Late Grand Final Briefs

by Frank Ienco reporting for AFANA from Sydney

In Late Grand Final news...    Jolly to Play; Graham Misses Out

Ruckman Darren Jolly will take his place for tomorrow's Grand Final after flying down to Melbourne today to join his teammates, who arrived last night. With his wife heavily pregnant, Jolly said last weekend he would miss the Grand Final if it meant seeing the birth of his child. While Deanne Jolly was not due to give birth for another three weeks, she has a family history of premature births. True to its word, the youngest member of the Jolly household, a girl, was born  at the Prince of Wales hospital in Sydney.

Meanwhile, West Coast defender Jaymie Graham is the unluckiest player in the AFL at the moment after being named the player to make way for David Wirrapanda in the only change to either side. Graham had played in 24 of  the Eagles' 25 matches this season, but has been named as an emergency. Wirrapanda returns after a hamstring injury forced him out of last week's prelimary final win over Adelaide. Midfielder Daniel Kerr was in doubt after completing only ten minutes of the Eagles' final training session in Perth, but will play. The Swans have named an unchanged line-up, meaning they will have used the same 22-man squad for the entire finals series.

Sources: AAP, foxsports.com.au, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Sunday Telegraph

Media Coverage and Players Comments

Just as there is no Melbourne team in this year's AFL Grand Final; likewise there is no Sydney club in this year's NRL Grand Final on Sunday, giving the Swans blanket media coverage in the city's main papers all week. Following on from last year's Premiership success, its seems all the local media want to jump on board the Swans bandwagon. The Daily Telegraph, 'The Official Newspaper of the Sydney Swans has an unprecedented four pages of news in the sports section, as well as an eight page lift-out. Broadsheet The Sydney Morning Herald has a four-page lift-out on the outside of the main paper itself. With the players no doubt on a media ban following this afternoon's Grand Final Parade, they will have made their final comments on Saturday's game.

Swans defender Leo Barry, has told The Daily Telegraph, with nothing to separate the two sides, it could take a freak act of heroism, like his now-famous mark in the dying stages of last year's Grand Final, to decide the match. "It is going to be close, there are certainly times in the game when individual brillance will change the game," he said. "I'm not asked about it [that mark] every day ... perhaps every second day."

Another one of the Swans trio of captains, spearhead Barry Hall, has written a column in today's Telegraph ahead of the big match. But instead of Hall or Barry, it will be Brett Kirk who will toss the coin for tomorrow's match; however all three are expected to accept the trophy on the dias should the Swans win. Hall says the Swans players will need to think like "heavyweight champions" to defeat West Coast tomorrow. "A 12-rounder with two opponents standing toe-to-toe throwing everything they've got until it's last man - or in this case - last team standing," Hall writes.

 "Given our recent history with West Coast I don't think tomorrow's Grand Final is going to be a blowout. Every time we get on top of the Eagles by four or five goals, we just know they are going to come back at us." Earlier this week, Hall said he expected this year's decider will be more free-flowing and higher-scoring than last year, when the Swans won despite incredibly only kicking eight goals.

Meanwhile, 2000 Premiership Captain James Hird believes the Swans will feel more pain if they lose tomorrow's match. He is quoted in today's Telegraph saying "It was shattering in 2001. [when the Bombers lost the Grand Final to the Brisbane Lions after defeating Melbourne a year ealier] It almost makes the feeling worse because you know how good it feels to win one. I guess that if you lose one when you haven't won one, then it might not hurt as much." Maybe he should talk to a Collingwood supporter...

Sources: The Daily Telegraph, The Sydney Morning Herlad and AAP 

Victory upset at AFL

Unless you're a fan of both codes in Australia, AFL and soccer supporters are often at odds with each other on which code is better the other, and usually accuse the opposition of paranoia. The simmering rivalry has now reached the public domain, with A-League club. the Melbourne Victory, upset at the AFL for not publishing an advertisement for their upcoming match in this week's Grand Final AFL Record Magazine.

The Victory had hoped to use the magazine to promote its game against the Queensland Roar at the Tesltra Dome on Sunday, the day after the AFL Grand Final, but their request was refused by the AFL. Victory Chief Executive Geoff Miles says the club was rejected from publishing an ad in the Record  because they were from a rival code.

Source: AAP