Australian Rules-AFL champions Richmond meet Geelong at climax of "season like no other"

A tortuous Australian Football League season reaches its climax on Saturday when the Richmond Tigers bid for back-to-back championships in the "Grand Final" decider against the Geelong Cats at the Gabba in Brisbane. With the COVID-19 pandemic having caused myriad disruptions, the championship match of the Australian Rules top flight will kick off a month later than usual and be the first outside Melbourne due to a second wave outbreak in the southern city.

A tortuous Australian Football League season reaches its climax on Saturday when the Richmond Tigers bid for back-to-back championships in the "Grand Final" decider against the Geelong Cats at the Gabba in Brisbane.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having caused myriad disruptions, the championship match of the Australian Rules top flight will kick off a month later than usual and be the first outside Melbourne due to a second wave outbreak in the southern city. In another departure from tradition, the game will also be held at night for the first time to draw prime-time viewers and avoid clashing with the Cox Plate, a prominent Melbourne horse race running in the afternoon.

A match that usually draws a heaving crowd of 100,000 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground will have a capped attendance of 30,000 at the Gabba, and Melbourne fans are not even allowed to host friends to watch the game on TV due to strict lockdown rules. Yet millions in Melbourne and across the country will tune in for a blockbuster clash that few thought possible when the pandemic hit in March and halted the season after a single round.

The league resumed in June after a nearly three-month hiatus but was soon in crisis as Melbourne's COVID-19 outbreak chased a slew of teams out of their home base in Victoria state. "This season that is literally like no other ... we continue to find a way through," AFL Chief Executive Gillon McLachlan remarked at the time.

Victorian rivals Richmond and Geelong have risen to the challenges, battling their way into the decider despite spending more than 100 days away from home. Both teams rallied after defeats in week one of the playoffs and bring huge momentum after stunning wins last week.

Richmond upset the league's form side Port Power by six points at their Adelaide Oval fortress and will bid for a third premiership cup in four years, and 13th in total. Geelong booked their Grand Final ticket by thrashing home side Brisbane Lions by 40 points at the Gabba.

After several near-misses in recent seasons, the Cats play their first Grand Final since 2011, which was the last of their nine championships. Also winners in 2007 and 2009, victory on Saturday would see Geelong match the Hawthorn Hawks' tally of four AFL titles (2008, 2013-15) since the turn of the century, boosting the Cats' claim as the competition's most dominant side in the modern era.

(Editing by Michael Perry)

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