AFL season springs to life after pulsating opening week of finals
AFL football is dead. If not dead, then on life support. This is what we’ve been led to believe in a season sans precedent. It is not the barrow pushed by jaded curmudgeons of the press or snipers from rival codes – though listen to Australian Rugby League Commission chairman, Peter V’landys, and you’d swear the AFL is not gasping for air but in an advanced stage of rigor mortis – but by those in the thick of it. Season 2020 has demanded many things from followers of this great sport: patience, understanding, even a sense of humour. But above all it has demanded belief.
Belief that the game is not going the wrong way. The decay has been there for all to see: cautious, risk-free footy; armies behind the ball; low-scoring games; congestion where courage once was. More often than not in the regular season, it seemed teams played not to win but rather not to lose.
In round four, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson captured the mood of an industry when he said the game was in a “dreadful space”. In round six, the only person arguing with Damien Hardwick’s assessment of the RichmondSydney borefest as a “horrendous game of football” was his Swans counterpart, John Longmire.
Paradoxically finals footy can engender this restrained approach, the pressures associated with a fear of failure cultivating the want to “win ugly” instead of “lose pretty”. Not so in week one of the 2020 finals series. The competition’s best eight teams can take a bow for producing four contests that surpassed expectations. And then some. The lost aesthetic has been found. Reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. It is alive and well.
The quartet of matches were not carbon copies of each other but they shared themes of commonality: daring, endeavour, extreme competitiveness. And they were all good-looking contests, absorbing to the point they demanded your undivided attention. An aggregate margin of 35 points is some feat of parity, a record for the opening round of finals under this structure.
The tone was set on Thursday night when Port Adelaide flexed their muscles against Geelong to secure a home preliminary final. These were two outstanding teams of 2020 but also two teams with questions to answer in the post-season. The Power hadn’t won a match in September, let alone October, for six long years while the Cats brought with them to Adelaide a finals record under Chris Scott of four wins and 11 defeats. Both could have been circumspect, but neither was anything of the sort.
If Geelong marginally shaded an arm wrestle of a first half, Port turned on the jets in a third quarter that proved their minor premiership was no fluke. Their irrepressible ball movement was seen at its best as they put Geelong to the sword and they have the cattle to go deep, a good mix of gung-ho youth and senior guile. The Cats will lament some poor kicking for goal but on the flipside take heart from the fact they went close without a major from Tom Hawkins. They played well enough to win
but will need to reset quickly ahead of their tricky game against Collingwood. Having fielded the oldest team in VFL/ AFL history at a tick over 28 years, Scott knows time is running out to squeeze a flag out of this list.
Brisbane were no less impressive the following night at the Gabba. The Lions had their own demons to conquer, having fallen short against Richmond 15 times in succession – including a 41-point reverse in round 10 and a galling defeat at the corresponding stage last season where they had more scoring shots but still lost by 47 points. Brisbane’s challenge on Friday night was as much against themselves as it was against the Tigers, and they passed with flying colours. The Lions refused to compromise their swashbuckling way but added a harder nose, and some cerebral fortitude, to their kitbag. “I thought we showed tremendous mental strength to hang in the game there,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.
St Kilda drew on all reserves to hang in there in Saturday’s opening knockout against Western Bulldogs. Their first finals triumph in almost a decade was hard fought and exhilarating, with a grandstand finish thrown in courtesy of the Dogs’ late push for victory. The Saints’ task gets no easier – they shaded an outfit that tallied just one win against top-eight teams in 2020 and will likely face Richmond without injured talisman, Paddy Ryder, as well as Jake Carlisle and Ben Long – but featuring in week two of the finals is achievement in itself for Brett Ratten’s men.
The best was arguably saved for last when Collingwood ended West Coast’s season by a solitary point. The “dirty Pies” were given no chance but engineered an upset for the ages, one that was built around sheer force of will. Collingwood went in tall and the tallest of them all, Mason Cox, gave the Magpies the early edge with three goals in about as many minutes in the opening term. The Eagles threatened all night to run away with the game, but despite their centre clearance dominance Collingwood somehow found a way. Pieces of individual brilliance here, desperate smothers there, complete devotion everywhere. The Pies played brave footy. They took the game on and were rewarded with a winning score.
West Coast were unlucky to lose. The same could be said for Geelong, Richmond and the Bulldogs. Four finals across three days and each one of them memorable. In a year of setbacks and letdowns this was a shot of adrenaline the code needed. AFL football is dead? Hardly. Long live AFL football.