Generic photo of AFL football Photo: AAP
Grand Final redemption will be on the line for the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions when they meet to decide the 2024 Australian Football League champions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The game pitches the losers of the last two Grand Finals against each other with Brisbane desperate to make up for losing to Collingwood by four points in a thriller 12 months ago.
Sydney have lost their last three Grand Finals but the 2022 defeat was by far the worst as they were blown off the park by Geelong, losing by a margin of 81 points.
Swans coach John Longmire said this week that he had been working with his players to help them deal with the mental scars of that shattering loss.
"You live in the moment," said the 53-year-old. "We talked about that this week, just concentrate on what's in front of us and that's where you get your focus."
The Swans were the best team in the regular season, topping the final standings to win the minor premiership and marching past city rivals the GWS Giants and Port Adelaide in the playoffs.
Brisbane made a poor start to their campaign and had a longer road to the final after finishing fifth in the regular season ladder before beating Carlton, the GWS Giants and Geelong on their run through the playoffs.
Midfielder Josh Dunkley, who won a title as a teenager with the Western Bulldogs in 2016, said the Lions had changed their preparations for the title decider this year.
"It's either the best day of your life or the worst day," he said before the team flew down to Melbourne on Wednesday.
"Last year the experience against Collingwood is definitely in the back of your mind and fresh in the memory, so there's a lot of things we're doing this week that we learnt from last year."
It is the first time since 2006 that the Grand Final does not involve a team from Victoria, the state where Australian Rules was born and reigns supreme among football codes.
Both clubs have their origins in the state, however, with the Swans competing as South Melbourne for 108 years until moving in 1982 and the Lions representing the suburb of Fitzroy from 1883 until the AFL expanded into Queensland in 1997.
State occasion
The local connections would ensure a crowd in excess of 100,000 at the MCG on Saturday afternoon even without the tens of thousands of fans who are flocking south from New South Wales and Queensland this weekend.
The AFL Grand Final is all but a state occasion in Victoria with an annual public holiday on the eve of the game and big-name entertainers - this year pop star Katy Perry - flown in to provide pre-match entertainment.
The bookmakers make the Swans favourites for a third AFL title since they relocated even if the Lions, who have won three Grand Finals since moving to Brisbane, won the last meeting between the two teams 79-77 in late July.
Both teams have key absences because of injury, with Brisbane losing ruckman Oscar McInerney to a dislocated shoulder and Sydney captain Callum Mills failing a fitness test on Wednesday.
The Swans have been notorious slow starters this season, a trait that has not translated into Grand Final success in recent years with 22 of the last 23 AFL champions having led at three-quarter time.
Alastair Clarkson, who led Hawthorn to four AFL titles, said that the hunger of both teams for redemption should make for a tight contest.
"They've both got this enormous desire to win this Grand Final," the North Melbourne coach said.
"I'm leaning towards the Lions, I think they have a beautiful depth across all lines and not as heavy a reliance as Sydney on key players to be pivotal. I think in a big, big game, that is really, really instrumental."
- Reuters