AFL grand final 2021 LIVE updates Rampaging Demons clinch 13th premiership Norm Smith curse broken
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All of his career Christian Petracca has worn the label of the Next Dusty Martin and gently resisted the comparison.
Turns out in one way, Christian Petracca is the next Dustin Martin. He is the 2021 Norm Smith medallist after Martin won the past two.
Of course he is the next Christian Petracca, but this was a Dusty-esque performance.
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Midfield bulls Christian Petracca (right) and Clayton Oliver embrace.Credit:Getty Images
Tom McDonald was up for trade last year, but none of the 17 other clubs were interested in recruiting him. He is now a premiership player. He spoke to Channel Seven after the game...
How is it?
I never thought we’d be here to be honest. Hawthorn belted us for years and years. We were a rabble. We finally turned it around and got a club we can be proud of.
What were the main reasons it turned around? With AFL these days, what was the main reason?
A few things. Talent helps. Having good players is essential but I think we saw a buy into culture, to selflessness, to work rate, to off-season training and we get the result on the back of that.
Norm Smith Medallist Christian Petracca spoke to Channel Seven after the game...
How does it feel, the medal hanging around your neck?
It’s sunk in a little bit. This is unbelievable. This is what you play footy for. Invested so much, have sacrificed it with a group of boys that have sacrificed so much of their own game, it’s a dream come true. I’ve dreamt about this, it’s a dream come true. To finally be here is so special.
I spoke to you earlier this week, you seemed so calm. During the third quarter, the Doggies had it against you, you set up a couple of goals, stepped up. You were the one who put the team on your shoulders and went forward.
They’re an unbelievable team, the Doggies. We knew it was going to be a grind. We didn’t think it was going to be a blowout. We didn’t like that to be honest towards the end. We knew it was going to keep going and going. Our contest is what we pride ourselves on. Myself and Clayton, I had to get back to getting to the contest. To come through, I’m happy with the way I played.
Melbourne, the game’s oldest club and the one that bears the name of our besieged metropolis, have ended 57 years of torment, utterly overwhelming the Western Bulldogs and mocking a mid-game deficit to win a remarkable grand final in the COVID-free citadel of Perth.
In a season finale that contained major momentum shifts and followed a second season of lockdowns and civil unrest in Melbourne in the days before the grand final, the fierce Demons overcame a mid-game domination by the Dogs and sizeable deficit to smash Luke Beveridge’s men in the final 45 minutes to win their first premiership since 1964, 13th in the VFL/AFL, and their first in the national competition.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin and captain Max Gawn stand euphorically with premiership cup in-hand.Credit:AFL Photos
The Demons, who trailed by 19 points in the middle of the third quarter and seemed on the brink of an ignominious capitulation, showed enormous grit - of a kind that Melbourne have not owned often until this season - to win a grand final before an enthralled and AC/DC-decibel 61,118 fans in Perth twilight.
“After 57 years of pain, it’s coming home,†Gawn told the crowd, before he and Simon Goodwin accepted the cup from another club great, Garry Lyon, to a rapturous roar.
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Steven May spoke to Channel Seven after the game...
Gold Coast Suns to the Melbourne Demons, premiership medal around your neck.
It is surreal. I made the decision a few years ago. A lot of lows. This makes everything I went through worth it. Thought I’d regret it. I’m speechless.
Now that the medal is around your neck, how touch-and-go was your injury?
I think in the second quarter, I went for a ground ball, it wasn’t great. I thought I’ve got an hour to get through and fix the hammy and not be a liability out there, able to have some sort of influence. It was all heart, really. I’ll deal with this in the next few days.
Todd Viney tried for 13 years to bring home a premiership for the Demons, and even played in a grand final back in 1988, which ended in a disastrous 96-point loss.
But 33 years after that inglorious day, he witnessed his son Jack achieve what he couldn’t do.
A clean sweep for Petracca...
For almost three quarters it looked like we were headed for a grand final for the ages.
But Melbourne had different ideas as they blew the Bulldogs away late in the third quarter to secure an astonishingly lopsided victory.
Here is how each player fared when Jon Pierik and Andrew Stafford applied the microscope to their performances.
Click on any player you like in the below interactive graphic to see their ratings.
*Note: Medical subs James Jordon and Laitham Vandermeer didn’t take to the field
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