The reigning champs were knocked onto the ropes by a Sydney uppercut last week – and it’s the midfield stars who need to throw a punch.
Plus why Fremantle’s biggest risk is themselves and much more ahead of the semi-finals, as well as the Fox Footy commentary roster for both games, in Foxfooty.com.au’s ultimate weekly preview: The Blowtorch!
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BRISBANE ‘SHOWBAGS’ PUT ON NOTICE … AND THE STAR WHO CUT BREAK THE RUT
Fox Footy’s Ben Dixon called it about Sydney’s midfield dominance over Brisbane: “They kept punching them in the face”.
But what did the reigning premiers do about it in the qualifying final?
Statistics show the Lions managed just 22 points from clearance – their second worst result in 130 games.
And it was their big names of Lachie Neale and Will Ashcroft put on notice by the First Crack Preview team.
‘Cocky’ Lions slammed after Swans loss | 02:25
“When there’s only three games to go, you can ask for a special effort,” David King said.
“Ive got no doubt Chris Fagan will back his guys in but are they showstoppers or showbags – which are full of you know what.
“We want to see whether they can address their issues.
“The problem for them is it’s their best players.
“It’s probably going to take someone to stand at the front of the group and ask for a special effort, because it’s not just going to happen. I think you need to be called out. Put under the grill from the players.
“I think the coach can only do so much.
“If a senior core leader come up to you and challenged you, and challenged Lachie Neale or challenged Will Aschroft to be better, to get better without the footy, I think you can get a response.”
Zorko & Bailey sign on for Brisbane | 02:05
Leigh Montagna said Lion Josh Dunkley was the man who had “the right to look those blokes in the eye and demand more”.
“It was against the makeshift Sydney Swans,” King said.
“It wasn’t Warner, Heeney, Gulden that got the job done against them.
“It’s not offensively, we know what they can do ball in hand and when the flow is going their way. It’s without the footy that really is the concern.”
Since Round 18, Brisbane are ranked the AFL’s worst for points from centre bounce – outscored by an average of 12 points a game.
“That in a small margin game is really difficult to find somewhere else,” King lamented.
“You stress other areas of your make up if you have to play a bit more aggressively out of the back half, or take risks you don’t necessarily want to take.”
Fox Footy showed vision of both Ashcroft and Neale failing to defend without the ball.
“There’s Lachie, just throw the towel in. I’ve seen him harder at contest and for longer than what he’s doing at the moment,” King said.
“I think they’ve got to challenge him.”
‘We got delivered a few home truths’ | 01:40
“As soon as Lachie Neale was shut down, it was like one hand behind the back. They were turning around going it’s up to us but they couldn’t ignite,” Dixon added.
“They (Sydney) kept punching them in the face.”
“The mindset that Brisbane had, it’ll turn… she’ll be right. They thought it would happen without having to do doing the work,” Leigh Montagna said.
“It’s only a one second lapse… but in finals footy that’s enough.
“I think they would have learnt a valuable lesson.”
King called for the Lions to look to star Charlie Cameron as an option in the middle – despite their relunctance in recent years to do so.
“That’s exactly what they need,” he said of Cameron’s defensive mindset.
“You might have to give up some offensive flow… but you get that (defensive pressure).
“He just stays in the fight.
“He’s not a clearance player… but he loves tackling and loves tackling at speed. He hunts after players.
“Instead of (Cam) Rayner going in, I’d be putting Charlie in. Instead of (Zac) Bailey going in, which is more of the same problem, have a look at your best tackler.
“They can’t keep getting beaten the same way time and time again.”
‘DON’T BE A VICTIM’: WHY FREO’S BIGGEST THREAT… COULD BE FREO
What’s the Dockers’ biggest danger on Friday night: The threat of the wise, classy Cats or the internal trepidation?
The Dockers dominated large portions of the season to finish minor premiers with a 19-4 record and earn the double chance.
But Fremantle, along with Brisbane, now face the prospect of becoming the latest top-four team to waste that advantage.
As AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley pointed out on Monday night, the introduction of the pre-finals bye has made straight-sets exits more common in the AFL.
Across the 16 years from the rejigged top-eight system, 27 double-chance teams made amends in a semi-final after losing a qualifying final. Only five teams were eliminated in straight sets.
But the script flipped from the moment the AFL introduced the pre-finals bye for the 2016 season. Of the 20 top-four teams in the past 10 years, nine have been bundled out at the semi-final stage – including at least one side in each of the past five seasons.
Freo playing scared is hurting them | 01:46
“The way that the finals trends have changed,” Whateley told AFL 360. “It used to be that we fell in love with the elimination finalists and started to doubt those who lost qualifying finals – it almost never panned out that way.
“Now you’re as good as 50-50 to go out in straight sets.
“So call it pattern rather than event, but it’s a big shift. It’s related to the fact that the six teams are now rested and ready to go, so you don’t have the natural advantages there.”
As Whateley pointed out, the Dockers finished on top of the ladder with good cause and dominated the competition for significant stretches across the season.
But if Fremantle fans spend Friday night waiting for something to go wrong, it could create a similarly tense environment to the one at Optus Stadium for last week’s Hawthorn loss.
“To be there (in Perth last Friday night) was to feel the anxiety around the whole Dockers family,” Whateley said. “It was there on the walk to the ground, talking to people.
“They lived last week with that sense of counting down the hours to it. Then when they took to the field, it’s a big examination to pass.
“We have seen teams struggle with this previously. Port Adelaide made the most hellish years of this night, the qualifying final night.”
On Wednesday night, Whateley said the Dockers fanbase “has a role to play” against the Cats.
“The trepidation and the anxiety of last week, they need to shed that,” Whateley said.
“They have to create a hostile environment. They have to arrive confident, create that aura around the team and be full-throated. Because if you spend the whole night gasping and guffawing over the mistakes that are made in the final, it infects the environment.
“Shoulders out like the players. Be confident, be bold.”
Bulldogs legend Tom Liberatore retires | 01:56
On the field, can the Dockers rediscover the home-and-away dominance that made them a formidable force for most of the year?
Melbourne champion Garry Lyon said it was a “magnificent” opportunity that Fremantle should fully embrace.
“You get to make your choice in the week leading up,” Lyon told AFL 360. “You get to make your choice about how you turn up for training. You get to make your choice about how you turn up in the meeting and the mindset. And more important than any of that, on Friday night, you get to make your choice when the ball gets bounced.
“And the overriding message in all of this is: Don’t be a victim.
“I’m backing them in. I don’t think they’ll be playing the victim card. I don’t reckon Justin Longmuir will be doing that.
“I think they deserve to be confident. Stick their shoulders out, chest out.”
THE ‘TALISMAN’ THAT KEEPS DELIVERING FOR GEELONG
Cats veteran Patrick Dangerfield became just the third-ever player to record 5+ goals and 450m+ gained in a single game as the Cats knocked out the Blues.
And now there’s serious questions over where exactly ‘Danger’ fits in terms of the best finals players of all-time.
Triple premiership Tiger Dustin Martin is considered the best of the modern game, with his three Norm Smith Medals, while Hawks star Luke Hodge is another with his combined premiership and Norm Smith feats.
But Dangerfield is starting to add his name to the list – having already claimed a Gary Ayres Award back in 2022 for best finals player.
“Do you sit in awe of Patrick Dangerfield?” Jack Riewoldt questioned.
“He’s starting to get into the echelon where people are mentioning him as potentially a top 10 player of all time with what he’s done in the game.
“At the age he is now and the experience that he’s had, and what he’s done even last year in the prelim … he’s starting to come to the realisation that he hasn’t got as many big games in him – but the impact that he can have… this was an absolute Dangerfield masterclass.”
Riewoldt said the Cats star answered his critics in regards to his accuracy in front of goal.
“The one knock on Danger over his career has been his goal kicking. Kicks 5.1 on the weekend,” he praised.
“And important goals too! They weren’t just from the top of the goalsquare or snaps around the body.
“They were big set shots.
“Proves that he really is starting to get up there as potentially one of the best finals players as well.”
‘Wasn’t expecting that question!’ | 03:39
Jonathan Brown described Dangerfield’s finals resume as “unbelievable”.
“Grand finals, could have won Norm Smith medals. Last year’s prelim final we always speak about,” he said.
“The difference, we talk about next week with Danger. Can he still do it next week?
“He just had to empty the tank completely as a midfielder last year (in the prelim).
“(This year) he plays as a forward, so they were just one-off efforts. You feel like he’s hopefully going to come off that game better than he did the prelim final into the grand final last year.
“He was enormous.
“They needed it too! Shannon Neale took a while to get going.
“(Dangerfield) had that real presence down there in the forward line. He was the real talisman down there.”
And it’s the form of teammate Shaun Mannagh that has won praise, with his efforts allowing Dangerfield to stay forward of the ball.
“(Dangerfield) comes out of the midfield and the man rolled in through the back part of the season has been Shaun Mannagh,” Riewoldt said.
“The most damaging man in the comp!”Brown added.
“One in two of the plays that he touched the ball results in a score for Geelong – that’s the most in the competition for any player. That’s an amazing number!
“If he’s getting the ball and you’re an opposition player, start worrying because it’s going to hit the scoreboard.”
Scott responds to Marshall trade request | 00:59
‘REDEMPTION’ FOR STAR AS CROWS STRENGTH TO CHALLENGE LIONS
Arguably Adelaide’s biggest strength – which could cause the high-scoring Lions a few issues on Saturday night – is its stingy defensive unit.
The Crows during the home and away season conceded an average of 80.3 points per game – ranked second in the competition behind Fremantle.
In wins, they kept the likes of Melbourne, Western Bulldogs (twice), Geelong and Sydney to under 75 points. And even in losses, the Dockers, Hawks and Cats could only put 78, 75 and 68 points respectively on the board.
The biggest score they conceded this year was 19.13 (127) back in Round 7 … coincidentally against the Brisbane Lions.
But the Crows that day were missing a host of key players, including defenders James Borlase and Mark Keane, as well as Dan Curtin, Darcy Fogarty, Alex Neal-Bullen and Cal Ah Chee, while Hugo Hall-Kahan hadn’t been drafted by the club yet.
Melbourne legend Garry Lyon said the Crows’ defence was “so sound” and “as good as any team in the competition”.
“You can make a case,” Lyon said of the Crows on AFL 360.
“Defensively, they are as good as any team in the competition and they’re playing against a team whose vulnerability is defence, who are going probably chips in, in terms of trying to kick that (big) score. There’s your game in a nutshell.
“If you’re the Adelaide Crows, you’re going: ‘Well, I’m really confident defensively that we’re not going to get blown out of the water. We’re much better than we were (the last time Adelaide played Brisbane) … we’ll back ourselves to maybe keep the Lions to 80 or 90 points.”
Crows turn focus to Lions showdown | 02:41
And defence isn’t the only strength the Crows possess, with the form of star Izak Rankine widely praised – especially after his abrupt end to the 2025 season.
Last weekend, Rankine became just the ninth player in a final to record 30+ disposals, 700m+ gained and 2+ goals.
“This bloke is my favourite to watch – unless he’s playing against your team,” Nathan Buckley smiled On the Couch.
“His form has been tremendous going into the midfield. He’s averaging over 30 (disposals), over a goal a game in the last eight or nine weeks.
“34 and two (possessions and goals against the Dogs)… his performances have been through the roof and this is his first final.
“Remembering last year and the circumstances that he missed Adelaide’s finals campaign, he would have been absolutely champing at the bit to get to this point and keen.
“He’s fit, and he’s healthy. He’s ready to go and he’s been able to execute and it’s great to see the most talented players step up and be able to handle the big occasion.”
‘Would you still be Adelaide coach?’ | 01:14
AFL great Jonathan Brown labelled Rankine’s performance as “redemption” after his 2025 campaign ended in suspension.
“You know, it cost them. Cost them a finals win last year what happened,” Brown said On the Couch.
“At the end of the day, he carried an enormous amount of pressure and anxiety into that game on the weekend and for him to perform under those circumstances is a really good effort.”
“He’s more than just a talented player too – he’s clearly worked on his fitness, his ability to get from contest to contest,” Buckley added.
“That, put together with his natural talent and his ability to understand the moment and to meet the moment has been exceptional.
“Adelaide would be rapt with his form.”
Since crossing to the Crows, Rankine has kicked multiple goals in all but one match he’s played against Brisbane.
AFL FINALS FIXTURE AND FOX FOOTY COMMENTARY ROSTER (all times AEST)
FREMANTLE v GEELONG — FIRST SEMI FINAL
Friday September 10, 8.10pm at Optus Stadium
How to watch on Fox Footy: From 7pm on Channel 504, hosted by Garry Lyon, Kath Loughnan, Tom Hawkins and Jordan Lewis, with commentary from Anthony Hudson, Dwayne Russell, Tom Hawkins, Jordan Lewis and Jon Ralph.
BRISBANE LIONS v ADELAIDE CROWS — SECOND SEMI FINAL
Saturday September 11, 7.35pm at the Gabba
How to watch on Fox Footy: From 6:30pm on Channel 504, hosted by Sarah Jones, Jason Dunstall, Leigh Matthews and Jonathan Brown, with commentary from Mark Howard, Gerard Whateley, Alastair Lynch, Eddie Betts and Jon Ralph.