2018 AFL Grand Final
| 2018 AFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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 Panaroma of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, five minutes prior to the start of the match | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 29 September 2018, 2.30 pm | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | MCG | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 100,022[1] | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires |
Brett Rosebury, Shaun Ryan Matt Stevic[2] | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| Pre-match entertainment |
The Black Eyed Peas Jimmy Barnes[3] | |||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Mahalia Barnes[4] | |||||||||||||||
| Accolades | ||||||||||||||||
| Norm Smith Medallist | Luke Shuey[5] | |||||||||||||||
| Jock McHale Medallist | Adam Simpson[6] | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network[7] | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators |
Bruce McAvaney (host) Hamish McLachlan (host) Basil Zempilas (host)[8] | |||||||||||||||
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The 2018 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the West Coast Eagles and the Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2018. It was the 122nd annual grand final of the Australian Football League (formerly Victorian Football League), staged to determine the premiers for the 2018 AFL season. West Coast defeated Collingwood by five points, after having trailed by 29 points late in the first quarter, to win the club's fourth premiership and first since 2006. West Coast's Luke Shuey won the Norm Smith Medal as the player judged best on ground. The grand final was attended by 100,022 people, the largest crowd since the 1986 Grand Final.
Background
Beaten by Greater Western Sydney in the previous season's semi-final,[9] West Coast recorded its best season in three years, with a 16–6 win–loss record, to finish second on the ladder. The club hosted third-placed Collingwood in the second qualifying final at Perth Stadium, and overcame the Magpies by sixteen points to advance to the preliminary final.[10] There, the Eagles hosted Melbourne and won comfortably by 66 points to advance to the grand final for the first time since losing the 2015 AFL Grand Final to Hawthorn.[11]
Collingwood had missed the finals for the past four years and finished the 2017 season in thirteenth position, so was not considered a credible premiership chance at the start of the year. Despite this, the club produced its best season since 2012, finishing third. Collingwood faced West Coast in Perth in its qualifying final, and led at various stages of the match before being overrun in the last quarter to lose by sixteen points. They rebounded to defeat Greater Western Sydney in the second semi-final by ten points, then had an upset win against reigning premiers Richmond by 39 points in the preliminary final to advance to the grand final.[12]
Entertainment
As pre-match entertainment, the Black Eyed Peas performed a number of their hit singles, including "Where Is the Love?", "Let's Get It Started", "I Gotta Feeling" and their new single "Big Love". Filipino singer Jessica Reynoso filled in on vocals for former band member Fergie. Their set was followed by singer Jimmy Barnes, who started his performance with a rendition of "Flame Trees".[13][14] Mike Brady performed his own traditional grand final song "Up There Cazaly", while the national anthem was sung by Mahalia Barnes, Jimmy Barnes' daughter.[4]
Match summary
First quarter
Collingwood dominated most of the opening quarter. West Coast spearhead Josh Kennedy had the first score of the game – a behind – before the Magpies scored the first five goals of the game. The first goal came from Travis Varcoe at the five-minute mark, followed by two in quick succession from young forward Jaidyn Stephenson, one from Jordan De Goey at the 16-minute mark, and another from Will Hoskin-Elliott after 22 minutes, ballooning the margin to 29 points. West Coast scored two late goals in the final couple of minutes of the quarter to reduce the margin to 17 points at quarter time: the first, after 27 minutes, was scored from a ricochet off Willie Rioli's shin on the goal-line and needed a video review to uphold the on-field decision; and the latter was scored by Kennedy from a set shot in the 29th minute.[15][16][17]
Second quarter
The second quarter was a low-scoring affair, with only two behinds scored during the first twenty minutes of the quarter: one from West Coast's Mark Hutchings at the four-minute mark, and a rushed behind to Collingwood almost eighteen minutes into the term. De Goey broke the drought with his second goal of the afternoon, restoring Collingwood's lead to a relatively comfortable 23 points. But, as in the opening quarter, the Eagles scored two late goals: one from Hutchings at the 22-minute mark, and the other from Luke Shuey at the 26 minute mark, to reduce Collingwood's lead to only twelve points at half time.[15][16][17]
Third quarter
West Coast and Collingwood traded goals in the third quarter. A very early goal to Kennedy inside the first minute of the quarter reduced the margin to six points, before tall forward Mason Cox kicked a goal in the fifth minute to restore Collingwood's two-goal lead. Jamie Cripps kicked a goal for West Coast in the eighth minute, then Taylor Adams kicked one for Collingwood only a minute later, again restoring the Magpies' lead to two goals. Jack Darling scored his first goal of the match nine minutes later to bring the margin back to a goal.
In the 21st minute, a pivotal moment in the match occurred: Adams attempted to clear the ball from Collingwood's backline with a dangerous kick to Stephenson a centre half back; Collingwood runner Alex Woodward then accidentally impeded Stephenson's access to the marking contest, giving West Coast midfielder Elliot Yeo an uncontested intercept mark from which he kicked a 50-metre set shot and put West Coast ahead for the first time since the beginning of the game. There were no more goals in the quarter, with the Magpies initially edging ahead once again with three consecutive behinds in time-on, and Shuey levelling the scores at 8.7 (55) apiece with a late behind.[15][16][17]
Fourth quarter
The final term started off rapidly, with three goals scored within the first four minutes. Collingwood started the quarter with Brody Mihocek kicking a goal off the opening passage of play after just 34 seconds, and De Goey scoring his third goal for the match only a minute later to extend the margin to twelve points. Nathan Vardy kicked a goal at the three minute mark to bring the deficit back to six points. Cox scored his second goal at the seven minute mark to extent the margin back to eleven, and Kennedy responded with his third goal ninety seconds later to bring the deficit back to five.
The Eagles dominated the contest from this point forward, at one point leading the inside-50 count for the quarter 14–3, but repeatedly failed to convert, as four consecutive shots at goal in the middle portion of the quarter were behinds, narrowing the margin to one point. Collingwood's final score of the game, a behind, came from Hoskin-Elliott in the 22nd minute.
With less than three minutes remaining, West Coast put together a sequence of play from a defensive rebound which ended with a mark in the forward pocket to Dom Sheed; from a distance of about 40 metres and almost on the boundary line, Sheed kicked a goal to put West Coast in front by four points with less than two minutes left. West Coast attacked again from the ensuing centre clearance; Darling dropped an uncontested mark almost on the goal-line and Collingwood managed to force a behind to extend the margin to five points inside the final minute. Collingwood could not rebound the ensuing kick-in, and the siren sounded to give West Coast a five point win.[15][16][17]
Teams
The teams were announced on 27 September 2018. Both sides went into the match unchanged from their preliminary final teams.[18]
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- Umpires
The umpiring panel, comprising three field umpires, four boundary umpires, two goal umpires and an emergency in each position is given below.[19]
| Position | Emergency | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Field: | 8 Brett Rosebury (8) | 9 Matt Stevic (6) | 25 Shaun Ryan (7) | 18 Ray Chamberlain | ||
| Boundary: | Nathan Doig (5) | Chris Gordon (3) | Michael Marantelli (3) | Mark Thomson (6) | Brett Dalgleish | |
| Goal: | Steven Piperno (1) | Stephen Williams (1) | Matthew Dervan |
Numbers in brackets represent the number of grand finals umpired, including 2018.
Scoreboard
| Grand final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 29 September (2:30 pm) | West Coast | def. | Collingwood | MCG (crowd: 100,022) | Report |
| 2.2 (14) 4.3 (27) 8.7 (55) 11.13 (79) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
5.1 (31) 6.3 (39) 8.7 (55) 11.8 (74) |
Umpires: Rosebury, Stevic, Ryan Norm Smith Medal: Luke Shuey Television broadcast: Seven Network National anthem: Mahalia Barnes | ||
| 3: Kennedy 1: Hutchings, Shuey, Sheed, Darling, Yeo, Cripps, Vardy, Rioli |
Goals | 3: De Goey 2: Cox, Stephenson 1: Hoskin-Elliott, Varcoe, Mihocek, Adams | |||
| Shuey, Sheed, Barrass, Kennedy, Hutchings, Schofield, McGovern | Best | Adams, Langdon, Crisp, Treloar, De Goey, Mayne | |||
| Nil | Injuries | Nil | |||
| Nil | Reports | Nil | |||
References
- ↑ "2018 AFL grand final stats". SBS News. AAP. 30 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ McKay, Ben (25 September 2018). "AFL names umpires for 2018 grand final". The Age. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ Edwards, Nat (14 September 2018). "AFL reveals Grand Final entertainment". AFL. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- 1 2 "AFL Grand Final 2018: Full schedule and entertainment guide". Herald Sun. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ Beveridge, Riley (29 September 2018). "Shue-in: Eagle swoops on Norm Smith Medal". AFL. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ Browne, Ashley (30 September 2018). "After the siren: Coaching's new golden ticket". AFL. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ "2018 AFL Broadcast Guide". AFL. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ Hustwaite, Megan (3 September 2018). "Bruce McAvaney, Anthony Hudson and Stephen Quartermain: the voices of football warm up for the AFL grand final". Domain. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ Moir, David (16 September 2017). "AFL Finals: GWS thump West Coast by 67 points in Sydney to advance to the preliminary final". ABC News. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ King, Travis (8 September 2018). "Match report: Eagles into prelim after classic". AFL.com.au. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ "AFL Finals: West Coast progress to the AFL Grand Final with monster win over Melbourne". Fox Sports Australia. 22 September 2018.
- ↑ "Collingwood upset Richmond in stunning preliminary final win". The Australian. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ Bednall, Jai (30 September 2018). "Black Eyed Peas hit out at critics". NewsComAu. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ↑ "AFL Grand Final 2018: West Coast Eagles v Collingwood, pre game entertainment, Black Eyed Peas, Jimmy Barnes | Fox Sports". www.foxsports.com.au. 29 September 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 Bowen, Nick (29 September 2018). "Match report: Eagles clinch flag in a thriller". AFL.com.au.
- 1 2 3 4 McGarry, Andrew (29 September 2018). "AFL grand final: West Coast beats Collingwood by five points at the MCG in classic decider". ABC News. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- 1 2 3 4 "Match statistics 2018 Scoring progression". AFL Tables. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
- ↑ McGowan, Marc (27 September 2018). "TEAMS: Eagles, Pies lock in Grand Final sides - AFL.com.au". afl.com.au. AFL. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ↑ Ryan Davidson (25 September 2018). "Grand Final umpires confirmed". West Coast Eagles. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
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