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1 week ago
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Brisbane took the long way home. But they learned their lessons, switched up their modes and turned the tables on Geelong, winning their second premiership in a row and the fifth this century. The Lions won it with their audacious kicks, their clean hands and their cool heads. They had the superior talent, they had the fresher legs and they had their back-to-back flags. In the end, it was a rout.
More than anything, they had Harris Andrews, who controlled the air, towelled up Shannon Neale and sagged off to instigate full-ground transitions. In terms of structure, leadership and his risk-reward radar, he was arguably the most important person on the ground, while Neale had an absolute stinker. When the Cats were peppering the goals early in the second half, Andrews outworked the Geelong key forward time and time again.
Andrews’ ownership of the air allowed his smaller defenders to get to work. As always, you take the good with the bad with Dayne Zorko. Some of his kicks were atrocious. But he wasn’t fazed by any mistakes. He continued to go for the risky, diagonal kicks and the way he eyed off the corridor and pinpointed his man was crucial in slicing open the Cats. Riding shotgun was Jaspa Fletcher, who doesn’t do the showy stuff but who executed with Swiss precision.
The depth, the quality and the variety of their midfield was what separated this game. They were relentless when the ball was in dispute and surgical with the way they moved it once they flicked it to the outside. In particular, Will Ashcroft was so clean, so assured and so deadly around stoppages. The way he’d gird his torso and explode from congestion broke the game open repeatedly. His kicking was sublime, personified by his carefully-thought-through topspinner that set up Hugh McCluggage in the second quarter. At just 21, he’s now been among their best handful of players in at least half a dozen finals. He has two Norm Smith medals to his name. If Ashcroft had been there in 2023, the Lions may well have a three-peat.
And then there was Charlie Cameron, who has had a lean trot of late but who stepped up when he was needed most. His first goal was a preposterous snap from right in front of the travelling troupe of Lions fans. Suddenly he had his confidence back and he was whirring across half-forward. And with scores level during time-on in the third term, he bobbed up again with a strong contested mark. A few minutes later he was lurking out the back for his third and John Denver was blaring again.
In the first fifteen seconds of play in the final term, Cameron slid into space and slotted his fourth. From that point on, this flag was Brisbane’s, and Charlie was a Lions immortal. He had plenty of help from Zac Bailey, another hybrid who capped off an excellent finals series with nine goals across four matches. The Cats were unable to combat his athleticism, his ball use and his nous. Tardy early but deadly all day, he could easily have finished with six or seven goals.
Then there was Lachie Neale, who was no hope to play a fortnight ago. But he ticked every box, dotted every i, came on after half-time and proved pivotal with his work in close. He didn’t cover a lot of ground but worked in a phone-box, dishing out handballs and getting his runners out into open space. His ability to outwork, outthink and lose his Geelong opponents in heavy traffic helped Brisbane win the stoppage battle.
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And they won it with their young forwards, all of whom offered something different, and all of whom brought the vim and the flexibility that Geelong couldn’t match. Logan Morris, Kai Lohmann and Ty Gallop kept bobbing up whenever the game called for an intervention.
If Geelong thought they could replicate the way they beat them in the qualifying final, they were sadly mistaken. The Cats brought insane pressure that night, and denied the Lions their preferred game. But they had a lot of players who didn’t meet the occasion today. And after a tense first half, it was on the Lions’ terms thereafter. Brisbane still went for their risky kicks, but this time Geelong were unable to lay a glove on them. The Lions ran out the most worthy of premiers, establishing beyond doubt that they are the pre-eminent team of this decade.
