Author: Rohan Connolly

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon had to deal with grand final defeat in 2010, his Saints losing a grand final replay to Collingwood after drawing their first clash. But even that was loss on a smaller scale to the real tragedies that occurred in his life that same year.

An amazing result. Amazing scenes which followed it. But, appropriate to a moment of such historical magnitude, an amazing grand final in its own right. The Western Bulldogs’ breaking of a 62-year premiership drought is like some sort of fantasy.

There was always a chance this grand final was going to come down to one moment, one act that would finally separate two magnificent teams. And so it ended up being the case in Geelong’s gripping, dramatic premiership win.

We did say it would be close. Funnily enough, despite that, no one had considered the possibility that, as commentator Mike Williamson said during a succession of nail-biting grand finals in the 1960s and ’70s, ”we could be back here next week”. This time, we actually will.

Has there been a better grand final? Arguably not. Has there been a gutsier win than Sydney’s 10-point triumph over a warm favourite?