Melbourne More Electric than Ever
The city of Melbourne is the sporting capital of Australia and plays host the AFL Grand Final every year. It is always a spectacle as the whole city turns toward the match for the weekend.
This year, there is even more buzz than usual.
This can be attributed to two main factors. The first of which being that Melbourne’s and arguably the league’s most popular team in Collingwood is a participant in the Grand Final.
The second reason is due to yesterday’s Grand Final parade being the first on land, in Melbourne in four years. Beginning in 1977, the Grand Final parade is a longstanding tradition of the AFL and the city of Melbourne.
However, due to covid and a wrinkle from the AFL of moving the parade to the Yarra river last year, the tradition has not been held on land in Melbourne since 2019.
The parade returning, in unison with Collingwood being in the Grand Final, has made the atmosphere around Melbourne uniquely extraordinary and is sure to lead to heightened energy at Melbourne Cricket Ground today.
Path to Victory for Each Team
The top two teams on the AFL ladder have made it to the Grand Final. Collingwood and Brisbane now both sit one game away from history. So, the question is, what does each group need to do to ensure they end their season on a high?
For Collingwood, their vaunted defense must come to play as advertised. Their stifling defense is the building block for everything else they do so well on the pitch. Specifically, this is important for their counterattack.
Collingwood is fast and has a group of players who make quick decisions. This has made their counterattack the most dangerous in the AFL. When the defense is clicking and getting intercepts, the counterattack runs rampant, and the Magpies often pull away.
For Brisbane, they must not allow the Magpies to have a hot start. With a crowd of 90,000+, most of whom will be dawning the white and black of Collingwood, it is paramount that the Lions get off to a solid start. If Collingwood gets going early and the crowd really starts rocking, it could spell trouble for Brisbane.
Similarly to Collingwood, much of Brisbane’s success can be attributed to their counterattack. However, they do it in a much different way than their counterparts. Collingwood prays on turnovers in their defensive third whereas the Lions do much more of their damage in the offensive third.
The game will likely come down to Collingwood’s ability to clear their defensive third. Typically a strength of the Magpies, Brisbane has used their aforementioned offensive third pressure to gain intercepts and put points up in their winning streak against Collingwood.
Brisbane Looks to Continue their Dominance over Collingwood
The Collingwood Magpies lost just five games this year. They sat atop the ladder nearly all year and are now preparing for the Grand Final. The team who they must go through however has been somewhat a thorn in their side as of late.
The Brisbane Lions gave the Magpies two of those five losses this year. In fact, the Lions have defeated Collingwood in each of their past six matchups.
Collingwood will look to buck this trend today as a Grand Final victory would far outweigh any number of losses from the past.
