This was published 6 months ago
Captain’s runs are always incredibly light, but Lachie Neale is taking this one to another level.
Neale has parked himself at the top of the goal square and is handballing to teammates and doing very little of anything else.
The dual Brownlow medallist plans to play, only 22 days after a right calf tear, but is doing only stationary kicking, whereas his teammates are at least getting out of first gear.
Read into that whatever you like!
If you couldn’t make it to today’s parade, this photo gallery should help you get a feel for the excitement it brought to Melbourne. Or perhaps you were there, and might be able to spot yourself in one of our photos.
Either way, it’s worth having a look.
Geelong’s star recruit Bailey Smith seemed a little edgy while travelling in the parade alongside his captain Patrick Dangerfield and the skipper’s three children, saying he couldn’t wait for the first bounce on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s exciting. And, yeah, [I’m] super grateful. But you know, I’m ready just to get to 2.30 tomorrow,” he told Cam Mooney on Fox Footy.
Smith said he was trying to take in the excitement of the parade, but was focused on preparing for Saturday’s game, his second grand final after he played for the Western Bulldogs in their loss to Melbourne in the 2021 decider in Perth, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I won’t do much reflecting until, you know, hopefully we’re holding a premiership cup, and I’ve got a medal around my neck,” Smith said.
The star onballer, who, on Monday night, finished third in this year’s Brownlow Medal said he was itching for game time to come around after a “long week”.
“I’m just ready to go … just ready for all this sort of stuff to be over and [for] that first bounce at 2.30. [I’m] trying to soak it (the atmosphere) in, but it’s hard when you’ve just got your eye on the prize.”
With Dangerfield’s children George, Flic and Winnie joining him them in the motorcade, Smith said he was on babysitting duties, helping his skipper wrangle the youngsters while they helped shield him from some of the attention.
He said playing at Geelong came with an expectation of success, singling out Dangerfield, midfield running partner Max Holmes and coach Chris Scott for the support they’d provided him in his maiden season at the club.
“This bloke next to me, Danger, has been unbelievable. Scotty as well, and just the whole Geelong community has actually been so welcoming, especially like the Surf Coast, where I live down near Torquay. Everyone’s welcomed me as soon as I moved in, and they’ll be family for life.”
Fans have flocked to the MCG-Melbourne precinct to cheer their heroes. Here are some of the early images ahead of the parade.
Well, folks, we’ve got a grand final to prepare for, so that’s it for our grand final eve blog.
It’s been fun, but we’ve got more quality footy stories to focus on, so keep your eyes on this website tonight and first thing tomorrow.
Of course, we’ll be blogging with our usual fervour tomorrow, from the build-up to the grand final, throughout the match and into the post-match celebrations and analysis. So, touch base in the early afternoon to join in the fun.
For now, it’s time for us to get a big bowl of pasta on the boil, get some fluids in and make sure we get a good night’s sleep because tomorrow’s going to be a big day.
The grand final sprint is a traditional sideshow to the big game.
This year the sprint is being held at half-time, and there’s no need for heats as just eight runners are competing; not one from each club as used to be the case.
Olympic boxer Harry Garside is an interesting addition to the line-up alongside seven current-day AFL players, with our national sprint sensation Gout Gout set to fire the starter’s gun.
Let us know who you reckon will win.
On the topic of tipping tomorrow’s game, as we tried to do a little earlier, here’s a unique tipping strategy employed by the good people – and animals, we suppose – at Ballarat Wildlife Park.
The question is, has their resident tiger Kai chosen the Cats to win or to fall over in tomorrow’s match?
Thankfully, the parade dodged the worst of today’s weather, as there is a bit of wind and rain about this afternoon.
In other good news, although tomorrow won’t be warm, it does look like conditions will be pretty stable at the home of football, the MCG.
Vote in the poll to tell us who you think will win and click here to see who our experts are tipping, plus their Norm Smith Medal predictions.
While most players and coaches were treading carefully when approached for comments at today’s grand final parade, all modesty was put aside last night when former Lions great Jason Akermanis joined Cats legend Steve Johnson on Channel Nine’s My Room Telethon.
To be fair, humility was never really a strong suit for “Aker” or “Stevie J”, and the invitation to relive some of their grand final heroics was just too much for the pair of once-enigmatic forwards to resist.
Our man Andrew Wu is a problem-solver.
To avoid any confusion at today’s media conference with rival coaches Chris Scott (Geelong) and Chris Fagan (Brisbane Lions), Wuey, on reporting duty for this masthead, came up with a novel solution; he tried calling one of them Craig.
He is known in our office for his sense of humour, Wuey, so if we’re giving him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps this was a joke that missed the mark … or maybe it was just a slip of the tongue. You be the judge.
Whatever you decide, there’s no doubt Fagan’s suggestion of calling the coaches “Fages” and “Scotty” was a better approach.
John Denver’s classic Country Roads is blaring on the loudspeakers at the MCG as the Lions continue their captain’s run.
There’s a crowd of about 10,000 diehard Lions fans who are soaking in the atmosphere. They’re not singing along today, but they’ll be in full voice tomorrow if Charlie Cameron kicks a goal – even if the MCC doesn’t play the song.
Captain’s runs are always incredibly light, but Lachie Neale is taking this one to another level.
Neale has parked himself at the top of the goal square and is handballing to teammates and doing very little of anything else.
The dual Brownlow medallist plans to play, only 22 days after a right calf tear, but is doing only stationary kicking, whereas his teammates are at least getting out of first gear.
Read into that whatever you like!