The 2024 Grand Final Will Award The AFL Premiership Title. The Swans And The Lions Are The Matchup Few Predicted (And Everyone Will Enjoy).
Two Teams Remain In The Quest To Win The AFL Premiership In 2024. Sydney Has Played The Most Explosive And Impressive Footy This Season. Brisbane Has The AFL Coach Of The Year. The Grand Final Is Set. Here Are The Big Items (Plus A Bonus Thought) About The AFL, Preliminary Finals, And Grand Final.
There have been some tremendous moments in the 2024 AFL Finals play so far. Each week of the competition has delivered surprises along with brilliant efforts. Every team entered the postseason viewed as a contender for the Premiership crown.
The two organizations that remain, the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions, have taken very different paths to get to the championship game. Sydney was very strong from the opening week. The Swans presented one of the most feared assemblies of midfield and offensive talent in the league during the 2024 season. Brisbane have lost several players to injury, and stumbled into the opening rounds of the year.
Sydney lost the title in the Grand Final game of 2022. Brisbane lost the title in the Grand Final game of 2023. A victory this year will remove a bit of the sting from those losses, and provide one team with redemption.
Swans Looking For Familiar Contributors To Deliver Title
The names Sydney will rely upon are familiar to most onlookers. Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, and Errol Gulden are the best midfield group in the AFL and have provided dazzling efforts all season. It’s a pick-your-poison situation, with most opponents simply unable to provide an answer to stop one portion of the star trio. Stopping allow three borders on impossible.
The troubles don’t end with the big three for Brisbane. Even if they solve the Heeney-Warner-Gulden trifecta, the Swans have speed and tenacity to pick up the gameplay. Tom Papley contributed 3 goals in the Preliminary Final. Nick Blakey was a solid presence with his disposals and kicks throughout the contest.
The Swans will be without captain Callum Mills due to a hamstring injury. Mills was also sidelined last week in the Preliminary Finals against Port Adelaide. A skilled player, the Swans have been forced to adapt to his absence for much of the year. Mills missed the start of the season with a shoulder injury, and has only been able to get on the oval for seven matches. It’s a disappointment that may not significantly hurt the Swans as a result.
Lions Hope To Continue Underdog Run
Brisbane entered the Finals playing well overall, with ten victories in their final twelve regular season contests. All they’ve done since is play steady footy, defeating Carlton, Greater Western Sydney and Geelong.
Dayne Zorko is a player to watch when it comes to Brisbane’s success. He’s a two-time All-Australia designation recipient, which includes the current season. Early in his career, he was nicknamed The Magician for his uncanny ability to score goals from the most difficult of angles and creative approaches. While his scoring is down in recent years, he has taken on increased ball-handling and game-setting responsibilities, often leading the team in disposals. It would be a mistake for the Swans not to recognize his experience, abilities and leadership Zorko will need to be in top form for Brisbane to have a chance against Sydney.
Another player to watch for the Lions may be Joe Daniher. He was the team’s lead goal scorer (or tied for it) in six of those final twelve regular season games, and kicked four goals and one behind in the game against GWS. Brisbane simply does not have the widespread firepower possessed by Sydney, putting even greater importance for Daniher to be accurate on multiple scores from the beginning of the match.
Chris Fagan, Brisbane coach, was named the AFL coach of the year earlier this week. In a season with a slow start and multiple complications, Fagan led a return of the Lions to the Grand Final game in back-to-back seasons. This is his second Coach of the Year award.
What To Expect From The Grand Final
Both Sydney and Brisbane have the ability to score quickly from any position on the field. Both of these teams rely on experienced ballhandling to set the stage for attacks, and often are able to deliver multiple scores in succession. No lead, no matter how substantial, will feel truly comfortable for the players or the fans of either club.
What was interesting in the Preliminary Final—and should be of concern to Brisbane—was the consistent game control and high level of play from the Swans in dominating the Power. Leading by 9 after the first quarter, that extended to 25 at halftime and 40 after three quarters. Sydney knocked out Port Adelaide using a steady and consistent march that showed no signs of relenting until it was far too late.
Brisbane’s game with Geelong was more of an emotional roller coaster, with an early lead from the Lions swinging to the Cats at the half. If Sydney plays similar to last week, which was reminiscent of the way the Swans played when opening the year on a tremendous run of brilliant performances, the Lions will be in trouble quickly and likely unable to recover.
The biggest hurdle heading into the final is almost certainly faced by the Lions, in the form of Oscar McInerney’s injury. McInerney, Brisbane’s ruckman, dislocated his shoulder twice in the Preliminary Final against Geelong. “The Big O” is a steady presence, and has played more games at the position than anyone in Brisbane’s history. He was a significant contributor last season when Brisbane made it to the Grand Final against Collingwood, and that experience is irreplaceable.
Player To Watch – Brisbane
Lachie Neale
Neale is a Brisbane co-captain, two-time Brownlow Medal winner and four-time All-Australia designee. While not the leading scorer for the Lions, he is a threat at any time to put points on the board. In addition, his midfield play is exceptional, with him frequently involved near the top of team stats in marks and disposals during a match.
Teamed with Zorko, Neale will present the Lions with the opportunity to completely set the tempo of the game. Uniting this with Sydney’s desire to push a fast pace of gameplay, it would not be surprising at all to see Brisbane comfortably lead in time of possession at the end of the match. If Neale is successful and plays well, Brisbane could upset Sydney’s rhythm throughout the game, frustrating the Swans into costly errors.
If the Swans are able to control Neale, Brisbane’s chances will all but disappear. A factor of note are reports that Neale has an injured heal requiring significant medical treatment as the game nears.
Player to Watch – Sydney
Isaac Heeney
The Sydney roster is an emotional group that can dazzle the opposition with the speed of their attacks. No single player captures that passion the way Heeney does.
Playing against GWS, Sydney was losing the Qualifying Final match and having troubles mounting a sustained attack. That’s when Heeney took to the air early in the third quarter, and captured what will be remembered as one of the greatest marks in AFL history. His jump resulted in him landing with his leg on the shoulder of GWS player Jeff Buckley, and he then grabbed the ball and held on as he fell from more than ten-feet head-first toward the ground. A quick reaction from Buckley may have prevented serious injury for Heeney, as he reached out and grabbed Heeney’s arm, allowing him to twist and avoid landing on his head and shoulders.
The play itself won’t match up in a timeline with Sydney’s burst from behind to catch and pass GWS. While watching the contest, however, it was from the moment that the Swans began to play with more intensity. Heeney is the sparkplug extraordinaire for the Sydney club, and he should be at the forefront of the excitement in the Grand Final.
Bonus Thought: Travis Boak Exemplifies Difficulties For Port Adelaide
The games in the Preliminary Final resulted in several additional stories for the losing clubs. The most significant of these belongs to the Port Adelaide Power.
Travis Boak has played his entire career in the uniform of Port Adelaide. His first game was in 2007, and in that same season he competed in the Grand Final as his fourteenth game. The Power lost that year to the Geelong Cats, and Port Adelaide has not returned to the Grand Final since.
The last Premiership for Port Adelaide came in 2004. The club was founded in 1870, and has a somewhat steady list of successes as it has moved into different leagues. The Power joined the AFL in 1997.
While relatively unfamiliar in some international communities, most AFL teams have histories that extend beyond one-hundred years and across generations of dedicated supporters. Boak has appeared in 368 games for Port Adelaide, and is a player worthy of all-time consideration in the organization’s history.
Ken Hinkley, the head coach of the Power, began this year’s Finals run under considerable pressure. He has had remarkable success with the club, but has never reach a Grand Final match. Boak has been on the roster since before Hinkley took over. This pair has seen the regular season highs and postseason lows for many years with Port Adelaide.
Understand, uniting Boak and Hinkley is not meant to critique either or suggest the Power need to make significant changes. However, consider their situation against that of this year’s Grand Final participants.
The Brisbane Lions are a relative newcomer on the ALF storyline. Founded in 1996, the club’s history can be traced back to 1883. A series of mergers and deals, notably the Brisbane Bears absorbing the Fitzroy Football Club, led to the creation of the Lions. They played in four straight Grand Finals early on, winning three Premiership titles in a row in 2001, 2002, and 2003. They also lost the Grand Final last season.
The Sydney Swans began playing in 1874. They have won two titles in the past twenty years, taking the Premiership in 2005 and 2012. In recent competitions, Sydney has also lost in the Grand Final games of 2006, 2014, 2016, and 2022.
Port Adelaide wants to be recognized as one of the elite teams in the AFL. It’s difficult to claim the mantle of greatest head coach in team history (for Hinkley) with no Grand Final appearances. It’s difficult to name a player the greatest in club history (for Boak) with a single Grand Final loss seventeen years ago. While neither is being universally acknowledged as the team’s greatest, both are worthy of consideration in such debate.
In order for them to be elite and for the club to be elite, the Power need to continue their regular-season successes and end their postseason collapses in Finals play. Time will tell if both are around in 2025 to make the attempt.
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