AFL Grand Final celebrations are in full swing in Melbourne, as Brisbane and Geelong fans descend on Melbourne Park for the annual parade.<\/p>\n
The Lions and Cats are no stranger to the day’s proceedings, with Geelong having won the flag in 2022 and Brisbane claiming its latest premiership last year.<\/p>\n
And while Saturday will be the first time the two clubs have faced each other in a grand final in the history of the VFL\/AFL, they already have a feel for each other’s premiership game having met in the first week of the finals when Geelong picked up the win.<\/p>\n
Geelong star Bailey Smith seemed more relaxed during the parade than his friend.<\/p>\n
One Geelong fan said he was passionate about the sport and had been to every game this year.<\/p>\n
“It’s been 20 years since I arrived in Australia and the first sport that I got into was footy,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s running in our blood, it’s like a religion for us.”<\/p>\n
Another Cats fan was excited to be attending the match on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“[I’m] pretty confident, we’re looking very good after last week. If they do exactly what they did last week we’ll be fine,” he said.<\/p>\n
Geelong fans are on a high after last week’s convincing preliminary final win.\u00a0(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Geelong fans are on a high after last week’s convincing preliminary final win. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Lions fan wears his pride on more than just his sleeve. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Brisbane supporters pack the grounds of the MCG for the parade. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Geelong fans are looking for a repeat of the Cats’ win over the Lions in the first round of the finals. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thousands of footy fans flocked to the MCG for pre-final festivities. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Police keep an eye over the crowds at the MCG, where the parade is finishing. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
A group of Lions supporters had flown in from Brisbane, Gold Coast and Perth to be at the parade.<\/p>\n
“I’m still croaky from the game last week when we beat Collingwood,” one of the fans said.<\/p>\n
“You beauty. Here we go, back to back Brisbane Lions.”<\/p>\n
Another fan said she was confident the Lions could get the win.<\/p>\n
“I was here in 2023 when we lost to the ‘Pies so looking forward to the win this year,” she said.<\/p>\n
The Lions will be lining up without Jarrod Berry, who ruled himself out after sustaining a shoulder injury during the preliminary final.<\/p>\n
The grand final teams and the 2025 AFL Premiership Cup were presented to the thousands who had gathered at the main stage outside the MCG.<\/p>\n
Geelong coach Chris Scott.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Geelong coach Chris Scott. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Lions coach Chris Fagan.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Lions coach Chris Fagan. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Members of the Lions premiership team.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Members of the Lions premiership team. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Members of the Geelong premiership team.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Members of the Geelong premiership team. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
The 2025 AFL Premiership Cup.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
The 2025 AFL Premiership Cup. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Thousands of fans gathered to support their teams ahead of the grand final.(ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Thousands of fans gathered to support their teams ahead of the grand final. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)<\/p>\n
Brisbane co-captain Lachie Neale told the crowd he had endured a rollercoaster lead-in to the grand final as he battled injury which left him uncertain about whether he could make it onto the field.<\/p>\n
Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield said it was a special, but nerve-filled week and he thanked fans for their passion during the parade and presentation.<\/p>\n
Josh Dunkley will play in his fourth Grand Final on Saturday.(ABC News: Jessica Stewart)<\/p>\n
Before the presentation, Josh Dunkley said the sacrifice Berry had made for the rest of the team was moving.<\/p>\n
“I get quite emotional when I think about it, to be honest, because I reckon there’d be a lot of guys that would definitely play if they could in his position, and he’s put the team first,” Dunkley said.<\/p>\n
Will Ashcroft is the reigning Norm Smith medallist after his performance in last year’s Grand Final.(ABC News: Jessica Stewart)<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Will Ashcroft spoke about the excitement of playing in a Grand Final with his brother, Levi.<\/p>\n
“Reflecting back to last year he was sort of in the stand watching on,” he said.<\/p>\n
“For him to get an opportunity to play, [it’s] very, very exciting for our family.”<\/p>\n
Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey says he’s been enjoying grand final week.(ABC News)<\/p>\n
Geelong forward Ollie Dempsey says excitement of being in a grand final continued to win out over the nerves.<\/p>\n
“You work so hard to get here so have fun while doing it. And I like to live my life lie that anyway so it’s been pretty good,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve woken up early a few times just excited to get out there to be honest this week. I feel like I’ll just take it on like any other game and just really enjoy it.”<\/p>\n
Mark Blicavs says it’s an honour to play in the 2025 Grand Final for Geelong.(ABC News)<\/p>\n
Defender Mark Blicavs admits nerves have surfaced during the week but he was feeling calm on grand final eve.<\/p>\n
“We’ve said it in the past but [it’s] a real privilege and honour to be still in the game this time of the year.<\/p>\n
“One game to go and the preps been very similar to what it has been all season. Really ready to play.”<\/p>\n
The AFL Grand Final kicks off on Saturday at 2:30pm (AEST).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL Grand Final celebrations are in full swing in Melbourne, as Brisbane and Geelong fans descend on Melbourne…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,110891,64,63,55,639,42255,3237,3244,12923,13659,11288,12098,25875,61821,18021,81940,39209,85,110890],"class_list":["post-169552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-afl-fans","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-bailey-smith","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-chris-fagan","tag-chris-scott","tag-geelong-cats","tag-grand-final","tag-josh-dunkley","tag-lachie-neale","tag-levi-ashcroft","tag-mcg","tag-parade","tag-patrick-dangerfield","tag-sports","tag-will-ashcroft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169552","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=169552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}