The AFL Grand Final has finally come and gone. With a result that likely shocked many of you, the 2025 AFL season has concluded for the year. In the NRL we saw the preliminary finals and now have our match up for the grand final next weekend.
NRL
The preliminary finals kicked off this weekend with the Melbourne Storm facing the Cronulla Sharks at AAMI Park on Friday night. In the opening 10 minutes Will Warbrick was able to land a try for the Storm to give them the early lead and momentum builder they needed. But it was only 5-minutes before the Sharks responded in kind to remind the Storm why the Sharks are in the finals. But by the time the half time siren sounded Hughes and Papenhuyzen both got tries for the Storm. Katoa had secured two tries for the Sharks but going into the second half the storm held a 16-8 lead. But in the final half the Storm proved their defence was just too good for the Sharks to break through. With both sides landing one last try and penalty goal, the Storm knocked out the Sharks for a 22-14 victory and secured their position in next week’s grand final.
On Sunday afternoon the Broncos were host to the 4-times-in-a-row premiership winning Penrith Panthers. The Panthers displayed their class in showing how elite their defence is the entire game with a rare few instances where the Broncos managed to squeeze in. But with Carrigan suspended and the Panthers being the Panthers this game for the majority of the game felt like it was in Penriths court and outclassed the Broncos at nearly every opportunity. But in typical Bronco’s fashion, despite having no tries on the board and being 14-points down at half time, the Broncos managed to make the comeback and secure victory in the final moments of the game. The Broncos ended the reign of the Penrith Panthers a team that has not lost a finals game since 2021.
AFL
At 2:30pm on Saturday we saw the epic showdown between two titans from the game this year: the Geelong Cats vs the Brisbane Lions. Whilst this was the third year in a row the Lions had made the grand final, as well as being the reigning premiers, the odds were favoured for a Geelong victory going in to the game. The cats had been dominant all year, looking unstoppable and had even defeated the Lions in the first round of finals earlier this month. But after some D-O-GG action the game was finally here and the bounce begun.
After an extremely tight first half the score was completely equal at 36 all. What was also bizarre though was, including the score, when half time came both teams had the same amount of kicks, handballs and disposals. Star player Jeremy Cameron appeared to have hurt his shoulder in a nasty clash during the second quarter and many fans were unsure if he would reappear for the second half of the game. To many fans delight he did return, however you could see the pain he was fighting through and his game was significantly impacted. It has since been revealed that he had in fact broken his arm. Jeremy Cameron played an entire half of footy with a broken arm. What a mad lad.
By the time the fourth quarter had commenced the Lions held a good lead. But it seems it was not meant to be for the Cats. Brisbane in its final quarter for the year put 60 points on the board to humiliate the premiership favourites and send them back to the farm with their tails between their legs. The Lions had multiple players that could’ve won the Norm Smith this year with Harris Andrews, Hugh McCluggage and Charlie Cameron all playing superb games, but for his second year in a row it was 21-year old Will Ashcroft who walked away with the Norm Smith,
The Brisbane Lions have gone back to back in the AFL. Two years in a row they’ve reached the finals and were pegged as the underdogs that day, and then defeated the favourites by over 60 points. See you in 2026 footy fans.
