If there was an award for ‘best half of football in a final’ Jarrod Berry’s super-human second half against Melbourne last Friday night would be hard to beat.
Twenty-two possessions, four clearances, six score involvements, a massive hour of go-forward ‘grunt’ and a brilliant shut-down job on Melbourne dangerman Cameron Oliver … it was as good as it gets.
But what have been the best four-quarter finals performances in club history? With a lot of apologies, these five would be in any such conversation:-
Simon Black – 2003 Grand Final
As the Lions completed their premiership hat-trick the champion midfielder was positively sublime. He had an equal career-best and equal grand final record 39 possessions, including a career-best 25 contested possessions against Collingwood at the MCG. Plus, nine tackles, nine clearances and a critical goal just before halftime. And he did something that would be considered unthinkable in the modern game – he played 100% game time. He was a unanimous choice as best afield as he became just the third player in AFL history after Greg Williams and James Hird to win a Brownlow Medal, a Norm Smith Medal and a premiership.
Michael Voss – 2002 Grand Final
He didn’t win the Norm Smith Medal – but he should have. And if voting wasn’t done midway through the final quarter in a game that went down to the last kick he would have. He had nine possessions in the final quarter and five in the last five minutes when the game was on the line. On a cold, wet and miserable Saturday afternoon Voss had 26 possessions, a team-high six tackles and 12 inside 50s – more than 20% of his team’s total. He kicked a crucial goal just before three-quarter time to put his side in front after an incredibly inspirational play late in the second quarter when, after he was flattened in a heavy bump from Collingwood’s Scott Burns, he bounced back up, won a contested possession and fed Simon Black for a goal. He ran straight to Burns and gave him an old-fashion mouthful that has been replayed countless thousands of times on Youtube.
Lachie Neale – 2022 Elimination Final
It was as close to perfect as you can get as the Lions beat Richmond by two points in this year’s Elimination Final at the Gabba, He had 39 possessions (21 contested), 15 clearances – next best for the Lions was Hugh McCluggage with six – a played 95% game time, including the entire second half without a spell. And all in a game in which the Lions were facing an early exit from the finals. Such was the occasion and the pressure, and so good was the 2020 Brownlow Medallist, that it tips his club finals record 46 possessions in the 2021 qualifying final loss to Melbourne at Adelaide Oval.
Nigel Lappin – 2003 Grand Final
He was rated a 3.5 out of 5 in Merrett-Murray Medal voting, behind only five teammates, but for pure courage and inspiration it was a perfect 5. Or better. He played in the grand final with two broken ribs, suffered in the preliminary final a week earlier, and a punctured lung, which was discovered after the game and is believed to have happened in a fitness test at training the day before. In an often-overlooked statistic, he played 100% game time for 19 possessions, more than all but three teammates. And not once did he give anything short of 100% physical commitment.
Alastair Lynch – 2002 Qualifying Final
Twice he kicked a club record seven goals in a final – the 1996 semi-final was the other one – but this was extra special. It could easily have been 10. At 34 in his 269th AFL game he kicked 7-5. He took a career-best 11 marks inside the forward 50m zone and three contested marks as he steered the Lions to a 71-point win. It was one of a string of highlights in Lynch’s finals career in which he kicked 65 goals to rank qual 6th all-time behind Collingwood’s Gordon Coventry (111), Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall (78), Richmond’s Jack Titus (74), Hawthorn/Sydney ace Lance Franklin (72) and Hawthorn’s Leigh Matthews (72) and level with Carlton’s Stephen Kernahan (65).
