Former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon has heaped praise on Sydney forwards Lance Franklin and Sam Reid for their performances in the Preliminary Final win over Collingwood.
The pair were influential aerially, with Reid dominating early before being subbed out with an adductor injury.
“Sam Reid’s first quarter and a bit was just extraordinary. He was the aerial presence,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“Buddy’s not the aerial presence, we know that. The fact that he took that contested mark late was superb, but in a Grand Final you need aerial presence forward of the ball and that’s Reid.
“If he’s not there it’s going to be a huge out.”
Franklin kicked two goals and took seven marks – three contested, including a crucial grab in the dying minutes.
Lyon believes the sacrificial role Franklin played in bringing marking contests to the ground was instrumental in the result.
“Franklin – he played the role of a bulldozer when he’s spent his career as the Lamborghini. That’s what came to my mind,” Lyon said.
“Here’s a bloke who’s just said ‘let me crash packs’ and the amount of times he threw his body into pack just to get a spillage, for all the love we have for Buddy and what he’s been capable of doing, his willingness to take on that role if you could possibly have any more respect for him, I did on the back of that.”
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley agreed, saying the work of the Sydney talls unravelled the Magpies’ defensive plans.
“I think that’s why Brayden Maynard was favoured for the Lance Franklin matchup, to allow Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe to take intercept marks, but because Sam Reid and Tom Hickey were so good at bringing the ball to ground, that tactic didn’t work,” Buckley said.
Sydney will now prepare to take on Geelong in the 2022 AFL Grand Final at the MCG on Saturday.