Braden Quartermaine: Perth’s grand final a chance to correct the record over VFL/AFL snub to Western Australia’s proud footy history

It’s easy to get greedy in the crazy COVID footy world where anything seems possible. A once-in-a-lifetime AFL grand final almost became two once-in-a-lifetime events in the space of a month for WA footy fans, as Sydney threatened a comeback win in Saturday’s thrilling elimination final loss to Greater Western Sydney. If Lance Franklin had kicked truly with two minutes on the clock, the Swans would have taken the lead and Buddy would have been headed for his home State on 996 goals. One of the greatest Noongar champions bidding to bring up the magical 1000-goal mark on a Friday night on Noongar land. Wouldn’t that have been something? And few would have backed against him given his track form, with bags of eight and six goals in his only two appearances at Optus Stadium. Franklin’s milestone will have to wait until next year and we’ll have to console ourselves with the grand final, which is about to be officially confirmed by the AFL. OUR grand final. Time is relatively short and we need to get to work on making the last Saturday in September – assuming there is a bye placed after preliminary final weekend – something suitable as well as something special. Perth’s grand final should have a distinctly local flavour to it and that means more than just having West Australian bands and artists rocking the pre-match and half-time shows. For three decades now we’ve all been conditioned to talking about the VFL/AFL. The history, heroes, traditions, records and awards of ‘the game’ have come from Victoria at the expense of great football States such as WA, South Australia and Tasmania. Our grand final is a time to make it about the WAFL/AFL. It’s time to celebrate our history and our heroes. All this comes at a time there is no WA club in the finals for the first time since 2009. But it didn’t mean there was a lack of local storylines across the opening weekend. Geelong and Melbourne have touched down in Perth, no doubt in vastly different moods, and both clubs are guaranteed to play the remainder of their campaign at Optus Stadium. They will fly out of the State either with the premiership cup or without it. There were no shortage of WA products in the limelight either. Mitch Duncan’s comeback. Aliir Aliir reading the play like a book. Buddy v Sam Taylor. Jesse Hogan’s third quarter. Luke Jackson’s mark. There are regular reminders about the ingrained Vic-centric way of thinking that underpins the so-called national competition. At a recent meeting of AFL club chief executives, concerns were raised about the fairness of finals scheduling this year. While everyone needed to remain flexible and agile amid the pandemic, having to play a final at your opponent’s home ground when they had finished below you was agreed to be a line that couldn’t be crossed. So Friday night’s qualifying final between Port Adelaide and Geelong, the second and third teams on the ladder, couldn’t have been played in Adelaide if the Cats had finished higher, but would have had to be played on neutral territory - in Queensland for example. It was agreed fairness needs to come first in finals, even if the AFL will take a lot less money through the gate. Which is a reasonable and admirable position to take. Of course in this finals series it’s the Victorian and New South Wales team at a disadvantage by being unable to host home finals that have been earned, with Port Adelaide and Brisbane the only finalists able to play at home. But where were the concerns of these clubs bosses in previous years when teams have been forced to play a lower-ranked opponent in a final at the opposition’s home ground? In grand finals no less. West Coast’s 2018 premiership win was not just notable because they came from five goals down against Collingwood and did it without Nic Naitanui, Brad Sheppard and Andrew Gaff. It was remarkable because it was the fifth consecutive decider where a Victorian club was gifted the luxury of a home grand final against a non-Victorian team, despite finishing below them on the ladder. On the previous four occasions, the lower-ranked team that didn’t have to travel won each time.