AFL 2022

Will he be back for the club championship?

Sydney had no business in that final, Collingwood should have beaten them. Theyā€™d have made a better go of it in the final too.

Carlton and Collingwood will be the teams to watch next year, you heard it here first. And letā€™s face it, thatā€™s the Grand Final everybody wants, a proper old school all Melbourne match up.

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Isnt there a lovely haze to the sunshine for the AFL Grand Final starting at 2.30pm local time?

Reminds me of something we used get hereā€¦

Iā€™m amazed Kerry havenā€™t got mark o Connor back.

The corporate types have been threatening a night Grand Final for years. They got it during the pandemic but the rules were sort of out the window the last couple of years with the finals going to Brisbane and Perth. I think there was a desperate desire to return to tradition this year with the final returning to Melbourne for the first time since 2019. But Iā€™d expect a renewed push after this to switch to a night Grand Final or possibly a twilight Grand Final. I hope it never happens but the corporate types always get their way in the end. I set the alarm for 6:45am this morning and then decided ā€œanother ten minutesā€ and before I knew it it was 8:35am and Iā€™d missed the whole thing. But the timing of a Grand Final should never, ever depend on convenience for a European audience. On this side of the world, the effort you have to make to watch is an integral part of the whole experience.

One thing they have right is the emphasis on the last Saturday in September. As the great Bruce McAvaney used to always say before the first bounce of the Grand Final ā€œthe moment has arrived againā€.

They really do talk about the September air in Melbourne and rightly so. I think the new stand that has been there since the mid-2000s has spoiled it a bit as it blocks out the sun. The September air in Grand Finals from about 1989 through to around 2001, especially when you had the classic commentary team of McAvaney, Dennis Commetti, Sandy Roberts and Ian Robertson in situ was special. The classic situation was blazing sunshine for the first half before the late afternoon long shadows and haze would take over for the Premiership quarter and final quarter. It was a great late 90s tradition to fall asleep on the couch, wake up around 6:15am and then watch the Grand Final through in bleary eyed fashion before seeing that twat Tim Lovejoy bitching at the start of Soccer AM because the start of that programme had been delayed - it used to start at 8am in those days.

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Shit, that didnā€™t go very well.

Doubt heā€™ll be home by tomorrow

Maybe he wasnā€™t ready to come back?

That was some tonking South Melbourne got in the Grand Final.

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Is that Zachs first one winning?

Yeah, first one. Geelong havent won sonce 2011 i think it is. It was his 250th game today, so in afl tradition he was chaired off the field. Nice to do it with the cup.

image

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The boy done good

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Sure did. Heā€™d be very well regarded over there both in media circles and opposition fans.

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Zach is loved in Portlaoise and there was never an issue when he used swan in for County Finals ahead of lads training all year back in the halcyon days.

Was the Vincentā€™s game in 2014 his last appearance for them? @myboyblue

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Correct

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Zach is a very likable auld rogue. His dad isnā€™t very well at the moment and couldnā€™t make it over for the game.

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Geelong playing up to the retirement home jibes they have been getting for the last few years. One way to answer it all.

Theyā€™ve really come out since the final as a very likeable bunch. Selwood going over to all the Auskick kids who presented the medals to get in a group photo with them, Sammy the water boy, the images with them all with their kids out on the field, theyā€™ve won this flag with some good grace and been excellent. Fair fucks to them. Very few are begrudging them their win, which is very unusual.