Chris Fagan is claiming “equal-dogs” status ahead of the AFL grand final, saying his Brisbane team and Sydney are 50-50 for the premiership.
Unlike last year, when much was made of the Lions coach saying his team were underdogs ahead of playing Collingwood, Fagan says Saturday’s combatants cannot be split.
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Brisbane have recovered from a poor start this season, and two comeback finals wins, to earn a second straight grand-final berth after last year’s agonising four-point loss to Collingwood.
The Swans, mauled by Geelong in the grand final two years ago, held top spot on the ladder from Round 9.
When asked if they enter the game as underdogs, Fagan said: “I think we’re the equal-dogs … we go into the game both with high hopes.
“Sydney have been the best team all year, I think you’ve been on top of the ladder all year, which is a great achievement.
“We’ve had a great three and a half, four months, so there’s two really in-form teams coming into the grand final. It’s a real 50-50 battle, is how I see it.”
Dane Rampe, who will captain Sydney after Callum Mills was ruled out on Wednesday with a hamstring injury, has played in three losing grand finals.
He is brutally practical about what lies ahead.
“I’ve experienced the worst to be honest, so there’s a little bit of peace knowing I’ve experienced that and been able to work through that, and get back here,” Rampe said.
“What I’ve learned over the losses I’ve had is no one cares about your story, really.
“It would be great for us to get back and win after ‘22. It would be great for Brisbane to get back and make amends for last year.
“But they don’t care about our story and we don’t care about theirs. That’s the way it is – we have to go out there and make it happen ourselves, that’s probably the main thing I’ve learned.”
Lions co-captain Harris Andrews said going through last year’s grand final and the week before was helping this time around.
“I was probably a little more anxious last year, not really knowing what we were walking into,” he said.
“But this year, having been through those experiences and being able to reflect on what worked and didn’t necessarily work, it’s been important.”
As Fagan notes, it is the moments that matter amid the Grand Final pressure.
Soon after last year’s loss to Collingwood, the Lions wrote down what lessons they learned from the match and put them into a time capsule.
That time capsule was opened before this year’s finals series.
“We did a bit of an exercise … not really knowing that we’d be pulling them out this year,” Fagan said.
“All those things are fresh in our players’ minds and hopefully they will help them tomorrow. Your experiences do help you – so that’s what we’re hoping for, anyway.”
The teams had the grand final parade on Friday morning ahead of captain’s runs in the afternoon at the MCG.
No late changes are expected, with Darcy Fort replacing injured Lions ruckman Oscar McInerney in the only change to either line-up.
Mills also missed the preliminary final because of his hamstring injury.
Catch all the exclusive grand final day action and the big game live, free, and in HD starting from 7am, on Seven and 7plus.