and Brisbane players.
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Kylie has a few classics up her sleeve with Confide in Me, Padam Padam and … all the way, way back to The Loco-Motion.
If there is a time and a place for disco it is surely 2pm on a Saturday in the middle the MCG. I’m spinning around, move out of my way … I know you’re feeling me ‘cause you like it like this …
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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 …
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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.
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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.
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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.’
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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.
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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.”
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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
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!
