Players prepare for footy's penultimate weekend | Gerard's Editorial (16.09.26)
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Why are the preliminary finals considered the most critical games of the AFL season?
Wednesday morning. This is your town. This is your station. This is Waitly.
Good morning! There's a reason we use the measure preliminary finals integrity. The whole season builds to these two games. Whatever you do to get here has to stack up in games of maximum tension, anxiety and opportunity. It's a test of style and substance, of tactics and execution. The margins can be excruciatingly narrow.
How has Chris Fagan’s experience with the Lions shaped their pursuit of a fourth straight Grand Final?
For our four coaches, there are differing levels of experience. Chris Fagan has brought his Lions to the penultimate game six times, now five in a row, and searching for a fourth straight grand final. They are the seasoned pros. They've had the straighten up from the coach. Does that prove lasting or fleeting? Sam Mitchell and his Hawks are walking the rite of passage, accumulating the necessary scarring, including from a preliminary final snatched away by Patrick Dangerfield 12 months ago. Does that experience fortify them to take the next step? Justin Longmuir is trying to take his Dockers from winning nothing to winning everything, and that is rare in recent history. Fremantle's last preliminary final was 11 years ago.
Longmuir himself played in a loss to the Swans in the corresponding game 20 years ago.
Does Sam Mitchell’s past preliminary‑final loss to Patrick Dangerfield strengthen the Hawks for this year’s challenge?
There's only a smattering of lived experience of the heightened demands from those who have come from elsewhere. In two weeks of September, they failed the test of nerve and then passed it, It suggests that they might be fast learners. And preliminary finals haven't been Sydney's problem. Dean Cox has been there through recent finals campaigns. He leads now in his own right. His art this week has little to do with history and more whether the undermanned Swans can remain the wildcat threat against logic and reason. The power of the human spirit, as Chris Fagan put it. The art of coaching is our starting point on Wednesdays as the players involved ready themselves for the ultimate test of PFI.
I'm lucky enough to be playing in my third one in six years of footy.
Can Justin Longmuir turn Fremantle’s 11‑year preliminary‑final drought into a Grand Final appearance?
It's pretty special. And all three of them have been at the SCG. So, you know, they're super enjoyable games. I think when you had some long-term injuries, you definitely don't take these games for granted. And to be out there is... is something that I'm very grateful for and, yeah, looking forward to Friday night. Yeah, contest is king. And, yeah, we're excited. We're really grateful for the opportunity. Yeah, keen to get stuck into
the Swans this Friday.
What do the players say about preparing for the high‑pressure clash against the Swans?
I was one that was watching. They looked great. They bounced back, obviously, from the week before against the Swans. And, yeah, we know they've got a lot of firepower and seeing them up and about, yeah, we're going to have to be on our... playing our best footy to match it with them. There's no real secret to it. I think you've just got to put your head over the ball when it matters and get the job done for not only the team but your supporters and everyone else out there that's watching on. It's pretty special to be running out at this time of the year in the frame of mind that we're in and I'm sure every other team is as well.
Josh Dunkley, Will Day, Andy Brayshaw and Errol Goulden with us on 360 last night. Errol's idea that these are fun games, I doubt that's shared by a whole lot of the playing community once we get to these preliminary finals.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Why are the preliminary finals considered the most critical games of the AFL season?
0:02–0:33
2
How has Chris Fagan’s experience with the Lions shaped their pursuit of a fourth straight Grand Final?
0:33–1:25
3
Does Sam Mitchell’s past preliminary‑final loss to Patrick Dangerfield strengthen the Hawks for this year’s challenge?
1:25–2:13
4
Can Justin Longmuir turn Fremantle’s 11‑year preliminary‑final drought into a Grand Final appearance?
2:13–2:37
5
What do the players say about preparing for the high‑pressure clash against the Swans?
2:37–3:21
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Whateley
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