Love you Perth East coast experts jump on Optus Stadium bandwagon

It didn’t take long for the penny to drop after the AFL announced this year’s pandemic-warped 2021 season would likely come to a calculated, calm spectacular end in Perth.

Football pundits had held hope the September 25 decider would be at its traditional MCG longer than they would their favourite winter footy jumper.

CEO Gillon McLachlan after confirming Perth would host this year’s AFL Grand Final if the MCG cannot.

Now the contingency is sadly almost a given â€" Victoria recorded 80 new cases on Thursday â€" the Perth prospect has tickled the eastern seaboard.

After weeks and months in denial, the wise owls from the east as well as football’s most respected and also outspoken voices have welcomed the AFL’s decision on Perth, despite most being unable to travel here for the game.

It was really a fait accompli, given the thrilling vibe the people of WA created from their audition when the Dreamtime spectacle was relocated on a whim in round 12 this year.

For West Australians, the smiles will beam much brighter today. Not with any smugness, for we feel and relate to the loneliness our friends and families there have endured, longer than they should have.

“I went for a coffee the morning of the [2018] prelim and almost got Tasered by a West Coast supporter, who was a police officer.”

Melbourne captain Max Gawn

Not since 2009 have either five-time premiers West Coast or the Fremantle Dockers missed September action. Every one-eyed, passionate supporter of both clubs would be bummed to miss the finals series, but it is still one of the most open and exciting since the league turned national in 1987 when the Eagles and Brisbane Bears entered the fray.

But the majority of us are over the moon we get a chance to remind everyone we can match you in the entertainment stakes as well as the sporting arena, and strive to enhance the historic week.

Any of the eight remaining teams can win this year. Melbourne, a foundation club of the VFL in 1896, bears the longest streak without silverware on its shoulder, and will have the sentiment of neutral football lovers here and across the landscape whose clubs are out of the premiership race.

Demons captain Max Gawn, whose goal after the siren last Saturday sealed the minor premiership for the proud club for the first time since 1964 â€" the same year it last tasted premiership success â€" echoed the feelings of those afar who resisted Perth’s pull but now have giddily succumbed to it.

“The [2018] prelim [against West Coast] in the west certainly wasn’t the best on-field performance for us, but the build up in the city was something unique,” Gawn said told AFL 360 host Gerard Whateley on Wednesday night.

“I went for a coffee the morning of the prelim and I almost got Tasered by a West Coast supporter, who was a police officer, at the local cafe.

“They’re just so one-eyed over there, it creates such a great atmosphere to be able to play there, and the ground is super as well.

“From what I saw of the Dreamtime game, I was sitting at home watching that, and I know the mutual crowds will still come.

“And we’ve got plenty of Melbourne supporters, so I’m hoping if we do get the chance to play some finals in Perth, that they rock up.”

The biggest and best sporting event in the country would become a formality for Perth next week but Whately said “in his heart” he knew it would be a “magnificent occasion”.

New All-Australian selector and St Kilda legend Nick Riewoldt said Perth was the right choice for so many reasons, not least the passionate support of the public that was on show during Dreamtime.

“I’m so excited about it, I think it’s going to be brilliant,” Riewoldt said.

“The AFL is not guessing as to whether this is going to be a success or not â€" they’ve got the proof already.

“Perth is a footy-crazy city.”

The stakes are always high in the first week of finals but particularly for second-placed Port Adelaide (who host Geelong in Adelaide) and fourth-placed Brisbane (against Melbourne also in Adelaide), as both interstate clubs would get to spend their next few weeks in their own respective states and possibly play home preliminary finals there.

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David Prestipino writes about sports and lifestyle for WAtoday.

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