AMID the excitement of Collingwood barnstorming its way into third place and the double chance, and the novel — and welcome — appearance of Melbourne for the first time since 2006, there is one match-up which stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to the opening weekend of the finals.
It is the qualifying final between Richmond and Hawthorn, which as AFL.com.au noted last week, is 93 years in the making.
After 24 flags between them and nine Septembers in which both clubs have been combatants at the same time, this will be the first time they have met in a final.
WATCH In case you missed it
It will be billed in many quarters as a ‘master versus pupil’ match-up between coaches Alastair Clarkson and Damien Hardwick, but that is a lazy description and perhaps insulting to Hardwick.
The Richmond coach has engineered an almost flawless premiership defence to this stage of the year. Unbeaten at home, the Tigers bring their game with them and challenge their opponents to find a way to beat them. And nobody has.
The Tigers are giving every impression of a side that has another gear in them. They've been playing dead rubbers for the best part of a month, simultaneously giving exposure at the level to every player that might be needed through the finals, resting any player with a significant niggle and still fulfilling important objectives such as getting Jack Riewoldt the Coleman Medal and Dustin Martin enough of a sniff in the last month to suggest a second Brownlow is not out of the question.
GET TO THE GAME All your finals ticketing info
So why are we so excited for the Thursday night clash? Because of the Hawks.
Clarkson’s men enter the finals with six straight wins under their belt. After losing to Brisbane in round 16 the Hawks were 10th, lines were being drawn through their players futures (this columnist would like to personally apologise to Ricky Henderson and Paul Puopolo), obituaries for 2018 were being written and supporters were openly calling for the club to ‘tank’ the rest of the season in anticipation of an early selection at the so-called ‘super draft’ later this year.
But that was to discount what a proud group these Hawks are, and a coach at the peak of his powers. The Clarkson of 2012-2016 was more of a manager, juggling the pieces on the chessboard and using his significant powers of motivation to extract the best from an experienced group. Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis at al didn't need to be taught how to play, their collective talents just needed to be harnessed.
But what Hawthorn people say is energising Clarkson now is that he is coaching once again in the purest sense of the word. He has gone back to his teaching roots and the rapid development of Harry Morrison, Conor Nash, James Worpel and Teia Miles over these last few weeks has brought a freshness to the Hawks and zest to their coach.
As recently as last week he said he believes next year and the year after is when this group will be at its peak. But as he said on Saturday night after the comeback win over Sydney, an “opportunity” has now been presented to the Hawks and “who knows where it will take us if it stares us in the face?”
As he walked the SCG boundary line post-game, he was already scheming. The Tigers are high and mighty, but their fearsome MCG advantage will be largely negated when they take on the Hawks. Opportunity has indeed come knocking, which is what makes this qualifying final such a mouthwatering encounter.
What can the master tactician, with 10 days to prepare, come up with to challenge the best team in the competition?
Don't ignore the other qualifying final either. It is no coincidence that the best four coaches of 2018 oversee the top four teams of the competition.
Eagles v Magpies is another blockbuster worthy of the name. Picture: AFL Photos
West Coast gets to host two finals this year and there is nothing more deserved. In the frantic final few weeks of the home and away season we forget the sage words offered at the start — it's a marathon, not a sprint. The Eagles dropped their first game of the season, but then won their next 10 and by that stage of the season, the odds of any other team challenging them and the Tigers for a Grand Final berth was long.
They’ve earned these two home finals, and they’ve got there despite the trauma of losing Nic Naitanui to another knee injury, prolonged absences to spearhead Josh Kennedy and the suspension to Andrew Gaff. They will be hard to dislodge from here.
Cue the jokes about Collingwood having to play consecutive games outside Victoria for the first time, well, ever. But recent history suggests the Pies have nothing to fear from closing out the home and away season in Perth and then opening their finals campaign there a fortnight later.
It was the precise formula followed by the Western Bulldogs in 2016. They were beaten by Fremantle in the final round, and then returned to Subiaco 12 days later to knock over West Coast, the start of a barnstorming run to the premiership. Twelve months prior, Hawthorn lost to West Coast in a qualifying final, then beat Fremantle in the preliminary final two weeks later en route to winning their third straight flag.
The Pies have overcome so many hurdles this year, mainly on the injury front, and now with the cloud hanging over them by virtue of Sam Murray’s alleged misdeed, what’s a couple of cross-country flights and a few more nights in a hotel?
The elimination finals offer plenty as well. It starts on Friday night at the MCG. One of Geelong or Melbourne will be done for 2018 come 10.30pm, which will probably come as a relief to the teams in the top four, because both the Cats and the Demons are laden with talent.
The Cats and the Demons have already played two thrillers this season. Picture: AFL Photos
It will be quite emotional for the Melbourne supporters to see their team on the MCG in September for the first time in 12 years.
However, they’ll be hoping the team is anything but. The biggest hurdle the Demons need to overcome is the ‘we’re just happy to be there’ factor. Compartmentalise the significance of it all and the Demons will be fine, because their brand of football appears suited to September.
The pressure will be all on Geelong, which used two of its nine lives this year just to overcome the Demons in a pair of nail-biters. The Cats were built to contend this year, not to play in a sudden-death elimination final, and the storyline around Geelong for the next fortnight will be whether the Cats were better served by their soft wins over Fremantle and Gold Coast at home in the lead-up to the finals, or by fighting and clawing their way in against top-notch opponents as have the Hawks, Demons and Pies have the last few weeks.
They likely sorted out a few problems over the last fortnight, but the step up in class is what they have struggled with for most of the year. And Melbourne on the MCG will be a huge test.
The remaining elimination final brings us the AFL’s second September Sydney derby, and both the Swans and Giants shape to look significantly different. Add Lance Franklin and Luke Parker to the Swans, and Toby Greene, Aidan Corr, Matt de Boer and Sam Taylor to the Giants, and both teams will be vastly improved on those that faded badly in the second half of their respective games on the weekend.
The Giants and the Swans will get to grips with each other at the SCG. Picture: AFL Photos
Two years ago, they duked it out at ANZ Stadium and there was a real feel of little brother wanting to sock it to their older sibling. This time it will be at the SCG and it is unclear just how much comfort that will bring to the home team, which has lost six of 11 games there this year.
Both the Swans and Giants had serious top-four aspirations at the start of the year; one of them stands to finish well below par.
And a quick word about the finals schedule, which blew up social media when it was released on Sunday evening. This column can see few issues. If it’s OK for the MCG to host a huge Thursday night game to open the season, then why is it so wrong to stage a Thursday night final there come the end of the season.
Or is ‘playing finals football on a school night’ something that only South Australians and Western Australians should ever have to deal with?
For about the 1000th time, this is a national competition. Deal with it, Victorians.
