RYAN DANIELS: Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions both want to avoid previous AFL grand final failures

Fear can be paralysing.

Maybe it hits you on the plane to Melbourne. Your legs crammed into row 26 — you missed out on one of the 12 business class seats. It’s stuffy, and the kid behind you won’t stop kicking the seat. Your stomach’s churning. Something’s off.

Maybe it strikes you on grand final eve... as you lay your tired head on the hotel pillow. You know you need eight hours sleep — but the thought can’t be shaken. What if it happens again? What if you fail again? What if you’re ambushed in front of 100,000 people — and millions more on TV.

Or… it gets you during the national anthem — as Australia advances fair, and that crowd erupts — whack, the fear. The darkness. The possibility that this ends the same way it did last time.

Saturday’s siren will provide either redemption, or pain. Triumph, or trauma.

Sydney and Brisbane are our 2024 grand finalists.

They are also the two clubs which lost the last two AFL grand finals. The first time that’s happened in 30 years.

A rare situation which lends itself to catastrophe and salvation.

The Swans barely threw a punch in 2022 — shellshocked and embarrassed by a rampant Geelong side. 81 ugly points.

The Lions threw plenty of punches last year — but took one more than Collingwood. The Pies won by four points. Four excruciating points. Four points Chris Fagan and his Lions have thought about every day for a year.

And here they stand again. Both with a chance to erase the anguish — only, fear stands in the way.

For one of them, this only gets worse. A Brisbane loss would see them become the first team in more than 20 years to lose back-to-back grand finals.

For Sydney, it would be their fourth grand final loss in 10 years — without raising a cup during that time. Football’s perennial bridesmaid — eat your heart out Katherine Heigl.

By tomorrow, the record books will read that one of these teams overcame all that, and the other became a team that couldn’t finish the job, again.

Make no mistake — these are great clubs. They present every year, always in contention, always around the mark — but at the end of the day, these chances must be taken. You’re judged on the final Saturday in September.

Seventeen of the Lions who fell to the Pies last year will run out again today. Sixteen of the 2022 Swans, the humiliated, will take the stage today.

Jake Lloyd and Dane Rampe have already lost three grand finals, without winning one. Isaac Heeney, Tom Papley, Charlie Cameron and Lachie Neale, two each.

How those players handle the psychological challenges will be just as important as the physical.

Mindfulness, meditation, clarity and care are priorities in football these days, and will be tested today.

This promises to be a great grand final. It has to be. One of the closest seasons in memory deserves a grandstand finish. The top eight changed more often than Dennis Rodman’s hair colour. We’ve had 66 games decided by two goals or less, insane comebacks every weekend.

And these two teams have defined the season. The Swans, the best side for most of the year, won 13 of their first 14 games — and are on a five-game winning streak now. The Lions started with a hangover, losing four of their first six — but have won 13 of their last 15 games. They’re flying. We have the two best teams. We have a neutral venue. The stage is set.

So, who will stare fear in the eye?

Will it be Errol Gulden — the young, skilful Swan — most would give everything, just to be like him.

Or Chad Warner, the headless chook, the one who will bounce, run and carry his moxie through the MCG’s middle.

Maybe Heeney — blonde-haired, spring heeled and built for this moment. Maybe he is him.

Could Joe Daniher fulfil his destiny on the big stage? He was born for this, after all.

Is Cam Rayner final ready to own his status as a number one pick, shredding the bust tag, the injuries, the expectation. His career narrative could change today.

Then there’s Neale — the clearance king. Slowed by a tag last year, will he make amends?

We only have a few hours til we find out — til these stars face their fears, their trauma, their destiny.

The record books aren’t cruel, or vindictive, or romantic. They don’t consider emotion, desire or hope. They just are.

A new chapter will be written, without fear, today.