Good work Sal, should have it won!
I’m just looking on thinking what might have been as looking like I would have beaten you in the GF.
Average prelim performance cost me the chance!
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And I would have won either prelim and beaten you this weekend. Thems the breaks, a well deserved premiership for @saladin
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Whoah! What you score this week?
BBFFL#2 2021 Grand Final Result
Saladin 1525 defeated The Melkman 1366
Congratulations to Saladin on your first BBFFL#2 Premiership. A great reward for your efforts this year and in previous years.
In our 10 seasons we have now had 8 different premiership winners - including 6 different winners in the past 6 seasons.
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Well done Saladin. Must feel ■■■■■■■ glorious.
What a day.
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Well, we’ve done it! Not at all without any concerns, thats for sure.
First up, condolences to Melky. A great season and a barnstorming run to the final day. Took out some very good sides to get there, right when it mattered most. I was genuinely worried at times, but the core of my side stood up at key moments across the match. It very much reflected our season, guys just kept getting it done.
To Speedy and Ivan, also brilliant years guys. I’m not shocked if you both posted better scores than the GF sides. All year, the top half dozen traded weekly best scores of the round. It all hinged on who could do it consistently. I’ll get to that in another post, where I’ll talk about the early planning for this season and how things changed as the season rolled.
Special mention to No5. Atrocious luck, I’ve not seen anything like it. There’s struggling for depth, and then theres what you had to cope with! I will candidly admit that the best squad of the year did not win the flag. It’s that simple. Given all that, I do feel fully deserving of the rest, as would any of the other finalists. I’ve no doubt that No5 will be tough as hell to beat again.
To Red, thanks so much for running the comp, all the work it takes, and giving me the opportunity to get involved back then.
To every other coach, my sincere thanks to all. The comp feels like it’s strengthening , and all the coaches play the crucial roles in all this, it’s literally the point of FF , afterall.
To the former coach, Sparts, you’re always welcome at the Premiership celebrations.
I’m still not quite sure how this all happened. But it’s been literally years in development and sticking with gut feel. You Bloody Beauty!
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Wow. Well done Saladin.
Years of notetaking have paid off!
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You are very generous Sal, but we all play under the same rules and you won fair and square. Everyone is equally susceptible to injuries. The best squad won because you won when it mattered.
As for my team contending next year: I doubt it highly 
Time to blow this nursing home of a list up and actually have some players under 30 on it!
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Don’t worry about @No_5
his team is off a cliff.
Well that’s what he promised us all anyway.
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That is both amazing, and fantastic for the comp.
Congrats Sal, we will speak of you fondly in the bottom 8 support group for years to come.
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Lol, I may well return to that group soon, Trev.
Actually, thats not just hyperbole. I’d decided that if we managed to become the Premiership side, we’ll be giving some serious thought to whether or not we partially dismantle the squad and start over. If we do, we’ll be looking mainly at the up and coming sides to help them out (and obviously get some higher draft picks). A seventh consecutive year of differing Flag winners would be a good thing for all coaches, imo. Trust me, there’s a strange sense of satisfaction in achieving a long term build , considering this isnt even “real”, lol.
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Cling to that pedestal as long as you can. You can let the scavengers feast on your carcass in a few years.
Fell short but 1545 in final round with no Ziebell, Cunnington, Langford & Lambert playing gives me some optimism.
Few others like Gunston & Preuss were a complete non event this year and they will hopefully be firing in 2022. If Gunston ends up at Brisbane stepping into the need they have for Hipwoods role while out with ACL that would be great for my team
Hopefully Caddy gets traded to a team who might actually play him as well. Tigers don’t want to.
Given I mid season traded all my picks away however in attempts to have a contending squad I’ll have to be looking to gain some picks back now at trade time to get some semblance of a decent squad together again post the keepers only retention.
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The Tale of a Premiership 18.
Callum Mills : Drafted. Pick 5, 2016.
A magnificent year from Cal, unfortunately battled an Achilles late in the year but got to the line and actually scored well in his two and a half quarters. In some ways, his early years were slightly underwhelming, but as a defender we were very comfortable to stick with him. The move into the 2021 Swans midfield transformed his output, and ours. Our view that we could push into the top four hinged in large measure on Mills form.
Aaron Francis : Drafted. Pick 1, 2016. Pick 115, 2018
What a result for Aaron. A pathway fraught with peril, a career almost finished and in truth a less than decent impact. Only injury and selection issues granted Aaron a Grand Final berth, and yet now he’s a Premiership holder. We took Aaron at pick 1 due to his raw potential in multiple positions. Three years later he was taking time away from Essendon and didn’t make our keepers list. But we couldn’t let him go, and brought him back with a sixth round selection. He’s been drafted twice but remains a one club player. His best footy is likely still to come.
Darcy Byrnes Jones : Drafted, Pick 23, 2017 Draft.
A regular, set and forget player in our back half since we drafted him. His form this year hasn’t had the odd big score like previous seasons, but there’s great value in this kid and he now has a Premiership medal. At some stage, you have to bed down the best 20 and high average defenders aren’t easy to find. 76 is relatively good, and if you aren’t having to use FA to plug constant holes, you can use it for more creative finds.
Aaron Hall : Traded. 2021 Midseason Trade.
At the halfway point, the list managers made the call to push hard for glory. The most obvious weakness was defence and we went looking for players. Hall’s scoring was off the charts at the time, both he and Ziebull were obvious targets. We approached The Ant to see how he was viewing his list priorities and a deal was done. At a management level, we view this as deserved reward for some excellent drafting in prior years. We found Schoenberg as a first year player and expect him to be an outstanding FF player for a decade. He’s scored tonnes since we let him go. That potential will lift The Ant up the ladder, without question. Plus he gets pick 18. At our end, Hall made us serious contenders and the rest is history.
Grant Birchall : Traded . 2021 Midseason Trade.
Fog putting up Birchall coincided with our interest in having a real crack at 2021. With talks over Hall also happening, another player in the DBJ average range made complete sense. Almost mandatory if we didn’t want to waste the recruiting of Hall. It didn’t quite play out as hoped due to Fantasia injuries, but we thought we’d lock in our defense and not have to worry too much over it. In the end, Grant just kept churning out 70’s like a metronome and we avoided the catastrophic 30’s that can ruin a campaign.
Zach Merrett : Drafted. Pick 19, 2014 Draft.
Our first pick in our first draft after stepping into the coaching role. We didn’t know at the time that we’d just nailed the cornerstone of a Premiership 7 years later, but we WERE very excited at getting him to the club. In the years since, he’s never been less than very very good, and often absolutely outstanding.
Jack Steele : Drafted. Pick 12. 2015 Draft
Wow. Just wow. I recall saying at the time of drafting that I thought Steele would be a budget price Isaac Heeney. He’s been streets better than that, and arguably is the best FF player in the comp. Like Hopper in the following draft, we always needed to stay patient with GWS’s midfield depth, but once Steele got to St Kilda the genie was out and he incrementally built into something of awe. His Grand Final performance was just another week for him. Remarkable.
Jacob Hopper : Drafted. Pick 4, 2016.
We promised ourselves in 2016 that we would be patient with Hopper. The Giants midfield at the time was always going to be tough to crack. So it proved. But the idea here was to get a meat-and-potatos contested mid, one that we could plug and play and be confident that for years to come we could rely on an unfailing 90 point output. We had to get through a final without Jacob due to concussion, but we’re so pleased he’s now a Premiership player. Only one coach ever made a real trade request for him, but he was vital in our midfield structure.
Joel Selwood : Traded In, 2019.
The Selwood story has come full circle. We brought him in as a midseason trade as we made a snap decision in 2019 that we might be able to pinch a flag. That attempt failed badly, and in truth we wondered if we’d set ourselves back by offloading a few kids to do it. The other components of that attempt were Gibbs and Ebert, and for much of 2020 we thought Selwoods best was well gone. But never write off a champion, and Joel responded magnificently. The high 80’s average doesn’t paint the full story. A 50 point final term in the Prelim was both astonishing , and critical. And then a rock solid 114 in the Grand Final to give us some breathing space heading into Sunday. A big game, big moment player.
James Rowbottom : Drafted. Pick 26, 2019 Draft.
Somewhat unheralded at the time, but we viewed this as an important selection to stabilize the younger part of the list. Rowbottoms best is clearly yet to come, but his potential to score now earnt him a weekly spot whenever fit. He’ll be very important to our future, and already a medal winner.
Shai Bolton : Drafted. Pick 31, 2020 Draft.
Having previously had Bolton via the FA list, we were keen to get him back as his development was tracking heavily upwards. His early form in 2021 was outstanding. It didn’t hold up as the year progressed, but his dual position status was extremely useful and he was always in our best 18. Exciting to think that his best should still be in front of him.
Scott Lycett : Drafted. Pick 178, 2014 Draft.
Buried ever so deep in our first ever draft, the selection was relatively unremarkable at the time. From day 1, we’ve always been on the lookout for late picks that we were happy to sit on. Particularly in technical positions like ruckmen. We suspected Ruckmen would be a valuable asset, and decided trading for an elite one would be expensive. Lycett became part of arguably the best duo in the comp, and integral to the drive to a flag, despite some concerns through the middle rounds.
Kosi Pickett : Drafted. Pick 85, 2021 Draft.
A fairy tale for Kosi. We were ever so pleased to get him in this year’s draft, in truth as much for the future as for now. But he started the year so well that we just left him in the side. His scoring tapered off through the year, but he was steady and scored important points in the Prelim and an invaluable 80 in the decider. We’ve barely scratched the surface on this one.
Jake Stringer : Traded in, 2015 .
Ahh, Jakey. Megastar. But he made us work for it. We wanted to get our hands on him after seeing some junior footy and then a cameo or two for Essendon VFL. In the end, we let go Paddy Ryder to make it happen, a trade that we pondered on for a while due to the difficulty of finding top Rucks. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Jake spent years as a middling , average FF player, flashes of scoring power largely overrun by bit part inputs. Until this year. This year was what we envisaged 5 years ago. And boy was it worth it. We aren’t Premiers without Jake Stringer.
Tom Phillips : Drafted. Pick 94. 2016 Draft.
Tom has just quietly sat on the list, and quietly gone about his business. For several years he was incredibly consistent and a valuable scorer. I recall at the time of drafting that a mature body and high possession accumulator as a junior just might equal FF value. His form has drifted and we very nearly lost faith, but a move to Hawthorn saved his position. He hit bang on his average in the GF, and perhaps now bows out as a Premiership hero on top of a very consistent career at Saracens.
Rowan Marshall : Drafted. Pick 149, 2018 Draft.
Ok, even we’re surprised. Somehow, we lucked into an incredible depth of Ruckmen with Picks 149 and 178 (Lycett). Marshall is now one of the most valuable players in the competition. We tracked his form at VFL level for a year and the sheer athletic potential was matched by rapidly improving game sense. Again, we had to wait. But not as long as we feared. He has been incredible, and when he or Lycett were missing through the year (as both were , and we had to play Zac Smith at one stage) we knew that our flag tilt depended hugely on them returning in time. Marshall played the GF with a corked calf and still managed to broach the three figures. Immensely important to the outcome.
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Conor Rozee : Drafted . Pick 8, 2019 Draft.
Pure, raw talent. That draft was elite and you couldn’t go wrong with a high pick in 2019. Rozee has been a bit indifferent in form over his early years due to injury, but the ceiling remains lofty. A pair of high 80’s scores in the Prelim and GF made him very important.
Ryan Byrnes : Free Agent addition, April 2021.
Sometimes, you just have to be in the right place. Byrnesy was in the right place. We rate him highly, but never expected to have to rely on him heavily. And in truth, he was extremely fortunate to fall into the Grand Final lineup. Had the coach been doing his job properly, he wouldn’t have been. Bytel would have been. Had Dylan Moore not been injured, he wouldn’t have been. But it’s now in the scorebook: Ryan Byrnes, Premiership player. If he kicks on from this, we might be able to go again.
So when I look at all that, the sheer numbers show the side built on draft picks , and taking a long time to all fall into place. The traded players were crucial to the result, but the foundations came from selections. There have, of course, been countless failed choices , or poor timing. And some hard luck stories - Fantasia and Moore would have replaced Francis and Byrnes had they been fit to play. That’s where depth plays it’s part, I guess.
It also doesn’t reflect one key factor: pure, unadulterated luck. Sometimes, it’s just your moment and falls your way. Getting into that position is tricky enough, and takes some serious work, but you’re not seizing that chance unless lady luck smiles upon you.
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An informative read as always. A phenomenal effort and congrats on your first premiership.
I will have to cross-check with redbull for full numbers, but James Rowbottom becomes at least the 3rd player to win both premierships on the same day. Sam Jacobs (both 2015 & 2017) and Aaron Sandilands (2016) are the other two I know for certain.
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This trade is classic win/win and will go down in the records books as one that yields two premierships. One for Sal this year and one for me in 5 years time.
Bookmark it.
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