AFL 2023 grand final: Collingwood Magpies v Brisbane Lions – live

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The 2023 AFL grand final is under way!

Thanks Jo, great work in the buildup. Brisbane captain Lachie Neale called heads correctly at the coin toss and we are underway at the MCG and the action is frantic early. Brayden Maynard is tasked with manning star Brisbane forward Charlie Cameron, who has kicked 17 goals in his last four matches against Collingwood. Brisbane co-captain Harris Andrews has picked up Billy Frampton, who was called into the Collingwood side this week, early in the match. The recalled Magpie has been good in two early contests on Andrews.

Updated at 00.38 EDT

I will hand the blog over to Courtney Walsh now for the bounce. Thanks for joining me for the buildup.

Time for the national anthem performed by Kate Miller-Heidke. (Who will also perform at half-time with Mark Seymour and the Undertow – see Geoff Lemon’s piece re Seymour.)

Updated at 00.29 EDT

The official proceedings have started. MC Hamish McLachlan has introduced Josh Kennedy as he brings out the cup. Peter Moore (AFL great and Darcy Moore’s dad) and Brisbane hero Leigh Matthews walk the cup on to the field.

And now Uncle Colin Hunter Jr is performing the Welcome to Country.

The 10-minute countdown starts.

OK I thought this ad was pretty fun. Mainly because Cortnee Vine is in it. Iconic.

And now the Pies. Darcy Moore looks so happy, he can’t wipe the cheesy grin off his face. What a day for the Collingwood captain.

Out come the Lions into the sun. Not the biggest of roars to be fair.

Jordan De Goey, who appears to be having a bop in the rooms, was phenomenal in the semi-final. A sign of what’s to come today?

Then, on Monday night, Lachie Neale surprised everyone including himself to win his second Brownlow medal. He will be one to watch today

And from Jonathan Horn earlier this season, before Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness demonstrated it was possible to take Nick Daicos out of the game.

Here come the umpires and the match ball!

On the whistle today is veteran Matt Stevic in his 11th AFL grand final, with fellow field umpires Simon Meredith, grand final debutant Hayden Gavine and 2023 All-Australian umpire Robert Findlay. Andrew Stephens is the emergency field umpire.

Ian Burrows, Christopher Gordon, Matt Tomkins and Michael Barlow will run the boundary. The goal umpires will be Adam Wojcik and Angus Mckenzie-Wills.

Shame there’s no women umpiring today.

Updated at 00.13 EDT

The teams are confirmed, Kiss have left, Mike Brady has sung Up Their Cazaly.

Now, Craig Little has you covered with where this grand final will be won and lost on the field.

Who wins at a packed MCG on Saturday will come down to pressure, ball movement and making the most of the critical moments. There are several players though, who due to matchups or because of who they are, will likely impact the result.

OK that’s enough of that. We are inching closer to the actual footy. I can almost taste it. That’s a lie all I can taste is maltesers.

It’s 20 years since Brisbane’s three-peat. Jonathan Horn looked back at five classic matches between the two grand finalists.

Kiss finally take to their black, white and glittering stage with the crowd-pleaser I Was Made for Lovin’ You. Accompanied by quite the pyrotechnics display!

Oh my god now there are lots of small children dressed up as Kiss members.

Mini KISS. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Updated at 00.14 EDT

Brisbane 22

FB: [37] Brandon Starcevich, [31] Harris Andrews, [27] Darcy Gardiner

HB: [26] Conor McKenna, [35] Ryan Lester, [18] Keidean Coleman

C: [6] Hugh McCluggage, [5] Josh Dunkley, [15] Dayne Zorko

HF: [23] Charlie Cameron, [30] Eric Hipwood, [4] Callum Ah Chee

FF: [16] Cam Rayner, [3] Joe Daniher, [33] Zac Bailey

Fol: [46] Oscar McInerney, [9] Lachie Neale, [7] Jarrod Berry

IC: [2] Deven Robertson, [11] Lincoln McCarthy, [28] Jaspa Fletcher, [44] Darcy Wilmot

EMG: [17] Jarryd Lyons, [29] James Tunstill, [32] Darcy Fort, [40] Jack Payne

Cam Rayner warms up. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/AFL Photos/via Getty ImagesCollingwood 22

FB: [28] Nathan Murphy, [30] Darcy Moore, [38] Jeremy Howe

HB: [4] Brayden Maynard, [17] Billy Frampton, [3] Isaac Quaynor

C: [22] Steele Sidebottom, [10] Scott Pendlebury, [37] Oleg Markov

HF: [23] Bobby Hill, [41] Brody Mihocek, [5] Jamie Elliott

FF: [31] Beau McCreery, [2] Jordan De Goey, [7] Josh Daicos

Fol: [46] Mason Cox, [35] Nick Daicos, [25] Jack Crisp

IC: [6] Tom Mitchell, [14] Darcy Cameron, [32] Will Hoskin-Elliott, [33] Jack Ginnivan

Sub: [1] Patrick Lipinski

Jordan De Goey warms up. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Of course by far the biggest name to hang up their boots this year was Lance Franklin. But the notoriously shy Swan is not at the MCG today.

Mike Brady has been very busy this week, as always. The very voice of September himself performed at the grand final parade yesterday, as well as at events earlier in the week and is now taking to the stage in the MCG to farewell the retirees.

Mike Brady performs at AFL grand final parade. Photograph: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos/Getty Images

It’s time for this year’s retiring players to say their grand final goodbyes.

It starts with a stunning rendition of Waltzing Matilda by First Nations artists William Barton and Jess Hitchcock. Wow.

William Barton and Jess Hitchcock perform before the grand final. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

And the motorcade begins. Leading the way are Richmond greats Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin.

On announcing his retirement, Riewoldt said he was “ready for the next chapter”, which we now know will involve the AFL’s newest franchise in Tasmania, where he is from.

There’s also West Coast’s Nic Naitanui, Geelong’s Isaac Smith and Sydney’s Paddy McCartin out there today.

Updated at 00.15 EDT

Richmond great Matthew Richardson is interviewing Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss. It is, umm, insightful. They have their makeup on now.

Stanley says he is PUMPED!

This is exciting for us because we are new, you know, over the years to footy, but the grand final and seeing the two best teams, you know, this season, it’s warriors colliding.

We know American football but to see everybody without shoulder pads and helmets, it’s brutal but incredibly exciting. So, we’re not taking sides, although we may look like we’re taking sides.

Simmons is ready too.

Anybody who’s not out there for the kill, get off the field. Either the Lions or the Pies. Who is it gonna be?

Kiss will take to the stage in about 20 or 30 minutes I think.

A good omen for the Pies?

Collingwood have beaten Essendon by 20 points in the AFLW just down the round from the MCG!

After Barassi’s death there were calls for the premiership trophy to be renamed in his honour.

The AFL have said they will not decide on how best to pay tribute to Barassi until after the grand final, AAP reports.

Outgoing chief executive Gillon McLachlan last week acknowledged there was pressure on the AFL to make a decision on its Barassi tribute before Saturday’s grand final.

But the league was unable to settle on a call in time for the Collingwood-Brisbane Lions season decider at the MCG.

The AFL premiership cup. Photograph: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/Getty Images

“The AFL will continue to work with the Barassi family on a fitting tribute to Ron,” the league said in a statement on Saturday.

“[CEO elect] Andrew Dillon and his team will do that during the off-season.”

AFL bosses have been consulting with clubs and key industry figures over how to acknowledge Barassi’s contribution to the game.

McLachlan has said the tribute will probably be similar to the league’s acknowledgment of Norm Smith and Jock McHale, who have grand final awards named after them.

There is a bit of a lull in activity now before the grand final motorcade. I thought it might be a good time to reflect on some very sad news from earlier this finals series, the death of Ron Barassi.

Barassi was one of the sport’s biggest champions, on and off the field, in every sense of the word. He was loved for his revolutionary playing style, his advocacy for the sport’s growth and expansion, and his many, many premierships as both player and coach.

As Jonathan Horn wrote in his beautiful obituary, Barassi was the true embodiment of Australian rules football.

Few Australians dominated, influenced and defined their sport quite like him. Few inspired fear, reverence and affection in such equal measure.

Ron Barassi of the Melbourne Demons in action during a VFL match in 1964. Photograph: Getty Images

Very relevant.

A motocross display outside the MCG. Photograph: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Something that will no doubt feature in this blog, and the stories of many media outlets across the country today, will be the photography of one particular man, Michael Willson.

Jonathan Horn spoke to the renowned football photographer on what it takes to capture such a fast-paced game, and in particular, a grand final.

Who is the fastest AFL player?

Max Holmes from Geelong! Holmes just won the grand final sprint.

Apparently he was the only one wearing spikes which seems pretty unfair. Although he said his opponents made fun of him for that so maybe it balances out.

This was the final lineup 100 metre dash across the hallowed turf:

Adelaide – Mitchell Hinge

Brisbane – Jaxon Prior

Geelong – Max Holmes

GWS – Harry Rowston

Hawthorn – Josh Weddle

Melbourne – Jed Adams

Port Adelaide – Jed McEntee

Western Bulldogs – Ed Richards

There is a bit of wind around today, picking up dust from the quite dry Yarra Park and swirling it around the growing crowd outside the G.

On Brisbane and Fagan, my colleague Courtney Walsh, who will takeover from me on the blog in a couple of hours, wrote during the week about how the Lions’ humble attitude had helped get them where they are today – within reach of lifting the premiership trophy.

If a “no dickheads” recruitment policy was a factor in the Swans stunning consistency this century, Brisbane’s rise to grand finalist in part stems from a no-fuss attitude. The humble Lions, if you will. From the chair to the coach, inclusive of the co-captains, flashy forwards and dashing defenders, humility is a common thread at Brisbane.

Brisbane coach Chris Fagan has been speaking to Seven.

In terms of our record here at the MCG, I can’t argue with it. It’s not very good. When you get to a grand final, I don’t think it matters where you are playing. To be truthful, I honestly feel like our last two years of playing here, we have had much better performances. And that win in last year’s final against Melbourne gives us confidence that we can do it again.

We have great ground level players … if we can mark it and bring it down, it brings them into play and they are hard to stop. I will be trying to do that again today. And they will be trying to intercept mark. But, yeah, that has been a focus of ours. I don’t know, we have won the last six games against Collingwood, I think.

And on his plan for grand final day:

I will have a little 10-minute meeting with the players. There will be nothing new that I will talk about in there. We will show them a bit of a pump-up video at the end. Just to make theme feel good. Get out and play. It’s about the body of work across the whole course of the seasonal. Today’s the pinnacle of that. To overcook it would be a mistake.

On Kiss:

They are pretty old those guys aren’t they.

And I highly recommend this lovely story from Caitlin Cassidy about how she came to support the Magpies and the inevitable turmoil she has endured since.

For the sake of transparency it is important to disclose that the Guardian’s Melbourne office is full of Pies supporters. Bless them.

Antoun Issa and Caitlin Cassidy are in uniform and ready to go.

Antoun also runs the Pies’ pride group and wrote this great column for us during the finals series.

Updated at 22.13 EDT

OK on to some footy! Before we get into the teams a little later, let’s take a look back at last weekend’s semi-finals.

The first semi was between the Pies and the Giants. Guardian AFL writer Jonathan Horn was at the game and filed this report all about stairs and moments.

All year, Craig McRae has spoken about “taking the stairs”. He was in London over summer and saw a man at a Tube station eschew the escalator and bound up the steps. McRae photographed it, sent it to his players and has used it as a hook all year. It’s a variation on Allan Jeans’ “pay the price” speech at half-time in the 1989 grand final. McRae even had the entire playing list and staff running the stairs at the MCG prior to the Boxing Day Test. He took them to the top of the Shane Warne Stand. “If we don’t take the stairs this year, we’ll be sitting here on grand final day,” he told them.

Collingwood x Kiss

MC Hamish McLachlan just described Kiss as “the great rock band of our era, our parents and their parents and their parents’ era”.

I feel like that sums up the choice of artist quite well.

Scottie Pippen aside, there is quite the smörgåsbord of pre-mid-post-game entertainment on offer today. To give you a taste of what’s to come, here is a photo of the main act, but without their normal stage makeup.

The five members of Kiss at a promotional event in grand final week. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

There will be AFL players running fast, classic Aussie rules anthems, American rockers rocking, and the actual anthem.

That all starts at the MCG in less than half an hour, until then I highly recommend reading Geoff Lemon’s thoughts on the performers of past finals:

It’s Scottie Pippen! Because that makes total sense at the AFL grand final …

The six-time NBA champion is in Australia (I assume for the start of the NBL season, he is wearing a NBL-branded bomber jacket), and is putting in an appearance at the MCG.

The basketballer tells Brian Taylor that he has been a fan of footy his whole life, hmmm.

We were arguing last night over dinner about the best athletes in the world are. AFL athletes are in the competition. About the amount of distance they travel.

I have to go for the Lions.

Former Chicago Bulls NBA player Scottie Pippen and Luc Longley walk along the Yarra River. Photograph: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Updated at 22.04 EDT

Conditions

To put it simply … day for it.

It feels like a glorious summer day in Melbourne, but then you remember it’s only September and it becomes slightly more worrisome.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a top of 29C and sunny conditions, making it one of the warmer grand final days. That temperature is well above average, although a few degrees off the hottest temperature which was in 2015.

Final preparations are under way at the MCG. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

Also spare a thought for our cross-code friends in Sydney tomorrow. The forecast for NRLW grand final at 3.55pm AEDT is a whopping 34C. If the men are lucky it may just dip below 30C in time for the NRL decider later in the evening.

On tickets, there were issues at the start of the week with some Collingwood members not able to access the right allocations and some missing out.

It prompted the Magpies’ CEO Craig Kelly to call for more tickets to be on offer for the teams competing in the grand final:

As usual fans are out and about early today, making their way to the MCG and soaking in the atmosphere.

Jack Snape is on the ground and has met some supporters still on the hunt for those elusive tickets.

Here’s an update from Yarra Trams about getting to the G

And while we’re on transportation, earlier this week we heard that some fans were going to extraordinary lengths to get to Melbourne, and that flight and accommodation prices were soaring.

Guardian sport reporter Jack Snape met a couple at the parade yesterday who had driven down from Brisbane (straight after arriving back from an overseas trip) and were still on the hunt for tickets and accommodation. Serious dedication, or foolishness, not sure. I hope they found somewhere.

Have you been on the road for three days, or are you flying in from overseas for this? I would love to hear your grand final travel stories, and just generally what people are up to today.

My (English) parents used to always book a holiday for this weekend because it was quiet out of town! Thanks mum and dad.

A sight for sore eyes this morning. Would you look at this stadium … just magical.

A view of the city of Melbourne behind the MCG in the early morning light. Photograph: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos/Getty ImagesGood morning!

Hello, Jo Khan here with you on this glorious spring day.

Congratulations! We have made it to the greatest Saturday in September, that one day, when football’s best and brightest – in this case the Pies and the Lions – go head to head in the AFL grand final. The game that stops a nation state and sends even those with the most tenuous connections to AFL into a frothing frenzy, and so it should.

If the scenes at the parade in Melbourne yesterday are anything to go by, Collingwood will dominate this grand final – in the stands at the very least – and it is going to be a raucous day. The AFL estimated there were 300,000 fans along the route through the city and along the Yarra River.

The first bounce is at 2.30pm but there is a lot to get through in the next few hours. I’ll be taking you through all the pre-game news and entertainment, plus sharing insights and analysis from the Guardian’s sportswriters on these two teams, and bringing you the latest from inside and outside the MCG in the lead-up to the first bounce.

Please get in touch with any questions or thoughts, Collingwood, Lions or other. You can find me on X, formerly Twitter, @_jokhan or shoot me an email.

The AFL grand final, and indeed this blog and blogger, are coming to you from Wurundjeri country today. Uncle Colin Hunter Jr will deliver the Welcome to Country before the bounce.

Let’s get into it!

Updated at 21.40 EDT