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Starting with the reigning premiers. <\/p>\n
There wouldn\u2019t be many better stories than Oscar McInerney if he could be part of a back-to-back triumph. <\/p>\n
The Lions ruckman missed last year\u2019s decider in heartbreaking fashion due to a shoulder injury after playing in the losing grand final to Collingwood the year prior. <\/p>\n
Not that the selfless McInerney felt anything but joy for his premiership teammates 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cEcstatic, to be honest. Everyone keeps asking if it\u2019s tough. How\u2019s winning a flag tough?,\u201d McInerney told foxfooty.com.au from the Lions rooms after the 2024 Grand Final. <\/p>\n
\u201cBloody magic. It\u2019s addictive and just makes you want to go after it again. Couldn\u2019t be happier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, an ACL injury forced Darcy Gardiner out of last year\u2019s grand final after also falling short of the ultimate against the Magpies in 2023.<\/p>\n
You reckon it might mean that extra bit more for both. <\/p>\n
How about Levi Ashcroft? The then 17-year old draftee in waiting also watched from the stands last year as older brother Will won the Norm Smith Medal. <\/p>\n
Levi was probably thinking to himself: \u2018I\u2019m already good enough to be out there\u2019.<\/p>\n
Just 25 games into his career, Levi now has an instant pathway becoming the third Ashcroft to write his name in Lions history forever.<\/p>\n
Fellow 2024 draftees Ty Gallop (four games) Sam Marshall (nine games) are in a similar boat and only established themselves in Chris Fagan\u2019s 23 late in the season.<\/p>\n
You sense Gallop and Sam Day in particular wouldn\u2019t have expected to be in this position. <\/p>\n
Certainly not prior to Joe Daniher\u2019s shock retirement. Heck, Day mightn\u2019t have gotten the call up to Brisbane if not for it. <\/p>\n
And with Oscar Allen on the way and Eric Hipwood set to return from injury, there\u2019s no guarantees Day and Gallop \u2014 or anyone for that matter \u2014 will get this chance again.<\/p>\n
Second-year Lion Bruce Reville is another. The 24-year old utility only just returned to Brisbane\u2019s side in Round 24, yet now finds himself playing in a prelim. <\/p>\n
The former Category B rookie would sure love to hear the \u2018Bruuuce!\u2019 from the crowd on that last Saturday in September. <\/p>\n
BIG Baz dagger fires Cats to Grand Final | 00:45<\/p>\n
As for the Collingwood camp, they\u2019ve loaded up with recruits to try and help them get back to this position. <\/p>\n
Dan Houston, Harry Perryman and Tim Membrey were all brought in ahead of this season to help Craig McRae\u2019s side bounce back to flag contention in moves that couldn\u2019t be panning out much better for the trio. <\/p>\n
And wouldn\u2019t it be a fairytale for Perryman if we could play in a premiership side for the club he grew up supporting?<\/p>\n
Houston and Perryman have played in prelims before at Port Adelaide and GWS respectively, but never in grand finals. <\/p>\n
It followed the addition of Lachlan Schultz at the end of Collingwood\u2019s 2023 premiership campaign.<\/p>\n
The man who essentially replaced Jack Ginnivan in the Pies side, it\u2019s taken some time for Collingwood to bear the fruits of the Schultz pickup. But the manic pressure forward is exactly the type of player you\u2019d want by your side in a big final.<\/p>\n
Speaking of recruits, spare a thought for ex-Lion \ufeffDan McStay, who missed the 2023 Grand Final through injury and was dropped on the eve of the 2025 finals.<\/p>\n
McStay has now been forced to watch a plethora of past and current teammates salute over the last two years from the sidelines. And if the Pies got through again, you sense the key forward will do everything humanly possible to put himself in a position to get recalled.<\/p>\n
“Some of the best we’ve seen!” | 03:42<\/p>\n
Two years ago, Ned Long was watching the 2023 Grand Final on TV with friends after getting delisted by Hawthorn at the end of the season. A few months later he was training with the Pies in hopes of earning a list spot.<\/p>\n
Fast forward 24 months and Long has consolidated his spot in Collingwood\u2019s midfield alongside the likes of Nick Daicos and Scott Pendlebury in a breakout 2025 season and one of the great rags to riches stores.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a whirlwind two years to be in the position now,\u201d Long said this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely not (didn\u2019t expect to be here). It\u2019s been a big 18-24 months, so I\u2019m very lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
He mightn\u2019t be the most established Steele at the club. But Roan Steele, who\u2019s been the sub in the last two games, might suddenly have a chance to be running out on grand final day less than four months after joining Collingwood in the mid-season draft.<\/p>\n
Indeed, these are the players \u2014 along with many others \u2014 that didn\u2019t get to claim the ultimate with their respective groups and are now adding extra motivation.<\/p>\n
There will be several Cats in a similar position that missed the 2022 flag, as one of the last three premiers will win their second premiership this decade.<\/p>\n
Scott full of praise for Dangerfield | 06:26<\/p>\n
Geelong champion Tom Hawkins might be a three-time premiership player, but he can relate to all the aforementioned names on some level. <\/p>\n
At least from the early stages of his career.<\/p>\n
Hawkins missed out on the 2007 Cats premiership in his first AFL season and also watched his teammates bottled the 2008 decider as hot favourites from the sidelines in year two.<\/p>\n
In his first season, Hawkins said he simply loved being around the Cats when they trained for the grand final against Port Adelaide and was happy to be a part of a VFL flag team.<\/p>\n
But he admitted 2008 was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say with a caveat, because there\u2019s some players that are playing through the final series now where their situation is completely different to mine,\u201d Hawkins told foxfooty.com.au\u2019s Courtney Walsh this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in my first year and I had played some games and in terms of my mindset, I obviously wanted to play but I was also really aware that I wasn\u2019t good enough to play that year. So it is a bit of a different feeling. <\/p>\n
\u201cI never quite felt like I fully belonged or deserved to be in that team at that point of time, though maybe 2008 was a little bit different because I had a year under my belt and I had seen a premierships and what success can bring. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I certainly felt it a little bit more that year, but not to the extent of a Max Holmes (missing the 2022 Grand Final) or some of the Brisbane and Collingwood players who have missed out over the last two years. It is certainly weird watching your team have success without you but it can be a huge motivator.\u201d<\/p>\n
“They were just a bit too good” | 11:42<\/p>\n
Winning two of the next three flags might\u2019ve helped ease any lingering heartache for Hawkins. Plus, imagine getting drafted to a club that played in four grand finals in your first five seasons!<\/p>\n
The Coleman medallist has no doubt there\u2019s no bigger driving force than the pain that stems from either missing out on a grand final or losing in a decider.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all come into the game with certain motivators as individuals, and that might be for your family or your legacy,\u201d Hawkins continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then when you\u2019re a part of a successful organisation and you see them win early on, it was a real driving point for me to be like: \u2018Let\u2019s break things down and analyse things a bit differently and then scrutinise where you can improve and continue to work on your strengths\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to say: \u2018I\u2019m going to leave no stone unturned to be able to be a part of this if and when you get the next opportunity comes\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn that first year, I was more of a spectator and I was happy to watch and happy for Joel (Selwood). Then in 2008, I felt a bit more part of the team and organisation … but Joel played in that game and also my best mate, Xavier Ellis \u2026 and seeing Joel win it in \u201807 and \u2018Xav\u2019 win it in \u201808, I wanted to be a part of it. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be able to sit down with those guys in the future and talk about a premiership success that I had, about being in a premiership team. So it is a huge motivator.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawkins believes missing out on a grand final spot and a chance to be a member of premiership team would be even harder now given the greater media spotlight on players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way the game is scrutinised and looked at and just broadly exposed, there\u2019s a lot more to it now than in terms of missing out on grand finals. There are a lot more eyes on you and conversations about it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd again, I\u2019ll put my Geelong hat on and think about Max Holmes \u2026 and for him it has to be a huge motivator. (It\u2019s) one of the biggest you can get.<\/p>\n
\u201cThinking about retirements and delistings, you can sometimes see the writing on the wall, but if you\u2019re in an environment that\u2019s successful, and you see others when you\u2019re not a part of it, it can be heartbreaking. And it is for a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you get over that and you quickly sort of flip the switch into using that as motivation and asking yourself, \u2018How do I get better? How do I not miss out again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane and Collingwood won the last two premierships. But only the winner of Saturday night\u2019s preliminary final will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2095,6236,64,63,689,684,14349,103822,3237,10133,3567,10143,10128,49773,40737,1818,37348,103832,11288,49317,47999,103824,7492,5145,103833,8401,10132,12935,103826,12137,2041,2067,677,15836,3233,39209,103836,24310,6082,19095,103835,75286,28970,28879,103825,103829,103828,103837,103834,3242,3537,12936,19083,103823,3495,1124,85,3370,103827,14419,19118,12113,71127,2614,103831,103830],"class_list":["post-155657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-america","tag-aston-villa-football-club","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ben-cotton","tag-bobby-hill","tag-break-things","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-craig-mcrae","tag-dan-houston","tag-dan-mcstay","tag-darcy-gardiner","tag-david-king","tag-eric-hipwood","tag-flag-team","tag-grand-final","tag-grand-final-day","tag-grand-finals","tag-gritty-preliminary-final","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-houston","tag-incredible-performance","tag-jack-ginnivan","tag-jeremy-howe","tag-joe-daniher","tag-lingering-heartache","tag-max-holmes","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-oscar-allen","tag-oscar-mcinerney","tag-patrick-dangerfield","tag-players-spurring","tag-point-loss","tag-port-adelaide","tag-preliminary-final","tag-preliminary-final-preview","tag-premiership-campaign","tag-premiership-sides","tag-premiership-success","tag-premiership-team","tag-premiership-teammates","tag-real-driving-point","tag-repeat-hopes","tag-riches-stores","tag-sam-day","tag-sam-marshall","tag-sam-mitchell","tag-scott-pendlebury","tag-second-year-lion-bruce","tag-shoulder-injury","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-texas","tag-three-time-premiership-player","tag-tim-membrey","tag-tom-hawkins","tag-tom-stewart","tag-ty-gallop","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-will-parker","tag-xavier-ellis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}