Running Aussie Rules thread

I’ve only heard about that the other way- Aussie players being recruited to play American football. Nice to see it going the other way.

 

Collingwood claimed the victory, 12.18.90 to 13.8.86, before a capacity crowd of 100,024 at the MCG.

It was razor close throughout, with neither team leading by more than 13 (two goals and a behind) at any point. When Brisbane was on, they played with great fluidity, and had some really nice goals, but it seemed like there were large stretches where they either couldn't hold on to the ball or got muscled out. Mason Cox had an impact throughout the game, and though I'm guessing his contribution was a net positive, he got duped at one point in the first half and got his kick blocked, leading directly to a Brisbane goal. The entire second half was basically the AFL equivalent of trench warfare, which probably benefited Collingwood more.

The biggest part I don't understand yet about the game are the rules around tackling, but there seems to be a rather heavy consensus from everyone except Collingwood fans that the officiating was poor (apparently officiating bias in favor of Melbourne teams is a common occurrence) and aided Collingwood, in particular, a useless advantage call that precluded a free kick that could have given Brisbane a look at a go-ahead goal inside the last two minutes.

Still, I never felt like the game was ever any more than a coin flip for Brisbane and when you can't do better than that, you leave yourself vulnerable to bad breaks or bad calls. Disappointing, but we'll see you in March (or maybe April if it takes the league a while to get TV rights done, like usual).

 

Back again to dig this thread out of page whatever because it's almost Grand Final Saturday!

Kickoff is once again at 11:30 p.m. Central on Friday night on FS1, and this year's Grand Final at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) features the losers of the last two Grand Finals:

Sydney were the minor premiers (regular season champions) with a 17-6 record and are aiming for redemption after getting blown out by Geelong in the 2022 Grand Final. Meanwhile, the Brisbane Lions (the team I started supporting during COVID), followed their narrow loss (see above) to Collingwood in last year's Grand Final with the Australian equivalent of a Super Bowl hangover, starting the season 2-5 before winning nine games in a row to get back into the top eight for a sixth consecutive season.

In the playoff system, Sydney's first-place finish meant they needed only defeat Greater Western Sydney in their first playoff game to skip to the last four. They beat GWS by a goal, then two weeks later dumped a Port Adelaide side that had beaten them eight times running. The Swans are seeking their first Premiership since 2012.

The top four teams get the "double chance," which means that they get two chances to win once to get to the preliminary final (think conference championship game). However, Brisbane finished fifth by a half-game at 14-8-1, which meant they had to win three games to get back to the Grand Final. In the elimination final (wild card game), they dominated the first half against Carlton and won easily, but in the semifinal (divisional), Brisbane was down 44 points in the third quarter at GWS and came back for a shocking win, then repeated the feat somewhat against Geelong in the other preliminary final, winning 14.11.95 to 12.13.85 in a game they trailed by 25 points early in the third quarter. Brisbane won three straight titles from 2001-03 but hasn't since.

Katy Perry is performing at this year's final, for what it's worth, which is also the fourth all-time and first since 2006 in which no Victorian teams (Melbourne and environs) are participating. The pairing is somewhat notable because both Brisbane and Sydney are on the wrong side of the traditional "Barassi line," an unofficial demarcation from north to southeast in which the part of the country east of the line prefers rugby and west of it prefers Aussie rules. The other three no-Victorian Grand Finals at least had teams from Adelaide or Perth, on the AFL side of the line.

 

I'm old enough to remember when they were the Fitzroy Lions. In unrelated news, my back hurts.