Jacob Hopper gets a handball away for the Giants during the grand finalists’ last clash in Round 17. Photo: AFL MEDIA

2019 AFL GRAND FINAL
RICHMOND v GWS (MCG, Saturday 2.30pm local time)

And then there were two. After six months of gruelling competition, the wheat has been separated from the chaff and Richmond faces Greater Western Sydney for the 2019 AFL premiership on Saturday.

The Tigers are aiming to draw level with Melbourne on 12 titles, while the Giants are out to emulate Port Adelaide by holding the cup aloft in just their eighth season in the AFL.

As if grand final week needed to get any bigger, Richmond dropped one of the biggest bombshells in VFL/AFL history by naming Marlion Pickett to become the first player in 67 years to make his debut in a grand final.

It’s quite a sensational story, especially when one considers he wasn’t even at the club at the start of the year. He was picked up in the mid-season rookie draft, and after experiencing a rough start to life, including serving over two years’ jail as a teenager, the 27-year-old has the chance to achieve the ultimate redemption.

But for every heart-warming story during grand final week, there are plenty of heartbreakers, and Jack Graham is the unlucky man to miss out for Richmond after dislocating his shoulder five times during last week’s preliminary final against Geelong.

Spare a thought, also, for Sydney Stack, whose recovery from a syndesmosis ankle injury was probably completed a week too late, while teammates Jack Ross and Kamdyn McIntosh will not only miss out on the chance for an AFL premiership, but were also pulled from the Tigers’ VFL grand final winning team as a precaution ahead of the senior grand final – very stiff.

Alex Rance has known his fate for some time, suffering a season-ending knee injury in round one, but it won’t make looking on this weekend any easier for him, while Jack Higgins will no doubt ponder what might have been, too, as he continues his recovery from a brain bleed.

The Giants aren’t untouched by agony either, with Lachie Keeffe, who played so well against Collingwood last week, and Bobby Hill both making way for superstars Toby Greene and Lachie Whitfield.

Joining those two on the sidelines are Stephen Coniglio (knee), Callan Ward (knee) and Jon Patton (knee), who have been at the Giants since the start, as well as Brett Deledio (calf), who also cruelly missed out on Richmond’s 2017 flag a year after leaving them following 12 seasons at Punt Road.

But all of that will be forgotten come 2.30pm on Saturday because there is a game to be won and football immortality to be achieved.

Richmond heads into this game on the back of an 11-game winning streak – something the Tigers haven’t achieved since 1980 which, in a good omen for them, was also a premiership year. They haven’t won 12 games in a row since 1932-33, a period which also included a flag.

And their recent record at the MCG is phenomenal, with 34 wins from their last 37 games at the venue. Although one of those losses was a September shocker against Collingwood last year, and GWS will be hoping to inflict another one this weekend.

The Giants’ record at the ground isn’t too flash, but after losing 15 of their previous 18 games there, they turned it around spectacularly last week to claim one of the great finals victories against Collingwood.

The two sides have met at the MCG five times, with Richmond winning all five by an average margin of four goals.

They also met twice during the 2019 home-and-away season, with GWS winning the first of those matches by 49 points at Giants Stadium, and Richmond taking the honours the second time round by 27 points on a wet MCG in round 17.

It’s hard to know how much both teams will read into their respective defeats in those meetings. In round three, Richmond was missing Jack Riewoldt, Dylan Grimes, Bachar Houli, Josh Caddy, Shai Bolton, Ivan Soldo, Marlion Pickett and Liam Baker, while in the return bout, GWS didn’t have Josh Kelly, Jeremy Finlayson, Matt De Boer, Shane Mumford or Aidan Corr at its disposal. All of those players have been named this week.

But the Giants would probably take more from their defeat given Coniglio hurt his knee in the opening minutes and despite that huge blow, and trailing by 26 points at quarter-time, they only got outscored by one point in the final three terms.

GWS also has the slight edge over Richmond in recent history, winning four of their last seven encounters.

This contest will be a dramatic clash of styles, with Richmond relying a lot on turnover ball from defence and surging the ball forward at all cost in chaotic fashion with heavy use of handball.

The Giants, on the other hand, are a stoppage heavy and contested kind of team which prefers to slow the pace of the game down and turn it into a grind.

There’s no question that the Giants are at their best when they ramp up the physicality and aggression. Not only is their team full of exquisitely talented players, but it’s also chock-full of grunt, which is perfect for finals footy, as has been proven again this year.

But the Tigers are no shrinking violets themselves, and much of their success is built on their attack on the man with the ball. During the home-and-away season, Richmond was ranked No.1 for tackles on the differentials, while GWS were equal eighth.

When Richmond gets a full head of steam up, as it showed in its finals against the Lions and Cats this September, it’s almost impossible to stop.

The Tigers are arguably the most efficient and well-drilled team in the AFL, but then, GWS is ranked first and second for uncontested and contested possessions respectively, compared to Richmond which is 12th and 16th. Those are definitely areas the Giants will try to exploit.

One thing is for sure, Richmond wouldn’t want to start the grand final the way it began the qualifying final against Brisbane or preliminary final against Geelong because the Tigers will run the risk of being jumped and made to pay a hefty price by the Giants.

The biggest match-up of the day is arguably the Giants’ super-tagger Matt De Boer, who could well go to Richmond champion Dustin Martin. Given the former Docker has restricted Marcus Bontempelli (twice), David Swallow, Lachie Neale and Scott Pendlebury to a grand total of 54 disposals in the past five games, Martin could be in for a very torrid affair.

Elsewhere, Richmond defenders Dylan Grimes and David Astbury will have the huge tasks of nullifying GWS forwards Jeremy Cameron and Jeremy Finlayson, while Giants duo Phil Davis and Sam Taylor will need to quell Richmond’s Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt.

There’s also the prospect of GWS enforcer Shane Mumford taking it upon himself to finish the year with a bang – literally – against Toby Nankervis and Ivan Soldo in the ruck.

It promises to be a great contest deserving of the last Saturday in September, but Richmond should be too good in the end and will make it two flags in three years to stake its claim as one of the best teams of the modern era.

RONNY’S TIP: Richmond by 17 points (Norm Smith Medal – Tom Lynch, Richmond)
ROCO’S TIP: Richmond by 40 points (Norm Smith Medal – Bachar Houli, Richmond)

RONNY’S SEASON TOTAL: 128
ROCO’S SEASON TOTAL: 134