AFL grand final: Geelong’s Bailey Smith and Will Ashcroft vying for same role of midfield leading man

It’s the biggest stage in footy and this year, there are two Hollywood-esque young hotshots vying for the same part: the role of the league’s biggest young star.

Two blonde bombshells and midfield maestros hold the key to their respective sides’ hopes for grand final glory.

The AFL grand final is the perfect stage and the MCG the most fitting of coliseums for Geelong gun Bailey Smith and Brisbane star Will Ashcroft to battle it out on the road to the holy grail.

Where it gets interesting: they are still both under the age of 25 years-old and if all goes well, will be box office stars for the better part of the next decade.

There are plenty of similarities between the prodigious pair, from the long, flowing blonde hair to their importance to their respective midfields.

And while both can be portrayed as understudies to aging stars — Smith has Patrick Dangerfield and Ashcroft Lachie Neale — they are both already leading men in their own right.

Smith is everything, everywhere all at once, a classic Harrison Ford-type oozing roguish charm but more than just a pretty face and always willing to get down and dirty.

Despite a slew of headlines for off-field reasons, like flipping the bird to a photographer at training, relationship with influencer Tammy Hembrow or even his gutsy decision to admit he spent time in a mental health facility, the AFL’s most marketable star delivers where it matters most.

Smith missed the entirety of last season with a torn ACL and swapped Western Bulldogs for Geelong in the off-season, but has enjoyed a career-best season upon his return to provide new hope of a fresh flag.

In his first season as a Cat, Smith finished third in voting for the Brownlow Medal and averaged career highs for disposals, clearances and inside 50s.

For all the off-field eyeballs he draws, the 24 year-old is a mighty-fine player on it and is the bookies’ favourite for the Norm Smith Medal for the grand final’s best-afield.

Compared to Smith, Ashcroft is more like Ryan Gosling: a big star in his own right, but even when he feels understated at times, his drive is an important cog in Brisbane’s midfield machine.

There is always the risk of a young gun becoming a fall guy when they carry the expectations of being a high draft pick and a father-son one at that, but Ashcroft’s quick adaptation to senior football has Lions fans in crazy, stupid love with him.

Ashcroft’s verve is crucial to the Lions; for a team ranked second for both disposals and clearances per game, he finished fourth in the league for total disposals and was just outside the top 10 for score involvements and clearances.

You might think a 21 year-old could find themselves in La La Land when they come face-to-face with the fires of September footy; not Ashcroft, who tallied 30 disposals in last year’s grand final to become the youngest-ever Norm Smith medallist.

Smith also has a grand final appearance to his name, albeit on the losing side when his Bulldogs were swept away by Christian Petracca and Melbourne in Perth in 2021.

Both Smith and Ashcroft have the chance to further their own currently brief but ultimately growing legacies on Saturday.

After a season out of the game due to injury, the Geelong midfielder started the season like a man on fire and has an opportunity to completing one of the great AFL comeback stories by winning his first flag.

It is stunning to consider the least number of disposals he has had in a single game this year is 22; funnily enough, that game came against Brisbane in the qualifying final just three weeks ago.

On that occasion, Ashcroft stole the show on a personal level with 30 disposals, nine inside 50s and five clearances but more importantly, Geelong took home the chocolates to run out 38-point victors.

Ashcroft’s tale is one of a shared wider one with his younger brother Levi — who we may well come to consider one of the league’s best midfielders in his own right in due course — and father Marcus, who was part of Brisbane’s all-conquering trio of premiership sides at the start of this century.

There is a not-unimaginable world where Saturday ends and Ashcroft is both a two-time grand final and Norm Smith winner, further etching his own name into folklore while extending his own family’s legacy as one of footballing royalty.

The grand final may not hinge on which of Smith and Ashcroft proves to be the top gun, or whether one will be able to best the other’s performance; maybe it will not be one of the usual suspects who has the biggest say on the day.

But with the lights set to be the brightest they have been all season, these two raging midfield bulls will undoubtedly have a massive effect on proceedings.