I did one in 2020, I did one in 2021…

I don’t know what happened in 2022….

But here we are, some 2023 AFL Grand Final FACTS.

The letter M

In 2010 & 2011, Collingwood’s captain & coach had a surname starting with M (Maxwell & Malthouse).

In 2023, Collingwood’s captain & coach have a surname starting with M (Moore & McRae).

A Buckley and Pendlebury combination just didn’t work in 2018… probably because BP is associated with enormous disaster,

Reoccurring Grand Final matchup

Collingwood-Brisbane is the first Grand Final matchup to occur 3 times in the AFL era (2002-03, 2023), breaking a tie with Hawthorn/West Coast (1991 & 2015), Hawthorn/Sydney (2012 & ’14), Sydney/West Coast (2005-06) and West Coast/Geelong (1992 & 1994).

Prior to the Bears/Lions merger in 1996, Collingwood also played neighbours Fitzroy in 4 Grand Finals between 1903 and 1922, although they all occurred long before Fitzroy became the Lions, which was in 1957.

Sweet Sixteen

Collingwood are having their third attempt at drawing level with Essendon & Carlton on 16 premierships – It would be the first time since 1981 that Collingwood has held at least a share of the most premierships, when they were tied with Carlton on 13 apiece after the Blues defeated them in the ’81 Grand Final…

Carlton won their 14th flag in 1982, and have held the record in some form ever since.

A winning record

As of the Preliminary Final, the merged Brisbane Lions have returned to an all-time Win/Loss record of 50% for the first time since Round 10 of 2015, with their current record sitting at 308 wins, 6 draws and 308 defeats.

Funnily enough, the Lions have the best winning percentage against Collingwood out of any club in league history (60.51%), with their 23 wins against the Magpies from 38 games being tied for their most against any opponent, having also recorded 23 wins against Carlton after the Preliminary Final.

Conversely, a Collingwood win would give them their 1600th win in the history of the VFL/AFL… No other current club has even hit 1500 (Carlton is 2nd on 1472).

Brownlow Medalists in the Grand Final

Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale is the first reigning Brownlow Medalist to appear in the Grand Final since Dustin Martin for Richmond in 2017, who also made history and won the Norm Smith Medal that year, making him the first player to win both medals in the same season.

The record of Brownlow Medalists in the Grand Final has been mixed in recent decades, especially if you aren’t playing for Geelong.

Sam Mitchell lost with Hawthorn in 2012

Dane Swan lost with Collingwood in 2011

Gary Ablett won with Geelong in 2009

Jimmy Bartel won with Geelong in 2007

Adam Goodes lost with Sydney in 2006

Ben Cousins lost with West Coast in 2005.

Nathan Buckley lost with Collingwood in 2003.

Although, if you ignore the arbitrary cutoff of 20 years, Simon Black (2002) and Jason Akermanis (2001) both won the Brownlow & Premiership for Brisbane, a feat Neale will look to replicate.

Another marker that Neale is trying to replicate – The last club captain to win the Brownlow Medal and the Premiership in the same year was Collingwood great Syd Coventry in 1927, who is the only player to ever achieve the marker.

The last club captain to win the Brownlow and make the Grand Final in the same year?

Ben Cousins for West Coast in 2005.

The Daniher Family and Grand Finals

Brisbane’s Joe Daniher is the fourth member of the Daniher family to play in a Grand Final, and the first that didn’t play in one for Essendon.

His father Anthony played in the Essendon team that lost to Collingwood in 1990, uncle Terry played in 4 Essendon Grand Finals (1983-84-85 & 90) and won in 1984-85, uncle Chris also played in the 1990 team & the winning 1993 team, while uncle Neale never played in one, but he coached Melbourne to the Grand Final in 2000… ironically, the Dees would lose to Essendon.

Of course, Terry played his part in one of the biggest Grand Final brawls ever seen in 1990, when he knocked out Collingwood’s Gavin Brown, which, in addition to striking Craig Starcevich, led to Daniher being suspended for 12 matches.

Alastair Lynch looks like a choir boy in comparison.

The September Colliwobbles

A rather famous stat that has appeared in the last month is Collingwood hasn’t won a Premiership in September since the upset of Melbourne in 1958, with 1990 and 2010 both being won in October due to the Magpies drawing finals against West Coast and St Kilda respectively.

In both cases, Collingwood’s drawn finals led to the AFL changing the rules (First with the introduction of extra time in finals outside of the Grand Final in the 1990s, then the abolishment of the Grand Final Replay in 2016).

However, it isn’t quite the longest current September premiership drought, which is held by the Western Bulldogs (1954).

Chris Fagan is old… allegedly

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan will break the record as both the oldest first-time Grand Final coach and the oldest Grand Final coach in league history (62 years, 99 days) – Stan Alves was 51 when he got St Kilda to the 1997 Grand Final, and Mick Malthouse for Collingwood in 2011 had the oldest coach record at 58 years & 45 days.

Fancy that, another Grand Final moment Brisbane have taken from Collingwood.

Fagan is also the first Grand Final coach who didn’t play a VFL/AFL game since Jack Worrall in 1912 (Worrall coached 5 premierships from 6 Grand Finals with Carlton & Essendon) – Although, Worrall did play for Fitzroy in the VFA prior to formation of the VFL.

Further to it, out of all the current coaches in the league, Fagan is the only one who never played a game, full stop.

Taking on your old club in a Grand Final

Former Lion Jack Crisp hasn’t missed a game for Collingwood since he crossed from Brisbane as part of the Dayne Beams trade in 2014, now holding the 3rd-longest consecutive games streak in league history…

While Collingwood coach Craig McRae, who featured in all 3 of Brisbane’s premierships, can become the first coach since Mick Malthouse for Collingwood against St Kilda in 2010 to coach a flag against the club he played for (Malthouse played 53 games for St Kilda).

Other examples of this occurring include:

Malcolm Blight coaching Adelaide against North Melbourne in 1998.

Denis Pagan coaching North against South Melbourne/Sydney in 1996 (Pagan played for both clubs).

And Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes coaching Melbourne against Richmond in 1940 (Hughes is responsible for Melbourne becoming the Demons in the mid-1930s).

Other examples, although winding up on the losing side, are Luke Beveridge the Western Bulldogs against Melbourne in 2021, Leon Cameron with GWS against Richmond in 2019, and the aforementioned Neale Daniher coaching Melbourne against Essendon in 2000.

Premierships at different clubs

Last year’s Norm Smith Medalist Isaac Smith became the 31st player to win Premierships at 2 clubs (Hawthorn & Geelong), and this year’s candidate for the 32nd player is Brisbane’s Josh Dunkley, who was 19 when he played for the Western Bulldogs in their 2016 premiership.

Funnily enough, Dunkley played in that Grand Final against Sydney’s Tom Mitchell, who will line up for Collingwood on Saturday.

The gap between flags

Scott Pendlebury & Steele Sidebottom are the only survivors from Collingwood’s 2010 flag (Pendlebury won the Norm Smith in the replay, Sidebottom was Collingwood’s youngest player), and a win on Saturday would give them both the record for the longest gap between premierships (13 years), which is currently set at 12 by Doug Wade (1963-75) and Drew Banfield (1994-2006).

It would also make them the first Collingwood players to play in multiple premierships for the Magpies since Thorold Merrett, Michael Twomey & Murray Weideman all played in the 1953 & 1958 premierships, and fun fact, Weideman is the last 17-year-old to play in a senior premiership (1953) and was the acting captain in 1958, making him Collingwood’s youngest-ever premiership captain.

Other fun note – Thorold Merrett’s 90th birthday will be on Saturday.

Collingwood don’t seem to like big Grand Final crowds

The Grand Finals in question:

1956 (Lost to Melbourne, crowd was 115,902)

1964 (Lost to Melbourne, crowd was 102,471)

1966 (Lost to St Kila, crowd was 102,055)

1970 (Lost to Carlton, crowd was a record 121,696)

1977 (Drew with North Melbourne, crowd was 108,224)

1979 (Lost to Carlton, crowd was 113,545)

1980 (Lost to Richmond, crowd was 113,461)

1981 (Lost to Carlton, crowd was 112,964)

2010 (Drew with St Kilda, crowd was 100,012)

2011 (Lost to Geelong, crowd was 99,537)

2018 (Lost to West Coast, crowd was 100,022)

0 wins, 2 draws, 9 defeats.

As for their wins:

In 1958, the crowd was 97,956

In 1990, the crowd was 98,944

In the Replay of 2010, the crowd was 93,853.

Still, if you think that’s something, this weekend will mark the first time Brisbane have played in front of a crowd exceeding 92,000.

2001 & 2002 were the last 2 years with the old Ponsford Stand at the MCG, putting the crowds at 91,482 (2001) and 91,817 (2002), which is still Brisbane’s greatest-ever attendance for any game.

Then in 2003 & 2004, the MCG was capacity limited due to the Northern Stand redevelopments for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, so the crowd in 2003 (The last year of the old Members Stand) was 79,451, and 2004 (The last year of the old Olympic Stand) was 77,671.

But this time around you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll be just over 100,000 in attendance.

And finally… the 1-point final Premiership drought

Since St Kilda won the 1966 Grand Final against Collingwood by 1 point, there have been 13 finals (As of last Friday) decided by 1 point.

The only one of those 13 winning teams that went on to win the premiership were the 2006 West Coast Eagles, who won the Grand Final against Sydney by 1 point, after losing the Qualifying Final to the same opponent by 1 point.

Here’s the full list.

1976: North defeated Carlton by 1 point in a Preliminary Final, North lost the Grand Final to Hawthorn.

1981: Collingwood defeated Fitzroy by 1 point in a Semi Final, Collingwood lost the Grand Final to Carlton.

1986: Fitzroy defeated Essendon by 1 point in an Elimination Final, Fitzroy lost to Hawthorn in the Preliminary Final.

1996: The Brisbane Bears defeated Essendon by 1 point in a Week One final, Brisbane lost the Preliminary Final to North Melbourne

1996: Sydney defeated Essendon by 1 point (After the siren) in the Preliminary Final, Sydney lost the Grand Final to North.

1999: Carlton defeated Essendon by 1 point in the Preliminary Final, Carlton lost the Grand Final to North Melbourne.

NOW, THE OUTLIER:

2006: Sydney defeated West Coast by 1 point in the Qualifying Final, West Coast defeated Sydney by 1 point in the Grand Final.

Since then:

2020: Collingwood defeated West Coast by 1 point in the Elimination Final, Collingwood lost the Semi Final to Geelong.

2021: GWS defeated Sydney by 1 point in the Elimination Final, GWS lost the Semi Final to Geelong.

2021: Western Bulldogs defeated Brisbane by 1 point in the Semi Final, the Bulldogs lost the Grand Final to Melbourne.

2022: Sydney defeated Collingwood by 1 point in the Preliminary Final, Sydney lost the Grand Final to Geelong.

2023: Collingwood defeated GWS by 1 point in the Preliminary Final, we will find out the end result on Saturday.