AFL Grand Final

The Brisbane Lions completed their lengthy winning streak with a
hard-earned but clear victory over the Bombers, creating history with
the first flag for the club. The (Melbourne) media played up the Fitzroy
link in a big way and the Lions joined in, having a function at the old
Brunswick Street Oval the Sunday morning after the game before flying
back to Brisbane. The Lions featured three former Royboys in Alistair
Lynch, Martin Pike and Chris Johnson, with Johnson the only one
remaining from 1996's merger. Most Fitzroy fans strongly disavowed
Brisbane after the 'merger' - takeover really - but it's amazing what a
winning team can do to sweeten the embittered, as the Sydney Swans
discovered. However the bulk of their fans are in Brisbane and it's
those people, the veterans of Carrara, Skase and some truly awful teams,
who can revel in triumph.

Lion coach Leigh Matthews, now with two hugely significant flags under
his belt, played the media game well in the build-up. Last Monday he
said "I think we'll have most of the neutral support as I reckon most
Melbourne people are sick of arrogant Essendon supporters." Spot on
there Lethal, although they've got a bit to be arrogant about. Kev
Sheedy stated as much. "Arrogant? All we've done is work very hard to
make ourselves a decent, competitive football team...Anyway, we'll see
who bleeds this time," a reference to Matthews's use of the
Schwarzenegger flick 'Predator' as a motivational tool when the Lions
beat the Bombrs earlier in the year. The next day Bomber wingman Michael
Long did a hamstring at training, ruling himself out and the Bombers
cranked up the emotion. Long gave his team-mates "the best speech I've
ever heard," according to Sheeds, then on the final training night
Bombers John Barnes and Dean Wallis announced their retirements. Barnes
played 202 games between Essendon and Geelong, his arm breaking at
Princes Park is still the most sickening thing I think I've seen on the
field.

It was a big week for Brisbane, starting when the Brownlow Medal was won
by their speedy, spotty Jason Akermanis, a bit of a surprise but a fair
result. With 23 votes he beat Aderlayed's pre-count favourite Andrew
McLeod (21) with fellow Lion Michael Voss and ineligible Port rover Josh
Francou two further back on 19. 'Aker' and McLeod swapped the lead
several times until Akermanis won a 3-vote for the Lions' round 21 win
at Kardinia Park. McLeod looked very unhappy at the end. It was the
first time the winner's not been at the count, the Brisbane players
opting to stay at home rather than travel to Melbourne twice in a week.
Early in proceedings Akermanis referred to the night as "a bit of a
sideshow", a comment which rankled Seven's host Bruce McAvaney as he
returned to it like a dog to the proverbial for the rest of the night.
Voss presented the medal to Akermanis and Bruce was straight into the
tabloid-style interview, referring immediately to the recent death of
Aker's mum. Bruce produced a classic later, discussing the sign-language
Akermanis uses to communicate with his fiancee's deaf parents. "They've
come up with special sign for my name," said Akermanis. "Can we hear it
now?", said Bruce...

It was the end for Channel Seven's 45 years of television coverage.
They've spilled an avalanche of archival footage onto our screens this
week, some fantastic memories. Next year "the consortium" takes over and
most of the current Seven commentators are moving, but not Bruce. Folks
who've been happy to bag Seven and McAvaney may revise their opinions
when Timmy Webster welcomes us to next year's Grand Final, if Ten can
squeeze it in between their x-treme sports commitments.

At the MCG:
Essendon   3.2   8.6     9.8    12.10.82
Brisbane   3.7   5.10   11.12   15.18.108

We hoped for a great Grand Final, it was a 'only' a good one with the
result the most remarkable thing about it. Essadun's tall forwards and
strong defending countered the Lions through the first half before the
running Lion midfield, and some good moves by Lion coach Matthews, saw
Brisbane overhaul the Dons and triumph. A deserved victory in the end,
Brisbane matching Carlton's 1995 effort in stringing together sixteen
consecutive wins culminating in a premiership. The bitterly disappointed
Dons had the hollow "Greatest Team Ever" tag ringing in their ears
although they've not been the clearly dominant force this season.
Essadun finished top on percentage only and displayed some mixed form in
the second half of the season, they could also blame untimely injuries
to Mercuri and Hird last week and some others earlier in the year. It
just rubs in again the cost of the 1999 slip-up. You've gotta grab the
chances when they come. They unearthed some decent youngsters again, the
draft-certainty Damien Peverill, Danny Jacobs and Mark McVeigh improved,
Rob Forster-Knight and Jordan Bannister look handy types. They'll be
there again next year. In selection here the Dons made two changes,
Coleman Medallist Matthew Lloyd returned from suspension at Mark
Bolton's expense, Gary Moorcroft replaced Michael Long. The Lions also
had their full-forward return, Alistair Lynch. Matthew Kennedy was
dropped. Some suggested Essadun lost their best player from last week
when umpire Darren Goldspink didn't make the cut for the Big One. Umps
were Scott McLaren, Matthew James and Matthew Ellis.

Once again it was a very warm day at the 'G, 27 degrees with a northerly
wind. Many saw that as favouring the Queenslanders. The crowd was
ordinary, 91,482, some 5,000 below capacity and the lowest for a Grand
Final since the MCG was redeveloped ten years ago. The AFL blamed
Ansett's demise and the presence of a non-Melbourne team in the game.
The MCC Member's had plenty of tickets to spare too, apparently. The
opening was typically tight and tough, but free of brawling or biffo.
Don Gary Moorcroft had the first clear scoring chance but his kick
dropped short and was rushed through. Lyin' Shaun Hart initiated their
first decisive attack. Al Lynch waited for the ball to arrive and was
clattered by Dustin Fletcher, a free kick but Lynchy missed the fairly
easy shot. It characterised their opening, the Lions were better for the
first quarter-hour but Lynch missed again, from a mark, as did Daniel
Bradshaw. Finally Lynch booted accurately after taking a juggled
pack-mark, then Luke Power majored in almost-identical fashion. In fact
I'm not sure he marked it. The Lyin's by 15 points before Dons were
turned-about by the move of skipper James Hird into the centre. At the
bounce following Power's goal, Hird won the ball and kicked it forward,
Scott Lucas marked and punted a goal. A minute later Dean Rioli finessed
on the flank and passed in-field for Jason Johnson to mark and goal, the
Dons were away. Meanwhile the Lyin's continued to miss chances, Lynch
again and Michael Voss the guilty parties. They led by 4 points when
Dustin Fletcher launched a huge kick-in from the most recent miss, Lucas
gathered in the centre and punted forward where Matty Lloyd took his
first mark of the day, he goaled. Bummers by 2 points. Late in the term
Brisbun's Martin "I'll have a bourbon" Pike punted them forward, a
couple of Dons collided in the pack and Brownlow Man Akermanis pounced
to snap a left-footed goal.

Still tight in the early second term, Essadun scored an early goal
through a clinical lead, mark and conversion from Lloyd and they led by
a point. Then featured a classical anti-climax, Hird was crunched on the
wing and his opponent, Brad Scott, handballed for Chris Johnson running
through the centre. Johnson sped goalwards with three bounces, Moorcroft
in hot pursuit, but Johnson's shot hit the post. Thereafter the Dons had
their best spell, Jason Johnson won plenty of leather in the middle
while Lucas and Lloyd gave the Lion backmen trouble. Lucas took 3 marks
for the quarter against his vertically-challenged opponent Chris Scott,
a strange match-up, and later Daryl White. In defence the Dons were
solid and calm, typified when Fletcher read Nigel Lappin's low snap and
intercepted the goal-bound kick. Jason Johnson and Lloyd combined to
create a chance for Lucas, he snapped the Dons 7 points ahead. Brisbane
replied, Hird slipped over on the wing and Brad Scott collected the
agget and passed to Jonathan Brown, the big teenager slotted a very good
goal from the boundary-line. Dons by a point but they persisted and had
reward, within five minutes Blake Caracella had tapped-through from the
goalsquare and Moorcroft converted from a mark. Lucas missed with a
50m-shot but moments later rammed a huge 55m kick home for full points,
the Bommers led by 20 points. Brisbane were in trouble but scored a
crucial goal in the dying stages of the half. Simon Black collected the
ball and passed to Al Lynch on the lead, Lynchy managed to kick straight
to leave the Lyin's 14 points down at the long break. Most commentators
and several players from both sides later identified Lynchy's goal as a
key moment.

Things turned about in the third term. Brisbane's run came to the fore
as Matthews introduced Tim Notting from the bench, a standard move, and
the excellent Chris Johnson galloped from defence with increasing
frequency. Down back Mal Michael replaced Justin Leppitsch as Lloyd's
opponent while Leppitsch shifted onto Lucas. The Dons had a good
attacking spell to open the third term, but managed a rushed point only
as Bribane's re-jigged defence held firm. Amongst it a Brad Scott
handpass released Marcus Ashcroft, his long kick was shepherded through
for a goal by Lynch. Dons by 9 points. A more telling move came later,
the Lions appeared certain to lose possession inside their defensive 50m
but a series of quick handpasses, Voss and Shaun Hart crucial, got the
ball to unattended Notting. He could run and kick long, Jonathan Brown
gathered the ball and handpassed for Luke Power to snap a goal. Dons by
3 points. The game was opening up now and briefly promised to become a
classic, Lloyd booted the Dons 9 points ahead again with a good lead,
mark and conversion. At the other end Michael Voss dived into a pack and
fired a handpass, Nigel Lappin snapped truly. The bananabenders grabbed
the lead when Chris Johnson pounced on a loose ball in the centre, he
passed to Craig McRae who kicked long where Brown clutched the mark and
majored. Brizzy by 3 points, unlike Hawthorn last week they'd claimed
the lead. The momentum with the Lyin's, Nigel Lappin booted a 50m
set-shot sausage and late in the stanza Martin Pike tidied a goal-square
scramble and snapped truly, Brisbane's lead seemed larger than 16 points
at the final change.

For the final term Brisbane controlled possession, running the clock
down early, and did most of the attacking but failed to nail the coffin
lid shut early-on. Essadun gave their supporters some hope by scoring a
belated first goal of the korter, Lloyd collected Steve Alessio's
handpass and slotted with a big kick from the flank, cutting the Lyin'
lead to 10 points. The Lions weren't to be denied. Hart intercepted Sean
Wellman's kick and, taking advantage, Daryl White passed to Tim Notting
in plenty of space. Notting drilled the goal, placing Brisbane 17 points
ahead. Three Lion misses followed, including posters from Chris Scott
and Jason Akermanis, before Michael Voss booted the sealer. At a
throw-in Lion ruckman Beau McDonald tapped perfectly to Voss, he sped
along the boundary-line, speared it through and wheeled away with jaw
set and index-finger thrusting skywards. Lions by 26 points and the
floodgates opened now, as they often do for the Lions. Luke Power bagged
a third goal and Jon Brown made an easy slot for Akermanis as the margin
ballooned to 38 points. Bommers Lloyd and Lucas scored late consolation
goals. The siren sounded with the ball in Al Lynch's hands, the
"Marsellaise" theme song rang out. On the presentation dais Jim Hird
looked like he might cry as he apologised to the Don fans, but it was
Voss, Matthews and the Lions' moment.

The Norm Smith Medal for best afield went to the unlikely but deserving
Shaun Hart. The religious, helmeted small man who's spent his entire
200-game career with Brisbane was crucial in the first-half as the Lions
struggled and he finished as Brisbane's equal-leading possession-winner,
14 kicks, 9 handpasses and some great one-percenters, like the intercept
leading to their first goal of the final term. Vying for the medal was
'original Lion' Chris Johnson, the pacy back-pocket did plenty of damage
in his rebounding role with 18 disposals (11 kicks). Perhaps he'd have
won the medal if he'd kicked that goal. The Big Four midfielders were
generally subdued by the congested nature of the game but Michael Voss
(23 disposals, a goal) stood out with his pack-busting attack on the
ball, Chris Heffernan was his (main) opponent. In attack Jonathan Brown
shook off Dean Solomon to have a very good second half, he finished with
14 kicks, 5 marks, 2 goals and hand in a couple more. Experienced Martin
Pike claimed his second flag, doing a solid job in defence with 8 kicks
and 4 marks, also sneaking forward for a goal. Also in defence Justin
Leppitsch (11 touches, 5 marks) did well on Lloyd early and Lucas later.
Winger Nigel Lappin, another long-term Brisbane man, capped a fine
season with 20 disposals (13 kicks) and 2 goals, on the opposite flank
Tim Notting collected 12 touches and a goal in little more than a half.
Luke Power poached 3 goals, Al Lynch booted 2.4 from 7 marks, 9 kicks
and Daryl White did some useful things in attack after a wobbly start in
the backline. Jason Akermanis kicked 2 goals, spending most of the
middle quarters on the bench in an effort to break Adam Ramanauskas's
tag. Essadun's best was probably Scott Lucas, the long-kicking
left-footer took advantage of the Chris Scott match-up to drag down 5
marks, have 11 disposals and kick 3 goals in the first half. He ended
with 19 disposals, 7 marks and 4 goals, a pretty good return. Fellow
forward Matthew Lloyd was professionalism personified again, he bagged 5
goals from 11 kicks and 6 marks. The midfield was a bit sluggish apart
from Jason Johnson, at half-time he was almost best afield with 13
touches and a goal, but his influence waned and he only had one touch in
the final Mario. Final J. Johnson stats 22 disposals (15 kicks), 6 marks
and a goal, the most touches of any Don on the day. All-Australian
backman Sean Wellman continued his fine form with 18 disposals and Danny
Jacobs played well, holding Bradshaw goal-less while having 12 touches
with 6 marks. Adam Ramanauskas (13 disposals) also produced a good
stopping effort, on Akermanis. Some others made fitful contributions,
like Blake Caracella (17 disposals, a goal) and Gary Moorcroft (12
touches, a goal). Joe Misiti was pretty anonymous despite his 19
possies, while unfit pair James Hird (4 kicks, 6 handballs, 2 marks) and
Mark Mercuri (5 kicks, 5 handballs) did very little. Mercuri spent half
of it on the bench.

Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy had this to say. "We've been terrific over the
last three years in most games, something like 85 percent I'd say. It
was a terrific effort from Brisbane to come down here with fifteen wins
on end and win, I'd say we were beaten by a better side on the day, no
doubt about that. Our players will learn from losing a Grand Final. I'd
be disappointed if we didn't learn. You look back on what happened to
Hawthorn in 1984 and 1985 after they beat us easily in 1983. They came
back a pretty good side. Early hurts sometimes make you harder at
wanting to get back and have a chance again. You've got to take it the
way it is, that's the hardness of the game...As a club, we need to make
sure we can pick up some players in the midfield with a bit of speed.
Blumfield, Heffernan and Caracella need a little help. One or two of
them had interrupted seasons, too. We can improve still. There's more in
Mercuri and Hird. They passed themselves fit today and you have to go
with the players and the medical staff. Probably the next one or two are
not anywhere near as good...Mercuri had thirteen touches coming off the
bench (ten according to my paper), that's more than several Brisbane
players and pretty good for a bench player."

Victorious 'Lethal' Leigh Matthews said "We always felt that Sydney or
Brisbane winning a premiership was the next Mount Everest in footy. To
have done that with this group of players is enormous
self-satisfaction...What happened this year was a momentum built within
the group, which is what usually happens when you have a really good
patch. It's led by the players, with Michael's leadership and his
cohorts. I'm proud that this has become a really good footy club. The
players within it have become good football citizens and that's really
important. They got rewarded today. Each year you play you try to win
the premiership, I wanted to win in 1999. There's not a three-year-plan
or a five-year-plan, we do the best we can each year (HEAR HEAR) and we
finish the year asking 'What do we need to do to get better?'. That's
what we have to do now. Nothing changes, even though this year we've
finished first. It doesn't mean you don't have to find a better
way...Essendon finished top after 22 rounds and I sometimes think that
getting to the top position after round 22 is a greater reflection on
the year than winning the premiership...I don't think being a
premiership team means you were the best team that year. Our system says
if you win on Grand Final day you're the premiership team and you go
into the history books." And indeed you have, Leigh.

TAC Cup Grand Final:
Calder Cannons 16.14.110 d. Bendigo Pioneers 10.13.73

Goals: CC: Barham 6, Young 3, Winter 3, Swan 2, Fitzgerald, Rodan.
       BP: Allford 5, Fitzgerald 2, Rosa, Ladson, Oliver.
Best: CC: Swan, Barham, Young, Cariss, Hollow, Nixon, Winter, Welsh,
Kelly.
      BP: Connaughton, Allford, McGlone, Elstone, Sellwood.

So ends another season and once again thanks to everyone who's read the
report, to David Layton and the ever-expanding FTS empire for
maintaining the mailing list and everyone who's e-mailed with
comments/praise/criticism this year. With luck I'll be back next season
to see the Tiges' relentless upward surge result in the inevitable
conclusion.