The big match is covered in spectacular detail in the Grand Final edition of the AFL Record , with comprehensive profiles, photos, and statistics of the 22 players from Geelong and Hawthorn who will make up this Saturday’s Grand Final teams. There is also a full statistical analysis of how the teams match up, their key stats winners, and those who can turn the game.
The Grand Final edition of the AFL Record starts with a photo essay analysing eight of the factors that impacted on the game in 2008: the emphasis on attack, the use of the interchange bench, the radical approach to injury management, the increasing importance of forward pressure, the return to coaching from the boundary line, the advances in zone systems, Geelong’s high-possession style and the development of the proposed Gold Coast club.
As always, the Grand Final edition of the AFL Record features a comprehensive round-by-round review of the Toyota AFL Premiership season with scores, highlights, the ladder after each round and photos of some of the key moments including the Australian Football Hall of Fame Tribute match, plus a club-by-club section with summaries of how each performed, a full player list with the season’s stats, and a snapshot of what to look for from each club in 2009.
It also includes feature stories on Bob Pratt, Carlton’s 1908 premiership, the women behind five premiership players and coaches, Collingwood’s 1958 upset win over Melbourne, the lives of five Grand Final players from different eras, David Parkin’s Grand Final experiences, a tribute to Leigh Matthews, and a look back at Channel Seven’s involvement with football and Grand Final day.
Bob Pratt
Champion South Melbourne footballer Bob Pratt had a limited preparation for the 1934 VFL season and played in just one intra-club practice match. Yet, he kicked 150 goals that season, including 33 in the opening three rounds. Jim Main not only analysed Pratt’s phenomenal season through contemporary match reports, but has also learned through his research that Hawthorn also chased the high-marking youngster while he was playing with Mitcham and that his real name was Harold Pratt, but was referred to as Bob because his father’s name also was Harold.
Carlton’s 1908 flag
Carlton was such a rabble in its first few VFL seasons from 1897 that there were moves to kick the Blues out of the competition. Yet Carlton won consecutive flags from 1906-08 under the coaching of John Worrall. Jim Main, 100 years later, looks at how the Blues defeated Essendon in the 1908 Grand Final, thanks largely to the Dons’ controversial selection gambles. Carlton did not goal after half-time, but held on to win by nine points.
Teammates
Ben Collins spoke to five premiership heroes and their partners – dating from the 1950s to present-day. “The thing that stood out to me above all was the admission of several of these greats that they simply couldn’t have done it without their women. Some might think it a throwaway line to ‘keep the missus happy’, but when these AFL greats elaborated on the extent and effect of their partners’ support, understanding and sacrifices, it was pretty clear they were fair-dinkum – and they were only scratching the surface.” Collins spoke with Stuart and Fay Spencer (Melbourne premierships in 1955-56), Allan and Mary Jeans (St Kilda 1966, Hawthorn 1983, 1986, 1989), Mike Fitzpatrick and Helen Sykes (Carlton 1979, 1981, 1982), Denis and Cheryl Pagan (North Melbourne 1996, 1999) and Tom Harley and Felicity Percival (Geelong 2007).
Collingwood’s 1958 premiership
The AFL Record followed members of Collingwood’s 1958 premiership team through a year when they were inducted into the Magpies’ Hall of Fame and all became life members of the club. Peter Ryan interviewed 13 of the 18 surviving members of the team who caused football’s greatest upset, as well as their unlucky skipper Frank Tuck. Fifty years on, Tuck said he still thinks about the injury that forced him out of the game “every second week”.
Grand Finals through the years
When Hawthorn’s John Kennedy was asked how it felt to be in the action in the 1989 Grand Final moments after Dermott Brereton was poleaxed, his words put you in the action: “You’re just pumped. I reckon your eyes seem to be another two or three millimetres wider because you are on edge. It was so intense that first quarter.” Through archival research and interviews, Peter Ryan recounts the experiences of five greats on Grand Final day: Collingwood’s Dick Lee in 1922, South Melbourne’s Herb Matthews in 1933, Geelong’s Fred Wooller in 1963, Hawthorn’s John Kennedy in 1989 and Adelaide’s Mark Bickley in 1997.
Leigh Matthews
Peter Ryan tells why Leigh Matthews’ resignation as Brisbane Lions coach showed he is a man of great character, while Matthews’ former teammate Robert DiPierdomenico quizzes the eight-time premiership champion.
David Parkin
From 1961 as a raw first-year player watching his Hawthorn teammates clinch the club’s historic first premiership to 1999 when he coached Carlton in his eighth and last Grand Final appearance, David Parkin has tasted the agony of Grand Final defeats, the fear he would never be a premiership player and – on five occasions – the jubilation and redemption only a premiership brings. Parkin gives a remarkable insight into his Grand Final experiences as a player and coach and the lasting impact they have had
Channel Seven
Channel Seven is televising the Grand Final for the first time since 2001 and Howard Kotton has spoken to Dennis Cometti, Mike Williamson and Gordon Bennett, who have been key players in the station's coverage of the big game in the past 50 years.
The advance edition of the 2008 Toyota AFL Grand Final Record is on sale for $15 at newsagents nationally, or online at slatterymedia.com/magazines.
Prints of the cover, as well as photos from all the great moments this season, are available at slatterymedia.com/images.
