This preliminary final showcased everything that is exquisite, brutal and cruel about the sport. And how about Nick Watson?
Some of the most memorable games in the history of Australian rules football have come in preliminary finals. Some, like Geelong’s win over North Melbourne in 1994, are remembered as wildly fluctuating, end-to-end shootouts. Some, like Collingwood v GWS in 2023, were hand-to-hand combat. Some, like Hawthorn’s win over Melbourne in 1987 and Sydney’s over Essendon in 1996, are remembered for their dramatic finishes. Some, like the Crows-Bulldogs game in 1997, wrenched the hearts out of the losing supporters. Some are remembered for individual brilliance – Ablett in 1989, Long in 1993, Kouta in 1999 and Cox in 2018. And some, like the 2016 prelim in western Sydney and the Brisbane-Geelong game in 2024, are remembered for the high standard of play throughout.
The Brisbane-Hawthorn prelim on Saturday sampled the best of those and distilled them into one discombobulating, unforgettable brew. It had violent momentum swings, exceptional skills, tactical intrigue and plenty of controversy. And that was just the opening 20 minutes. One of our greatest historians once called Australian football an “emotional bath of agony and ecstasy”. Hyperbole butters a lot of bread in footy. But if ever that phrase was applicable, it was this game. It might be the greatest of all the preliminary finals. It might be the finest exhibition of the code we’ve ever seen.