Reigning Premiers Brisbane have gone back-to-back, with a strong second-half showing that enabled them to see off the challenge from Geelong at a sold-out MCG.
A remarkable feat by the Queenslanders, handed the toughest draw in the competition, that have had to overcome a lot of adversity during the campaign.
Before the big game got underway, the 100,022-strong crowd were treated to a pre-show that included performances from Australian artists Tash Sultana, Baker Boy, a choir featuring Emma Donovan and Kee’ahn, Mike Brady and headlined by the multi-Award-winning Snoop Dogg, dressed all in white, who put together a fantastic set.
Team news saw just one enforced change for each side – for the Cats, Rhys Stanley coming into the line-up for the influential Tom Stewart, who missed with concussion.
For the Lions, a huge call was made with Lachie Neale brought back in, after defying all odds and being declared fit to replace the injured Jarrod Berry (dislocated shoulder).
The first half proved to be an extremely tight affair, with just a few points in it either way, as the lead changed hands on six different occasions, and the scores level at the main interval – the first time that has happened in a Grand Final since back in 1909.
In the traditional Telstra Half-Time Sprint, Jed Walter (Gold Coast) pipped 2024 champion Beau McCreery to win it, with Maurice Rioli jnr finishing in third place.
There was little to choose between the two clubs in the opening part of the third when both lost a player each – Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron (Geelong) with a fractured forearm, whilst Brisbane’s Brandon Starcevich sustained a concussion.
However, it was in the latter stages of the quarter that shaped the result with forward Charlie Cameron kicking a quick-fire double, for the Lions, before substitute Neale (pictured below) repaid the faith shown in him by slotting one straight through the big sticks.
It proved to be a key period of play, with the momentum carrying over into the last term, where they were able to really gain momentum and never looked back from there.
The final siren was met with wild emotions/celebrations by players, supporters and coach Chris Fagan. He makes history by becoming the first ever gaffer to lead a club to back-to-back flags despite never having played at the AFL/VFL level.
The 64-year-old, who earlier in the week won the AFLCA Coach of the Year and the Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, was presented with the Jock McHale Medal by Adam Simpson, a Premiership coach himself with West Coast in 2018.
Co-captains Harris Andrews and Lachie Neale were both recipients of the Ron Barassi Medal from AFL Hall of Famer and dual Premiership player Ken Fraser.
Will Ashcroft, who got to play alongside his younger brother Levi, was awarded the second Norm Smith Medal of his career, in just his 58th appearance, for a best-on-ground effort that included 32 disposals, ten clearances, eight tackles and a major.
He received a total of 13 votes (33,322) from the panel of judges, comprising Andrew McLeod (Chair), Luke Hodge, Kate McCarthy, Jack Riewoldt, and Adam Simpson.
Player interviews
Brisbane Lions rooms
Lachie Neale (Co-Captain): “I can’t take too much credit, guys like ‘Hughy’ and ‘Dunks’ have steered the ship during the last six or seven weeks while I’ve been missing in action. So proud of this group, bloody hell. Pretty speechless. That performance was hard to describe. When we’re on, we’re on.”
“It’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been in a game of football, with the scores tied in a Grand Final and limited prep. But it’s a little bit easier when everyone is tired and you’re fresh. I felt like I covered the ground pretty well.”
Charlie Cameron (pictured above – who kicked four majors): “It has been a sort of up and down year, not to my standards, but I thought that I would just keep chipping away and just listen to people inside the four walls because you do cop it a bit as a small forward. I guess it is all about growing and learning; coming into finals, I got back to the fundamentals and enjoyed footy. I got the looks today and made the most of it.”
Will Ashcroft (Norm Smith Medallist): It’s hard to talk about, to be honest. Throughout my childhood, I would always attend the Grand Finals and thoroughly enjoy them. I would dream about playing on Grand Final day. For me, it has always been about getting opportunities to play in big finals, such as Grand Finals, to win and contribute heavily. That’s where I want to leave my legacy on the game.”
Josh Dunkley (pictured above – who admitted post-game that he was playing with a grade-three syndesmosis injury): “It’s crazy, I can’t really believe it. It’s a special group. Our ability to continue to get to work and learn and get better as a group, it’s a team effort, this one.”
“Not great – I will admit that. It’s worth every bit of pain. I got a call from the doc and he said to me ‘you’re not going to miss, we’ll get you up for it’. That’s part of being an AFL player, you put up with injuries.”
Oscar McInerney (pictured below – who missed last year’s premiership with a dislocated shoulder): “I was just so proud of all my best mates for achieving what they did last year and the ability to go again is something I’ll cherish forever. I try and be pretty level-headed.”
Brandon Starcevich (who had to be substituted following that concussion): “I feel fine. It was obviously a bit scary, but I’ve pulled up fine. I potentially could have come back on but it was more risk management than anything. I’ve had a little bit going on this year, so to finish like this, I can’t ask for much more.”
Callum Ah Chee (pictured below): “The emotions are very high. It’s amazing to be able to celebrate with my family, and to have my mum and dad here and my brothers, I got a bit emotional out there. I love this footy club and I’m just glad I went out there and did my job.”
Geelong Cats rooms
Patrick Dangerfield (captain): “It’s a hard one. The best part of the game is the feeling you get when you’re victorious, but equally, when you’re on the losing ledger of that, that’s the game, isn’t it?”
“So we didn’t quite execute as well as we would’ve like today. We played against a magnificent team that did execute. So there’s no excuses from me or anyone. But still really proud of our team, our club, the organisation. We just weren’t able to frank it with a Premiership. It has still been a hell of a season.”
“You risk the ultimate devastation and that’s sort of in there, behind the walls, and the feeling but that just shows how much it means. It’s a ruthless sport, the best in the world I think we can all agree on that, and you do risk the devastation but it is worth putting yourself out there and giving it a crack.”
“The hard part is that there are no guarantees in any given season. It is everyone that starts again from the blocks. Just because you have had a reasonable season one year, there are no guarantees the next.”
“So I think it is important that you sit in it, for a little bit, as difficult as it may be. The togetherness piece is really important, it is something that we have always done really well as an organisation, particularly when we have lost big games of footy. The club has always given us a good opportunity to threaten, to compete and I am sure that they will give us that opportunity again.”
Mark Blicavs: “They were really clean around the ball and we couldn’t really get it off them (late in the third quarter) and we didn’t defend as well as we would have liked. But I think that was their ball use too, they were really sharp.”
“We were still really confident at half-time that we could get the game on our terms. We knew that it was going to be a bit of a fight and a scrap in there, which we were really happy with. But credit to them, they just played the way they wanted to and we couldn’t stop them for longer periods.”
“We were holding, trying to stick to our game plan, trying to get it back on our terms as much as we could, but you saw at the end there, the floodgates opened and they were really impressive.”
“It hurts but we are just going to stick together, do what we have done every season that I have been at the club, which is to re-group and go again, trying to improve and trying to make the team better because that is all you can do. Learn and improve and go again next year.”
View from the coach’s box
Chris Fagan (Brisbane Lions): “I have done it the hard way; this is my ninth year as coach. The first couple of years we didn’t make too much ground, finished bottom in my second year with five wins, and from that point of time onwards have been playing in finals and ever so gradually worked our way towards the top and the last three years have been pretty special. We played in the three Grand Finals and we have been able to win the last two.”
“The one that we won this year, geez there has been a lot of adversity and challenge, when you think about it. We had the toughest draw, which I think is pretty well documented. We had a lot of blokes who played in last year’s Grand Final that didn’t play in today’s Grand Final. We were out there with a lot of 22 and unders playing, so it all bodes well for the club as long as we stay calm and don’t get ahead of ourselves. It has been an amazing ride.”
“They are such a good group of men, they handled the Premiership win last year particularly well, I thought, and that is not easy to do because you get a lot of accolades when you win Premierships and it is quite intoxicating. The boys turned up in good shape pre-season, even though we had a lot that had surgeries and went to work again and found a way to do what we did today.”
On the huge call to select Lachie Neale: “I was lying in bed last night thinking ‘I’m going to either look like a total idiot or a total genius’. If we had lost and he only played a half, we would probably be bemoaning the way we went about it.”
“The bottom line was this, Lachie was fit to play, but how much game time could he play because basically he had played one game in eight weeks. Coming into a Grand Final, I was a little bit worried about his ability to see the whole game out if he actually had to start, so Lachie and I had a good chat during the week about ‘I want to play you, you’re right to go, but this is the bit of the puzzle we have to sort out’ and he and I both agreed that the best way to do it was for him to start as a sub.”
“I didn’t know when that was going to be but, it felt right to do it at half-time as he would come on and bring great energy, in the second half, which is exactly what he did. It was a bit of a bold plan I suppose, it’s came off but it might not of have.”
Chris Scott (Geelong Cats): “I’d like to start by congratulating Brisbane, obviously a thoroughly deserved victory. They did it the hard way and when you lose a first final and then need to come back to Melbourne, two weeks in a row, and get the job then absolutely you deserve it, so full credit to them.”
“It is difficult for us, right at the moment, but I think in the fullness of time when you sort of sit back and think about the quality of team that beat us in this Grand Final, it might ease the pain a little bit.”
“The game itself today, like even in the first half the scores were level but it just didn’t feel like we were able to play the way we had played in the last couple of months, which is a bitter pill to swallow because I think we had shown that our best footy was going to challenge anyone.”
“In some ways, looking at the form teams through the final series, it sort of seemed to us that Brisbane and Hawthorn were two of those and we got over those two but just couldn’t get it done today.”
“I am really proud of our club and particularly the players for keep fronting up.”
Result
Geelong 11.9 (75)
Brisbane 18.14 (122)
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