Brisbane were magnificent.
That should be – and most likely will be – the decisive takeaway from the 2024 grand final, and it’s worth addressing it before getting to the bit in the headline that you’ve probably clicked on this piece to read about.
If Chris Fagan had been able to plan out, map and fully choreograph a dream grand final for him and his Lions, this was it. From start to finish, his team were incredible in every facet – including plenty which have proved weaknesses for them this season.
The worst pressure team of the season blitzed Sydney with a ferocious onslaught of tackling, smothering and shepherding worthy of any premier, never mind a Lions outfit with other strengths.
Behind the ball, they were impenetrable, with Harris Andrews, Brandon Starcevich and Ryan Lester feasting on the waves of high, meaningless balls Sydney fed straight to them – that is, while the Swans were actually able to give them anything to do at all.
Darcy Fort lost the hitout count to Brodie Grundy but was otherwise as industrious as could have possibly been asked of him; his first-quarter clearance alone to outpoint his rival and drive the Lions long inside 50 to set up Kai Lohmann’s second goal ensured by itself that he couldn’t be said as having been gift-wrapped a premiership by his teammates.
In the midfield, Lachie Neale, paid little heed by the Swans’ on-ball brigade, ran riot at the clearances, bursting clear of stoppages in a manner reminiscent of Patrick Dangerfield two years ago, the last time Sydney copped a grand final pummelling.
Ditto Will Ashcroft, in his first grand final, who proved the equal of every midfielder on the ground with his tireless spread from stoppages, ball-winning strength and smart decision-making both inside and outside.
He’s the youngest Norm Smith Medallist in history, an incredible footballer, and he’ll always be MY 2023 Rising Star. (Sorry, Harry Sheezel).
Josh Dunkley ensured Isaac Heeney had little if any influence before being moved forward in an act of sheer desperation; Hugh McCluggage’s first quarter and a half were so brilliant they forced John Longmire to radically change the Swans’ structure and shift James Jordon into the midfield and off Dayne Zorko to try and clamp him.
And of course, the forwards dazzled.
12 months ago, the idea of Joe Daniher kicking 1.4 and Charlie Cameron 1.2 in a grand final would have been doom for the Lions; but the mid-year injury crisis which cost Lincoln McCarthy his season has created opportunities galore for a trio of fresh faces whose names are now etched into Brisbane folklore.
Kai Lohmann, the electric whiz kid in his first grand final, had a first half for the ages at the MCG, kicking three goals on a stage that has overawed many a young wunderkind before, and finishing with a fourth.
His ability to find space inside 50 and intelligence to work off whatever opponent finds himself nearest to him is eerily similar to Luke Breust, another great small forward who made the big stage his own.
Given the job on Nick Blakey and the task to make him accountable defensively, no man had a bigger influence on this game than Callum Ah Chee.
Tirelessly running to the wings to keep Blakey occupied and away from the corridor, then working back inside 50 as a frequent option for the surging Lions, the former Sun was simply phenomenal. Who knows where he’d be playing, and where Brisbane would be, if not for that injury crisis that prompted a permanent shift forward mid-year.
Less dazzling, but nearly as significant, was Logan Morris, the man who debuted at literally the eleventh hour back in May and hasn’t missed a beat since. His two goals amid the second and third quarter carnage completed a tremendous individual story of making the most of an unexpected opportunity; a mid-sized forward with great hands and exceptional running capacity, who knows just how good he can be in the years to come.
If there was a Brisbane passenger at the MCG, I don’t know who it was.
And masterminding it all was Fagan, whose ability to shepherd this team to two death-defying comebacks this finals series before their grand final domination is a triumph of spirit and belief as much as tactics.
The Lions are probably the most talented, and well-rounded, list in the league, but better team have had far less success. It takes a significant figure to marshal that talent into a performance like this one, and for that alone, Fagan has entrenched himself as a modern coaching great.
But while nothing can be said against Brisbane’s performance, the disheartening truth is that they needed to endure very little adversity to stamp their display with the greatness it probably deserves.
Because as good as the Lions were, as comprehensive their domination, they were all but gifted this match. Tactically and physically, the Swans were utterly abysmal in another grand final.
Hugh McCluggage celebrates with Joe Daniher. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
The margin may not have been quite as spectacular, but this was even worse than their disaster two years ago at the same stage, and orders of magnitude lower than their horror show in 2014, some ten years ago. That they finished the season as minor premiers and looked back to their best in the preliminary final, and were favourites heading in, only further exacerbates the extent of their humiliation.
It’s the kind of nightmare on the biggest stage that the Swans have proved capable of rebounding from, but it’s impossible to think it won’t leave significant scars on a young playing group that could well be broken by it.
The catastrophe is manifest in the stats. Some of them are obvious – the Lions, at half time, had 14 marks inside 50 to two, the Swans repeatedly butchering the ball inside 50 in the first term and then having their defence divided with the greatest of ease and then blitzed one on one. The Lions’ mark tally at half time of 82 – the second-most any team has taken in a first half all year – and +64 advantage in uncontested possessions also falls into that boat.
But the devastation went even further. The Lions’ disposal efficiency was 81.2 per cent at half time, and remained about that mark right until the final siren.
This season, the Lions have gone at 72.4 per cent – 13th in the competition, lower than the AFL’s average, due to their aggressive style and willingness to risk turnovers by putting the ball in dangerous positions.
Teams don’t go at over 80 per cent unless they chip the ball around the backline for meaningless disposals a lot. For Brisbane, of all teams, to do it on the biggest stage, when pressure should be at its most overwhelming, is an indictment on Sydney.
The examples of the Swans’ utter, dire lack of pressure were everywhere, but the play that summed it up for me was the lead-up to Lohmann’s third goal in the second quarter, the moment when it became clear Sydney were right off the boil.
Running freely through the midfield, Neale kicks wide and to the wing, where Bailey nudges Blakey under the ball – somewhat illegally, but what of it – and bursts forward.
On his inside, Lohmann, the most dangerous player on the ground in the first quarter, is wide open. All alone. No Swan behind or ahead of him is even trying to close in.
All Bailey needs to do is give the handpass once he reaches 50, and the young jet can waltz to 40, steady, and do what about 80 per cent of league footballers will do when under no pressure, physical or perceived.
Then, early in the third quarter, with the Swans desperately needing the first goal of the half to stand any chance, Daniher gathers out the back on 50, Tom McCartin having been sucked 30 metres further up the ground, and without a care in the world lopes inside 50 and passes inboard to a wide open Ah Chee.
Stoppages were a similar tale: Brodie Grundy was a dominant force and a big part of the Swans’ surge early in the season, but against Fort and Daniher his inability to fire a shot in the ruck was painful to watch.
Any ruckman worth their salt should be embarrassed by how easily Grundy was outpointed by Daniher, a chop-out ruckman, for this clearance that led to another Lions goal.
In stark contrast to Dunkley’s relentless blocking and bullocking to deny Heeney easy access to the ball at stoppages, ensuring a dirty day for Sydney’s biggest star, the Swans had no plan to stop Neale blitzing the clearances from start to finish, usually with James Rowbottom hanging off him in his slipstream.
So insignificant was the pressure wielded by Sydney’s midfield that a Swans backline that has punched above its weight all season had all its limitations brutally exposed; Tom McCartin was no match for Daniher one-on-one, while none of the smalls had the guile to curb Lohmann, and Blakey’s torrid afternoon opposed to Ah Chee barely bears thinking about.
Even in the first quarter, where the Swans actually had enough of the play to mount an assault, they were a mess. Heeney was the worst offender, but a string of kicks from everyone from Blakey to the usually elite Errol Gulden were high, long balls to the sole advantage of Brisbane’s defence, who could sit back, confident in their midfielders applying pressure, and mop up intercept mark after intercept mark.
All up, they took seven intercept marks in their defensive half up to the main break; Sydney’s two marks inside 50 told of the domination just as much as the carnage in the other attacking 5.
Longmire’s biggest blunder of all might have been repeating the mistake of 2022 and selecting a wounded key forward for the decider; penny for Callum Mills’ thoughts watching Logan McDonald, under an injury cloud all week, hardly get near it in the first half before being subbed off with a foot injury early in the third.
The Lions’ brilliance may have proved too much even if the Swans had produced their best; when Eric Hipwood’s slotting goals from the forward pocket trying to square up, it’s probably not going to be your day.
But this is now the second time in three years that Longmire’s men have headed into the big dance confident of victory, and proved humiliatingly ill-equipped to deal with the stage.
The 2024 grand final was Brisbane’s dream. And it was Sydney’s nightmare – one they’ll have to relive all summer long, and probably for even longer.