Jonathan Horn's report
A wonderful, affirming day for Richmond supporters and for the club. And don’t forget such an impressive season from the Giants, coming from 6th to make it here today. Hope you enjoyed it one way or another. Until next season.
What a team. What a club. What a day. What a time. A @Richmond_FC premiership dynasty. It’s been all worth it. #gotiges
— Dylan Leach (@leachitup) September 28, 2019
Cotchin speaks well. Damien Hardwick gets the Jock McHale medal. Very gracious speech from Hardwick towards the Giants, saying that they overcame adversity throughout the season much as the Tigers had, and saying how much his club respects theirs. Nice touch. Then the cup is handed over, the yellow and black confetti explodes, and the players all rush onto the stage. The song blares. Sixteen Tigers are now dual premiership players.
"You're my favourite player!"
— AFL (@AFL) September 28, 2019
As wholesome as it gets. ❤️#AFLGF pic.twitter.com/JtGw39AIFT
Medals being handed out. Jack Riewoldt has his baby in the crook of one arm, while putting a cap on the head of the girl handing him his medal, then dipping his head for the presentation, then shaking her hand as they introduce themselves. Multitasking, and all very sweet.
Norm Smith medal goes to Dustin Martin
No huge surprises there. Pickett had a brilliant day, Riewoldt kicked five, but Martin was probably the key in the first and second quarters when the game was there to be won. He keeps his speech short and loud. “Thanks to the AFL and their partners, thanks to GWS, thanks to the fans, YELLOW AND BLACK!”
Updated
Richmond are premiers! 17.12 (114) to GWS 3.7 (25)
There is a big, big sound, but it’s the roar of the Tiger and the trumpets of that famous song, coming from just to the east of the MCG. The Tigers have done it. The Richmond Football Club wins its 12th flag, and the second in three years. A flag starts to become an era.
How big an achievement is that. Richmond lost Alex Rance, their star full-back, at the start of the season to a knee injury. Cotchin was gone for much of the season. So was Riewoldt. So was their main ruckman Nankervis. And yet they backed up, and filled the gaps, and kept winning through the back half of the season. Made the finals. Then began to really show their quality and exert their pressure.
Two fast-running clubs in Geelong and GWS were both completely shut down. There was no clear path to goal, in either the prelim or the grand final today. And in those tight contests, Richmond had the quality to get clear often enough with their chains of fast possession, and get away.
And then there’s the club mentality of Shaun Grigg, who decided that his injuries were unlikely to let him recover in time to play finals, and gave up his spot on the list so that Richmond could activate Pickett as a rookie. Here he is, having starred today, the first player to debut in a grand final in about 70 years.
Tiger supporters – how does this feel? You can let us know in the comments below. There were many long years of deflation and disappointment, so this is your time. Enjoy it.
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Q4: 0 mins remaining: Rich 17.12 (114) to GWS 3.7 (25) – Wait, is it goal time for favourite sons? Don’t forget Jack Riewoldt. Set shot, straight in front, 20 seconds remaining, and he drifts it just inside the left post!
Q4: 1 mins remaining: Rich 16.12 (108) to GWS 3.7 (25) – If that wasn’t enough icing for Tiger fans, Williams can’t mark at half-forward for GWS under pressure from Grimes and Vlaustin. The ball comes the other way, spoiled, comes to ground, Dustin Martin picks up, and Richmond’s other star (one of many, really) snaps a goal from near the fifty!
Q4: 2 mins remaining: Rich 15.12 (102) to GWS 3.7 (25) – Ticking down into the final minutes, a lot of back and forth, stop and tackle, and then finally one shaft of daylight shoots through. Rioli from the half-back flank splits the field open with a cross-field kick. Finds Cotchin at the back of the centre square. The Richmond skipper runs through the centre, to fifty, and laces a goal! Gets a shepherd on the line from Lynch and through it goes. Raises the ton. Celebration time!
Q4: 5 mins remaining: Rich 14.12 (96) to GWS 3.7 (25) – A lot of tired bodies and scrappy play. Heavy legs. Greene trying to contest in the forward pocket as a Giant counterattack swings forward. Held out of the way but Toby Greene won’t get much love from any umpires. Down the other end, Prestia has a shot but misses.
Q4: 7 mins remaining: Rich 14.11 (95) to GWS 3.7 (25) – Richmond players enjoying themselves on the bench now, all smiles. Those rare moments of knowing that the result of a grand final will go your way.
Q4: 11 mins remaining: Rich 14.11 (95) to GWS 3.7 (25) – Pickett with another score involvement! This time a goal. It’s Pickett’s kick around the body from the 50 to the top of the square. Rioli flies to mark, Riewoldt grabs the crumb and kicks his fourth.
Q4: 13 mins remaining: Rich 13.11 (89) to GWS 3.7 (25) – The Giants up that Members wing again via Greene and Cameron, but this time the long delivery only finds a Tiger mark. Richmond link up through Houli, Rioli, Martin up the Southern Stand side. Centre the ball. Mumford spoils at centre half, but Pickett is there for the crumbs. Inside 50, feed Castagna, who misses for the sixth time today. Five points and one out on the full. Another score involvement for Pickett. Could he win the Norm Smith? Is that a real sentence I’m typing?
GWS lose the ball again in the centre, and the kick comes back for Bolton to mark and goal! Share them around now.
Q4: 16 mins remaining: Rich 12.9 (81) to GWS 3.7 (25) – Nearly another goal for GWS, but over-possession in the forward pocket sees the ball spoiled out. Williams guilty of that a few times today. A lengthy chain of handballs rather than a shot at goal. Richmond rebound.
Q4: 18 mins remaining: Rich 12.9 (81) to GWS 3.7 (25) – The Tigers win it straight out of the centre, but Rioli is pinged for diving on the ball at full-forward. Never mind, because GWS can’t get past the halfway line again. A relieving mark as the ball comes back inside 50, then emerges once more through Haynes. Finally GWS get up the wing to Greene. He finds Cameron across the arc at centre half, who drives deep into the pocket. Himmelberg marks, plays on, and snaps around the body for the Giants’ third!
Three-quarter time: Richmond 12.9 (81) to GWS 2.7 (19)
Richmond have got this in the bag. One quarter to go. It’s Tiger Time.
Q3: 0 mins remaining: Rich 12.9 (81) to GWS 2.7 (19) – A few clumsy tackles from the Giants up forward cost them a chance at possession. Jeremy Cameron jumps into Baker while trying to spoil and hits him high. Then Greene collects Houli on the ground. Richmond get down the far end, and now it’s the big moustachioed ruckman Ivan Soldo in space who marks in the pocket and kicks one more on the siren!
Q3: 2 mins remaining: Rich 11.9 (75) to GWS 2.7 (19) – Dustin Martin does about three circles in the tackle at half forward and is pinged for holding the ball. “For fuck’s sake, Razor!” he screams at the umpire. 50 metre penalty for abuse. GWS end up at half-forward. It’s not clean, it’s not smooth, but it’s a Giant goal! The ball comes into a pack, bounces free, and Hopper is there after his big whack earlier to finally kick the Giant’s second.
Q3: 3 mins remaining: Rich 11.9 (75) to GWS 1.7 (13) – High contact on Richmond, advantage paid at the top of the centre square. Castagna tries passing off this time, to Rioli, but he misses from just inside 50 as well.
Q3: 6 mins remaining: Rich 11.8 (74) to GWS 1.7 (13) – Richmond just attacking as they please now, and still the Giants can’t get a clean possession. Davis saves another goal right on the line, marking a curling snap. Williams has pace on the wing but turns the ball over. For Richmond, Castagna has another flying shot and misses, he’s missed a lot of shots today. Then it’s the big ruckman Nankervis getting on the scoreboard, for a point, as he gathers a loose ball in the pocket and snaps back across his body.
Q3: 9 mins remaining: Rich 11.6 (72) to GWS 1.7 (13) – Now the rout is on. GWS get a free in the middle, and have it overturned again when Himmelberg supposedly lays an illegal block in the goalsquare. Not sure about that free kick either, the Richmond player ran across Himmelberg’s line at the ball. Richmond flow forward instead, and Kane Lambert on the run nails another.
Updated
Q3: 12 mins remaining: Rich 10.6 (66) to GWS 1.6 (12) – A tale of contrasting days. GWS finally get a good sequence of passes down one wing, but there’s nowhere to go once they reach the forward line. Richmond cut it off, and eventually win a free for Castagna being held. Then Richmond produce a Harlem Globetrotters run down the Members wing, with flick-passes, volleyball taps, players waiting for the bouncing ball correctly before zipping the pass on, and finally Pickett gets possession and slams it long inside 50 for Martin to mark on the lead. Martin goes back to take his shot, then fakes and squares across goal! Pickett has drifted forward! He marks, and on debut in a grand final, nails his set shot!
Q3: 13 mins remaining: Rich 9.6 (60) to GWS 1.6 (12) – GWS needed to explode out of the blocks in the second half, and instead they’ve had none of the footy and generated zero run. Cameron ventures all the way up onto the wing to find a touch, having barely seen the ball since that first goal. But his square-up kick is no good, turning the ball over, and it goes forward for Richmond into the pocket. The Giants think it’s out of bounds, but Rioli produces an underground handball, on the bounce to Martin, who snaps from deep in the pocket as per his specialty! What a finish.
Q3: 15 mins remaining: Rich 8.6 (54) to GWS 1.6 (12) – It could all have been over for the Giants when Castagna had a shot from the pocket early, but he sprays it out on the full. It could be over when Lynch has a set shot from in front, but he shanks it. It could be over when Martin tries a checkside on the run, but he bellies it. And it could be over when Riewoldt marks in the pocket, but he fades left. It’s only after five minutes of countdown time, when Lynch marks 30 out in front, that it’s over. Straight through the middle.
The Giants just cannot get through the middle of the ground.
Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the Grand Final Sprint. It’s fast, and over quickly. Ben King of the Gold Coast beats Frost of Melbourne, and that’s an unexpected involvement in a grand-final day victory for the Suns.
Half time – Rich 7.5 (47) to GWS 1.6 (12)
That’s the half, and you’d think Richmond have just about won the flag with that second quarter. Five goals in the quarter, unanswered. Lots of pressure, lots of turnovers, fast movement forward. “I just think you can see Richmond blokes flying in,” says Riewoldt on the telly. And follows up with this lovely line. “I just think footy’s a mysterious game.”
So it is. And the one thing the Giants can tell themselves is that they haven’t been blown away. They haven’t looked like some of the shellshocked sides who have played this corresponding fixture in years past. They just haven’t been able to get any run into their game. But they have been fighting hard, and they could be ten goals down rather than five.
Q2: 1 mins remaining: Rich 7.5 (47) to GWS 1.6 (12) – A lot of action. Giants win a free for holding the ball after the bounce, but Greene turns it over with a downfield free. Tigers don’t make use, but Hopper is injured when he gets a hard shepherd in the ribs. Greene tries to make amends by pulling a Dustin Martin fend on Dustin Martin. Giants go forward via Taranto, but his kick is too heavy to find Jeremy Cameron. And finally, as the Tigers come back downfield, Riewoldt steams out to mark just inside 50, go back, and kick left to right for another! The Tigers’ main man is going to be the difference today.
Q2: 4 mins remaining: Rich 6.5 (41) to GWS 1.6 (12) – The Giants avert what looks a certain goal as the Tigers get another counterattack sailing into an almost empty forward line. But Marlion Pickett has a rare fumble. The Giants clear, but eventually it’s turned over on the wing, comes back inside 50, and Riewoldt on the lead takes a strong mark 40 out! No concerns with the set shot for him.
Q2: 6 mins remaining: Rich 5.5 (35) to GWS 1.6 (12) – Daniels blows another chance for GWS, with a set shot missing from 45 out. Won the free for a blow to the head in the marking contest.
Q2: 7 mins remaining: Rich 5.5 (35) to GWS 1.5 (11) – A couple of forays forward for GWS, but Richmond’s defence holds firm. Once, twice. They mop up, spread the ball, have runners. The Giants have chances, but can’t get that last clean possession to find a mark or a player in the clear. De Boer finally has a shot on the run, but misses across the face.
Q2: 9 mins remaining: Rich 5.5 (35) to GWS 1.4 (10) – GWS take a little bit of pace out of the game thanks to some hard tackling on the wing. A range of stoppages. Martin comes up on the wing, dragging Heath Shaw up there with him and trying to expose him for pace. After a few minutes though the Tigers do break free, race forward, but the shot at pace is out on the full. Giants clear through Shaw, then switch play, boost forward looking for Himmelberg, but he was outnumbered by about four to one. Soldo marks.
Q2: 12 mins remaining: Rich 5.5 (35) to GWS 1.4 (10) – The Giants finally string a few handballs together down the wing. Himmelberg a free kick at half forward, Greene a snap from the pocket but he’s tackled as he kicks. Behind.
Q2: 13 mins remaining: Rich 5.5 (35) to GWS 1.3 (9) – Five in a row for the Tigers! Pickett scrubs a handball out of the centre, Rioli kicks from the flank, and Lynch cuts across into the right pocket to take the mark. Tough kick from there but he slots his drop punt. The Giants are teetering.
Q2: 15 mins remaining: Rich 4.5 (29) to GWS 1.3 (9) – The floodgates are creaking, and might just be about to burst. Martin again, as the ball came in over his head on the lead. He stops leading, nudges his opponent out, doubles back and gets the ball off the turf, runs laterally past two more defenders, then dribbles home the snap from 30!
Q2: 16 mins remaining: Rich 3.5 (23) to GWS 1.3 (9) – Nearly another from the centre bounce, as Picket (!!!) grabs the ball, spins out of a tackle, and kicks lace out to the top of the square! What a move! Castagna gets up high, grabs half the ball, then collects the rebound at ground level. Great leaping mark. But hits the post with this shot.
Q2: 17 mins remaining: Rich 3.4 (22) to GWS 1.3 (9) – Riewoldt kicks Richmond’s third, and they might break the game open a quarter late, but break it anyway. That was a dodgy call from the umpire I think: Davis contested the ball, nudged Jack in the side rather than the back, and Riewoldt rather threw himself out of the contest. Gets the free and snaps it, though.
Q2: 18 mins remaining: Rich 2.4 (16) to GWS 1.3 (9) – Richmond coast to coast from the kick-in: Lambert to Castagna, who sprints down the wing, a couple of bounces, has a shot from the pocket and misses to the right.
Q2: 19 mins remaining: Rich 2.3 (15) to GWS 1.3 (9) – An early foray for the Giants from the bounce, getting the ball to half-forward, then a scrappy kick after a pick-up from the turf, and Himmelburg is in the right spot in the right pocket. He starts his shot left but it stays that way.
Quarter time: Richmond 2.3 (15) to GWS 1.2 (8)
A genuine arm wrestle of a quarter, where early on it looked like the Tigers might blast five or six clear, but the Giants kept hanging on. Wouldn’t let them score, then finally kicked the first goal of the match themselves after 20 minutes of play. Finally the Tigers got some reward with a couple of GWS mistakes late, and some glimpses of fast clean play. Catch your breath.
Q1: 0 mins remaining: Rich 2.3 (15) to GWS 1.2 (8) – Right on the siren, Daniel Rioli gets the Tigers another! GWS had forced a throw-in at half-back with 17 seconds left. 15 seconds by the time the ruckmen contested it. Soldo took possession, then was tackled by Mumford and lost it. Davis had a chance to mop up at centre half back but the bouncing kick eluded him. Riolo picks up the ricochet with five seconds left, snaps with four, and the clock ticks down three, two, as the ball sails through. Siren! Tigers take the lead, then kick a goal clear!
Q1: 1 mins remaining: Rich 1.3 (9) to GWS 1.2 (8) – Goal to Dustin Martin! The Tigers needed a lift and their talisman provides! Finally, with just a minute to go, they get some fast movement through the middle. Lambert’s tackle creates a turnover, there’s space through the middle for the Tigers, and Martin has a paddock to run back and mark, then run around the mark and snap truly.
Q1: 2 mins remaining: Rich 0.3 (3) to GWS 1.2 (8) – More great play from the Giants. Daniels is sold into trouble in the centre square, looks like he’s being smashed in a tackle, but stands up in it, bounces off the tackler, and escapes! Then drops a banana, on the run, to Mumford at centre half forward who spills the diving mark coming forward. Knocks the ball clear to try to keep it moving forward, but it gets locked in.
Q1: 3 mins remaining: Rich 0.3 (3) to GWS 1.2 (8) – Goal to Jeremy Cameron! He’s a more popular candidate to open the account, and what a kick it was! What a mark as well. Contested mark, steaming out of 50, marked right on the paint while wrestling hard. In the breadbasket in the end. Then he goes back on the left forward flank, kicks left-footed, 55 metres, the ball starting right but swinging back, back, and inside the post! Giants with the first.
Q1: 5 mins remaining: Rich 0.3 (3) to GWS 0.2 (2) – Sam Reid nearly donates a goal to Richmond, turning the ball over in the centre square trying to come inboard, but Davis on the last line of defence intercepts the snap from the pocket. Doesn’t even concede a point, holds the ball back over the goal line and then runs back out to clear the 50. The Giants fighting hard.
Q1: 7 mins remaining: Rich 0.3 (3) to GWS 0.2 (2) – Himmelberg does well two on one on the forward flank, forces a throw-in. Soldo taps but the Tigers turn it over, a long kick inside 50 that goes out of bounds next to the behind post. Tough contests inside 50, and Pickett gets a free kick for high contact. Tigers lose it again in the centre square though, and back it comes... to Greene! The least popular player in the sport, would you say? Richmond fans boo immediately. How provocative if he kicked the first goal in a grand final! But his set shot misses to the right, from the left pocket.
Q1: 10 mins remaining: Rich 0.3 (3) to GWS 0.1 (1) – Williams marks inside 50 and can have a shot for GWS, but he goes short and turns the ball over. Still no goals. GWS get on the board through Daniel Lloyd’s miss as the Tigers let it roll through so they can clear defence with a kick-in.
Q1: 12 mins remaining: Rich 0.3 (3) to GWS 0.0 (0) – Lots of punching out there, of the ball rather than each other. Both teams playing volleyball as the Giants try to clear. Riewoldt punches a loose ball back over his head towards the goalsquare, but it comes back out. Whitfield so calm in taking the ball out of the air, waiting, then playing on to clear the fifty with a long kick on the non-preferred. Short thumps long (Short is a player) to send it back in. Spoiled. Rushed. Eventually there’s a flying shot and a third point dribbles through.
Updated
Q1: 13 mins remaining: Rich 0.1 (1) to GWS 0.0 (0) – Yet another holding the ball paid against the Giants, on the wing this time. Richmond’s tackling pressure has been outstanding. Their trademark. The Giants have barely had a clean possession. Bachar Houli with the tackle that time. The Giants repel this thrust, then get nailed for holding the ball again at half-forward for them. Tigers surge forward but have to go very wide looking for Martin and it’s out of bounds.
Q1: 15 mins remaining: Rich 0.1 (1) to GWS 0.0 (0) – Martin down on the ground and sore. He was trying to barge through the pack after a bounce at the top of the goal square, but got nailed. GWS try to get out of defence but the handball is errant, and Mumford has to grab the loose ball and wear a heavy tackle! This is fierce early stuff.
Q1: 17 mins remaining: Rich 0.1 (1) to GWS 0.0 (0) – Back into Richmond’s forward line again, and Lynch is warned for an accidental elbow on David while going up for the mark. Back inside the pocket, Dustin Martin scrapping by the boundary line, but it’s over.
Q1: 18 mins remaining: Rich 0.1 (1) to GWS 0.0 (0) – Great first bounce from the umpire, that was a skyscraper. GWS get the first surge forward but it’s chopped off inside 50. The Tigers rebound, back into their forward pocket, where Riewoldt marks but it’s not paid! Surely he had enough of that, lost it as he came down. Long kick back inside 50 looking for Lynch, but it’s punched through for a behind.
There goes the traditional rendition of the anthem in vibrato-laden fauxmotive pop style, trying to inject some life into the tune. And we’re off. Dylan Alcott the tennis champ is at the centre circle to toss the coin. Davis and Trent Cotchin shake hands. Cotch wins the toss and will kick to the city end. Game time.
Anthem time, and Stevie J brings the Premiership Cup out onto the field. Steve Johnson was a very popular late recruit to the Giants after a fine premiership career with Geelong. He hands the cup over to Maureen Hafey, the wife of late Richmond coach Tommy, and Kevin Sheedy, a great Richmond player who became the Giants’ establishment coach.
Here we go. The teams out onto the field. The Big Big Sound gets played for real! Then the roar as the Tigers come out, and their own pretty decent club song gets its first spin for the day.
Mike Brady has been thawed out of carbonite as per annual tradition to sing Up There Cazaly before he goes back in the chamber. By rationing him out this way we’ll have Mike Brady until the year 2337.
Actually I wrote a piece about this song a few years ago. I can’t remember if it was worth reading, but you can tell me.
Here’s how the Giants have established themselves – an in-depth piece from our footy writer Scott Heinrich.
Phil Davis has passed his late late fitness test, by the way, for the Giants. And Marlion Pickett will debut for Richmond, incredibly, after starring in their VFL premiership win last week. Lots of eyes on those two players.
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The AFL banishes the ghosts of terrible pre-match entertainment past by bringing out Paul Kelly, who is sporting a neat beard and his old worn leather guitar strap. He opens of course with Leaps and Bounds, with its iconic opening line.
“High on the hill, looking over the bridge to the MCG...”
The refrain goes on, “I remember,” with the Bull Sisters backing up. That’s what sport is all about most of the time, remembering the past and making us feel like the present has more significance. Paul finishes the song off with that exact them. “I remember, number 23, Andrew McLeod, in 1997 and 98.”
Then launches into Dumb Things, endlessly one of the great rock n roll tunes.
And of course the ultimate, for irony points...
OK, we'll bite.
— Junktime AFL Podcast (@JunktimeAFLPod) September 27, 2019
Here's our contribution to the #bigbigsound #AFLGF pic.twitter.com/ILu9MlWags
You thought you'd heard the last of the #BigBigSound?
— Alexander Grant (@AlexGrantOz) September 27, 2019
Think again.#AFLGF pic.twitter.com/qcQ2hMXc72
Alright, time to shut the laptop #bigbigsound #NeverSurrender pic.twitter.com/jV0C8hC4rq
— Joshua De Laurentiis (@j_delaurentiis) September 27, 2019
Kohli getting in on the act.#bigbigsound pic.twitter.com/MsMdyOsSt8
— .... (@63notout_) September 27, 2019
Important safety announcement re #bigbigsound pic.twitter.com/CPPP4PYe4y
— The AMWU (@theamwu) September 27, 2019
If you’ve been under an internet rock in the last week, you won’t be aware of the Big Big Sound. In short, the GWS theme song written by the Cat Empire’s Harry Angus has suddenly caught the public imagination. No one heard it very often in the club’s first few years, given that club songs get played after wins. But they’ve heard it a lot in the last couple of years. And now, the people love it.
(Most of the people. I’m sure those opposed will be vocal. Shhhhh though. Let people enjoy things.)
Let’s have some highlights.
Sorry, I think I’ve jumped the shark here.#bigbigsound#AFLGF pic.twitter.com/AOSuEnPSYV
— Dean Lawry (@DeanLawry) September 27, 2019
Sorry not sorry! We had to make our own #bigbigsound 🤷🏼♂️😂#AFLGF #AFL #GwsGiants pic.twitter.com/yP8rKSY1dc
— The Replay (@replay_the) September 27, 2019
Please tell me this #BigBigSound hasn't been done yet: pic.twitter.com/XrgZqCJbcD
— Simon Morawetz (@SYMorawetz) September 27, 2019
A couple of nice moments with the retiring players being driven around for a farewell lap. Shaun Grigg and Brett Deledio share a car together: of course, both played together for years at the Tigers, before Lids moved to the Giants late in his career, just before that Richmond flag. Must be a bittersweet couple of years for him, with injury cruelling those last years and costing him the chance at an appearance today. But he’s welcomed back warmly by the Tiger faithful, who are overwhelmingly outnumbering the others at the MCG. Nice touch.
Also Pat Cummins and Meg Lanning are in a ute together: neither of them is retiring, thankfully, but they’re carrying the Ashes trophies that they each brought back from touring England this winter.
There's a big, big sound
Where is it coming from? The town. The west thereof, to be specific. What is the sound of? Apparently some giants, who are distinguishable from other giants by way of being mighty. And by way of using only Caps Lock in their own communications.
It is, in short, Grand Final time. The culmination of the AFL season and all that has come before: all the score reviews, all the frothing about umpires, all the trade rumours – no, wait, they’ll just keep going. But on the playing front, this is it. The Richmond Tigers, trying to make sure their year of success in 2017 isn’t standalone, but can be pointed to as an era. And the Greater Western Sydney Giants, the standout success of the AFL’s expansion era, who have won over some of the cynics with an exciting style of play, a good club attitude, and that song, which has been the only thing heard in Melbourne for the last week. Not sure how widely it’s playing in the west of Sydney, but it’s big in Fitzroy.
What a day. What a combo. With the slightest shift of the colour filter, yellow and black becomes orange and charcoal. What better set of teams to play off, old and new, heritage and newly written history.
A pleasure to have your company for the biggest of big dances – and no, I don’t mind calling it that. Leave your thoughts below the line, and let’s keep it clean.
