For the combatants, the clubs and their fans, the week leading up to the Grand Final is the most exciting of the season.
There is no sensation like watching posters being pasted up in windows, club logos painted on to the ground and Grand Final patches ironed on to the jumpers when it’s your turn.
However, for many players, unfortunate timing with injury has seen the week characterised by feelings of anxiousness, resignation and even resentment.
In 2019, Richmond midfielder Jack Graham dislocated his shoulder in the Preliminary Final victory over Geelong and missed the chance to cap his most consistent season to that point.
The blow was cushioned somewhat; he was already a premiership player (2017) and has now played in two after being part of last year’s successful side.
Collingwood stalwart Simon Prestigiacomo was not so fortunate. Cleared to play in the 2010 Grand Final, he selflessly ruled himself out of the game having felt tightness in his groin after a training session.
The 32-year-old retired after the Grand Final replay.
The Magpies have since honoured his team spirit by awarding his No. 35 to their first draftee, to wear for a season before swapping for a number to make their own.
For other players to have missed out, it hasn’t come down to the crunch of the captain’s run.
Adelaide great Tony Modra snapped his anterior cruciate ligament in the Preliminary Final in 1997, having booted 84 goals for the season.
He couldn’t regain the same scintillating form he displayed before his knee reconstruction and wasn’t considered for the 1998 Grand Final either.
Half-back flanker Trent Ormond-Allen also missed both Adelaide premierships, having been struck down by glandular fever for the first.
Club champion Mark Ricciuto missed out on the 1997 Grand Final with a late-season groin injury, as did small forward Peter Vardy after breaking his collarbone in the semi-final. Fortunately both returned for the Crows’ victory in 1998.
Former Hawthorn defenders Matthew Suckling and Ryan Schoenmakers suffered serious knee injuries in the 2013 premiership season, but each made it up on to the podium in the end, Suckling in 2014 and 2015 and Schoenmakers in the latter year.
Others have not been so lucky.
Former Sydney forward Ben McGlynn strained his hamstring in the Swans’ qualifying final win over Adelaide, and failed to get through training ahead of their 2012 Grand Final victory.
He went on to play in losing Grand Finals in 2014 and 2016.
Ex-Geelong defender Matthew Egan, who played 59 games for the Cats in three years and won All-Australian selection in his third, fractured the navicular bone just weeks before the drought-breaking premiership in 2007. He never played again.
Fellow Cat Daniel Menzel ruptured his ACL in a qualifying final in 2011 and missed the the club’s premiership after having kicked 28 goals in just his second season. He underwent four knee reconstructions before he played another senior match.
Former Port Adelaide captain and senior coach Matthew Primus suffered the same fate in round three of 2004, and missed the Power premiership. An All-Australian in 2001 and 2002, the ruckman retired the next season with 157 games to his name.
Bob Murphy is perhaps the most prominent example, struck down by an ACL tear in the Western Bulldogs’ last premiership year in 2016.
Having guided the Dogs back from a cataclysmic post-season two years earlier, he was invited on to the podium by coach Luke Beveridge.
With so many contributors and clubmen having been unable to take the field on the final day of the season, should the AFL recognise the strength of the efforts that put the teams in that position by awarding premiership medals to the entire list?
After all, it is said “squads win premierships,” and every match matters on the journey to the Grand Final.