Australian Football

Finals Week 1

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Premiership Season 2019 - Finals Week 1 Review

Total Crowd 209,348 (Avg 52,337)

The opening weekend of the 2019 AFL Finals series produced three games that were not at all close, and one match that was close but, paradoxically, never really felt like it was. In the Elimination Finals, the higher teams prevailed, although one of those results was not really expected, while the Qualifying Finals saw both of the lower ranked sides win, a first under the current top eight format.

With the pre-finals bye now in its fourth season, Week 1 began with the 'traditional' Thursday night match, this year an Elimination Final in Perth. Essendon fans would have taken an omen from the past going into their match against West Coast, the Eagles having succumbed to the Western Bulldogs in an equivalent Thursday night fixture in 2016, the Dogs on their way to a fairy tale flag.

But there were no such heroics from the Bombers. The Dons did manage to kick the opening goal of the match, and two of the first three. As the match wore on, though, West Coast's superiority shone through, and they extended their lead in each of the four quarters to win by 55 points and live to fight another day. 

For Essendon, whether the season was a success or not depends very much on whose opinion is canvassed. The Bombers returned to finals action after missing in 2018 but some believe they needed to at least win one final to make 2019 a success. As a result, coach John Worsfold is under pressure, a somewhat odd situation given that (a) Essendon's position improved this year and (b) his contract has a year to run. But the fact that the Dons have not won a final in fifteen years weighs heavily.

Friday night's First Qualifying Final between top side Geelong and fourth-placed Collingwood was expected to be a dour struggle. The final score of 61-51 in the Magpies' favour suggests that it was, but it does not go anywhere near to telling the full story. The Magpies burst out of the blocks with the first three goals of the match, never to be headed.

To a degree, Collingwood, to borrow a soccer term, 'parked the bus' for much of the remainder of the match, setting up a defensive wall that Geelong struggled to breach. In doing so, though, the Pies did not create many of their own scoring opportunities and this left the door ajar for the Cats, who somehow managed to get within two goals late in the final term.

A last-minute snap from Cat Tom Hawkins would have brought Geelong within a goal and set up the possibility for the Cats to steal victory, but his kick just missed and Collingwood held on to win by ten points. 

Collingwood earns the week off with the win and they will host the winner of next Saturday's Brisbane-GWS game in a Preliminary Final. Geelong will return to the MCG on Friday to face West Coast. Many are forecasting a 'straight sets' exit for the Cats, but they will be hoping to regain the form that took them to the top of the ladder.

Saturday's Elimination Final at the the Sydney Showground between GWS and the Western Bulldogs promised to be a much closer affair, but the two sides did not deliver on that promise — or, at least, the Bulldogs didn't.

Having been on the end of a ten-goal hiding at the hands of the Dogs at the same venue only three weeks earlier the Giants went into this match as slight underdogs despite having finished higher on the ladder. But they made a mockery of the odds by punishing the Bulldogs with a far more physical approach than they had adopted in their previous encounter.

The young Pups, easily the most inexperienced of the eight finalists, absorbed the GWS punches for a half, but staggered in the third term before falling to the canvas as the Giants delivered knock-out blows in the last quarter.

The Giants progress to a Semi-Final against Brisbane and that Gabba. The Bulldogs will be disappointed by the way they bowed out but buoyed by a strong second half of the season, one which produced eight wins from their last eleven home-and-away matches, and saw them produce the sort of footy that took them to a flag in 2016. With a very young list, expectations for the next five years are high.

Like the Giants and Dogs, the Lions and Tigers met for the second occasion in a short space of time, with Brisbane looking to turn the tables as GWS had done. Richmond had comfortably account for the Lions at the MCG in Round 23 but this Qualifying Final was at Brisbane's home ground, and they were looking to learn lessons from that loss.

Those lessons looked to have been well learned in the first quarter. The Lions were aggressive and impressive, catching the Tigers on the back foot. This set up a term in which they had ten scoring shots to two, but they wasted most of theirs while Richmond wasted none. At quarter time, Brisbane led 12 points, 4.6 to 3.0 and the margin should have been far greater.

The seasoned Tigers took the first break to take stock and reset, and in the second term worked their way back into the game and gradually take control. They kicked 4.3 to Brisbane's 0.4, the Lions again missing gettable chances, to lead by 11 points at the long break, before setting up a big win with a seven-goal burst in the 'premiership' third quarter.

By game's end, Richmond was ahead by 47 points. It was in some ways an unfair margin, as evidenced by the final score, the Tigers kicking 18.4 to Brisbane's 8.17. The Lions' inaccuracy certainly cost them dearly, while Richmond's contrasting accuracy exacerbated Brisbane's predicament, although it was often the result of the Tigers' excellent play delivering an easy shot at goal.

As disappointing as the loss was, the Lions will take heart from the fact that most of their players were finals 'virgins' on Saturday night, and they will learn much from an encounter against the battle-hardened Tigers. They will look to use the knowledge gained against GWS in their cut-throat Semi on Saturday night.

Richmond will enjoy the week off with Collingwood before taking on Geelong or West Coast in a Preliminary Final as they seek premiership redemption after bowing out unexpectedly early in 2018.

R-23, Ladder