AFL 2020: Why we owe thanks to our footy stars, plus Malcolm Blight’s finals analysis
AFL legend Malcolm Blight has run the rule over this year’s AFL finals teams and given his verdict on which one will win the 2020 premiership. MARK ROBINSON reports.
Mark Robinson
Don't miss out on the headlines from Mark Robinson. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An extraordinary team will win the premiership.
The Tigers are favourites, the Lions are confident, Port Adelaide planted its flag in Round 1 and Geelong, that most professional of clubs, won’t ever stop believing.
This is the Cats ninth finals series in 10 years.
From 2010 to now, there were four main powerhouses: Collingwood lost its way, Sydney eventually fell out of finals and Hawthorn, after their premierships, have introduced “rebuild” to the board table.
Not Geelong. Their ability to make themselves a consistent contender is admirable.
But their continual collapse in September is lamentable. They have a 4-11 win-loss record in September since the 2011 premiership.
Arguably, this is their best opportunity, with their best team since coach Chris Scott’s first and only flag.
Watch the 2020 Toyota AFL Finals Series on Kayo with every game before the Grand Final Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
They have stars and depth and the likes of Mark Blicavs, Sam Menegola and Cam Guthrie have had career-best years.
Patrick Dangerfield plays more forward, Joel Selwood is rested and fit, and their game style has stood up, not against Richmond, mind you, but sturdy enough to have them fourth when a lot of observers had them out of the eight at the start of the season.
AFL legend Malcolm Blight is whimsical, but not whimsical enough to muse that the Cats are due.
“Sadly, that means nothing,” he said.
Are they better placed this year than last year?
“I thought that last year when they sat on top of the ladder in a 22-game season and this year they’ve just stayed behind them,’’ he said.
“All you can do is ask your footy club to present every year.
“I actually admire the Geelong Football Club as much as anybody for just presenting all the time.
“Would you take Hawthorn’s record and three flags? Of course you would, however, you’ve got to keep presenting. They are a brave footy club for keep doing it.’’
He has his faves: “Dangerfield is as watchable a player that’s ever played.”
BLIGHTY IN A WORD
Blight accepted an invitation to play a word-game association to rate the contenders.
Port Adelaide: “Remarkable.”
Brisbane: “Exciting.”
Geelong: “Brave.”
Richmond: “It’s their time. They’ve got the best list. I think it’s sunny side up.”
West Coast: “They’ve been up for a long time. It’s got to be now.”
St Kilda: “I’ve really enjoyed the Brett Ratten ride and I can’t say it any other way.”
Western Bulldogs: “History says maybe, list says no-be. They’ve probably just re-established themselves.”
Collingwood: “They were my faves to play in the Grand Final. If there’s a team which could win from eighth, maybe it’s them.”
As always, there’s romantic stories everywhere.
Ken Hinkley could’ve been sacked and is now a major contender for coach of the year.
Chris Fagan has turned a franchise around with a warm heart, cheeky smile and a competitiveness which underpins everything.
You know, Fagan hated all those questions over last summer about how Brisbane could be another Melbourne and fall away after one finals series.
He proved the doubters wrong. Hell, he could be a premiership coach.
There’s Damien Hardwick. He’s already a Tigers legend and another flag would make him a Tigers immortal.
It would be three flags in four years and, who knows, maybe one or two after that.
Part of me wants the Tigers to win and Dustin Martin to win another Norm Smith.
Imagine that – three Normies. It’s never been done before, but nothing is beyond Dusty, nor the Tigers.
Ratten and the Saints and their legion of recruits are the feel-good story.
This flag would be for “Ratts”. But his job is to convince his team that making finals is not the be all and end all.
Could Collingwood win it from eighth? Probably not.
But if they surged on the back of Jordan De Goey over the next month and a revitalised Mason Cox … that would be wow.
A delighted Bucks would have his first flag. Eddie McGuire could stop being so defensive. And everyone could live happily ever after.
West Coast is labouring with injuries but will fight, we know that, and we also know the Dogs will scrap and run and flip the ball around, and they’ve done it from seventh before so why not again?
It’s a finals series that has everything in a season that has had everything.
So no asterisk, please.
Unquestionably, the premier team in this miracle season deserves every plaudit and every player this season deserves our gratitude. Good luck to all.
GIVE THANKS FOR MIRACLE SEASON
It is not about what we think will happen, it’s about making it happen.
On and off the field.
When AFL boss Gillon McLachlan postponed the season about 2pm on Sunday, March 22, as St Kilda was collapsing to the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium, a foreboding feeling fell across the competition.
Would it restart amid the pandemic? Would clubs survive? Would the competition survive?
Incredibly, Thursday night the AFL finals start with a tantalising match-up between Port Adelaide and Geelong.
It will be the start of the end of a remarkable season. No – a miracle season.
The AFL made it happen; the players made it work and have been enormous.
Remember the heartache when the AFL presented the players with a worst-case scenario – the possibility of spending 21 weeks in hubs?
It was absurd, if not inhumane. But look what happened: Some clubs will have spent 18 weeks in hub life, and there’s been hardly a murmur of discontent.
The players have been the light in a period of fear and isolation. Especially in Victoria’s lockdown.
Night after night, the players fronted, sore and homesick, and gave the struggling state a dose of entertainment.
The footy sometimes was boring, frustrating and haphazard, but it was constant.
And it was much bigger than entertainment. It gave families a meeting time each day, to gather in the lounge, so they could connect through football.
Ask any Carlton fan their highlight of the lockdown. It was their families hugging and cheering when Jack Newnes kicked the winner after the siren against Fremantle.
The light grows brighter.
Asked how he was feeling this week, McLachlan said: “Unreal”.
He was driving back to the Gold Coast from the finals series launch in Brisbane and briefly reflected on the road map from March to October.
“I say unreal … it’s a bit everything, a bit tongue in cheek, and a bit legit,” he said.
“Things could be worse. I’ve just done the finals series launch and all the finals are great.
“And the last round, seven of the nine games were live, and everyone was talking about the footy, about who was going to win and everyone feels it’s really legit.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re getting close. I’m a believer in karma and I won’t be excited until the Grand Final is over.’’
Of the players, he said: “They have been extraordinary. Thank God for the footy and the clubs and the players who have made the show. They have shown brutal resilience.’’
MORE AFL NEWS
AFL: Richmond not the `Tom Lynch Footy Club’, says Lions coach Chris Fagan
The famous names hoping to get picked up in the 2020 AFL Draft pool
Originally published as AFL 2020: Why we owe thanks to our footy stars, plus Malcolm Blight’s finals analysis