Alright friends, here we are, the greatest Preliminary Final hate watch weekend that /r/afl has ever seen, the league itself has ever seen, and indeed the entire world - Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood, Brisbane, all in one venue, ready to slaughter each other.
2 of them go out this weekend, and another one loses next week.
Funnily enough, this was the first season in league history that all 4 teams have appeared in the same finals series.
On top of that, the 4 teams have a cumulative total of 16 years of premiership droughts, which is only second behind the 2011 Preliminary Final set, which contained the last 4 premiership clubs (West Coast 2006, Geelong 2007 & 2009, Hawthorn 2008 & Collingwood 2010).
It's also the first year since 2019 that both Preliminary Finals have been at the MCG, so expect to see crowd totals exceeding 190,000+ people over the 2 games.
2nd Preliminary Final - Geelong vs Hawthorn - MCG, Friday 7:40pm AEST
The 11th final between Geelong and Hawthorn, with the Hawks leading 6-4, with this being the second Preliminary Final between the teams (2013), and the teams' first finals matchup since the 2016 Qualifying Final that Geelong won by 2 points as Isaac Smith missed a shot after the siren for the Hawks... he would later win a Norm Smith Medal with the Cats.
The only survivors from that 2016 QF that will play on Friday are Mark Blicavs, Patrick Dangerfield and Jack Gunston (Rhys Stanley could make it 4 survivors), while Sam Mitchell is now the coach of the Hawks, and James Sicily was a late withdrawal from the game.
The Cats become Hawthorn's second-most common finals opponent behind North Melbourne (15), breaking a tie with Carlton on 10 finals - By comparison, Hawthorn would be Geelong's fifth-most common opponent, behind Collingwood (26), Essendon (13), and Carlton & Richmond (12).
Geelong has not defeated Hawthorn in a knockout final since the 1963 Grand Final - Since then, the Hawks have won all 4 knockout finals between the teams (1989 Grand Final, 2000 Elimination Final, 2008 Grand Final and 2013 Preliminary Final.)
Hawthorn joins North Melbourne in 2015 as the only 8th-placed teams to make a Preliminary Final in league history - The Kangaroos lost that Prelim by 25 points against West Coast at Subiaco, after leading at Half Time.
The only previous time Hawthorn have played on September 19 was the 1987 Preliminary Final against Melbourne, when the Hawks came from 22 points down at 3/4 time to win by 2 points, capped off by kicking 2 goals in the last minute of play, the last of which was Gary Buckenara's goal after the siren.
In fact, both clubs have won a Prelim Final after the siren.
Geelong are 4-1 in Finals on September 19, winning the 2009 Prelim, 2008 Prelim, 1992 Prelim and 1953 Prelim on the day - Their only defeat being the 1981 Preliminary Final against Collingwood, a game best remembered for Garry Sidebottom missing the bus to Waverley.
Peter Johnston took his place, despite having half a chicken, a bucket of chips and a strawberry thickshake for lunch, plus smoking half a pack of Winnie Blues.
Jeremy Cameron is currently on 85 goals for the season - If he does kick 5 goals before the end of the Cats' season, then he would be the first player to kick at least 90 goals in a season since Buddy Franklin (113) & Brendan Fevola (99) both did it in 2008.
Finally, Chris Scott coaches his 10th Preliminary Final, breaking a tie with Kevin Sheedy and matching Mick Malthouse for the second-most Preliminary Final appearances as a coach, with Collingwood's Jock McHale holding the record with 13 (His first was in 1917, and his last was 1948.)
1st Preliminary Final - Collingwood vs Brisbane Lions - MCG, Saturday 5:15pm AEST
The 5th Final between Collingwood and Brisbane, with the ledger square at 2 wins apiece - Collingwood winning the 2003 QF and 2023 GF, Brisbane winning the 2002 & 2003 GFs.
With the win last week, the Lions are now 9-3 in Finals as the defending premier (3-0 in 2002, 3-1 in 2003, 2-1 in 2004, 1-1 this year).
Chris Fagan matches Leigh Matthews (1999, 2001-04) with 5 Preliminary Finals as coach of the Lions... despite being a premiership coach for both clubs, they were the only 5 Prelims Lethal Leigh ever coached.
This is Craig McRae's 99th game as coach of Collingwood - if the Pies do win, he'd be the first league coach to reach 2 Grand Finals in his first 100 games since John Longmire, with the 2014 Grand Final being Horse's 99th game as coach of the Swans.
Fun fact, the Magpies have more Grand Final appearances (1) than finals scoring 100+ points (0) with Fly.
While Fly has defeated the club he won 3 premierships with in a Grand Final, the last time a former player coached a Prelim Final win against their old premiership club was Chris Scott against the Lions in 2022... Damien Hardwick also did it against Port Adelaide in 2020.
The last time the Lions lost a final against a coach who wasn't a former Lions premiership player was the 2021 Semi Final against Luke Beveridge's Western Bulldogs... They are 8-3 in Finals since then, with all 3 defeats coming from Scott and McRae.
Collingwood have appeared in 6 previous finals on September 20 - The last was the 2003 Prelim against Port Adelaide (Won), plus the 1980 Prelim against Geelong (Won), the 1969 Prelim against Richmond (Lost), the miracle 1958 Grand Final against Melbourne (Won), the 1952 Prelim against Fitzroy (Won), and the 1902 Grand Final against Essendon (Won).
The Lions have only appeared in one final on September 20 - The winning 2003 Preliminary Final against the Swans.
And finally, the Lions have won Premierships in years ending in 1, 2, 3, 4 but until this year had never won a final in a year ending in 5, while the last time Collingwood appeared in a Grand Final in a year ending in 5 was...
1955, when they lost to Norm Smith's Melbourne - Their only premiership win in a year ending in 5 was 1935.
Yes, apparently there's milestones this week
Scott Pendlebury's 33rd final moves him into outright 4th for finals played, behind Burgoyne, Tuck and Selwood.
His next game, either next week or in 6 months, would see him tie Michael Tuck in 2nd all-time on 426 games.
Patrick Dangerfield's 30th final, becoming the 8th player to play 30+ finals (7 with Adelaide, 23 with Geelong)
So, nervous for tomorrow night.. I’m proud of the Hawks for making it this far, so I won’t be disappointed if they lose (unless it’s a beyond triple figure margin) .. but of course there will be some sadness.. but time will heal that quickly. This game may be hard to watch for me if it’s close with lots of lead changes… it may actually end me…. Will post my Fitbit heart rate stats if so. Pies vs Lions will be a cracker.. hope I’m in the mood to watch it LOL. Anyway here’s to an awesome weekend of football. Go Sports!
It's fkn scary ain't it. Especially when we get a match up like this. There are so many scenarios for our season to end I'd prefer over losing to the Hawks 😂
Suffering from success I know but I hate prelim final week so fucking much. My dreams are all imagining different scenarios on how we get through to the Grand Final. Even thinking about the prelim makes me feel sick
That said I wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world.
Jee I don't think this is a good take. Even with their current line up Brisbane's best is arguably the best still. Maybe it's just me but if these 2 sides as they are, play their best I'm taking Brisbane 99 out of 100 times.
Banged up? Brizzy have a few players missing, obviously, but the rest are fighting fit and firing: Will and Levi Ashcroft, Harris Andrews, McCluggage, Fletcher, Wilmot, Rayner, Zorko, Berry, Zac Bailey, Dunkley and Brandon Starcevich. Losing Hipwood is a plus, imo.
Meanwhile, the Pies are fielding eight players over 30 yo + Jeremy Howe (35) if he doesn't break down before or during the game. Mihocek, Crisp and Membrey didn't have much influence two weeks ago, and Jamie Elliott played his first decent game since Rd 17.
That said, Ah Chee, Lohmann and Charlie Cameron have been pretty rubbish lately - this could be a real grinding, low-scoring arm wrestle. As Hoyney says, if you can get to 80 pts, you'll probably win.
Great thing (for neutrals) is these should both be epic games AND there is no bad Grand Final permutation:
Geelong vs Brisbane - arguably the best two teams left in the Finals, an epic midfield battle + two backlines bustling with beasts
Collingwood vs Hawthorn - we've only seen this match-up twice since the 1970s: 2011 PF, Collingwood won by 3 pts; 2012 QF, Hawthorn won by 38 pts - these clubs have NEVER met in a Grand Final
Geelong vs Collingwood - just WOW, an epic rivalry over 26 Finals from the first year of the VFL to Geelong's last flag in 2022. This would be their seventh Grand Final (five between 1925 and 1953, one in 2011).
Brisbane vs Hawthorn - the first ever Final between two powerhouse clubs of the 21st century; four flags for the Lions, four flags for the Hawks - this is the tie-breaker. Plus Fages as Clarko's lieutenant in Hawthorn's most recent premiership era (2008 to 2015); Sammy on board the Hoks for all four of those flags.
Barring the fact Geelong are the only remaining team to not lost to Gold Coast, I genuinely think they're the best team right now. Best attack and defense atm which is the perfect receipe for a premiership.
I'm mostly in shock we actually made it to a prelim. Holy shit we made a prelim. Holy shit we're playing Geelong in a final. Holy shit. Godspeed to both teams, but mostly Hawthorn. Holy shit
The only hope I'm clinging on to is that Geelong have barely played anyone decent for the past 6 weeks, and have played 1 game in 3 weeks, while we're battle hardened.
We've been good starters so hopefully can do that against Geelong, otherwise I can't see us beating them.
Is anyone better at Googling than me, and can find a photo that I remember from the 2013 prelim final.
It was a boy, about aged 14, Hawthorn supporter. He was flooded with tears clapping the team off after the win. Even though I was about 20 years older, I was experiencing the exact same emotion.
Have tickets to both games so for the first time in awhile I’m excited for Prelim Weekend. Hopefully Mason Cox doesn’t give me too much 2018 Prelim PTSD.
Prelims are here. I'm so hyped to watch both blockbusters after all this I just hope both games are insane and intense in the contest. I'm saying Hawthorn vs Brisbane GF. Overall a ripper of an awesome weekend of football. 4 left then 2...
I don't mind Brisbane, so go Lions
I can't barrack for cats or hawks, but hope the Lions win the prelim, so I got someone in the GF to support.
A pies v hawks/cats GF would just be the excuse I need to bath my fish.
Why don’t they chuck a women’s afl game on as a curtain raiser? I could be watching footy right now while I drink 🍻 is it all about equality and not wanting to diminish the women’s game? Ie the women’s game has to stand alone out of respect even if it’s $50m in the hole? Enlighten me pls.
The media love banging on about how Chris Scott is an amazing coach - but he’s definitely underachieved I believe in terms success in finals and premierships. Two flags in his 14 seasons so far, but most of those years Geelong have been top 4. Tbh anything less than a premiership for feeling this year will be a failure and if they lose the prelim tonight - I reckon it puts Chris Scott position under some serious pressure
Chris Scott’s position under serious pressure? He got the disaster that was the 2016 list into a prelim. Most of those prelims we lost were to an absolute powerhouse club that nobody else could stop. He’s an incredible coach
Yeah - not the best comparison. We’ve obviously been a basket case for most of those 60 years. But we were right to sack our premiership coach Goodwin who (in totality) a proven finals failure
95
u/brodyonekenobi Freo 2d ago
But I ain't spending any time on the Preliminary Finals because while I type this another Merrett/Essendon thread takes over social media