Adelaide Crows, Richmond Tigers unchanged for AFL decider


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Adelaide and Richmond have confirmed their lineups for the AFL grand final, with no late changes.


Rival coaches Don Pyke and Damien Hardwick said on Friday that their selected teams had a clean bill of health and they will take to the field as named.


The tension was building inside and outside a packed MCG on Saturday afternoon as fans awaited the 2.30pm opening bounce.


Richmond are in their first grand final since 1982 and have not won a flag since 1980.


The Crows will start favourites and have not been in the last match of the season since their 1997-98 triumphs.





Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge was an interesting omission from the pre-game motorcade of retiring players.


The former Hawks captain and four-time premiership player has confirmed he is in discussions with Brisbane about extending his playing career.


The motorcade around the MCG boundary will feature all-time greats such as Nick Riewoldt, Bob Murphy and Sam Mitchell.


Brent Harvey and Jimmy Bartel, who retired after last year’s grand final, are also in the motorcade.


Meanwhile, Hardwick says their round-six beating from Adelaide was the genesis for Richmond’s grand final appearance.


The Crows hammered Richmond by 76 points in a round-six encounter – the only meeting of the clubs this season before Saturday’s clash.


Hardwick says he learnt more from that loss than any of Richmond’s wins en route to the grand final.


“As an AFL coach, you probably learn most when you’re losing,” Hardwick said.


“It was disappointing, that game. The Crows played a fantastic brand of footy but we certainly learnt a lot about our side.”


Hardwick said he and his players rapidly took heed of the harsh lessons from that Adelaide Oval encounter, Richmond’s heaviest loss of the season.


“We got to work on a number of things,” he said


“We took a little bit of a step backwards after that game and tried to rectify a few things in our game we felt weren’t quite to the level.


“When you look at us back in round six to how we play at the moment, it’s chalk and cheese really.”


Adelaide coach Don Pyke dismissed any relevance of the round six match to the premiership decider.


“It’s fair to say both sides have evolved since the round six game,” Pyke said.


Both coaches have played in premierships – Hardwick with Essendon in 2000 and Port Adelaide in 2004; Pyke with West Coast in 1992 and 1994 – but no players have grand final experience.



Adelaide fans prepare for the grand final.

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