PREVIEW | Geelong v Brisbane | Grand Final | AFL 2025

Paul previews the Grand Final between the Cats and the Lions

What’s up everybody? Paul here from the Hoops Crew and it all comes down to this. It’s grand final day this week. The cats are partaking in it and we’re all very excited and nervous as I look at the chat right now. So, there’s a bit we’re going to get through tonight. We’re of course going to preview the big game. We’ll touch on some other news items that have popped up along the way, but thank you all for having tuned in tonight. Very exciting to be here for what is the final Paul James show of season 2025. Thank you to everyone. We’ll get this out of the way nice and early and I’ll try to make sure I do it again at the end, but thank you to everyone who has been a part of the show over the course of this year. It’s been an absolute pleasure to get to chat with you week in week out, most weeks, multiple times per week for the preview and review shows, let alone some cameos on uh postgame live as well. I made sure to do to that point I did uh decide to bust out the the Brown for for one final for one final game. Um it’s as I said, it’s been an absolute pleasure to get to chat to all of you over the course of the year. very much looking forward to doing it again throughout the off season and into 2026. But as far as the Paul James show is concerned, that will be all for season 2025 after this show concludes tonight. So, like I said, a massive thank you to all of you who’ve been a part of the show this year. Looking forward to doing it all again. And let’s finish things up with a bang. Right. So, as we as we get into things here, I’m uh kind of cobbling it all together on the fly here. AFLW Paul James show. Um, we could have I’d have to chat to Ben. We haven’t to be perfectly honest. It’s not that I’m necessarily against the idea. Uh, we just actually didn’t really extend the content plans beyond this week. Um, but I’m I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea. Uh the problem the problem I guess I do face is that like the footy season conveniently enough finishes just before my peak work period really takes off. So my ability to to provide coverage is kind of limited anyway after after the grand final. Um so I’d have to workshop things with Ben a little bit just to make sure that I’ve kind of got all of the pieces together. Um and as long as that’s the case then I’m really keen. But you are asking a question that I honestly because of my working circumstances hadn’t even necessarily considered yet. But we’ll see. I might need a week or two to recover from this weekend. There could be that as well. It might be a case of and I’m just trying to forecast with the AFLW timeline here. It might be a case that I kind of get over the hump with all of my work stuff and then we Paul James show our way through the through the women’s finals, especially if we make it. Um, so there there could be something we could do there, but we’ll workshop that one around a little bit. There is there is still some streaming work I’m looking to do um as a part of the hoops crew even well beyond the hoopies next Monday and all of the other stuff that we’ll get up to around trades and drafts and all those sort of things. There’s there’s definitely more that I’m planning to do. As a lot of you have heard, there’s a lot of uh video game stream related stuff that I want to do in the meantime as well. But um yeah, we’ll see how it all goes. What I will also make sure that I acknowledge right now, just speaking of the women’s game is the fact that they are playing right now. So I’m I’m actually we’ll kind of half do a watch along with this at the exact same time. I better make sure I mute the audio so I don’t get us de demonetized or something. Um but as uh Shadoo just highlighted, we just kicked a goal. A Maloney’s got done the job. Things are going well in this this tiny little snapshot of time. We are we’re up 2-1 to to one two and I’m seeing a BA shout out. So I’m wondering if Bianca just made a little cameo on screen. Hopes that’s the case. I’m seeing the no I’ve seen a replay of kick the goal but no nothing from there. But uh shout out to the Vellers if they are at the ground tonight. They are absolutely amazing. All right. Who Who Shadoo says, “Who finds the balls in all those empty seats?” That’s why they’ve got a [ __ ] ton of backup ones. All right, so let’s My screen’s going all warped. All right, let’s get into Bianca’s always That’s That’s a reasonable point. Bianca does find a way to get on camera pretty easily. She is an absolute rockstar. I think the TV crews know it and they want to give her air time. So, wait, did we just kick another then out of nowhere? We just gone to an ad break and I saw I saw Nina high-fiving. Did we just kick another one out of the blue? Then I was flicking my screens around. Someone confirmed. Did we just kick the Did we just kick a goal? Then Ben’s come up with the ultimate idea. Full full fat coke. If you’re gonna do it, don’t do it in halves. All in. Ah, it’s just quarter time. All right, let’s get into the show here. And of course, we are presented for one final time for the Paul James show by Sirill Cook Florest. Uh, shout out to them, all the support they provided over the course of season 2025. And we’ll give them a bit more love when the ad drops later on. So, make sure you have those flower emojis ready for when the time comes. As of when we get started tonight, we are now just a day and just under 19 hours away from the bounce of the ball to begin the AFL Grand Final for season 2025. Um, Renegades coming in to break some hearts here. He says, “My prediction is pain. Get out of here.” None of that negative [ __ ] Um, but let’s let’s get into the rundown a little bit here. We’re going to go, as I said, we’re going to go through match selection. We’ll preview the cats and the Lions grand final. We’ll according to Ben, we’ve got a player spotlight here. He’s done a player spotlight. He reckons the spot. Okay, we’ve got a spotlight that we’re getting into and then of course your Q&A to wrap all things up. So, ah, there we go. Pain to Brisbane. That is much better. Now you’re okay. Now you’re allowed. All right, so let’s get into the important one, the one that we’re all talking about because match selection has occurred in the last hour or so. And so we’ve learned the fates of some players. The lineups are here. And for the Cats, Tom Stewart has of course had to go out with his concussion unfortunately, but Reese Stanley, the big rockman, comes in for him. And it looks like just based on the team sheet that we are planning on, you know, sending him in as number one ruck and Reese H sorry and uh Mark Blitz will then play his very flexible role right now of sitting on the bench. Um so for the Lions Jared Barry his shoulder it’s not come up. He’s out. Locky Neil has allegedly passed all of the tests and is in with his calf. I wouldn’t rule out a Scott Pendlebury where it goes on him in the first quarter, but that is a risk that the Lions have accepted and are willing to take and so their team is um ultimately stronger um off the back of their prelim final win. So then I’m really I mean this is such a tricky one, right? Because we’ve we’ve just done this matchup. It’s been literally three weeks since we did this matchup and so how much has changed? Like that’s it’s a big question. Hashio says interesting we haven’t added Jed to our extended bench. #j justice forjed. Um he I mean he is he’s listed as an emergency but is that I I wouldn’t consider that the extended bench. I would say there’s your five and one of them is the sub. Right. which is different because normally you’d have your your seven players or whatever it is and then three of them become emer sorry I guess your eight players um three of them become emergencies one of them becomes the sub and then you’ve got your four on the bench. I guess ultimately we are less than less than two days out and usually you have to be a little bit more definitive in that regard. So but it could be a grand final quirky that we’ve got a we’ve got a fiveman bench. One of these five is going to be the sub which is cool. Renegade says, “Neil coming off a quad into a calf. Please play.” Yeah, I think uh could be very Scott Pendlebury like, right? And as Shad do highlights and there is a good history of this players rushing back from a calf injury are susceptible to doing their Achilles. Honestly, any other time of the season, I don’t wish ill upon an AFL player. You don’t want to see injuries. It’s grand final day. As long as we’re not talking ACL’s and broken legs, they can ping all the achil tweak all the Achilles. They can um rip all the hamstrings they like. It’s fine. I’m okay with it. Are you okay with it? Am I Does this make me a bad person? Neil would find a way to play through an Achilles. Uh I mean if he wants to he’s going to limit the lines even more. So I can deal with that. Cam Cam Rain to get injured please says Ben. That’s fair. Let’s again okay with willing that one on. He’s We’ll talk more about him actually a little bit later on the bench as we’ve highlighted. So you’ve got Mark Bitz, Jack Martin, Oshin Mullen, Jai Clark and Jack Bose on the bench. Uh presumably Jai is the sub. Um but Cayman did a great job as the sub just last week. Hopefully he’s uh doing a Brandon Pettit coming off the as the sub in the last quarter and the cats are already up by a mile and he gets to fill his boots with a goal. Hopefully we get 2022 all over again. Shu says he’ll flop on his face and concuss himself. If you haven’t been on the Discord, Shu, or anyone else recently, Shu, I think you’ve seen this, but if you haven’t been on the Discord lately, uh, team, make sure to go check out the Hoops Crew Discord where I dropped a link to a an Instagram reel that I saw maybe an hour or so ago. Um, top shelf, uh, having a crack at Cam Raider. Um, so from there, sorry, I’m look taking a look over at Ben’s um, sheet here for me. There we are. uh grand final debutants. Let’s let’s talk about all those who are going to be playing their first AFL grand final for the Cats. Max Holmes after 101 games is now playing his first grand final. Of course, we know about the uh really unfortunate circumstances surrounding him up to this point, but he is now going to play his first AFL Grand Final. Jack Bose after 59 games is going to be playing his first. Ollie Dempsey with 57. Uh 44 for Shannon Neil 42. Uh sorry, these are all games for Jalong I should say. So when we talk about Jack Bose, he’s obviously played more than 59 games. Oshin Mullen 42, Lawson Humphrey’s 35, Sha Mana 34, Conor Sullivan 25, Jai Clark with 25, and Jack Martin after just his 12th game at the Cats will now be playing in an AFL grand final. After being on the Carlton scrap heap just last year, he’s now playing an AFL Grand Final. Our injury list is pretty limited, but of course, it’s highlighted and headlined, I should say, by Tom Stewart with his concussion. He’s also joined on the sidelines by Jake Colasnney with his hip and Toby Conway with his foot. I’ve been seeing Clack pop up a lot lately. Shadoo’s referencing Clack is like, are we Is this becoming a deliberate thing? Am I missing something there? I’ve been seeing too much of it to go this is just a lot of typos. Someone clarify for me. And beyond that, of course, there are some fairly notable absentes. Firstly, you’ve got the three that are listed there on the emergencies list, but you can also extend that to Mitch Duncan, Cam Guthrie, Ollie Henry, Ted Closy, George Stevens, Ollie Wiltshire. All guys who’ve been getting opportunities over the course of the last 12 to 18 months and haven’t been able to crack it this year. Ollle Henry, Jed Bu is probably the biggest amongst that list because they’re I guess really clearly identified as being a part of the future. Sorry, I’ve got I’ve got a bit of the sniffles at the moment. So, I’m sure that sounds fantastic through the microphone. Uh, Thomas Nash called him clack accidentally in the Discord and it’s stuck. Okay, there was something to that. Uh, Hashia says, “Bose the sub.” We’re getting the claw reference there from Dave. Dave Bose for Norm. Just let’s not lose sight of the fact that the beginning of last year when a lot of you were going, “Ah, Bose or actually the time before Ben screwed up the Bose, we’re not crazy about it. I was on his side. I was there. I’ve got receipts.” Grind me my Norm Smith says she do. Um, Brisbane, uh, we’ve obviously alluded to the ins there. So, Locky nil in, Jared Barry out, the emergencies. Uh, Jimmy Tonsill, Sam Day, and Darra Joyce, the umpires. None of these guys umpired that disgusting performance in the qualifying final. Andrew Stevens, Hayden Meyer, Simon Meredith, and Jacob Mollis are all getting a gig this week. And I don’t know which of the umpires it was, but I saw this really, really nice video. I’ll have to see if I can dig it out, but I think it was Oh jeez, I’m not I think I might have seen it on Instagram. It was one of these umpires, one of these four umpires. uh basically was let me see AFL players I think were the ones that were tagged in it at the time even though it’s not that but anyway um let me see if we can find it basically was it was the moment that one of these umpires uh was receiving the phone call to say mate you’re playing and it was just it was a really heartwarming moment it’s it’s it was really good to see just how much this stuff matters I’m digging around to see if I can find But I’m striking out at the moment, which which is a bit of a shame, but um Oh, I’ve just clicked on the same profile again. AFL because if I can find it, I definitely want to play it. It was it was a really really nice moment. And you we don’t get off enough of this sort of thing. So, just bear with me. I’m seeing Snoop Dog. I’m seeing Bailey Smith in his glasses. Oh, here it is. All right. Um, am I going to be able to play it? Actually, I need to quickly double check because I think it’s playing music in the background. It’s a piano instrumental version of Beautiful Things by Ben. know that’s going to get us demonetized along the way. But it was it was an amazing amazing clip. Please please go to the AFL’s Instagram. Uh and you won’t have to scroll far. Actually, there’s there’s a good 15 18 maybe 20 odd posts that have come up before it since because I guess it’s grand final week. But um there’s it’s right after uh the clip of Danger realizing that he’s led his side into a grand final. Please go and take a look at the clip. It was It was really awesome. All right, let’s continue on though. Let me resize this and get us back in back in sync again. Right, that is that segment done. Now, before we progress any further, because Ben didn’t put it into the actual show notes as a prompt, so I’m going to drop it now. We’re going to take a word from our sponsor, Sirill Cookook Florest. So, please get those flower emojis ready. The Hoopscrew media network is proudly sponsored by Sirill Cook Florest. Visit them at shop 1211 Leather Street in Breakwater. Phone them on 035LE2024 or visit their website at www.sirilcookflorist.com.au and use the offer code goats in the voucher field at checkout to get 20% off your next online purchase. Thank you sir Cook Forest as always for your ongoing support of the hoops crew and all we get up to for one final time in this home and away AFL men’s season. So let’s continue on. Flower emojis. Flower emojis. Hashio with the Sparlocks dropped one. Love God’s dropped one. H Maloney’s kicked another. I’m gathering but I need to quickly bounce back ac Oh, apparently my stream was paused. Oh, there we go. Yep, there’s the clip. She’s just launched it into the top tier. Good timing, Paul. Good timing, Jackie, too, dropping it in the chat to flag it with me. All right, let’s Yeah, let’s continue on uh and kind of go through this preview a little bit. So, Saturday the 27th, we are now 2 days out. 2:30 p.m. is when the game will start. The MCG is currently the conditions are projected to be 19 degrees partly cloudy and a chance of a Jalong victory. Hopefully a really good chance. Jalong will be dawning the white shorts. Brisbane their Marone attire. Um and look honestly I think I mean just aesthetically right decision from both teams. So I think that’s come up pretty well. Uh but let’s get into some of the talking points here of the game. This is the first ever grand final matchup between the two clubs. Brisbane in any of its variants. Uh this is the first time these two teams have mashed up. The grand final parade will be commencing at 10:30 tomorrow. So if you want to get to the city and check that one out, 10:30 tomorrow. Uh the March for the G uh from Fed Square will be at 11:00 a.m. on the Saturday. There’ll be a live sight at Eastern Beach Reserve from 12:00 p.m. Pregame entertainment which includes Snoop Dogg from 1:00 p.m. Um, and then of course there’s the supporters day Sunday 10:00 a.m. hopefully there to celebrate a win and not commiserate and mourn a loss. The grand final sprint will be running as always. You got eight runners there. Uh the Grand Final Cup ambassador is Jack Rewalt this year. But club presenters in the event that Jalong wins, Joel Sward will be up there just three years after relinquishing the captaincy and captaining the club to its most recent premiership. He’ll be up there again to hopefully present the cup to Patty Dangerfield, Chris Scott, and the broader team. And won’t that be a beautiful moment if he gets to if he gets to have that moment? Meanwhile, for the Lions, in the event that they get up, Jonathan Brown will be the one uh representing uh their club and presenting the trophy to them. Shadu says, “We are starting to get a right rivalry with the Lions, aren’t we?” But I think for the most part underpinned by mutual respect, not a lot for probably Cam Rain or Dane Zoro, but I think there’s Hey, the Vellas. There they are. Yes. Yes. And let me just scroll back and quickly let me quickly double check that. Was it right in front of me? Yep, there they are. Brennon’s just Brennon’s just dropped a little thumbs up for the favorites. Everyone loves them. That’s awesome. Um, Ben’s crying already over the Joel Sard presentation thing. Uh, Magnus Sherlock says, “Hang on.” Anyway, uh, says, “Hopefully Blitz spends a decent time rocking.” Yeah, that’ll be really interesting to see how that one plays out now that um, now that of course Ree Stanley is back. What does that do to the ruck blend, but we’ll talk about that shortly. Uh, Renegade says Brownie can stay home, not required. Uh, Marty Sparlock says, “My son said he hates Brisbane like I hate Hawthorne.” Um, and Brownie can go get [ __ ] says Ben. All right. Uh, where are we? The Jock Macau medal. The presenter to the the coach, the victorious coach will be Adam Simpson. The Ron Barassi medal presenter will be Ken Fraser. The Norm Smith presenter for the best on ground will be Luke Hodgej, who knows a little bit about this scene. Um, and the panel selecting actually Ben, I think you’ve missed someone. I’m sure there was six people. Hang on. Norm Smith 2025 panel. I’m sure there was six. I’m just trying to find it. I’m sure there was more than that. Hang on. Here we go. Found the article on the AFL website. But apparently not. I don’t know what. I definitely saw six somewhere online, but that’s anyway. It is what it is. Jackie Perry with a goal for the Cats as well. Just watching Georgie pop it into the goal square. Jackie shrug the opponent. Snap it over the shoulder. She is an absolute rockstar, that girl. Um, yeah. Sorry. Andrew Mloud is the chair. Luke Hodgej representing Channel 7, Kate McCarthy representing channel uh, sorry, TripleM, Jack Realt representing Fox footy, and Adam Simpson representing SEN will be the individuals who are judging who will be the Norm Smith in my mind, who will be appointing Patty Dfield the Norm Smith medalist of this year. Jackie says that Press is on fire. I’ve seen her involved a lot and I’m not even being I’m not even able to watch the game too closely right now. She has been white hot so far. Let’s talk uh the form guide, the odds, all those all the historical and betting related things. Currently, Jalong are a $157 favorites. I think when we last spoke about this, we’re about $150. So, we’ve slipped just a little bit, but it is a grand final. For the disparity between the two teams to be as great as it was, felt a little unusual. Anyway, Jalong $157, Brisbane $239. Jalong have won eight games straight and 16 of our last 18. The Lions have won their last two. Of course, their last loss was against us in the qualifying final and have won nine of their last 12. Going headto-head, there’s been seven finals held between the two teams, and it’s uh oh, sorry, um five of those against Brisbane, two of those against Fitzroy. Jalong has won 12 of its last 13 games against Brisbane. Oh, 12 of its last 13 day games against Brisbane, not six. Sorry, Ben. I was wrong. Oh, Hashio. I need some background there. I’ll never hate a team more than I hate West Coast. Are we talking about some of those grand final losses through the 90s or like what do we Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I didn’t. One of those things when you’re trying to read a script but not read a script at the same time means that you sometimes fumble a few words. So my bad there. Um the last time we played three weeks ago, the Lions defeated Brisbane by 38 points in the qualifying final at the MCG. Ole Dempsey had 25 disposal and kicked three goals, including one of the goals of the year. Tom Atkins laid 10 tackles and kicked a goal. Cam Raina was a [ __ ] and Jalong won every quarter on its way to that 38 point win. Look at him. He’s drooling at the the fact that I just said I was wrong. What about you, mate? What about the 8:00 PM promotion for the show tonight? Despite the fact that I’d messaged you saying 7:30. Anyway, let’s talk about some of the key players to watch. I mean, I think there is no more important part of the ground than this midfield. Um, oh, what a tackle. What an awesome T. And it wasn’t even rewarded. No. The tackling between both teams right now is hot. How? Anyway, Amy Mack eventually got the ball. Uh, it’s the midfield for me. We’ve got to we’ve got to watch this midfield space. Uh, between Will Ashcraftoft, between Locky Neil now to his back, between Humeluggage and all the others that can roll through there as well. Ree Stanley returning in the ruck there. Mark Blitzovs, how do we use him? The the different tags, all of those sorts of situation situations make that part of the grand. The coke just got me. The full fat coke make this the most important part of the ground because I think at both the forward and defensive ends for the Cats, it’s relatively predictable in a sense just watching the ball sail inside 50 again. Cats putting some really good heat on um and this might well result in a goal. Ashling has got her hands on the ball in the pocket. We’re going to watch this. Oh, straight into Oh, it’s bounced over Press’s head. She’s going Oh, she’s going to get it back. Nina. Nina. Oh, Michaela, come on. Was that Spud? Nina, just just get a kick free. They’re not put they’re not blowing the whistle here. There’s been a few holding the ball circumstances and press locks. Oh no, it’s still not locked down. Come on. Caviar reflex is a killer. Oh [ __ ] Oh, that was such a good play from the cat like chase. Anyway, sorry. Uh, press Park Georgie. Anyway, we’ll we’ll keep on here. So, yeah, long midfield’s the the thing to watch the most. The the midfield is the the part of the ground to watch the most here. Um, so yeah, keep an eye on that space. Uh for Brisbane, we need to keep I think like there’s there’s probably one individual that we need to shut down. We’ve heard his name come up a lot. There’s been a lot of reporting about him, but we need to shut down Harris Andrew’s influence. Shannon Neil did a pretty damn good job last time. um he you know not only got on the scoreboard himself but if you take a look at his numbers it was like half or you know around around about half of what he’s Oh good spoil through and pretty wobb wonky kick from the Hawthorne player there. Um, the press. She’s our pres. Georgie Prespus decided she wanted to be president of Australia for some reason. I’d vote for her. Um I don’t think he did lose the matchup when you uh like half of the ro like when Harris Andrews does what Harris Andrews does which is you know not only you know nip the the influence of the forward in the bud but also rebound and attack the other way um to still score on him and to take away a significant chunk of his influence. That’s a win as far as I’m concerned. Um, you know, Harris Andrews does what Tom Stewart does in a lot of ways except that Tom Stewart is because structurally the way that Jalong assesses the um, sorry, assembles the pieces. Often Tom Stewart is able to get free. He’s not accountable for a direct opponent and can just float through an intercept and do what he does. Harris Andrews can’t do that. So, um I think it’s it’s even more vital like cuz he does what he does without whilst having to be accountable. So, if you’re able to intercept, if you’re able if you’re able to bring the ball down, if you can just make sure he’s not marking the ball and then score a couple times yourself, I think that’s huge. Um and I’m hoping and I think Shannon will also learn a bit from what did and what didn’t work in that matchup too and be better off for it this time. So, uh where are we? some of the key matchups that Ben has identified here, but I think some of these are probably going to resurface. Mullen and Mluggage again, Okconor and Rainer again, Shannon Neil and Harris Andrews as we’ve just discussed, but then he’s got Atkins and Ashccraftoft. And I do think this is this is a good one on Ben’s part. Gez, I’m pumping this bloke up too much tonight. Um, Atkins and Ashcraftoft is going to be a really big matchup as well. If Tommy Atkins can shut down Will Ashcraftoft, the the reigning Norm Smith medalist. Um Oh, another good tackle. Why aren’t we rewarding them with free kicks? What is going Ashlin? Come on, Michaela Bowen. She’s an absolute star. Look at her go. Don’t tell me I’ve complimented you three times. It’s three times too many, [ __ ] Anyway, um th those are all the key matchups anyway. So, for a prediction, now I’ve already said this. I’ve already put out my predictions video, so I’m sure most of you have had the opportunity to see it already if you haven’t. And there’s halftime. Cats by 10 points at Halime. That’s right, Jackie. Freaky Hawthorne. Um, so my prediction, I’ve already put it out there. Cats by 17 points. I think it will get up to and kind of linger around that 30 point mark through the final quarter. Couple junk time goals at the end when Jalonga put the queue in the rack and the celebration has already kind of started will mean it creeps back a smidge but I think the Cats will get the job done by about three goals. 17 points is my tip here. Norm Smith medalist is Patty Danfield and I haven’t thought about the first goal but I know everyone’s been talking everyone kind of bundles first goal into it as well. I’m going to say it’s Tyson Stangle. Tyson Stangle with the first Patty Danger with the norm cats by 17 points. So, we’ll be stressed for a good chunk of the game because it’s going to be too close for comfort. Let’s get in some news stories here. Some not non uh grand final related news stories. The first one relates to a family we’ve discussed unfortunately far too much in the last 12 months for sad reasons. And it’s led to Scott Cwood, I think in large part, Scott Cellwood stepping away from the PI’s assistant coach duties. He’s going to be going overseas. He’s going to be spending a bit of time looking after himself, which I think is all too important. Um, and we wish Scott Cell would nothing but the best. Um, apparently Fly and the the the leadership there at the Pies have known for a little while. The players fed out in the last couple of days. Um, but we wish Scott Cellwood all the best. It’s been a horrible, horrible year for the Cellwood family. And so, go look after yourself. I’m sure he will not be lost to the game. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he returns, whether it’s for the Pies or for another club. But right now, he’s got to look after number one. In terms of some trade talk, now of course, we’ve already had videos about Charlie Kerno. You can go check out that. We’ve been talking about Rowan Marshall. Uh we know that James Warp is going to request to come to the Cats. He just hasn’t done so yet, but he’ll be a free agent, so pay no price there. The other big names that have been popping up over the course of the week, Christian Petra, he’s back on the trade table again, it sounds like, and he’s casting the net a bit further this time. Adelaide is interested, Gold Coast are interested, let alone the locals that are pretty keen on him as well. So, watch this space. I think Christian Petra will move this year. Uh, it’s just a matter of where to while Zach Merritt, the talk around him and Hawthorne continues. The debate about around the Brown Low has been raging. Matty Raal winning the Brown Low medal as you all saw uh yourselves the other night. But also thank you to many of you who joined for the the Brown Low stream the other night uh because it was a good fun time. I knocked back a six-pack with you all on camera. Uh probably left to take a piss just as many times. Um there was a like I think who me’d measure? Was it you? I think should do mean me off the back of it. It was good. Fun time was had by everyone. Uh Hashio asks, “Can someone tell me why we want Warp exactly?” And Donatello per turt with Clippy nails it. Depth. Depth is the main thing. He’s going to be useful at different points, but he’s he’s useful for us. But as Renegade also says, he’s not a walk-up starter. No. And I don’t think he will be a walk up starter. But the depth thing is really really important. Uh, I just don’t want him to get in the way, as Jackie kind of highlights here. Uh, I don’t want him to get in the way of the likes of George, um, Mitch Nev, Ted Closy, assuming they’re all on the list for a moment. I don’t want him to get in the way of them. So, if he creates that depth and he creates additional pressure for spots, it can only be a good thing, I would say. So, that’s your news. Now, let’s go to our spotlight here. Normally a player spotlight, but tonight we’re spotlighting the Dynasty. This is, of course, the Cats Dynasty ever since 2007. And let’s not forget that at the end of 2006, the club was on its knees a little bit. We’d obviously had a horror year in uh in 2006 after all of the expectation in the world. Roaming’s popped in for the first time or not. Hey mate, good to hear from you. Campbell 2K4 says, “Rveled down from Queensland to come to the game this weekend. Praying we get over the line.” Fingers crossed. Uh Hashia says, “Haven’t sorry, Hawthorne haven’t told him to look elsewhere, have they?” No, they’ve they’ve offered him a contract. Uh enjoy by the way, Campbell. Hopefully hopefully it is a good result for for you, for all of us, but you and everyone else who’s going to the game on the weekend. Uh, all right. So, yeah, let’s let’s h get back into our spotlight here. So, the club, as we all know, was kind of on its knees in a lot of ways in 2006. The expectations were through the roof. 2006 was a fairly significant failure, missing the finals, and it prompted all sorts of reviews. And thankfully, the right decision was made to stick with Bomber, to stick with a lot of the other leadership and dig our way out of it because since then, we’ve won four Premierships. We’ve contested in two others, now three others, just pending a result from tomorrow. We’ve played 459 games since 2007, and the winning percentage is 71%. We’ve played in, as I mentioned, seven grand finals, 07 win, 08, 09, 11, 20, 22, and now 25. We’ve won four premierships, potentially a fifth in there. We played in 14 preliminary finals, 14 qualifying finals, nine semis, two elimination finals. We’ve had four Norm Smith medalists in Stevie Johnson, Paul Chapman, Jimmy Bartell, and Isaac Smith. We’ve won the Brown Load three times. Jimmy Bartell in ’07, Gary Abble Jr. in 09 and Patty Dangefield in 2016. We’ve won the Coleman medal twice now. Ben has missed that one. Tom Hawkins in 2020 and of course Jeremy Cameron this year. We’ve had three Premiership captains across those four grand final victories. Tom Harley with 07 and09 retiring on 09. Cameron Ling retiring with 2011. Joel Selwood retiring with 2022. Uh we’ve had two 16game winning streaks in 07 and 2022. And there are a few famous home and away victories along the way. The 100 the big the one the big one that kind of broke the circuit and got it everything going in the first place. The 157 point monstering of Richmond in 2007. The 186 point mauling of the D’s in 2011. Tom Hawkins’s goal after the siren in 20 in 2012. The glorious Kennet curse as Ben dubbs it. I am not as complimentary of the Kennet curse as he is because I see it as being bookmarked by an 08 grand final loss and a 2013 prelim final loss, but it is what it is. Jez’s bag of 11 this year. We’ve got Gary Rowan and Zach Tui’s mark um got marks and goals after the siren. There’ve been plenty of amazing memories over the years. There’s been lots for us to celebrate and hopefully we’re about to celebrate another time. And when you go and win five premierships in 25 years, there’s no doubting that you are the greatest team of the century. Teams aren’t like the competition is not designed to have teams like Jong be relevant and contesting as often as they are. To go and win five across 25 years to honestly across 18 years by the if we win this year would be absolutely huge. Jackie references that 2006 game against the Eagles. That was a heartbreaker because things were looking good. We thought we’d broken the back of it all and then the second half it all fell apart. K, are we opening up for guest tonight? We’re not opening up for guests tonight. Uh, this is a far more traditional Paul James show, but we are very close to getting into Q&A. So, if you’ve got those questions, start queuing them up. Uh, because I’m keen to hear from you and others throughout the course of the night. Um, but that is a snapshot of that dynasty and hopefully it continues on Saturday. Shadoo says media is already calling Brisbane a dynasty team. That’s a bit much. They got to win this grand final first. Um, but what I will say is they are set up to become a dynasty team. Touchwood for them. Not for this Saturday. [ __ ] them this Saturday. Um but beyond that, you know, good luck to them. Uh because they have got unbelievable depth, skill and experience on every line. The young BS coming through are wildly talented and have 10 to 15 years still up their sleeves. It’s insane what they’ve got going there. And then through their northernies and father sons, they are continuing to top up. When you get the Ashcraftofts, you get Fletcher, you’ve now got, you know, academy picks that are due to come in this year that are fancied as top five players. It’s absolutely wild the riches that that team has and hopefully it doesn’t serve him well this weekend. But Jackie says 100% Brisbane could be something scary in two years. I know it’s it’s ridiculous that they could get even stronger. But that said, the cat’s good, too. There was something, you know, went out today and was kind of comparing the two teams uh in terms of not just this year, regardless of what happens this year, but what the club’s going to look like over the next couple of years. And you think that Oscar Allen is going to come in for the Lions. uh that you know we’re going to get Rowan Marshall, we’re going to get Warpool, we’re going to get potentially this is far more unlikely, but we’re going to get uh potentially going to get Charlie Kerno as well. Like the rich are getting richer, the strong are getting stronger. Um and this could be we could be seeing the same encounter between the two teams. Jalong is doing very much what Brisbane is doing in the And there you go. Thank you. Dan Annibal is the one for Brisbane. Uh yes, we are going to we are going to talk about that and I do have thoughts on that one. We touched on it really briefly before we got started with the brown low stream the other night, but that was when the news was breaking. Uh Lord Flashart says HIPP would be traded out. He’s a dud. He’s an absolute hack. Oh, and Shadu has just backed that up. Um but yeah, these these two teams, they’re just going to continue to top up and remain relevant and compete for many years to come. And that’s a shame for uh every other team in the competition because it just feels like if you’re a cell dweller, you need to do something pretty extraordinary to get out of it. Now, St. Kilder could be on the verge of becoming one of those teams. They’re just going to go hard. They’ve got the they’ve got the youth and the talent. Hey, Spartacus with the best line on the night. If I could give away a pizza tonight, you’d be getting one for that line. Um Eric Hipwood, more like Deadwood. It’s a good one. Big fan. All right, so we’re going to jump into Q&A now. So, please ceue up more of those questions, but um let’s let’s talk about Shadoo’s one quickly and then I’m going to we’ve just done the we’ve done the ad read, but because it’s our last one, we’ll give Sirill Cook a little bit more love again shortly. Um but we’ll deal with we’ll deal with Shu’s question here. So, yeah, they are telegraphing it. They’re talking essentially there’s some potential changes to sorry actually what changes are you referring to um because there’s been conversation around father sons andmies and what you’re going like the bidding process and what it’s going to take to actually be able to pick someone in pick one where you’ll need picks in that same round to be able to match it. You can’t just bundle up a bunch of 30s and 40s and say hey job done. Um, oh, eligibility. Um, no, hang on. NGA, let me have a quick Google around. That’s an article from 2024. No, Shu, but if you’ve got something, uh, link it over. I’d be I’d be keen to see it. Just let me know if you’ve sent it over a Twitter DM or or whatever, you know, Discord, whatever it happens to be. I know that like the clubs were lobbying for some changes earlier in the year, but I don’t know if they’re actually flagging like they’re actually, you know, going any further in this conversation. Russia says, “Skill to [ __ ] it all up. They always do.” That’s that’s a fair and reasonable point. Shu read something today. So yeah, definitely keen. Like if you’ve got something, let me know and I’ll check it out. Um Sputnik says Jackie or Oh, Sputnik has been unwell. Ben highlights that I’ve been giving away. I’ll be giving a $100 pizza voucher from Shannon Pizza this Saturday night and postgame live. Huge shout out to them who’ve been another major sponsor for us this year. Lord Flashart says press Georgie Prescarus is having some kind of game tonight for the women’s team. is absolutely smashing it and the second half is about to begin. This is third versus seventh, by the way. The Cats have after obviously a pretty miserable start. Oh, sorry. This is the live ladder. After a pretty miserable start, the Cats are now pulling themselves into the top eight. Um, sitting seventh with a percentage of over 100 if we can get this job done tonight. So, fingers crossed. Uh, Luke’s mom’s popped in saying, “Best of luck for Saturday. Hope to wins. Patty Danefield to get the Norm Smith will not play next year sadly. Taylor Walker will not play for the Crows either. Best of luck. Thank you. I’m sure probably through postgame lives and I don’t do this often enough. I’m sure Lucas Mum we know your name, but I unfortunately keep referring to you as Lucas’s mom and haven’t committed the name to memory yet. But thank you. Um it’s been awesome to have you on board this year. Obviously you’re a Crow supporter. We won’t hold that against you. Uh but we’re glad we got your support this weekend. Lindy, thank you. Thank you, Shu. All right. Um, Spartacus is scared. Uh, Cole says, “A majority of the mainstream pundits are picking Brisbane. I think this is evidence that they want to encourage hope that Brisbane will be competitive because it’s clear Jalong is six plus goals better.” Um, look, I’m not going to Oh, that was a throw. Dodged a ball there. Um or did we? No baller. We dodged a ball there. That was a clear throw. Um I don’t know if we’re a six. Like I’ve got the cats by 17 points. Like I said, um Hashia says they were talking about NGA on the jumper punch last night. I tuned in for a little bit while Lucas was there for a little while and then I I had games that I needed to review. I’ve got another one to review tonight. That’s why we’ve got a hard 9:00 finish tonight because I’ve got a Ghost of Yote review that I’ve got to publish at 11:00 p.m. tonight. Um, and I still need to finish writing probably at least another thousand words and get it all loaded up on the website before then. So, bear with me everyone. Spartacus says, “The best part is Lucas’ nude run.” Good lord. Are we Is that on the cards? Kingy says, “Why would we want Kerno when we have plenty of forwards already? If anything, TDK is more like what we need. Other teams like Sydney are desperate for a forward like Kerno. Um, look, I I mean, I would agree. I think we are probably the least in need of the three clubs that are the front runners for it between us, Gold Coast, and Sydney. I’m not going to say no to him, though. Like, I can deal with a three tall four. What I what I would expect though, unless we I did see, you know, we’ve had all these references to danger and what will or won’t happen if we win. I think if Charlie comes in, I can’t help but wonder if danger retires then. That’s just too many big alpha dogs in the in the forward line. Good mark at the back. Good strong mark. Come on, Michaela. Not a great hand ball from her. Gunge, get it out of there. Oh, damn it. I’m getting distracted by the game. Renegade says Patty will play on. Paul sniff Paul James show is great on the jump punch of course. Shadoo says Discord. So I’ll quickly check Discord because I assume that’s going to give me the link that I need. Oh, here we go. So it’s a it’s a tweet from Sami Edmond. Uh the AFL has confirmed with clubs that NextG Academy eligibility criteria will be tightened for 2026 with specifics to be detailed. football boss Greg Swan, which look, this shows that the the guy is good for this job because he’s just been at Brisbane, a club that is benefiting way too much from it. Maybe that’s why he’s got the insight. Um, and he’s the one that’s kind of clamping down on this a bit. Football boss Greg Swan says it has been it has been tightened. That will be sorry that will be notified at the end of the season. You can’t just wander through Dubai airport and claim NGA status. Well done. I also see now that I’m pinging over the Discord that uh Lucas says he’s already started with going headtohead with Paul James. Lucas and your mom’s here. This This says everything you need, Lucas. Someone clip this out and send it to him. Lucas, your mom has chosen to watch me tonight and not you. But also, when you play with a bull, you get the horn. So look out, mate. Don’t go headto-head with me. You can’t win. Anyway, um uh but also Luke’s mom says, “We have Lindy says, “I have a great son who barracks for Jalong. I love Patty.” Uh Spartacus, if Jalong gets if Jalong get nose beers for everyone. B if if Jalong get nose beers for everyone. Bazard Smith 2025. Cole says, “I’ve got Jalong 90 versus 45 at three quarter time.” That is an interesting take, but one I won’t object with at all. Lord Flashart says, “The bookies have Jalong a two goal advantage. Forget the talking heads. They all hate Jalong. Sean Adamson says, “Key, do you agree that it seemed odd how he nominated St. Kilder over Jalong? Don’t most brothers want to play alongside each other?” Seemingly, maybe not in this case. Um, Baz did say they would have nose beers after the flag. He just wanted them so badly made it happen. Cton have a prospect there wanting to bid on, so it affects them immediately. I’m trying to quickly catch up on the chat, but it’s getting wild in here already. Um, some say the two hate each other off the field. Uh, I wouldn’t say no to him either. Paul, I’m skipping a few here. If ever, if Jalong get up nose beers for everyone, the Doning brother, where are we? They seem pretty happy together after the game on Friday night. Sean, yeah, I I don’t know that there’s any sort of bad blood between them. Um, there’s nine siblings in the family, so I bet there’s some sibling rivalry 100%. They even got Blake Acres to come down as Hashio Highlights. Uh, Pat will go out Joel Card style. Sorry, if he goes out Joel style, I’m happy with it. So, with a premiership, maybe no animal for Brisbane. No, should do. This won’t kick in until 2026. So, they’ll get annal. Uh, Kingy says, “Paul James showing Ben Ree how it’s done. It doesn’t take much. Hands off Jesse Malor. He’s like all of the Phantom drafts. He’s not even popping up in the top 30. So, I think we’ll be safe for Jesse Melor. And we’ll put it out there. Ben’s already working on him for uh for a a cameo appearance on behind the play. So, may or may not work. The club may or may not intervene somewhere along the way, but Ben’s getting the job done. He’s hustling finally. He’s getting off his ass and doing something. Um, hang on. Let’s keep Jackie. Oh, I’m missing goals. Cats by 16 and Jackie Perry must have just kicked. I missed a goal. Jackie says, “Damn it.” Shoo says, “Lucas, don’t go to headtohead with the best.” Yeah, you’ll learn your lesson, mate. Uh Riley and the king of the sandful says, “I don’t know who to go for, cats or lions?” Cats. This is not even a question. Good clearance from the defensive half cats or defensive 50 I should say. Great spoil and then delivery to Nina at the defensive 50. Um saying killed supporter saying what the [ __ ] is that cup they get to hold up at the end of every year. Jalong by 19 max the norm says renegade. He’s repeated that message. Crap. Now I’m the rumor mill. Damn it. JL says, “Miss won a ticket to the Granny because she was uh rated best dressed footie fan.” She then told me that only workers from her company could go, so she sold the ticket. Oh, how lucky Neil train. There won’t be any word on that. That will be absolutely locked down. Ben highlights and thank you to everyone here. And if if you are not subscribed to the Hoops Crew already and you’re watching this now, especially if you’re watching on YouTube, please subscribe. Um the number of people who’ve jumped on the bandwagon over the course of this month, but also this year has been huge. Uh we’ve really really appreciated it. And I kind of set this silly nothing kind of goal of getting to was it I think two I can’t remember what I said now. 2,250 by the end of the season. I think we and we’re we’re within 63 of that now. That was when we just ticked over 2,000. Um that wasn’t that long ago. So, if you want to jump on board and you’re not already, hopefully a cat’s win does some some extraordinary numbers for us. But, uh, 63 more of you. That’s all it takes. All right. Cole says Jalong was about 160 when they beat Port by 119 points in 2007. That’s nice bit of perspective. Um, oh, Riley says, “My prediction, Brisbane lead early, but the Cats win by 25. catch repeat the 1925 result and win by 10 points. Kingy asks ask Paul, he’s the one who said TDK is more likely to come to us than SDK to go to them. That was when I had my little bit of insight into what was going on at Carlton. That was when I was able to reach out to Nick Austin and chat to him about things. I can’t do that anymore for reasons that I cannot talk about publicly. Um or on the record in any way, shape or form for that matter. Uh Ben Reeves says, “Welcome to the 17 178 nuffies who have joined the show since we’ve been live tonight.” They’re not nuffies. They’re good people. Really good people. Please subscribe. Hashio says, “I’ll tell you a funny story about the 2009 grand final parade.” Spud, just remind me in the chat next time I’m on. Uh, Spica says, “Hit to be traded for a bag of socks. What a steal.” Riley says, “I should really go for the Cats because I’ve got really good respect for Tyson Stangle.” Cole says, “Jalong with better kicking and uh, three goals up, turnaround was a 10 goal better side two weeks.” Yeah, absolutely. Um, all right. Let’s let keep feeding questions. We are at our Q&A stage of the show, so there’s no real agenda. Now, I do need to get our final game of the show for 2025 out as well. Um, there’s also a live Xbox broadcast. Uh, like there’s a live Xbox show that’s going on right now that I’d very much like to watch, but I can’t. I have to play catchup on that one. See if anything’s posted. Monster Hunter stories on kind of interesting. Anyway, uh, let me quickly bring up our game of the show, but fire the questions away. Keen to hear all of your thoughts and discuss all of the big ticket items leading into a grand final here. I will, as I said, end the show at 9:00 at the latest, but I’m happy to push all the way up to 9:00 if that’s what the chat is looking for. If you’ve got really specific questions you don’t want to get missed, consider using the super chat function as well. And thank you to everyone who’s been using the super chats lately as well. the support has been huge. Um, it’s been really appreciated and it’s been re it’s been a lot of fun as well. So, I’ve got my game of the show. I’m going to double check because this a licensed franchise. So, I’m just going to double check the I think we’re safe. Yeah, we’re safe. All right, our game of the show. There’s a lot of you sorts of Ben. None of that [ __ ] there. There’s There’s quite a few people who engage with me very very frequently about video games in this chat. There’s also quite a few of you based on other conversations that pop up that don’t mind yourself a bit of um Marvel Marvel action. And so I’ve got something for you today. It’s called Marvel’s Wolverine coming from Insomniac Games. They are absolute rock stars, masters of the craft. I’ve got a an approximately one one minute 50 long trailer here for you that we’ll check out now. embryo. Been fighting longer than I can remember. upstairs. [Music] I’d like to say I’m not a violent man. That draw just has a way of finding me, but I’d be lying. [Music] Doesn’t matter where I go. [Music] How far I run. Death’s always waiting. Just not for me. [Music] cuz I ain’t no hero. [Music] I’m Wolverine. [Music] That is Marvel’s Wolverine from Insomniac Games. One of the best development teams on the planet. Um, and obviously they’re not showing any story. Don’t worry, I promise it’s not just like stab stab stab all the time. There’s more to it than that. I do know a couple people playing uh, sorry, who are working on making the game. So, promise it’s not just that, but they are going for the the real gore of and hyperviolence of what you see in the comics. So, whatever suits you best at this point. All right, let’s continue to launch into some of your questions and answers. I will though take a moment to quickly highlight Ben disappearing for the five minutes and the ultimate response from Spartacus. just jerk out some anxiety. Oh, what? The Hawks kicked goal. Oh, no. Now we got Do we have some injuries? Did I just catch an injury? The tail end of an injury there as I flicked across. Oh, Ben’s back. Were you successful? Oh, okay. Jackie just clarified Kate Derby. No, I’m glad you did. I’m really glad you did. Spicus. Oh, no. CL. Yes. Attack the ball, Cats. Don’t put it straight down their throats, though. inside 50. JL asks, “Never been to a Granny parade. Should I wake up at 7:30 tomorrow in the morning to go?” Yes, if you haven’t done one before, it’s definitely a worthwhile thing. So, oh, that’s a good shot from from a tight angle from whoever that Hawthorne player is. That poles have been successfully corellled. Bottom of the bowl of the toilet. [Laughter] Back to a four-point game. We could just watch along all the way through to the end of the game, couldn’t we? If I’m sticking this out till 9. What is it like 2 minutes to go in this? Yeah, two, three minutes to go in this third quarter. We’ll watch along all the way through to the end of the game here. That is a horrific graphic that shows the angle, the target width. Feels like something that came out of the 90s. Brennan Sale asks Jai Simkin to Jalong. Jalong will not pay the amount of money that he is currently on. They can’t justify they can’t justify it. He’s not worth it. No, there I would I would that’s where I would be taking like Warpool and those sorts of guys before before him. Kingy says, “I witnessed an omen at the Sandfall prelim. Brad closes Glennel beat Zack Bailey’s Norwood. I’ll take anything we can get.” Jackie says, “Woohoo.” I think in relation to the the watch along, we Oh, nearly run down from behind. It’s a good kick. A Mac, come on. So, did you get pinged? Would you entertain playing blitz on Andrews? If there’s not a an obvious midfield matchup, then yeah, I would actually. I absolutely would. Uh, drop your crystal just like you dropped something in the porcelain bowl. Balls in the chat. Yeah. Okay. Uh, Locky Neil’s a stir boy though, King. No, no, no. Don’t let facts get in the way of, you know, good rumor speculation and hunches. Oh, uh, will Stanley share ruck duties evenly with Blitz? What percentage of game time will he play? Uh, I could see where he’s playing 70%. Um, but then when he’s on, he’ll predominantly play the the ruck roll, but maybe the way him and Blitz pair, like I could see a scenario where, you know, Mark Blitz plays in the midfield, so he’s instantly on it. Um, and we just stretch them. Maybe I can keep an eye on my extra Xbox stream at the same time. Bit of multitasking is always good. Um, balls out in the chat for the cats. Baller cats. We are not wasting blitz on Andrews. Attack, attack, attack. I look um, we are a very, oh no, what’s going on here? We are a very attacking team, but at the same time, we’re also pretty defensively minded. Again, think about that last matchup, Mullen, Okconor, like we we played these. Oh, how did we drop that? Um, we played a very defensively geared game, but then we just launched from there. Just lock it in, G. 11 seconds. Got to go. All right, Spud. Just hold it. Siren. Cats by four points at three quarter time. Ben says no to multitasking, mate. We’re already trying to run a live stream and watch a game of football at the same time. Don’t worry about it. Need to rank all of the Jalong jerseys. If someone, Ben, if someone wants to pull together a doc or or like some sort of link that has all of the Jalong histories of all time, we’ll make like a tear maker out of it and I’ll I’ll rank him. It’ll be stupid fun. Why not? I can get right around that. All right, what else have we got here? So, it’s three quarter time in the game. Ben says Max Holmes to kick two goals in a minute before Halime to ignite Cats fans. Russia says, “You’re right, King. I was getting I was getting him with Chad Wingard. Long story behind behind mixing that.” Okay, right. Shu says, “Do you think we’ll go back to shutting down the center corridor again? I feel like Chris Scott will try and keep everything uh where sorry, keep everything the same and play a you’ve seen out seen our best now best at game to a degree. I don’t think it was as simple as closing the center corridor.” What it was was shutting down the 45 degree kick. um positioning players. As far as I’m concerned, it was positioning players that uh roughly 20-ish meters, 20 to 30 m on a 45 degree angle, which would often close up the center, but like the the center corridor, but um that could be at any any point in the ground. It didn’t matter what state part of the ground it was. Lock it down like stop them from utilizing that space. And that part of it is the corridor, but it’s not like what am I trying to say? Oh, hell. Let’s just go. Yeah, shut down the corridor. Let’s just shut down the corridor. Stop the It’s But the the actual tactic was and they could be hemmed right up on the boundary. It wouldn’t matter. It was shut down the 20 to 30 diagonal kick, not down the line. That’s force them down the line. And and that extends to like if they’ve got the ball in the center, it’s still shut down that that kick. The defenders will do their job. They’ll already have the defensive zone going to to prevent or to limit limit or prevent, you know, restrict the number of opportunities that Brisbane have got to just lead up and take a mark. They’ll already be on that. So, but it’s about shutting down that 45 degree kick so they can then cut around the structure that’s already in place. We are the best team in Victoria, no doubt about it. We’re the only Victorian team left. But Hashio knows it. If we just bring the heat and the pressure, we’ll win. Oh, and that’s what he says. Yep. Uh, personally, I’d love to see the grand final logo on the cat’s jumper. It looks like everything is in its right place. The colors are all very complimentary. God tier jumper. Um, did you see you can bid on the cat’s grand final worn jumpers? That would suck if you’re a player to not be able to to be able to keep it. Like that’s a really I’d be I’d be flat, right? What do we got? Still three quarter time. Um my said recently that the qualifying final was not how the cats were expecting to win. Shut down the change of direction. Kick to break. Open play and our defense. Catch up hoops. Jalong for the cup. Off for dinner. Julong. Thanks. Micus refused. TM says, “Uh, I’m not that loaded, but I already have one that was given to me, all be it from a losing grand final. Uh, they swap at halftime.” Good point. Thank you. So, I guess there’s one available to keep for the player. Um, Fred says, “One thing is that Jalong showed their hand last time. The question is, does Chris Scott have another plan or play in his in his sleeve? I would say the question actually is does Brisbane have some like something they can do to actually respond to that tactic from Jalong because I would I would wonder if and I I’m kind of just verbal diarrheaing my way through this. Jalong adapted its game plan to tackle Brisbane. So then what’s Brisbane going to do to try and overcome what Jalong did? Do they have that? Can they can they execute on that? Um because they haven’t really been shut down in that way all year until the qualifying final and they haven’t been shut down since that way. So can they overcome what Jalong has already got in place? I think that’s a really big question. And if they do change it, does Jalong then just flip back to its typical like ordinary model? Jeff White showed and explained this thoroughly in his first use YouTube channel. Oh, cool. for danger. That’s like $2,000 a jumper. Congratulations to your cats this year. You deserve it. Thank you. Riley Flash says, “I’d like to see Jeremy Cameron wax with Ollie Dempsey in phases of the game to get that conveyor belt rotation through the wing to the goal square.” Yeah. Uh Shu said, “Fred, they have Stanley our secret weapon. He’ll just recruit all Brisbane to the cats via his farm.” Uh Ben says, “I agree with Paul. I said what I said. I said what I said. I don’t even know now. All right, final quarter is about to begin. It’s 8:43. I said a hard finish at 9:00. We’re probably going to be a couple minutes late because of the the final term here, but we will see this out until the Cats win. Why is your addiction so bad? Who’s that directed to? Me? My bad choice of words. My annunciation in speaking. What are we I think I’m just having a bad night. I’m trying to if we are talking about me, I’m trying to watch uh two different streams at the same time, manage manage a live chat. Um and my mind is and I’m a bit sick and my mind is elsewhere. And the Hawks are in front. I’m not on the lashes again. No, I’m just Ben put the big graphic up before. He doesn’t like me multitasking. I need to multitask. Spinning too many plates. you sound awkward reading out messages sometime like some of the typos in some of the messages are really awkward and then because I’m trying to unravel what it was because I’m not seeing every like I’m not catching every single message in the exchange. So that will often then lead to me going hang on what what’s being said here’s no Obama. No I’m not for a host of for a host of reasons. No. Um, if I’m actually 100% locked in for starters, Coca-Cola, new sponsor. Uh, if I’m 100% locked in, I’m not divided, I’m not having to try and I’m not watching uh different streams at the same time, manage hours, I can sit there and read a script, no problems. Um, because there’s there’s that flow. But when it’s a bit disjointed because I’m kind of bouncing between different chats, picking up on different conversations, it gets a little bit messy. Some of the messages are like Jalong you will need to because then when compete they have only two can like I’m Ron Burgundy but yeah to refuse like some of the messages are not great at times and that makes a little bit hard to track a come on good boot Georgie. Georgie, kick the ball. Took on one too many and put herself in a dodgy spot. Nearly nailed it. Serial cook. They are serial cook sponsors this. Let’s all confuse Paul with some gibberish questions. A lock a [ __ ] [Laughter] I know where you’re going with this. Hey, hang on. Did we just get a new forzer announced? Oh no. It’s a little sizzle reel. Damn it. They just need to come out and say, “Look, we’ve given up. We’re putting every game on PlayStation now. It’s not even worth fighting anymore. Commentate. Sniff some flowers. Need to sniff something else. All right, let’s Jackie Perry. She’s taking the mark 40 meters out on about a let’s say 45 degree angle. We’re now looking at someone who’s recording the game on their phone. That’s useful footage. Jackie pops it into the pocket and a sling runs on. Intercepted and ball was out of bounds 20 meters from the cat’s goal. Is M McDonald injured? No, she was dropped about three four weeks ago now and hasn’t won her way back in as the captain. Balls being thrown in. For some reason, the boundary umpire hasn’t come in those 10 15 minutes. Uh contested play, balls bobbling out. Nina Morrison snaps it over the shoulder to the top of the goal square. And Aling Maloney marks corner of the square. Uh she is going to be kicking from about by the time she kicks 15 meters from goal on a 45 degree angle should be very very getable. Okay, corner square was a bit much. She took it kind of in line with the point post. Uh kicking from about 20 m out 45 degree angle should bank this one. She’s kicked two goals for the night and she now has put it across the face. Scores are level. 5434 apiece. Hawks kicking it out at defensive 50. A good raking boot. It’s ricocheting off heads and goes out of bounds. Georgie Prescus takes it out. And we’ve just had the reveal of forts of Horizon 6. Absolutely love to see it. Coming 2026 wish list now. When’s it coming to PlayStation though? All right. Ball’s thrown back in. Tap down. Georgie Prespus over the ball. She’s locking in. There’s about three Hawks trying to stop her. Failing to do so. She is the Patty Dangerfield of the Jalong women’s team. Ball bubbles out though. Hawks with a bit of space. I don’t know any of these Hawks girls names unfortunately, so that’s a bit useless in terms of commentary. Good intercept though. Kate Dubby’s just been thrown off the ball despite not even getting any near possessing the ball. Amy Mack, the best player on the Cats, clears it though. Off to Michaela Bowen. Can’t tell. Too zoomed out. There we go. We’re We’re back in possession on the wing here. Is that Oh, bad kick to Spart. And she’s fumbled at Spard. No, there’s a little check side from the Hawks. Where was that? Where was that from us? You should have done gone with that play yourself. Oh, good body. Good body on them. Oh, and then going to have to. There’s a bit of space for these these Hawks players. Attack attack. Chase. Oh no, Gen just nearly had her head taken off her own teammate just in her attack. And Darbs, the two of them smashed into each other. Oh no way. The Hawthorne free kick. There has been so many. King says you’ll be wrapped by 9ine Adelaide time. Yeah, sorry. We’ll we’ll we’ll give it the There’s 10 minutes of game time left. Yeah, Ga got really knocked around. She took a hit to the head, but she’s grabbing at her throat. I might just quickly listen to the commentary around this. The real commentary, not my [ __ ] Yeah. No, she she ced it in the throat. Wasn’t a was an ugly hit. Yeah, the the shot like there’s no like no one was trying to take anyone out. Obviously, it’s it’s bit of friendly fire in the end, but Gung just her neck has just collided straight with Kate Derby’s arm to shoulder. Not a good hit, but Jackie nails a freaky Corawthorne that um it’s shitful what we’re seeing here. Okay, there we go. One stream’s done. My Xbox stream is done. I don’t have to worry about that distraction any further. I’m happy we got for Horizon 6. Jake’s getting a bit Jackie Jackie flagging Lar in both the Discord and the chat. Um, it’s certainly Yeah, it’s certainly some sort of point in the neck. Nina could afford to get a bit closer in case she runs around. She keep the goal though. It’s just updated on the AFL website. That’s a good kick. Come on, girls. Riley’s on the money. Feel like there’s some match fixing going on here. It’s just Look, I’m not going I’m not going to get carried away in that regard, but it’s just [ __ ] umpiring. Honest. Like there has been so many occasions where Jalong players have wrapped up an opponent and it’s gone unrewarded. And if if they had been consistent with the others, then I wouldn’t be too much too agreed by this. I would I actually agree with the decision here. It’s the fact that it’s the fact that so many others haven’t been called. That’s what’s frustrated me. Come on, Zalie. Georgie, come on. Off to Michaela Bowen. Back to Zalie Friswell. Oh, she ran too far in the end before she even got pinged for holding the ball. Oh jeez. Intercepted already. Car rage. Hit someone up. Oh, it’s off the side of the boot a bit. Oh, it’s slipped under Jackie Perry’s arms and so ah rough. That’s fine. We’ve pushed them all the way back to full back and now they’ve got no one. Oh, they’re going to have to go long. Come on, girls. Concerns. Georgie, come on. Clean. The Hawthorne girls are just they’re just taking the marks when it counts. They’ve been they’ve had strong hands. Come on, Ashling. That’s it. Use that size and strength and athleticism as well. Ah, it just bobbled away. Why didn’t we pay the mark then? Aaron’s right. We do overhand ball. We We don’t um we don’t we don’t take the opportunities when they’re there and and kick the ball. Too busy trying to flick it around. Oh, bit worried about the bounce for a second as I nearly jagged backwards. It’s a pretty I hate to use the cliche line, but that’s a pretty handy behind for Hawthorne. G is ready to come back on his Alley. Becky, kick it. Got it, Georgie. Come on. It was a good tackle on Bowen. There you go. Lingy’s just set it. Overuse of the hand ball. Oh, that’s a great tackle. That’s got to be holding the ball. Yeah, the Bronx cheer. Oh, yes. Jackie, Jackie, Jackie, Jackie. Oh, sorry. Jack Jackie. Sorry, I’ll get back to commentary. Jackie Perry kicking it from 30 to 35 meters out. Um, relatively probably a 10 like a the full face of the goal in front of her. across to the right back to a go. A get this little Brisbane supporter out of here. Get the [ __ ] out of here, champ. I don’t care how old you are. [Laughter] The Hawks. They just keep kicking into position and they’re marking like they’re taking those marks when they’re there. I don’t know about that centering pass from Hawthorne there. That didn’t achieve much pressure on Jackie. Good. Force him back. Force him back. We don’t our defenders. My biggest point of So, we’ve got four minutes left. Hashio, um, our defenders do not read the fly of the ball well at all. We run under the ball so often. Come on, Becky. That’s all right. What? For what? That’s a big boot. Come on, girls. Hey, Mac. Oh, straight up the guts. Hey, Matt. Come on. Pick it up, Georgie. Get out of her way. Oh, Amy. Well worked, girls. Just pick the ball up. Don’t tap it around. [ __ ] God. They’re a better drilled team, the Hawks. They They know where they’re They know where to find their teammates. And then we kick it straight down their throats. Put a fork in us. We’re done. Game’s gone. Six seconds on the clock. Game is over. But always watch it out. That’s a throw. Congratulations to Hawthorne on the win. All right, that is where we’ll wrap things up for the night. It’s a sour note to end things, but we’re already a few minutes over when I needed to bounce. So, thank you all for having watched tonight. Make sure you are loud, proud, and supportive if you’re at the ground on Saturday. If you’re at home, scream at the TV a little bit as well. Get loud, get supportive of the Cats, and hopefully we get the job done. To remind everyone my tips, Tyson Stangle, first goal. Patty Dfield, Norm Simple, Cats by 17 points. Jackie says, “I’m not gracious. [ __ ] Hawthorne.” I still agree. Let’s wrap things up there, though. Thank you all for having watched the show tonight. Thank you all for having watched the show over the entire AFL season this year. It’s been an absolute pleasure to get to interact you with you at least once, often twice per week in this capacity. Postgame live will also be hosted by me on Saturday where hopefully we are celebrating a Jalong Premiership and I hope to see you there. I’m not going to go through all the usual promotions. Like I said, it’s been an absolute pleasure to get to chat to you all year and I’m looking forward to doing it all again in season 2026. Don’t forget though, postgame live tomorrow as I said and the hoopies, our big end of season celebratory stream where we go through all of our awards, all of our tips, etc., etc. That is this Monday night. So, check that one out. Hopefully, we are basking in the warm glow of a premiership and myself, Ben, and the chaps will be there to break it down the entire season 2026 season. I believe Ben is also going to be streaming uh Kaji a few days later. So, make sure to join him for that live watch along as well. I’ll do my bit on the way as well. Uh because why not? I’m away. I can quickly jump in and have a bit of a chat. We’ll see how it all goes. So, look forward to talking to you all then as well. But that’s it. The year is done. Thank you to our sponsor Serial Cook Florest as always for the support that you’ve provided and we look forward to working with you again throughout 2026. But until next time, the nerves are kicking in. The last show is done. The Cats have a grand final this Saturday. Remain long, everyone. Thanks a lot for watching and I’ll see you later. [Music]