Swans and Lions both need to bury the demons of recent defeats in deciders in one of the most eagerly anticipated clashes in years
Isaac Heeney has been in sizzling form for Sydney Swans ahead of their 2024 AFL grand final against Brisbane Lions at the MCG.Isaac Heeney has been in sizzling form for Sydney Swans ahead of their 2024 AFL grand final against Brisbane Lions at the MCG.e just buggered it up today,” John Longmire said after the 2022 grand final. “It’ll take a long time to get over that.” That afternoon, they were a middleweight fighting a heavyweight.
Superstar forward Lance Franklin retired and their captain Callum Mills was in a sling. But a far more mature, better balanced and premiership-ready team emerged this year. They’ve found the right mix of height, talent, role, and experience. They complement and gravitate around a trio of star midfielders – the immaculate Isaac Heeney, the exquisitely skilled Errol Gulden and the turbocharged Warner.
But it’s never that easy, of course. For a start, as unencumbered by the past as they seem, Heeney, Gulden and many other Swans will be all too aware of their output two years ago. Heeney, the player of this year’s finals series, didn’t touch the ball until an hour into the game that day against the Cats, and Gulden finished with less than a dozen possessions.
No one at Sydney would dare say this publicly. But they would have loved another crack at Geelong this Saturday. Partly because of what happened in 2022 but also because the Cats looked so banged up at the end of the preliminary final. Brisbane go in without their first-choice ruck Oscar McInerney, and will have to put their faith in a man who has played two senior games this year. But they’ve beaten Sydney five of the last six times they’ve played them.
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