Eden Park Finals Fever Has Me Asking Footy’s Real Questions
So the Warriors are playing a final at Eden Park next week against Newcastle and good on them, genuinely. But it’s got me thinking about something closer to home, and that’s how the AFL keeps fumbling the footy of it all while another code works out how to fill a stadium.
Carn the Pies, always, but this one’s bigger than the Pies for a minute. Bear with me.
Fair play to the Warriors, they’ve earned this
Any footy person with half a brain respects a club that’s grinded its way to a home final in front of its own people. The Warriors have copped it for years, they’ve had seasons where they should of packed it in, and now they’re playing finals footy at a genuine cathedral of a stadium in front of a home crowd that’s been starved of this moment.
That’s not nothing. That’s the whole point of sport isnt it? You suffer, you wait, and then one year it all clicks and the home town gets to celebrate properly. I’m not an NRL bloke but I know a good story when I see one.
Why does this even matter to AFL fans?
Because it’s a lesson in what finals footy should feel like. Eden Park will be rocking. The whole city will be talking about it all week. Compare that to some of our own finals venues where half the crowd’s a member from Toorak who couldn’t tell you who kicked the winning goal.
Are we doing enough to make AFL finals feel like genuine events rather than just another Saturday with slightly higher ticket prices? I reckon the answer’s obvious.
The Collingwood angle, because there’s always one
Look, the Pies fill grounds. We always have, we always will. Forty thousand of us would turn up to watch the reserves training on a Tuesday night if they let us. But even I’ll admit the broader AFL finals experience outside the traditional heartland states can feel a bit flat.
When was the last time a final somewhere unconventional had the buzz that Eden Park’s about to have? Genuinely asking. Because I can’t think of one, and that should worry the blokes running our game.
The code war stuff is overblown but it’s not nothing
I’m not one of those doomsday merchants who reckons rugby league’s about to swallow Victoria whole. Won’t happen. Footy’s in our blood down here and no amount of Eden Park hype changes that.
But every time another code pulls off a genuinely electric occasion, it’s a reminder that we can’t just sit back on tradition. The AFL’s got Gather Round, it’s got the Perth stuff, it’s had a red hot go at expansion. Fair enough. But are we actually building new emotional moments the way this Warriors final is about to deliver, or are we just moving deck chairs?
What finals footy should actually feel like
A home elimination final in a city that’s had to wait years for it, packed to the rafters, desperate for a result — that’s the stuff finals are made of. It’s why September footy hits different to the home and away slog.
Our own finals system does this well when it works. Think back to a proper qualifying final at the G with both clubs desperate and the whole stand shaking. That’s world class stuff, no code does it better when it fires. The issue is consistency. Too many of our finals get decided by whichever club drew the softer draw or whoever the fixture gods smiled on, and don’t get me started on how the umpiring can swing a contest at the pointy end of the year. I’m not saying it’s deliberate, I’m just saying it always seems to go a certain way against certain clubs and you can draw your own conclusions.
The lesson for the Pies faithful
Every time I see another code nail an occasion, I want it for us more. I want a September where the whole ground’s vibrating because Collingwood’s fighting for its season and the whole state’s tuned in.
We’ve had those nights. 2018 prelim, anyone? The MCG genuinely shook. That’s the standard. That’s what Eden Park’s about to produce for a different code entirely, and it should be lighting a fire under everyone running our game to keep chasing that same electricity, week in week out, not just when it suits the fixture.
Bottom line
Good luck to the Warriors, genuinely, they’ve earnt their shot and Eden Park’s going to be a cracker of an atmosphere. But it’s also a timely reminder that AFL finals footy needs to keep working for every ounce of hype it gets. Nothing’s guaranteed just because we’ve been doing it longer.
Definately food for thought as we roll toward another September. The Pies will be building for it like always, and I reckon if we get our draw right, our crowd’s still the best in the comp bar none.
Carn the Pies. Always was, always will be.
