RICHO’S TOP 10: Fremantle and Brisbane the two best teams all year

1. After 30 weeks, it all comes down to this Saturday at the MCG.

I think in the end, the two teams that had the highest ceiling on form all season have made it to the grand final. At their best, these two teams play the best footy I’ve seen this year. The best offensive team Brisbane against the hardest team to move the footy against in Fremantle. I’m tipping the Brisbane Lions to win and record their second three-peat since 2000. I just think the experience of the last three years will be the difference in the end and the fact that Freo has a small weakness at ground level in their defensive 50. This is something I think Charlie Cameron, Kai Lohmann, Zac Bailey and Cam Rayner can expose. That means Eric Hipwood and Logan Morris must fight tooth and nail to get the ball to ground. I’ll pick Will Ashcroft to join Dusty Martin to win his third Norm Smith medal. What a player he is and still only 22 years of age.

2. Fremantle will be hoping to emulate Port Adelaide’s inaugural premiership when they tackle Brisbane.

Port had only three premiership players in its line-up going into the 2004 decider – Damien Hardwick (Essendon, 2000), Byron Pickett (North Melbourne, 1999) and Gavin Wanganeen (Essendon, 1993) – when they took on a powerful Brisbane side striving for a fourth consecutive flag. Despite that lack of premiership success, the Power prevailed, winning by 40 points. Fremantle, like Port, will face the might of the Lions with only three premiership players, all of them picked up from other clubs. Shai Bolton (Richmond 2019, 2020), Mason Cox (Collingwood 2023) and Luke Jackson (Melbourne 2021).

3. Along with Port Adelaide’s 2004 triumph, there have been a spate of drought-breaking premierships won this century by teams against non-Victorian clubs.

Sydney broke a 72-year premiership drought, defeating West Coast in 2005. Geelong broke a 44-year drought in 2007, beating Port Adelaide. The Western Bulldogs broke a 62-year drought in 2016 with victory over the Swans. And Richmond broke a 37-year drought in 2017, toppling Adelaide. Fremantle will be hoping that the trend continues against Brisbane on Saturday in the quest for its long-awaited first premiership. The Dockers have been waiting 31 years for the game’s ultimate triumph. West Coast won its inaugural premiership five years after entering the competition and Adelaide accomplished the feat six years in, while it took Port Adelaide seven years.

4. Fremantle will have to overcome the “curse” of the minor premiership if they are to win on Saturday.

Since the competition became the AFL in 1990, teams that finished on top of the ladder have won only 12 of the 36 grand finals contested, with Collingwood in 2023 the most recent to do so. The Dockers have finished in top place on the ladder once previously, in 2015, ultimately losing to Hawthorn in the preliminary final that year. There is, however, some good news historically for the 2026 ladder leaders in the grand final against Brisbane, who finished third on this year’s home-and-away ladder. Since 1990, first has played third six times in deciders, winning four and losing two. The most recent example of this was in 2022, when Geelong demolished Sydney.

5. Brisbane seems to enjoy doing it the hard way on the premiership path.

In 2024, the Lions finished fifth on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season. With no margin for error in that September campaign, they subsequently reeled off four successive wins, culminating in a crushing grand final win against the Swans. Last year, they lost the qualifying final to Geelong by 36 points, but bounced back to win the semi-final, then the preliminary final, before gaining revenge over the Cats in the grand final with a 47-point win. This year, Brisbane was smashed by Sydney in the qualifying final by 53 points, before convincingly defeating Adelaide in the semi-final, and then scraping home against Hawthorn in an epic preliminary final. Interestingly, the Lions have not finished on top of the home-and-away ladder in any of their premiership years this century. In 2001, they won the flag from second place, second again in 2002, third in 2003, fifth in 2024 and third in 2025. This year, they finished third on the ladder.

6. Brisbane will enter truly “rarefied air” if it completes a premiership hat-trick.

The Lions would join Melbourne as the only clubs in VFL/AFL history to win three consecutive premierships twice. Melbourne’s first “three-peat” was from 1939-1941 under the coaching guidance of Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes. The Demons achieved their second three-peat in the years 1955-1957 under legendary coach Norm Smith. Brisbane’s first three-peat was from 2001-2003, with AFL great Leigh Matthews in charge as coach. All-up, there’s been only six times in the competition’s history where teams have won three consecutive premierships. Carlton was first to do it, from 1906-1908, followed by Collingwood, who won a record four flags in a row from 1927-1930, then Melbourne 1939-1941, the Demons again 1955-1957, Brisbane 2001-2003 and, most recently, Hawthorn 2013-2015.

7. You couldn’t get a bigger contrast in football backgrounds than that between Brisbane’s first three-peat coach Leigh Matthews and the club’s current mentor Chris Fagan, who will join ‘Lethal’ in that exalted company if the Lions are successful on Saturday.

Matthews is widely regarded as the greatest player in history. His playing record throughout his career at Hawthorn is incredible: 332 games, 915 goals, four-time premiership player, eight-time best and fairest winner, six-time club leading goalkicker, club captain, Hawthorn Team of the Century member, Hawthorn Hall of Fame Legend, AFL Team of the Century member, Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend. Fagan, on the other hand, never played AFL/VFL football. He had a distinguished playing career in his native state of Tasmania, with more than 250 games at senior level for several clubs, later becoming the inaugural coach of the Tassie Mariners under 18s team, before heading to Victoria, joining Melbourne as its reserve-grade coach and then an assistant coach. Fagan subsequently went into football administration, serving as the Demons’ General Manager of Football Operations, before crossing to Hawthorn, where he also had the role as General Manager of Football Operations, playing a key role in the Hawks’ 2013-2015 three-peat. At the end of the 2016 season, Fagan was appointed Brisbane’s coach and 10 years later, he is on the verge of joining Matthews as a legendary Lions three-peat coach.

8. That loss is gut wrenching for the Hawks.

It will take a while to get over losing one of the greatest finals ever played. But mark my words, this is a footy club only going upwards under the coaching of a very hungry, successful person like Sam Mitchell. They will be better in 2027 as they were this year. Coming into the year, they needed improvement from players like Josh Ward and Cam McKenzie. They got it. Ward played his best game ever last Saturday in a preliminary final. He put the team on his back. The backline is stable and experienced. Mitch Lewis up forward with another full pre season can be the key forward they want. He played a blinder against the Lions as well. If they add Ben King and Zach Merrett, they can win the flag next year. Plus they have simply the best big moments player in the competition in ‘The Wizard’, Nick Watson. Onwards and upwards for the Hawks.

9. When the dust settles on season 2026, it will have mixed emotions for Sydney.

While Dean Cox would have been proud of their effort and intensity in the two finals games, he will have a feeling that they could have won the premiership. The silver lining is that four or five players that would not have played in September did and performed well. Young players were exposed to finals intensity and different positions and held their own. The player that impressed me the most was Jai Serong. He stepped into the midfield and showed he can be valuable in that role moving forward. Such a versatile young player. The emergence of Logan McDonald was a positive as well. There is a fair bit to play out still with the suspended stars. I really find it hard to see all five in Swans colours in 2027. If no charges eventuate from the allegations, questions will be asked if the suspensions were too heavy handed. But one thing is for certain, the Swans are a well-coached team that has plenty of depth and should contend deep into 2027 once again.

10. This was a win as inevitable as any in Brownlow history. Congratulations to Nick Daicos, who had previously polled 30-plus votes twice and not won.

He is now the only player in history to poll 30-plus votes three times and his winning tally of 47 is the most ever. He’s 24 years of age. There will surely be more Brownlows for this most humble of champions. But next year, I hope Marcus Bontempelli gets the Brownlow his stellar career deserves. Third-most votes in history behind Gary Ablett Jnr and Patrick Dangerfield. It would be the most popular win in the medal’s history. Wont’ be easy though competing with Ed Richards and new Dog Zak Butters for votes. Thanks to everyone that has read this column this footy season. Have a great summer and see you in 2027.