AFL Finals start tonight! The team at The Roar have put our heads together and come up with some September predictions that are sure to embarrass us all a great deal, and quickly too.
See the predictions from our expert writers, editorial staff, live bloggers and video producers below, and let us know in the comments what you reckon will happen in the 2017 finals.
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» Finals forecast: Adelaide vs GWS
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» Adelaide vs GWS preview
Ryan Buckland
Premiers: Adelaide Crows.
Runners-up: GWS Giants.
Norm Smith medal: Rory Laird.
Best finals player: Callan Ward.
Most goals in finals: Eddie Betts.
Definitely will happen: Richmond win a god damn final.
Definitely won’t happen: Essendon get a satisfying end to their poor taste comeback story.
Jay Croucher
Premiers: Adelaide.
Runners-up: Richmond.
Norm Smith medal: Brodie Smith.
Best finals player: Matt Crouch.
Most goals in finals: Lance Franklin.
Definitely will happen: Richmond fans begin to believe deep in the third quarter of the Grand Final that they have the premiership sewn up.
Definitely won’t happen: Richmond win the premiership.
Josh Elliott
Premiers: Sydney.
Runners-up: Adelaide.
Norm Smith medal: Zak Jones.
Best finals player: Josh P Kennedy (back-to-back).
Most goals in finals: Eddie Betts.
Definitely will happen: Loser of Port Adelaide vs West Coast cops the flat track bullies tag in perpetuity.
Definitely won’t happen: A pre-finals bye ever again, after both qualifying final winners lose their prelims.
Daniel Jeffrey
Premiers: GWS Giants (after a first-up loss to the Crows tonight)
Runners-up: Sydney Swans.
Norm Smith medal: Josh Kelly.
Best finals player: Josh P Kennedy.
Most goals in finals: Jeremy Cameron.
Definitely will happen: Port Adelaide crashing out in the first week, furthering their flat track bullies reputation.
Definitely won’t happen: A repeat of last year with the seventh-placed team winning the flag.
Tim Lane
Premiers: Sydney.
Runner-up: GWS.
Norm Smith: Buddy.
Best finals player: Luke Parker.
Most goals in finals: Buddy.
Definitely will happen: Big statement I know, but The Killers will be better than Meatloaf.
Definitely won’t happen: The volume of tears of 2016.
Cameron Rose
Premiers: Richmond.
Runners-up: Adelaide.
Norm Smith medal: Alex Rance.
Best finals player: Trent Cotchin.
Most goals in finals: Jack Riewoldt.
Definitely will happen: 90,000 Richmond supporters to the MCG for a preliminary final against GWS, the single biggest amount of people supporting one team at any AFL game in history.
Definitely won’t happen: Sydney winning the flag.
(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
Kishan Badrinath
Premiers: GWS.
Runners-up: Geelong.
Norm Smith medal: Callan Ward.
Best finals player: Patrick Dangerfield.
Most goals in finals: Jonathon Patton.
Definitely will happen: Don’t hate me Tigers fans – Richmond to go out in straight sets.
Definitely won’t happen: Fox Footy grow weary of talking about anything and everything Patrick Dangerfield does or doesn’t do.
Connor Bennett
Premiers: Sydney Swans.
Runners-up: Geelong Cats.
Norm Smith medal: Jarrad McVeigh. Come on, the man is a machine.
Best finals player: Patty Dangerfield. To make up for no Brownlow.
Most goals in finals: Someone who plays the most weeks, thinking Sydney, thinking Buddy.
Definitely will happen: Bruce McAvaney bursts multiple veins calling a magical Eddie Betts finals moment. Also Richmond to crash out in straight sets.
Definitely won’t happen: An all-Sydney final.
TomC
Premiers: Adelaide.
Runners Up: Geelong.
Norm Smith Medal: Matt Crouch.
Best finals player: Patrick Dangerfield.
Most goals in finals: Lance Franklin.
Definitely will happen: No matter who wins the Grand Final, it will be described as a ‘fairytale’ in the press for some tenuous reason or other.
Definitely won’t happen: The Killers’ post-match concert will be widely acknowledged as the highlight of Grand Final Day, overshadowing the match itself.
Dylan Carmody
Premiers: Adelaide.
Runners-up: Geelong.
Norm Smith medal: Eddie Betts.
Best finals player: Patrick Dangerfield.
Most goals in finals: Lance Franklin.
Definitely will happen: Toby Greene punches somebody.
Definitely won’t happen: Razor Ray keeping out of the headlines.
Stirling Coates
Premiers: GWS Giants.
Runners-up: Adelaide Crows.
Norm Smith: Josh Kelly.
Best finals player: Rory Sloane.
Most goals in finals: Eddie Betts.
Definitely will happen: Sydney’s recovery from an 0-6 start getting mentioned in every game.
Definitely won’t happen: Headline – ‘”The concessions meant nothing”: McGuire lauds effort of GWS players in first premiership.’
AdelaideDocker
Premiers: Adelaide.
Runners-up: Richmond (you win some, you lose some).
Norm Smith medal: Rory Sloane (appendi-what? pfffft!).
Best finals player: Jake Lever (T R A D E – B A I T); more realistically, it’ll be someone we don’t expect.
Most goals in finals: Eddie Betts.
Definitely will happen: An important player will get suspended.
Definitely won’t happen: People caring about Port versus West Coast.
Caitlin Doyle
Premiers: Sydney.
Runners-up: Adelaide.
Norm Smith medal: Josh Kennedy.
Best finals player: Josh Kennedy.
Most goals in finals: Eddie Betts.
Definitely will happen: Richmond supporters experience false hope.
Definitely won’t happen: Richmond actually succeed.
Stuart Thomas
Premiers: Sydney Swans.
Runners-up: Adelaide Crows.
Norm Smith medal: Dane Rampe.
Best finals player: Dane Rampe.
Most goals in finals: Buddy Franklin.
Definitely will happen: If Bruce gets a Sydney match, ‘special’ and ‘Buddy’ will be inextricably linked for ever.
Definitely won’t happen: Richmond will not win the flag (as much as it would please me and many others).
Sam Walker
Premiers: Sydney Swans.
Runners-up: Adelaide Crows (interstate final Victorians will love it).
Norm Smith medal: Luke Parker.
Best finals player: Isaac Heeney.
Most goals in finals: Lance Franklin.
Definitely will happen: Richmond getting bundled in straight sets, lid is already off at Tigerland so let’s disappoint them once again.
Definitely won’t happen: GWS and Sydney playing against each other.
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Outstanding from Nicholas Madden!
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