Hawthorn meet Brisbane at MCG for place in Grand Final
Hawthorn will meet Brisbane at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, September 19 for a place in this year's AFL Grand Final.
It is the first of the two preliminary finals. The winner goes straight through to the decider. The loser is out. First bounce is at 5.15pm AEST, according to the AFL's confirmed fixture AFL.
Hawthorn earned the week off and then the home-city final by beating Fremantle in a qualifying final on Fremantle's home turf. Fremantle finished the home-and-away season on top of the ladder as minor premiers. Hawthorn's defence did the heavy lifting, conceding just five goals from 57 inside-50s — those attacking entries into the forward 50-metre zone The Guardian.
Form is with the Hawks. They have one defeat from their past eight matches. The gap is longer than a decade. Hawthorn have not reached a grand final since 2015.
Brisbane took the harder road. The Lions came through a semi-final win over Adelaide to reach this stage. It is a familiar room. Brisbane are into a fifth consecutive preliminary final.
The stakes are high for Chris Fagan's side. Brisbane won back-to-back premierships in the past two years. They are now chasing three in a row, which would make them only the third VFL/AFL side in nearly seven decades to complete a three-peat.
History favours the Lions in this match-up. Hawthorn have failed to beat Brisbane in their past three clashes. Yet September is new territory. This will be the first final between Hawthorn and the modern-day Brisbane Lions.
Both coaches know this ground well. Sam Mitchell leads Hawthorn. Fagan leads Brisbane.
The forward lines carry plenty of firepower. For Hawthorn, Jack Gunston has kicked 61 goals and Nick Watson has kicked 57 ahead of the game. For Brisbane, Logan Morris leads with 67, Charlie Cameron has 55 and Kai Lohmann has 48. Small forwards like Watson, Cameron and Lohmann live on pace and crumbing the ball off packs. Tall targets like Morris and Gunston thrive on the contested mark, where a player holds a clean catch under physical pressure.
Brisbane also bring big-finals experience through Will Ashcroft. He is a two-time Norm Smith medallist, the award given to the best player on the ground in the Grand Final.
What makes this stand out is the contrast in space. Hawthorn want to move the ball fast and open the MCG's wide expanses. Brisbane want to lock it in, win the contest and let their forwards go to work. The team that holds its shape behind the ball will likely play off in the Grand Final.
