Swans 'starting to unravel' as Lion's freak Aker tribute sets MCG ...

14 hours ago

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Brisbane is enjoying the best feeling in footy, playing out the final minutes of a premiership triumph after blowing out Sydney in the 2024 AFL Grand Final. Follow live below!

The Lions turned on the jets in the second term, with a seven-point lead becoming 46 at the main break, and then 73 at the final change.

It will be the Brisbane Lions’ fourth AFL premiership and first in 21 years, with Sydney staring down yet another immensely disappointing Grand Final performance.

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MATCH CENTRE: Sydney Swans vs Brisbane Lions live scores, stats and updates

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Follow Sydney vs Brisbane in the 2024 AFL Grand Final in our live blog below!

SECOND HALF

Logan McDonald, who had just one disposal in the first half after coming into the game under an injury cloud (ankle), was subbed out for Braeden Campbell just minutes into the third quarter.

The Swans got a let-off when Charlie Cameron received a free kick for being held, basically at the top of the goal square, but missed the set shot.

Brisbane still got the opener eight minutes into the third quarter, Cal Ah Chee’s third goal blowing the margin out to 53 points.

Isaac Heeney got a much-needed major for the Swans but a piece of forward 50 stoppage brilliance by Will Ashcroft gave the Lions the goal right back.

A huge grab and banana from Cam Rayner put the margin out to 60 points and seemingly beyond any doubt.

In the final seconds of the third term, Ah Chee kicked his fourth running into an open goalsquare, moving into Norm Smith contention along with Will Ashcroft and Lachie Neale.

The game then slowly moved towards its inevitable conclusion.

'That is ROUGH' - Zorko cops brutal 50 | 00:38

SECOND QUARTER

After a cagey start to the second term, a brilliant piece of transition play heavily featuring Lachie Neale and capped off by Kai Lohmann’s third goal saw Brisbane threatening to break away.

However a push by the Lions’ Zac Bailey was missed in the build-up.

In perhaps a piece of karma, a brutally unfair 50-metre penalty against Dayne Zorko allowed Sydney to get the much-needed response through Robbie Fox, trailing 33-26.

“That is not correct! Oh umpire... he got to the right spot!” Dermott Brereton said on SEN radio.

Kai Lohmann had a shot at his fourth goal, following the Lions’ ninth mark inside 50 through a quarter and a half, but missed a difficult set shot to make it 37-26.

But they quickly added their 10th and 11th marks inside 50, Joe Daniher and Callum Ah Chee both kicking truly for a 49-26 lead.

Jarrod Berry intercepted a rushed Swans kick out of defence and booted truly from 40 metres out to add Brisbane’s third in a row, extending the lead out to 29 points.

The only bad news at this point for the Lions was Cam Rayner being forced to the bench after a brutal collision.

Yet a freakish Eric Hipwood goal from the pocket showed the Lions could not be stopped, and Cal Ah Chee then added another. Suddenly it was a staggering 67-26 advantage.

“This is starting to unravel,” James Brayshaw said on Seven, in something of an understatement.

Sydney’s Hayden McLean had a chance to counter the momentum after a big mark at the other end but missed his set shot from right in front.

Brisbane took an 11.7 (73) to 4.3 (27) lead into halftime. Their 46-point lead was bigger than the largest halftime deficit ever overcome in a V/AFL Grand Final, the 44 point comeback by Carlton over Collingwood in 1970.

Daniher's future in the spotlight | 02:11

FIRST QUARTER

Brisbane appeared to have the opening goal of the game after Lachie Neale played on from an infringement on Charlie Cameron, but the mark was instead paid to Cameron (and advantage cannot be paid from a mark), and the forward missed the set shot from 40 metres out. He still showed promising signs with two great tackles in the ensuing minutes.

A few minutes later Joe Daniher kicked across the face from his own set shot, on a similar angle as seen during his heroics late in the semi-final comeback. It was not the start the Lions, who famously struggled with accuracy at times during the season, would have wanted.

Will Hayward ended up nabbing the first goal for Sydney, playing advantage from a tunnelling free kick paid to Joel Amartey, before Tom Papley goalled within seconds from the ensuing centre bounce for an early 13-2 lead.

A clean bit of ball movement through the corridor with Kai Lohmann on the end of it got Brisbane on the board, with their uncontested ball movement too hard to stop.

An excellent centre clearance enabled Lohmann to snap a second just moments later, and the Lions led 14-13.

They were showing success with both modes of their game, taking 31 marks with seven minutes left in the term, but also moving the ball at pace by hand, as they did in the second half against Geelong a week earlier.

Nick Blakey was left angry after appearing to receive high contact in a contest on the 50-metre arc, the Lions instead playing on and goalling through Hugh McCluggage, but an excellent James Rowbottom set shot soon gave Sydney their third goal in return.

Lizard FUMES as dubious call costs Swans | 00:32

More clean ball movement allowed Charlie Cameron to snap the Lions’ fourth with seconds left in the quarter, and they went into the opening break up 4.3 (27) to 3.1 (19).

In an extremely promising sign for Brisbane, they had taken 46 marks by quarter-time. They are 30-3 over the last three years when taking at least 110 marks for the match.

1PM — FINAL TEAMS REVEALED

Footy bosses Danny Daly (Brisbane) and Leon Cameron (Sydney) both revealed their sides will go in unchanged.

It means Logan McDonald is fine to line up for the Swans despite fitness concerns.

Braeden Campbell (Sydney) and Conor McKenna (Brisbane) were named the subs.

Mother & daughter's powerful MCG moment | 01:03

10.45AM — ‘DON’T WANT IT LEAKING IN GF WEEK’: DANIHER’S $1M CALL IS ‘REAL’

Triple premiership Tiger Jack Riewoldt says he’d be surprised if Joe Daniher retired if the Lions claimed the 2024 flag.

A bombshell report on Friday night sent shockwaves through the footy industry, with 7 News Melbourne reporting Daniher take stock of his professional career after the Lions’ Grand Final against the Sydney Swans.

Herald Sun reported Jon Ralph on Saturday morning declared the Daniher story was “real” and “not media speculation”, adding: “If Brisbane was to win this premiership, he’d be much more likely to call it quits.”

The Lions told Ralph that Daniher was indeed “considering the shape of his life after football with his family”, but stressed he was contracted until the end of 2025 and remained hopeful he’d play on.

“He’s due $1 million … but he’s never been defined by football, he’s certainly never been defined by money,” Ralph said.

Speaking on Fox Footy on Saturday, Riewoldt said the fact Daniher was mulling his future wasn’t surprising in terms of his reclusive nature. But the three-time premiership player suggested a Lions flag might only entice Daniher to play on.

“It doesn’t surprise me in terms of hearing what Joe Daniher’s character is about. He lives in Byron Bay and in the shadows a little bit and stays away (from the limelight). But you just wouldn’t want it leaking Grand Final week,” Riewoldt said.

“If the Lions win today and you get a taste of success, there is no way you’re retiring once you’ve gone to the top of the mountain because you just get this taste of what it’s like.

“The Lions aren’t going to be falling off the cliff any time soon, they’ve got a superstar team in all aspects of what they’re about. Once you win one, your mind goes straight to winning two.”

Lions out for grand final redemption | 02:14

6AM – SWANS V LIONS PREVIEW

At the Swans (finished 1st, won QF vs GWS, won PF vs Port Adelaide), it’s about turning a minor premiership into a flag, as the last three teams to finish on top of the ladder did.

But it’s also about avoiding a growing Grand Final hoodoo. John Longmire became a premiership coach in his second season of 2012, but has lost all three Grand Finals since; two of them seeing his Swans be utterly uncompetitive.

The ghosts of 2022’s capitulation against Geelong will be fresh in the memory, with over half of Sydney’s 2024 Grand Final side playing in that loss. They cannot allow themselves to be haunted.

For the Lions (finished 5th, won EF vs Carlton, won SF vs GWS, won PF vs Geelong), it’s a unique tale of living up to expectations – but doing it the hard way.

Chris Fagan’s Brisbane has been the dominant team of this decade but does not have the premiership to prove it. Despite winning so many home and away games, this is only their second Grand Final appearance in this era of success.

The brutally narrow 2023 loss to Collingwood was not the reason for 2024’s slow start – a rash of ACL ruptures deserves more credit – but it didn’t exactly help, either. Still Fagan spearheaded a second-half surge (and was named Coach of the Year for it), recovering what looked like a lost campaign.

'The whole squad should get medals' | 00:34

Going undersold amid the Lions’ run to a second consecutive Grand Final is the fact they’re trying to become the second team this century to win the flag from outside the top four.

The last, 2016’s Western Bulldogs, also finished their fairytale run by beating a Sydney side that finished on top of the ladder.

This is the first time these clubs have met in an AFL Grand Final, though in previous guises, they met in the 1899 VFL Grand Final – when Fitzroy beat South Melbourne by a point.

Sydney is seeking its sixth V/AFL premiership, and third since relocating to New South Wales, joining the 2005 and 2012 triumphs.

Brisbane is seeking its fourth V/AFL premiership since the merger of the Bears and Fitzroy, adding to their 2001, 2002 and 2003 crowns.

The 2024 AFL Grand Final gets underway at 2:30pm AEST from the MCG.

GRAND FINAL TEAMS

Sydney Swans

B: D.Rampe – C, T.McCartin, N.Blakey

HB: J.Lloyd, H.Cunningham, L.Melican

C: J.Jordan, Ch. Warner, O.Florent

HF: L.Parker, L.McDonald, E.Gulden

F: T.Papley, J.Amartey, W.Hayward

FOLL: B.Grundy, I.Heeney, J.Rowbottom

I/C: M.Roberts, B.Campbell, J.McInerney, H.McLean, R.Fox