‘Whatever you paid, it was worth it’: The agony and the ecstasy of the game of the season

September 19, 2026 — 10:40pm

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Preliminary finals are often billed as the best games of the season. This one promised the world, and over-delivered.

For just under three hours on a balmy Melbourne September evening, a mammoth partisan crowd of 97,835 were treated to a game that had it all.

There were heroes on both sides and villains – the latter, at least to those with Hawk eyes, wore florescent green.

There was drama and controversy, not to mention an outpouring of emotion from those on both sides of the fence.

They saw speccies and goals, plenty of the latter – 39 to be precise. Not since the fabled 1989 decider has both teams scored 120 points or more in a final.

Six goals came off the boot of Nick Watson, who must wait at least another 12 months to showcase his wizardry on the game’s grandest stage.

No goal was more contentious than the game’s penultimate, which broke Hawthorn hearts around the globe and left their coach Sam Mitchell frustrated and on the verge of tears.

Most importantly, football lovers were given a contest, a nerve-jangler with savage momentum swings that left them guessing until the final seconds as to which team would come back to this venue next Saturday to take on minor premiers Fremantle to lift the cup.

No wonder Lions coach Chris Fagan said he was “stuffed”. His team is one win away from emulating the three-peat of Leigh Matthews’ Brisbane team of 2001-03.

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“That was an emotional roller coaster, that game,” Fagan said.

“I mean, talk about........

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