Finals - 2024 Grand Final Review

 The season is done and what an end to the season it was.  By that, I mean it was really disappointing.  After one of the closest seasons in history, it was really disappointing that the Grand Final was such a blowout.  Firstly, lets deal with Sydney.  If you’re a Sydney supporter, you’re not going to like the next bit…I suggest you skip the next paragraph.

Luckily, the English language is highly flexible and has words for almost everything.  The word that I feel most fits this situation is ‘Insipid’.  Or maybe I’d choose deplorable.  Sydney was bad…really bad.  They didn’t even turn up.  A lot of their positive attitude responses at the end of the game was that they’d prefer to get to the Grand Final to have a chance to swing a punch than not get there at all.  The problem is that they didn’t throw a punch.  If you’re running the rope-a-dope strategy, the key to it is once your opponent is tired from smashing you, you need to put them away.  Sydney was badly out-played, generated no run, had no pressure and even their skills were off.  The worst thing for them is that it’s starting to look like a pattern.  The damning vision was the main person addressing the players at half time was a psychologist!

Brisbane was hot.  They started well and then in the second quarter they just took off!  They did their homework.  The average margin that Sydney had in 2^nd quarters throughout the home and away season was 342%.  On Grand Final day, Brisbane took their game away from them and changed that figure to 17%, their second lowest of the year.  Right from the start, they tackled, they chased, they harassed, they let Sydney have the short ball but pounced on the long ball while they lost them on the wide expanses of the MCG.  And not only that, it was one of Brisbane’s highest ranked games for the year in both efficiency and effectiveness.  Partly because Sydney let them, but mostly because they peaked at the right time.

Ashcroft became the second youngest to win the Norm Smith, behind Wayne Harmes and celebrations continued into the Fitzroy Streets and then onto Brisbane.  There’s even talk of a Dynasty.

Celebrations of the Grand Final stopped at AFL HQ about 2.7 seconds after the medals were dished out.  I couldn’t find a story about the Grand Final on their website today, just news about West Coasts coach and the latest trade rumours.  They didn’t even give Horse the courtesy of a press conference in a bit of peace and quiet, forcing him to front up amidst the Brisbane raucousness.  They could have been a bit nicer and held the presser a bit away from the crime scene, like maybe in Kingscliff.  But then maybe that’s what you get for calling out a big Victorian club about their MCG home advantage.

Trade season is hotting up with several big names on the table already.  But early on it looks like the biggest dealer in trade period will be Channel 7, now that they’ve launched 7Plus Sport.  Maybe we can all kick Kayo next year and claw back a bit of that disposable income.

For us non-Brisbanians, we have next year to look forward to.  It’s only about 162 days to bouncedown, but who’s counting?  Time enough to clear your mind, get some sun and maybe spend some quality time with the family.  You can always hope your team makes the Grand Final next year, and hope they play Sydney…oooh, that was low…even for me…sorry.

Thanks everyone for putting up with me for another season.  I hope you enjoyed the terrible predictions, bad attempts at comedy and even worse poetry.  At a measly 60% success rate it might not be the best tipping around, but I hope it occasionally offers a skerrick of useable information.

Best of luck for any of your off-season endeavors’, be it nailing that perfect trade, a bit of summer landscaping, improving your short game or implementing your game plan as new coach of the West Coast Eagles.  Some of those things will be more enjoyable than others.  Keep tipping and see you next season.