The gap between top teams and those trying to challenge was clearly visible in week one of the finals, according to Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon, as the pressure in all four games was off the charts.
According to statistics, the average pressure rating in the home and away season was 181 while the tackle average sat at 57.9.
In the four games last weekend, the pressure rating was 188 – the highest rating in two years, and the tackle average 67.4.
Watch every match prior to the AFL grand final Live & Ad-Break Free In-Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
“It was the starkest reminder of what separates the home and away, the good old fashioned home and away footy and this is why reputations are made and teams are glorified because of what we saw in that first week,” he said On the Couch.
“We all acknowledge the toughness and length of the season … but if you’ve been part of a team that’s been a non-performer, a non-finals winner for a long period of time then it is almost incumbent upon you to present yourself to what you’re missing out on and where you need to get to – because you don’t know what you don’t know.
“If you didn’t sit back and experience this or if you’re a team that hasn’t played finals, then I don’t think you’re doing your duty.
“Essendon copped their fair heat because they’ve gone away and I support the right for people to go and travel, but gee I’d love for my boys to have sat there and gone: ‘Jeez this is where we’ve got to get to’.
“And not only Essendon by the way.”
The Bulldogs’ pressure rating was up over 200 for the first half against Fremantle, where they pulled away to a 41-point lead. But their rating dropped to 177 in the third term and even further to 149 as the Dockers completed a miracle comeback.
Fox Footy’s Nick Riewoldt recalled when his coach Grant Thomas told St Kilda players to head to the finals in 2002 to learn.
“There was no footy trip. He said, ‘You boys are going to the finals and you’re going to watch what it’s all about, you’re going to learn’,” he said.
“The heat clearly goes up, but it was evaporation of time and space that clearly stood out for me.
“We saw a pressure game like we haven’t seen in a long, long time.
“The ability to apply it is one thing – then it was the team’s ability to cope with it and having a system that stands up under the fiercest heat.
“This is the missing link … teams that aren’t there competing at the moment, there’s a reason why you’re not.
“There wasn’t a moment I thought, that player could have gone harder. Those teams clearly have practised it and trained it all year because you can’t just flick the switch.”
The On the Couch team name the key player in all four finals that made the ultimate difference:
BRISBANE – Lachie Neale
“This is where you judge footy players. This is where reputations get made,” Lyon said.
“You can be Lachie Neale on Thursday night and walk out there and drag your team across the line. You talk about not fumbling, you talk about clean, start to finish, putting your team on your back – this is what it’s all about. Without Lachie Neale, their season is gone.”
Neale: 39 disposals – 21 contested, 15 clearances, nine score involvements
SYDNEY – Tom Papley
“His work in that first half, and it was on the back of that (Steven) May and Buddy (Franklin) little spark that got it going,” Lyon said.
“This little bloke, he just got into their head. He got into Harrison Petty’s face at one stage, he was an emotional spark. All of a sudden he went bang.”
Papley: 15 disposals, three clearances, five score involvements, two goals
GEELONG – Gary Rohan
“He’s been criticised at different stages about not having enough of an impact, maybe not getting as many possessions as you’d want,” On The Couch’s Jason Dunstall said.
“But if you can get a couple of critical possessions or take that big mark and kick the goal that counts … you can turn a final.”
“If he’s a bottom six player for Geelong and the bottom six are delivering what he did on the weekend, no wonder they are in such good shape,” Riewoldt added.
“The mark and kick, he was more than that,” Lyon said.
Rohan: 14 disposals, three clearances, seven score involvements, three goals
FREMANTLE – Andy Brayshaw & Caleb Serong
“They are getting their pants pulled down and Brayshaw is keeping them in it and then Serong takes them to where they need to go,” Lyon praised.
“It’s the new age – and they think they’re great internally Brayshaw and Serong. I think the rest of the footy world has been a little slow to see the greatness,” Riewoldt said.
“At quarter time and early in the second quarter I was feeling for Justin Longmuir,” Dunstall said.
“Everything went wrong, and then these two went to work and just picked that team up.”
Brayshaw: 32 disposals, 10 marks, six inside 50s, one goal
Serong: 33 disposals, 10 clearances, six tackles, one goal
