Quarter by quarter 2026 AFL Grand final breakdown | The Means Test with Adam Simpson! (28.09.26)
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What happened in the opening quarter of the 2026 AFL Grand Final?
First quarter. Sorko's kick in up the middle to Bailey and Rayner gets on his bike. Gets it on the first bounce in centre field. Has to look to an open setup. Good waiting on the kick. Lowman back couldn't quite hang on. Charlie's got it. Cameron stabs and Charlie's got the first.
Sarong bangs it forward. This is a good side for Fremantle. Tracy full chest that comes at the footy and marks from 53. The drop punch, pretty good. It's a magnificent kick. Josh Tracy's in the game. Double is in Akers. The space the handball missed him. Had to go back and get it. Made a great contest. Gets it back. Goes for home. Brilliant goal. Brilliant crumbing loyman. Balls over the top, Oscar Allen. Your chance. Oscar Allen kicks the goal. Halfback, that's got to be a throw from Morris. Goes to Lohman, pulls the trigger. That is a go. Reed makes an ends. Brilliant stuff. Kept on moving through the stoppage, kicks the goal. This is a good game of footy.
Lions by a point at quarter time. Yeah, so going into the game, if we just touch on a couple of tactical, you know, plans that both teams would have had. I I think the center ball-ups was huge. I think that was going to determine a lot of the success. And both teams went in with good form. Almost 30% strike rate from center ball-ups was their score. So they would have had the strategies around that. I I think when you play free man all, you really concentrate on when they go long down the line, because they do that more than any other team. Freeman are like to get speed off that. They don't necessarily mark that ball, although they like to, and they can, but they get the speed, the Dudleys and those types rip through Bolton, Murphy Reed, all those types rip through.
So kill spoils, Jared. Don't no soft drops. So the kill spoils means, and you can picture it now down the line. Harris Andrews just whacking one 15 meters back in their direction. So I've seen that for three weeks in a row against Freeman. It's something you've got to look at next year. Um, and then for Brisbane, what do you take away? I think you've got to lean into the uncontested marks. Can we take that away? Can we be good defensively? How do we do that? Well, let's get deep entries, set up right behind the ball. Let's not make it a shootout. We can't really defend behind our ball movement. So I felt like that was the pre-game strategy. We get to quarter time. Uh inside fifties, fourteen to Freo, sixteen to Brisbane, time in fourth half, sixty-two percent to Brisbane.
So that's pretty significant to thirty-eight. The crumbing, this is where it gets interesting. So Fremont have four crumbs for the quarter. Brisbane have s twelve. Twelve crumbs. So the spoiling's working. And it's it's that versus contested marks. So they only had three contested marks from Annalton to Brisbane's one. So the numbers, you know, nothing's gonna blow us away. early on, uh pretty even, um score from stoppages. Fremant have two goals straight, and Brisbane had four points. So Yeah, that was the stats of the first quarter and then nothing normally jumps off the page other than the uncontested marks. They kept Brisbane to 15. What were the big moments for you? Well, I thought Tracy's goal was a big I I we don't know how this game's gonna play out, but for him to kick the first goal after the Cameron one was for me the settler that they needed.
Because you don't want to get into a grand final, never been there before, suddenly you're four goals down. Um so for him to get straight out of the middle, kick that goal from what, sixty, fifty-five Um, that was a that was a big moment for Freeman to say, Okay, we belong here.
How did the centre‑ball‑up strategy shape the first half?
Um I thought the um the short kicks the non paid early or going, Oh, hang on, what's going on? The umpires let it go. I I do hear a bit of good, that's the way the game should be umpired. I'm not as sure. I think they missed five or six free kicks um in that first quarter. Whether it was too high or I don't know, I just felt like holding the balls were let go a little bit. Uh and then the the non pay the fifteen meters. It's like, are we doing this all day?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened in the opening quarter of the 2026 AFL Grand Final?
0:00–3:17
2
How did the centre‑ball‑up strategy shape the first half?
3:17–7:10
3
What were the key turning points at halftime and why did the teams adjust?
7:10–11:46
4
Which moments defined the third quarter and how did the momentum shift?
11:46–15:40
5
What tactical changes were made in the final quarter and how did they impact the result?
15:40–20:47
6
Who received the most votes for each quarter and why were they chosen?
20:47–28:59
7
How did the coaches’ pre‑game plans compare to the on‑field execution?
28:59–32:55
8
What final lessons did Adam Simpson and Gerard Whateley draw from the Grand Final?
32:55–34:17
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Whateley
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Shannon Gill runs his rubric against the 2026 AFL Grand final! | Where does it sit in the pantheon of Premiership triumphs? (28.09.26)
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The full & final Means Test with Adam Simpson! | 2026 Grand final edition (28.09.26)