That is us for the day. A close, tense, highly competitive grand final, and one of the most dramatic finishes. Well done Fitzroy, as well. Some scraps of the DNA live on, especially in the red Lions clash strip they wore today. Perhaps a few of that lineage can go and sit in the old wooden grandstand at Brunswick Street Oval.
Now it’s officially cricket season. See you for the Tests in South Africa.
Match Report
If you’d like to remember what happened, here’s Jack Snape’s report. If you’re a Fremantle supporter then I don’t recommend it. Head to Clancy’s and try to wipe it from your memory with whatever’s new on tap. For Brisbane types … maybe Felons, where you can look across the river and read every paragraph back to one another.
Three in a row also leaves us the question, what does Chris Fagan do next? He’s not the youngest coach going around, and he has spoken about not being sure whether he’ll continue. Three in a row is a pretty great way to go out. But… it has been done before, in living memory. Four in a row requires going back to the 1920s, when it was a far smaller comp. And Fagan does have one more year on his contract. Surely, surely, you have a swing at it?
The team has gathered, the photos are being taken, and now it’s time to parade around the storied old ground as they’ve been able to do on this day the previous two years as well. It was a proper slow build for this Brisbane team over a number of years leading up to this, if you think back to their 2020 preliminary final loss to Geelong during the pandemic, when the season was played in Brisbane and they had home ground advantage for that game, and would have done for the decider as well. They seemed a young and somewhat callow team then, but had a lot of promise. That promise could not have flourished more fully.
Simon Black presenting the cup to the Lions… a true club champion of course, but it really should have been Lethal, shouldn’t it, as the architect of the last threepeat? Anyways, the current Lions don’t care, they just want their hands on the silverware, and now they get to jump around in a confetti shower. Happy days.
Brisbane’s multitude of captains mill around to get more medals, then Chris Fagan steps up. Congratulates Fremantle of course, citing their year of travel. “I know you’ll be feeling tremendously disappointed right now, but if I was being completely honest, you guys probably deserved to win today. But my boys, they’ve got a stack of heart, and they know how to fight right to the end. They’ve done that two weeks in a row, and now we’ve got three premierships to show for it.”
Leigh Matthews is among the Lions alumni assembled on the field. We’ve all heard about the Leigh Matthews Rule: you can still win a game if there are more minutes available than goals required. Well, Brisbane needed three goals in three minutes, and nailed them in two minutes. Then added a fourth goal for good measure.
The medal presentation is happening now. Logan Morris getting the biggest cheers, the guy who kicked accurately when it mattered. Lachie Neale, his appearance sponsored by the AFL, gives the crowd three fingers. Zorko and Rayner embrace while passing one another.
Shai Bolton a surprise Norm Smith medal winner
It’s not unheard of for a player from the losing side to win the Norm, but surely if anyone from Freo it should have been Caleb Serong? He had 13 clearances today, not far off Brett Ratten’s record of 16 in 1999. Ratten was on the losing side that day, too.
Bolton, though? 26 disposals and kicked two points? Maybe if he’d kicked straight and won them the game …
It does indicate that this was a very tight, contested game without a lot of obvious standouts.
As for Fremantle, that is going to go down as an all-time grand final botch. They had it, they had the energy going their way, and just had to close the game down. Instead they let Ashcroft burn out of a centre clearance, let Bailey shove his way clear from a stoppage, and let Brisbane streak the length of the field, for three goals in the blink of an eye.
Fremantle is a club and a community that has been through plenty of footy hurt, but nothing, nothing, has hurt as much as this. Team of the year, top of the table, ahead of the game, and effectively dropped a premiership by a point.
“Is Wharfie Time now officially cursed? The sound of getting ahead of yourself,” writes Daventrine in an email to us, and right now it does feel that way. They didn’t try to use it as a motivating force when the game was there to be won, but held it back until they thought the result was done. A coronation, not a motivation. That’s not what it’s for.
Josh Dunkley says that Brisbane’s players had already discussed using Wharfie Time as motivation for them, turning it against Fremantle, and it might just be a coincidence of timing, but that’s what they did.
Three in a row from 2001 to 2003, then a grand final loss in 2004. That was the previous Lions’ dynasty. This one has their loss first, in 2023, then won from 2024 to 2026. They did it the hard way this time, with a qualifying final loss, and they were back and forth with the lead all day before seeing it slip late. Biggest deficit of the day, 17 points down, Fremantle almost in position to start running down the clock, and somehow Brisbane kicked four goals in the last three minutes.
Brisbane go three in a row… again
Q4: 0 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 14.12.96
Fremantle in absolute disbelief. Brisbane on some other plane of elation. The Dockers have botched it, the Lions have snatched it. There’s a centre bounce with a minute to go, and a point the difference. Bolton gets the ball going Freo’s way, a driving run and kick inside 50. All they need is a point, something to take them to extra time. But nobody can get enough of a handle on the ball. Brisbane’ defence scrags and scraps, and finally comes away with it. Up to the wing with 30 seconds to go. Dockers need to get possession, but one of their defenders fists the ball away when he needs to mark. Brisbane get the crumb, Ashcroft takes off with a series of bounces into the forward 50, then finds Morris loose and he kicks the sealer! Doesn’t need it, with 8 seconds on the clock as it goes through, could have just run in circles and won by a point, but he ices the cake.
Q4: 1 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 13.12.90
Brisbane in front! Finally they get loose. Berry out of defence, finds Neale on the wing, sloppy kick but McCluggage gets the loose ball, inside 50 and finds Morris… and he kicks the set shot!
Q4: 2 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 12.12.84
How Fremantle would love to have their captain, Alex Pearce, marshalling the backline instead of sitting on the bench next to a pair of crutches. Treacy takes a clutch mark on the wing to get them out of defence. Forward they go, the ball rolling inside 50, and Voss lays a tackle as crucial as any goal to hold the ball up at the right end of the ground for Fremantle.
Q4: 3 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 12.12.84
And again! Bailey this time, hasn’t been prominent today, but he finds the middle of the sticks when it matters. Ball-up just inside 50, Bailey grabs the loose ball, shoves off an opponent, and off balance, off a step, 40 out, tumbles a drop punt through.
Less than a goal in it.
Q4: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 11.12.78
Brisbane hit back immediately! The stars lifting, Will Ashcroft in heavy traffic, running towards goal after the centre square tap, low kick inside to find Cameron, brilliant pickup at full speed running away from goal, then turns back to snap it through!
Q4: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 12.17.89 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Neither has Matthew Johnson, with a long set shot from outside 50, missing to the right, but perhaps Patrick Voss has finished off the reigning premiers. Zorko’s ball out of defensive 50 goes awry, Bolton picks it up off the ground, runs back inside and crosses to Voss right in front of goal. Shoots from about 25, nails it, and now they hit the button for Wharfie Time. Biggest roar of the day, from the crowd and from Voss, both arms spread wide as he runs a huge semi-circle.
Q4: 6 min remaining: Fremantle 11.16.82 – Brisbane 10.12.72
What?! Treacy has missed from two metres out! Serong inside 50, clears the pack, Mason Cox tries to run back but he’s like a jeep in sand, somehow the ball is knocked back towards goal, Treacy runs back onto it under severe pressure, and his flailed kick skews off the very outside of his boot from inside the goal square, and goes wrong side of the post! Could have finished off Brisbane, but he hasn’t.
Q4: 7 min remaining: Fremantle 11.15.81 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Frederick is paid a fortuitous mark! A desperate Brisbane kick out of defence in the forward pocket, but the Freo player is in the way. Harris Andrew protests that the ball didn’t travel 15 metres, and he has a point, but perhaps umpires are more receptive to turnover passes than ones from the same team.
Frederick goes around the body from the left pocket and… goals!
Where is Wharfie Time? We haven’t had it. You’d think seven minutes to play would be the time!
Q4: 8 min remaining: Fremantle 10.15.75 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Hipwood down behind play after a knee in the ribs. Bolton runs down the wing and again makes a hash of it, half pass and half shot from 50, the ball ends up rolling into space and is repelled by Brisbane. The next foray forward is intercept marked by Andrew. Freo don’t have a route to goal at the moment. Voss tried to provide it, wrestling with Andrew in the pocket, the only two within 50 metres of goal. Voss eventually wins the fight, gets possession, handballs to Amiss, and his kick is smothered! Young gets a snap away a little later, but misses.
Q4: 11 min remaining: Fremantle 10.14.74 – Brisbane 10.12.72
Bolton kicks his second point of the day. McKenna returns serve at the other end. Three points, 12 minutes to go. Brisbane with the experience. They keep on pushing forward, will Fremantle break? Oh, Freo get lucky as Rayner snaps another behind.
Q4: 13 min remaining: Fremantle 10.13.73 – Brisbane 10.10.70
Is that the moment for Fremantle, the one they’ll look back on? Lohmann lines up to kick from outside 50, then tries to run around the man on the mark to decrease the distance. McVee gets across and dives to smother! Reid picks the ball up and sprints back towards his defensive goal, picking the one gap to get between a couple of defenders, then kick long across the face to find Frederick and get out of trouble. Incredible defence.
Well, perhaps not, because Brisbane kick the next one anyway. Back inside Lions territory, Dunkley lays a tackle, ball spills free, and Morris finishes from 40 metres out on the snap!
Q4: 16 min remaining: Fremantle 10.13.73 – Brisbane 9.9.63
Ashcroft gets pinged for a throw even though he got a knuckle on the ball. So fast with the release that it looked like he tossed it. It doesn’t cost Brisbane though, they end up with possession again and go forward through Rayner. Lohmann is tackled as he attempts to pass, and it drops short and is repelled, but back come Brisbane through McCluggage, whose name hasn’t been called too many times today. He misses his gettable set shot, slight angle to the left.
Q4: 18 min remaining: Fremantle 10.13.73 – Brisbane 9.8.62
The last tilt begins. Ball out to the wing, Serong with a huge long kick forward, but Brisbane intercept mark via Gallop. Bolton a similar kick from the other wing, but again it’s picked off. Spoiled, ball loose, Gallop picks it up, and Voss nails him with a tackle. He screws up the kick though, tries to play on and run around the man on the mark from 50, runs into trouble, and is hampered in his kick, which doesn’t make the distance. Rushed behind.
3QT: Fremantle 10.12.72 – Brisbane 9.8.62
Fremantle lifted in that quarter, then Brisbane dragged it back. Freo looking just the stronger team here, but only by a whisker.
Grand finals level at half-time have been rare: this year, last year, then 1909 and 1905 the only others, in the days when scores were rather lower. But by three-quarter time, the teams that lead go on to win. Geelong overrunning St Kilda in 2009 is the only exception in the last four decades.
If ever that’s going to change, it’s today. This one is closely matched.
Q3: 0 min remaining: Fremantle 10.12.72 – Brisbane 9.8.62
Oscar Allen’s playing a game today. Fights at ground level in the forward 50 and manages to win back a ball that looks like it’s Fremantle’s, setting up Morris for a play-on shot from the pocket, but Morris misses. Fremantle get to the far end quickly from the kick-in, where Levi Ashcroft gets a bit fancy trying a tap to a teammate, instead allowing Fremantle to get possession. There’s a kick out wide to Young, who marks a millimetre inside the boundary, deep in the right pocket… and shoots truly from his set shot around the body! Just inside the paint, on the left foot, he curls it back.
Q3: 2 min remaining: Fremantle 9.12.66 – Brisbane 9.7.61
A couple of huge spoils from Harris Andrew, after Chapman takes a soaking intercept mark at half back that looks destined to set up a Fremantle goal. Not to be.
Q3: 4 min remaining: Fremantle 9.12.66 – Brisbane 9.7.61
Scratch that, Freo in front! This lead is going back and forth like a ping-pong ball. Out of the centre bounce, kick up to Switkowski on 50, hands off to Young, slots it on the run! Easy as you like.
Q3: 5 min remaining: Fremantle 8.12.60 – Brisbane 9.7.61
Brisbane are resurrected, and so is Charlie Cameron! How did that happen? He was hobbling off with the trainers two minutes ago. Now he’s back in the forward line, bobbing up to mark, after Bailey receives a handball from Neale in heavy traffic in the centre square, and runs clear of the pack.
Q3: 7 min remaining: Fremantle 8.11.59– Brisbane 8.7.55
Charlie Cameron is down now, done an ankle. Hobbling. Oof, twisted under him in a tackle, yuck. In better news for Brisbane, Will Ashcroft from the centre square finds Allen, marking low to the ground 35 metres out, and he goes back and kicks the goal. We’re back to four points!
Q3: 9 min remaining: Fremantle 8.10.58– Brisbane 7.7.49
Brisbane hanging on at the moment. Amiss spearing inside 50 to Voss, looks a certainty to mark on the lead, but Harris Andrews does superbly to get an arm around the body and spoil. Chris Fagan coaching from the bench is getting animated. The margin only 15 points but the game has been so tight all day that 15 feels a lot, and 21 would feel like double that. Vibe Maths, go with me.
But no! What’s the vibe on nine points? Because Lohmann has just cut the gap to that, after a long chain of counterattacking possession, after Rayner digs it out in the centre square, finds a flying McKenna, who kicks to Morris, who hands over the top to the goal square.
Q3: 12 min remaining: Fremantle 8.10.58– Brisbane 6.7.43
DUDLEY! What a goal from the goalsneak! He bobs and weaves, he’s a human game of Whack-A-Mole. Ball coming shallowly inside 50, he slaps it to his own advantage, runs onto it while going laterally to goal, traps it, doubles back, dodges one tackle, ducks underneath a second, pops up again, and sends the ball home around the body from 45!
Q3: 12 min remaining: Fremantle 7.10.52– Brisbane 6.7.43
Looks like an Achilles snap for Pearce. He’s getting a huge ice chunk glad-wrapped to his lower leg. Freo’s captain is gone for the day.
Q3: 13 min remaining: Fremantle 7.10.52– Brisbane 6.7.43
Uh oh. Alex Pearce has something seriously wrong. In a contest on the wing, sprinting for a ball, suddenly his leg gives way under him. Calf tear? Seemed to be lower leg, the way he collapsed. He’s been helped off the field. Switkowski kicks a long point, another wasted chance by Freo. Brisbane are scrambling to make changes off the bench to take advantage of Freo being down a key defender.
Q3: 15 min remaining: Fremantle 7.9.51– Brisbane 6.7.43
This time Brisbane get out of the centre square after a second bounce, but the long kick forward is picked off. Back go Fremantle the other way with some run and handball, and Amiss on the 50 is scragged in the marking contest, nothing glaring but enough for the umpire to whistle it up. On the left from 55 he hangs it left and Draper punches it through.
Q3: 16 min remaining: Fremantle 7.8.50– Brisbane 6.7.43
Ashcroft goes long to a pack on the wing. Jackson gets up there like Jezza (finish that name with either lenko or Cameron, as you wish) but doesn’t quite haul down the mark. Freo get back inside 50 but the ball is locked up for a time. Finally Young squeezes a low flat kick out of the pack, and Amiss marks! Near the goal line, but on a severe angle … he kicks it anyway!
Q3: 19 min remaining: Fremantle 6.8.44– Brisbane 6.7.43
First centre clearance to Fremantle, Jackson perfect tap down to Bolton, into 50 to find Treacy, huge chance to start the second half with a bang, but his set shot fades right after looking on target off the boot. That point gives Fremantle the lead…
