AFL grand final 2021 preview: An early look at how the Melbourne v Western Bulldogs match will shape up
Ted Whitten’s impact on the Bulldogs is everlasting - modern day hero Marcus Bontempelli is already carving himself right next to EJ into Footscray’s Mt. Rushmore.
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Ted Whitten’s reputation as the greatest showman can be inflated some 51 years after the Footscray legend delivered arguably the most rousing rev-up ever seen.
Whitten wore a dressing gown covered in mud when he eyeballed players and demanded they hold Hawthorn at the Western Oval in his 321st and final match.
“You’ve got to show me all the guts and the determination you’ve got in your body,” Whitten said.
“You’ve got to inspire me with this last quarter finish. You’ve been in front all day and you’ve got to stay there.”
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Players growled in response and that speech was stamped as the stuff of folklore after they prevailed by three points.
Ruckman Peter Welsh has revealed for the first time that when Channel 7’s cameras scurried over to the huddle it was lights, cameras, action for EJ as he sprung into Hollywood mode and produced an effort Al Pacino would’ve been proud of.
“I’m not sure Ted was going to go into such an inspirational-type effort until he saw the cameras coming his way,” Welsh, a former board member who won the 1972 Charles Sutton Medal and started his career under Whitten, said.
“That was the perfect stage for him. It was almost on cue, as if somebody had turned on the light and production was ready to roll.”
That was Mr Football, the larger than life figure who Welsh remembers shoving an opponent’s face in the mud one day.
The Victorian legend who ‘Stuck it up em’ had that famous iron handshake, which was no myth.
“As a 16-year-old kid he almost crushed it (my hand),” Welsh said.
“Much later on I’d matured and he was quite old and you still had to gear yourself up for it.
“But when he strutted the turf it was like all the world was his stage. He really was larger than life.”
But it wasn’t brought out on debut, when Whitten refused to shake his Richmond opponent’s hand before the match.
It angered the Tigers and the 17-year-old wound up in hospital.
Contrast that to current captain Marcus Bontempelli, who is pushing past Brad Johnson and Chris Grant to enter the conversation as the best Bulldog of all time.
But as characters and footballers The Bont and EJ could hardly be further displaced.
Bontempelli is the Rolls Royce whose rare fumble came in a 2013 draft interview when an AFL coach asked him to name the worst thing he had done.
Mild-mannered Marcus eventually landed on being mean to his sister, which didn’t cut it for the coach.
The boy from leafy Eltham High School just put out a picture book for children and polled 33 Brownlow Medal votes on Sunday night as the unluckiest runner-up of all time.
Whereas Thuggish Ted, a proud product of Braybrook in the west, never threatened to take Charlie home.
Bontempelli has already eclipsed Whitten’s career tally of 112 votes from 151 fewer games and it’s little wonder why.
Welsh said Whitten and Kevin Murray were chronic back-chatters who gave the umpire a rolling commentary – such as, ‘Give us a go, that was clearly in the back’ – all game.
Whitten wanted to intimidate and launch spiral punts from full-back while The Bont looks to slide through traffic with class nobody can match.
But, boy, on paper they are getting harder to split.
How’s this for alignment?
In 1954, Whitten’s premiership came playing centre half-back in his 66th game and was sweetened by winning his maiden Charles Sutton Medal. The 21-year-old was named captain-coach three years later.
Bontempelli’s premiership came in his 63rd game and was sweetened by winning his maiden Charles Sutton Medal. The 20-year-old who did not miss a target in the 2016 Grand Final was named captain four years later.
Whitten would go on to win five best-and-fairests, three All-Australians and lead the Dogs to the 1961 Grand Final, as well as a slew of other honours.
Bontempelli is only 25 but has already claimed three best-and-fairests, four All-Australians and will lead the Dogs into the 2021 Grand Final.
What if Bontempelli joins Charlie Sutton and Easton Wood by captaining the Bulldogs to a premiership, celebrating his second flag and most likely his fourth best-and-fairest?
Comparing eras is always a hard ask.
But EJ’s heyday followed champion full-forward John Coleman and Captain Blood Jack Dyer and some respected judges from yesteryear say Whitten was the greatest of them all, let alone purely from the kennel.
On paper it might be close, and Bontempelli’s birth certificate could eventually see his resume blitz it in.
But Whitten was the loveable larrikin admired by everyone and drenched in fame.
Whitten and Charlie Sutton remain the two biggest figures in Bulldog history, immortalised by winning their only premiership of the 20th century.
But Luke Beveridge and Bontempelli are the contemporary versions of those giants, having helped deliver the club its only premiership of the 21st century in 2016.
Beveridge already has claims to be the club’s best coach in history after qualifying for a second Grand Final in six seasons, and victory against Melbourne on Saturday would seal that status.
In fact, it’s already hard to make a case for anyone but Bevo, who has coached seven finals victories in six seasons after 90 years which delivered the Dogs only 14 finals wins.
Round 3 next season will see Beveridge overtake Sutton and Rodney Eade’s 162 games, leaving only Whitten (228) in front, and the 51-year-old’s winning percentage (57.9 per cent) has them covered.
Norm Ware, who remarkably won the 1941 Brownlow Medal as senior coach, is the only permanent coach with a better strike rate.
But Ware was in the chair for only two seasons and lost his only final in charge.
Beveridge (2016, 2021), Sutton (1954) and Whitten (1961) are the Dogs’ only Grand Final coaches, with Rodney Eade (2008-10) and Terry Wallace’s (1997-98) premiership pushes ending in preliminary final heartbreak.
Dogs heartbreak kid reveals Grand Final injury pain
Western Bulldogs forward Josh Bruce has revealed he has been in tears every week since his season-ending knee injury, describing his lost Grand Final opportunity as like a “grieving process”.
The hardluck story of the Bulldogs premiership push, Bruce suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in the dying seconds of the team’s Round 21 loss to Essendon.
Now at his third club in his 10th AFL season, Bruce felt like everything was coming together for him this season, in which he had kicked 48 goals before his injury.
But the 29-year-old said it had been “extremely difficult” having that taken away from him at the end of the season and then watching his teammates charge towards the Grand Final.
“There were games where I burst into tears, after the Brisbane game I just burst into tears at the final siren, I couldn’t hold it back,” Bruce said on SEN.
“I just felt such a longing to be there and to be involved in finals like that. I feel like I thought that this year was going to be the year for me and everything seemed to be lining up perfectly and it got ripped away at the last minute, it’s been bloody tough to deal with.
“It is like a grieving process. I have had close friends and loved ones pass away but it’s not similar to that.
“But the grieving process is tough and when they did the initial test on my knee and I just knew it wasn’t there, it was fully ruptured, I broke down for an hour and a half and then once I got that initial hysterics out of the way I felt a little bit better.
“I cry probably at least every week about it. It does get easier with time as all things do.”
Bruce has stayed involved in the Bulldogs’ flag campaign FaceTiming the team in the room after their victories.
While at the club for rehabilitation on his knee on Tuesday, the forward also helped out the club’s overloaded merchandise team packing gear to send to fans.
“I was in at the club doing some rehab stuff on my knee and I’m doing some coaching with the AFL women’s as well so had a little bit of time to kill in between those two things and the guys up there are getting absolutely smashed with merchandise purchases,” Bruce said.
“The entire Barkers cafe there is just awash with merchandise and postage and all sorts of stuff so I sat down for a little bit of time and had a chinwag and helped them out a little bit.
“They are doing a fantastic job and the members are coming out in force.”
Bruce conceded it would be tough watching the Grand Final from afar on Saturday night.
“It’s going to be tough either way but hopefully we can get over the line,” Bruce said.
“I have had nearly two months now to kind of process a little bit and I still have moments in every single day but it is getting slightly easier and I’ve moved on to wishing the team to have as much success as we can.
“I know that we are such a young side so fingers crossed everything goes well and I can get back in next year and have another tilt at it.”
Bruce suggested tradition should stand on the premiership medal debut, saying he did not feel like he would “deserve” a medal if the whole squad were to be presented with them.
“I think tradition has to stand. There are hard luck stories and there have been hard luck stories for however long,” Bruce said.
“The 22 or 23 guys that run out there are the ones that do really win it. I think now if I did have to get presented with a medal now I’d almost feel I didn’t deserve it.”
MAYDAY ARRIVES FOR INJURED DEMONS STAR
All-Australian defender Jake Lever has backed his backline brother-in-arms Steven May to line-up in Melbourne’s historic grand final bid on Saturday.
The two defensive pillars will be a key component of the Demons bid to break a 57-year premiership curse.
May injured his hamstring in the preliminary final win against Geelong and was subbed out of the game in the third quarter.
“He’s going really well,” Lever said after training at Joondalup on Tuesday.
“He’s hit all his markers, obviously didn’t do any of the match play on Saturday but that was the plan.
“I think it’s really important for him to be able to be confident in his body. Once he is, he’s a pretty good player.”
May and Charlie Spargo, who missed training on Monday with a rolled ankle, are expected to be fully tested in the Demons main training session behind closed doors on Wednesday.
Lever is the only Melbourne player with previous Grand Final experience, having been a part of the Adelaide outfit which was thumped by Richmond in the 2017 decider.
It was Lever’s last match as Crows player and, having missed out on Melbourne’s 2018 finals run because of a knee injury, he has become an outright star and a linchpin of the Demon’s game plan.
Lever said his greatest take away from that 2017 experience was “just how hard it is to win” a Grand Final and that being favourites, as the Crows were, means little.
BRAYSHAW: I’M SO LUCKY TO HAVE GRAND FINAL CHANCE
Melbourne star Angus Brayshaw admits he never imagined he would play in a grand final when repeated concussions threatened to end his career.
Brayshaw, who wears a signature helmet during matches, is one of the feel good stories of the 2021 grand final having fought back from a series of worrying head knocks during 2016 and 2017.
He spent months on the sidelines during both seasons.
But Brayshaw is adamant he would not hesitate to sit out such a monumental game if he thought he was putting his health at risk.
“If I was concussed last week and had a grand final that I was going to miss, you put your health first,” Brayshaw said.
“Footy is a game. You’ve got to live with your head. Hopefully I live to be 100. That’s 70 more years I’ve got to live.
“This is one outcome and people see me in a grand final and think I’ve come a long way. But don’t put your brain at risk.
“Forget about coming back to play in a grand final and do the best thing for you. That may include giving away football or sport. I was certainly prepared to do that.
“I am so lucky. I could very easily not be playing.”
Toby bump ump wins big gig
Matt Stevic, the umpire at the centre of Toby Greene’s latest suspension, will officiate his ninth AFL grand final in the past 10 years and eighth straight decider after a rollercoaster 2020 season.
Stevic was named alongside Brett Rosebury and Jacob Mollison to oversee the clash between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, with Mollison to make his grand final umpiring debut after 14 seasons with the whistle in hand.
Both Stevic and Rosebury have umpired over 400 matches each, with the latter sitting in third on the list of all-time games officiated with a whopping 458.
Rosebury has also achieved the incredible feat of serving quarantine periods in every state for the duration of the AFL season, including a six-week block in New South Wales and Queensland.
EARLY PREVIEW: Crucial duels set to decide grand final
— Rebecca Williams
We are less than a week away until the 2021 grand final between Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs.
Who has the upper hand with the Perth faithful?
Which midfield will come up on top?
Which players will make up the respective grand final teams?
We take a snap look at the hot topics which will dominate the week ahead.
HOME GROUND ADVANTAGE?
There’s no obvious advantage here for either side playing on the other side of the country. But each club’s playing record at Perth Stadium shows Melbourne has the advantage here – just. Both teams have played six games at the venue with the Demons holding a 3-3 record and the Bulldogs having a 2-4 record. But, off-field, it appears to be the Demons, anecdotally at least, who could have the bulk of the support. Melbourne chief executive Gary Pert had to arrange to get more merchandise sent over to the west.
ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
The Western Bulldogs’ crisscrossing path to the grand final has been well documented. Come grand final day, the Dogs would have played four finals in as many states after reaching Perth via games in Launceston, Brisbane and Adelaide. The club only came out of its two-week quarantine period in Western Australia on Sunday afternoon. In contrast, the Demons have been based in Western Australia following their qualifying final win over the Brisbane Lions in Adelaide and have been enjoying more freedom since emerging from their quarantine period more than two weeks ago.
SELECTION WATCH
There will be a hard call to make at the Bulldogs over who misses out with electric forward Cody Weightman and key defender Alex Keath set to return for the grand final after missing the preliminary final win over Port Adelaide. Laitham Vandermeer also continues to push for selection after being subbed out of the preliminary final with hamstring tightness.
A watch remains on the fitness of Melbourne star defender Steven May, who was subbed off with a hamstring injury in the preliminary final.
“He’s slowly building his program up towards his full training come the back end of next week,” Demons coach Simon Goodwin said on Saturday.
“He’s in really good shape, really positive about where that sits with him and he’s really confident in the way his body’s tracking.”
Charlie Spargo sent a scare through the Demons camp when he jarred his ankle at the team’s hitout on Saturday night, but the club said he needed no further treatment and should be able to take part in the team’s next training session on Monday.
MIDFIELD MIGHT
After his team’s preliminary final win, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge said the impending midfield war in the grand final against Melbourne shaped as an “intriguing battle”.
That’s probably an understatement. This will be a fight between arguably the league’s two best midfielders in the ultimate battle for onball supremacy.
The Bulldogs bat deep – Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Tom Liberatore, Josh Dunkley, Adam Treloar and Bailey Smith.
But the Demons’ midfield boasts three of this year’s All-Australians and will have the best ruckman in the competition feeding the Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver double act. The Max Gawn factor in the ruck is where the Demons will have the clear edge.
KEY MATCH-UPS
LEVER v SCHACHE
Josh Schache delivered what coach Luke Beveridge described as a “pivotal performance” in the team’s preliminary final win over Port Adelaide playing in a defensive forward role.
Schache was a key in helping the Bulldogs shut down the intercepting might of Port Adelaide star Aliir Aliir and now a similar task against the Dees’ chief defensive spoiler and interceptor Jake Lever awaits in the grand final. All-Australian Lever has an elite ranking in the league
for intercept marks.
GAWN v MARTIN
Melbourne skipper Max Gawn’s performance in the Demons’ big preliminary final win over Geelong would have been enough to make any opposition ruckman nervous.
Five goals, 19 disposals and 33 hit-outs – it was as complete a ruck display as there comes.
Now, former teammate Stef Martin has the task of trying to quell the influence of the most dominant ruckman in the game off the back of just one return match after being sidelined since Round 12 through injury. “Stef is nowhere near as tall as Max but there is a strength in Stefan’s game that we’ll call on that will be important in that battle,” Luke Beveridge said
VINEY V LIBERATORE
The talk of the town way back in round 11 was James Harmes’ tagging job on Tom Liberatore but it’s expected the two midfield bulls will go head to head in the decider. Viney was a star in the Demons’ preliminary final win with a 34-disposal performance.
In an all-star midfield battle, the Melbourne vice-captain looms as a likely candidate for the match-up on Western Bulldogs clearance king Tom Liberatore.
Liberatore averages an elite 7.6 clearances a game and provides the spark at the stoppages for the Dogs.
BROWN v KEATH
If he recovers as expected, Bulldogs key defender Alex Keath should return to the Bulldogs line-up for the decider after missing the preliminary final with hamstring tightness. He will be likely to face the job lining up on a rejuvenated Demons key forward Ben Brown, who kicked two goals and had seven marks in the preliminary final win over Geelong.
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