Grand Final: Fremantle vs. Brisbane preview | Strategy 2026 with Brenton Sanderson (24.09.26)
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What is the overall preview and significance of the 2026 Grand Final between Fremantle and Brisbane?
Strategy twenty twenty six, ten o'clock every Thursday. We've been doing this together for four seasons. Brenton Sanderson. Welcome back.
Thank you, Jared, and thanks for having me each uh each week. I love coming on here and I feel a bit emotional today. It's just well that's probably the wrong word. It's a I love Grand Final Week. I mean and Saturday we're gonna get a great game, but um yeah, all the work you sort of pile in during the year, all the um industry, it all comes to a close this Saturday. And then what are we gonna do? I know you're heading us off to the cricket straight away, but the rest of us have got to wait five months until we get going again. So uh but thanks, Joe. Thanks for having me on every week. I love it.
No, thank you. Uh the Coaches Association uh event on Tuesday night, Justin Longmuer. Yeah. By peer acclaim the coach of the year, which was excellent.
Yeah, it's great. And we get the two coaches um obviously uh Fagan's won the last two and um and Justin won on Tuesday night, which is great recognition from his peers, like you said. So he was voted by the other senior coaches to be uh this year's coach of the year. So it's awesome to see those two boys go against each other uh on uh Saturday. That'd be great.
What did we see last Saturday, Sando? Because this is for the strategic mind. Just what the it feels like that's the culmination of the trend in the game. And the real question is what happens next as a result?
Yeah, well I I was lucky enough to call the game AFL Nation with with quarters, Donas, and Dermy. Shattered. Absolutely shattered. He had a great call though. And and how could you not though? Because I think I mean recent C bias, but uh I I think that's the greatest game of footy I've ever seen. Um my favorite game I always reference is the ninety nineteen eighty-nine grand final between Hawthorne and Geelong. I thought that was my favourite game. I think that surpassed it. That was edge of your seat from the first minute to the last second, obviously. And um, and I thought it was fascinating on 360 this week when you and Gary spoke to to Chris Scott and to Craig McCrae around is this where the game's going?
Is are we just going to see all out offense now? 250 points per game. And I thought Scotty's comments were fascinating around well, if if the bottom Six teams try and replicate what happened on Saturday night, they're gonna they're gonna lose every game by a hundred points or more. So so the industry is in a really interesting spot strategically around what do you do now? If you are one of those bottom six teams trying to get better, what are you doing this summer?
How did the previous Grand Final performances shape expectations for this year’s matchup?
What are you focusing on? Is it stopping the offense or is it recreating what we saw on Saturday night where you're trying to get into these big shootout games and score a hundred points plus? Every week because we have been in a generation of defense. That's been where we thought and we think that you win grand finals and you win premierships is that you must be stingy, you must be able to keep sides to losing scores, um, while also creating opportunities to score yourself. But I I think the game's quickly changed now, and that game was brilliant, we loved it. Um and good luck chasing, you know, Brisbane and Hawthorne. You know, Geelong's score really well and you know but it's gonna be interesting how this game and what are in our coaches' minds over the summer.
So day one of preseason, what are you what are you what are you telling your players? Yeah like what are we focusing on this summer?
And it's one of those th You have to be right. Yeah, that's right. And there's no way to know if you're right or not. You can't miss the bus, whichever way it's running.
Yeah. You gotta be on it. Yeah, and that's where um I think the best coaches stay ahead of the curve is they know well they they actually set uh the tone for what happens next. But yeah, um I I've never seen anything like that on Saturday night. That was the best game. Imagine if that was the grand final. I know. I th I felt
the same way and and and if you extrapolate it at all.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the overall preview and significance of the 2026 Grand Final between Fremantle and Brisbane?
0:00–2:20
2
How did the previous Grand Final performances shape expectations for this year’s matchup?
2:20–6:37
3
What mental challenges do players face on Grand Final day and how can they stay in a flow state?
6:37–11:09
4
What common coaching mistakes should be avoided in a high‑pressure Grand Final?
11:09–17:00
5
What are Brisbane’s key strengths and defensive concerns heading into the final?
17:00–21:47
6
What are Fremantle’s tactical priorities and potential weaknesses for Saturday’s game?
21:47–22:48
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Whateley
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