The 2014 AFL Grand Final takes place this afternoon when the Sydney Swans and the Hawthorn Hawks battle for the 2014 AFL Premiership.
The Swans will enter the decider as the favourites, after a 71-point dismantling of the North Melbourne Kangaroos last week booked them a spot in the Grand Final with flying colours.
However, it would be unwise indeed to discount the Hawks, who are the reigning premiers, and defeated Sydney at the MCG in the most recent meeting between the two clubs.
There are stories all over the ground today, and none of them bigger than that of Lance Franklin, who lines up against his former club after crossing to Sydney as a free agent less than a week after Hawthorn’s premiership win last year.
Franklin will win his third AFL premiership if the Swans take home the cup tomorrow, and become the first player since Tom Fitzmaurice in 1925 to win successive premierships at two different clubs.
He would be the first ever to win the second premiership by defeating the club he played for in the first.
The stories don’t stop with Buddy however. Also making waves will be Josh P. Kennedy and Ben McGlynn, former Hawthorn players whom the club traded to Sydney ahead of 2010 AFL season.
Kennedy is the grandson of John Kennedy Sr. and son of John Kennedy Jr., both of them famed personalities at Hawthorn. Senior coached the Hawks to three premierships (1961, 1971, 1976) and Junior played in four premierships for the club (1983, 1986, 1988, 1989).
Josh managed just 13 games for Hawthorn before he was traded to Sydney, where he has since played in the 2012 Premiership side that defeated the Hawks. Will he again crush the hopes of his former team on the last day in September?
Matthew Spangher completes a quartet of players on the field today who have played for the opposite club. Originally drafted by the West Coast Eagles in 2005, he was later delisted and picked up by Sydney where he played just six games in two years before being traded to Hawthorn.
The long-haired Hawk has managed just 50 games from nine years in the AFL, but despite the injury and form troubles that have plagued his career, is just one step away from placing his name forever in the history books.
Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Grant Birchall, Jordan Lewis, Jarryd Roughead and Cyril Rioli will become three-time premiership players for Hawthorn if they win today. Shaun Burgoyne would also take home his third AFL premiership, having played in the Port Adelaide 2004 and Hawthorn 2013 victories.
If the Swans win, Adam Goodes will become the first player ever to win three premierships for Sydney/South Melbourne, which would be an incredible way to cap off his legendary career.
As it stands, Goodes is one of only five players in Sydney/South Melbourne history to have won multiple flags at the club, along with Ryan O’Keefe, Lewis Roberts-Thompson, Jude Bolton, and 1900s defender/ruckman Vic Belcher.
That list will get a lot longer if the Swans win today.
Kurt Tippett, Gary Rohan, Kurt Tippett, Dane Rampe, Harry Cunningham and Jake Lloyd for Sydney, and Ben McEvoy, Will Langord, Taylor Duryea, Matt Spangher and Matt Suckling from Hawthorn are all playing for their first premiership.
Perhaps the biggest story might come from Hawthorn’s decisions at the selection table.
The Hawks have sensationally dropped Jonathon Ceglar, who played in both the clubs finals wins, and Jonathan Simpkin, who has played in the last six matches straight.
Back into the side for the last game of the year are Ben McEvoy (hasn’t played since Round 21) and Cyril Rioli (hasn’t played since Round 15).
The Hawks have also left out Brad Sewell, who was dropped after playing his 200th AFL game in the Qualifying Final win against Geelong.
The two-time premiership midfielder looks to have played his last game, barring a last-minute reprieve. All three of Ceglar, Simpkin and Sewell have been named as emergencies for Hawthorn, so a late re-call is on the cards.
It’s a trio of big calls for the Hawks, whose Premiership hopes may well live and die on those selections.
Where will it be won? As much as it’s being talked up as the battle of the big forwards – Franklin, Roughead, Gunston, Tippett – they’ll be no use if teams can’t get the ball to them, so once again the contested ball will be key.
Both teams excel in this area, and know how to make it work. The Hawks move it forward with precision skills, the Swans lock the ball into their forward line so well you’d think the ground was only 50% of its actual size.
When these two teams met in the 2012 Grand Final, it was only a few good strokes of luck either way that separated them, and I suspect it will be the same again today. That match was one of the best deciders I have ever watched – here’s hoping we get another today!
Prediction
Almost too close to call in my opinion. I was leaning towards Hawthorn earlier in the week but their decisions at the selection table have them very much in doubt as far as I’m concerned.
Will they make a late change? Will Rioli start as the sub? And if he doesn’t – can he run out a full game?
Ben McEvoy hasn’t played a final since 2011, will he be able to handle the big occasion?
Who wins Gibson v Franklin? Or Richards v Roughead?
So far as I’m concerned, this one’s on a knife edge and could go either way. If I’m right, then it’s bound to be a classic, and here’s hoping it is. However, I’ve got to tip someone, so here goes.
Hawthorn by 6 points.
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