www.intix.com.au\/org\/vfl<\/a>. Patrons purchasing at the gate are advised the payment method is card only.<\/p>\nMEDIA ACCREDITATION<\/p>\n
Existing VFL and AFL media accreditation will remain in place and valid for the 2025\u00a0Smithy’s VFL Grand Final.<\/p>\n
TEAMS<\/p>\n
FOOTSCRAY BULLDOGS
B:\u00a0Jedd\u00a0Busslinger (5), Liam\u00a0Jones (19), Nick\u00a0Coffield (17)
HB:\u00a0Taylor\u00a0Duryea (15), Ryan Gardner (43), Lachie\u00a0Jaques (11)
C:\u00a0Oskar\u00a0Baker (13), Adam\u00a0Treloar (1), Arthur\u00a0Jones (32)
HF:\u00a0Josh\u00a0Dolan (26), Cale\u00a0Poulter (25), Cooper\u00a0Hynes (6)
F:\u00a0Luke\u00a0Kennedy (35), Jordan\u00a0Croft (16), Will\u00a0Lewis (64)
R:\u00a0Lachlan\u00a0Smith (40), Anthony\u00a0Scott (28), Dan\u00a0Orgill (50)
INT:\u00a0Michael\u00a0Sellwood (37), Billy\u00a0Crofts (54), Cooper\u00a0Craig-Peters (61), Zac\u00a0Walker (41), Fred\u00a0Valpied (53)
23rd Player: Fred\u00a0Valpied (53)
EMG:\u00a0Josh\u00a0Kellett (57), Luca\u00a0Muratore (68), Ethan\u00a0Hunt (56), Phoenix\u00a0Spicer (63), Josh\u00a0Gilbee (69)<\/p>\n
IN:\u00a0Taylor\u00a0Duryea
OUT:\u00a0Josh\u00a0Kellett (omitted)<\/p>\n
SOUTHPORT SHARKS
B:\u00a0Jack\u00a0Sexton (16), Max\u00a0Spencer (6), Matt\u00a0McGuinness (14)
HB:\u00a0Jesse\u00a0Joyce (25), Nick\u00a0Williams (30), Will\u00a0Sexton (11)
C:\u00a0Michael\u00a0Manteit (4), Elijah\u00a0Reardon (26), Jay\u00a0Lockhart (12)
HF:\u00a0Jackson\u00a0Edwards (21), Max\u00a0Pescud (42), Josh\u00a0Gore (19)
F:\u00a0Hugh\u00a0Dixon (29), Wylie\u00a0Buzza (15), Campbell\u00a0Lake (33)
R:\u00a0Brayden\u00a0Crossley (20), Jacob\u00a0Dawson (3), Zac\u00a0Foot (2)
INT:\u00a0Boyd\u00a0Woodcock (1), Keegan\u00a0Gray (17), Hewago\u00a0Oea (8), Finn\u00a0Hay (39), Brock\u00a0Aston (32)
EMG:\u00a0Christian\u00a0Webster (22), Harry\u00a0Sullivan (31), Justin\u00a0Krok (44), Riley\u00a0Bowman (7), Charlie\u00a0Rowe (40), Taine\u00a0Dawson (24), Owen\u00a0Collins (27), Matt\u00a0Hollier (34)<\/p>\n
No change<\/p>\n
HEAD-TO-HEAD<\/p>\n
Southport holds a 3-0 record against Footscray. The sides have never met at IKON Park.<\/p>\n
Last time: Footscray 7.9 (51) def by Southport 9.7 (61) \u2013 Preliminary Final 2024, Mission Whitten Oval<\/p>\n
UMPIRES<\/p>\n
FIELD:\u00a0Joseph O’Brien (16), Samuel Ferguson (23), Joel Clamp (34). Emergency: Samuel Whetton (4)
BOUNDARY:\u00a0Harrison Bell, Mitchell O’Neill, Mitchell Dorling, Samuel Button
GOAL:\u00a0James Rizio, Georgie Henderson. Emergency: John Varker<\/p>\n
Goal umpire Georgie Henderson will make history as the first female to officiate a VFL Grand Final.<\/p>\n
MATCH FACTS<\/p>\n
– The 2025 Smithy’s VFL Grand Final will be contested by this year\u2019s minor premiers the Footscray Bulldogs and last year\u2019s beaten grand finalists the Southport Sharks.<\/p>\n
-The Bulldogs last reached the VFL Grand Final in 2016 when they claimed their second premiership in three years by defeating the Casey Demons by 31 points. It followed a 22-point win over the Box Hill Hawks in the 2014 decider.<\/p>\n
– Footscray enters the Smithy\u2019s VFL Grand Final on a 13-match winning streak. After finishing the home and away season in first spot with a 15-3 record, they accounted for Frankston by 80 points in the qualifying final before beating the Box Hill Hawks by 31 points in the preliminary final.<\/p>\n
– Southport will play in the Smithy\u2019s VFL Grand Final for the third time in four seasons as it continues its chase for its first VFL premiership. The Sharks went down to Werribee by six last year, having been beaten by the Casey Demons by 32 points in the 2022 decider.<\/p>\n
– Southport finished the 2025 home and away season in third spot on the ladder with a 13-4-1 record. They defeated the Box Hill Hawks by 21 points at Box Hill City Oval in the qualifying final, before smashing Frankston by 88 points at Fankhauser Reserve in the preliminary final.<\/p>\n
– Footscray and Southport haven\u2019t met during the 2025 season, with their last meeting coming in last year\u2019s preliminary final when the Sharks claimed an upset 10-point win at Mission Whitten Oval.<\/p>\n
– The Norm Goss Medal will be awarded to the best player on the ground. 2016 Norm Goss medallist Lin Jong will present the medal.<\/p>\n
– Western Bulldogs Hall of Fame and Team of the Century member Tony Liberatore will present the cup if the Footscray Bulldogs win.<\/p>\n
– Southport Sharks president Clayton Glenister will present the cup if the Sharks win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Footscray Bulldogs coach Stewart Edge and captain Daniel Orgill and Southport Sharks co-captain Jacob Dawson and coach Matthew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-157935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157935","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=157935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}