Richmond Tigers v Geelong Cats; 2020 AFL Grand Final match preview and team lists

Richmond Tigers v Geelong Cats, AFL Grand Final 2020 match preview and team lists, Gabba, Saturday 24 October 2020 19:30 AEDT
Ben Jensen GEELONG and Richmond face off in the 2020 AFL Grand Final on Saturday in extraordinary circumstances; the first night grand final and the first held outside Victoria, both firsts of course due to the Victorian Government’s botched Coronavirus/Covid-19 hotel quarantine program. Umpires have been announced; the field trio are Matt Stevic, Craig Fleer and Simon Meredith with Robert Findlay emergency; see further below for boundary and goal.

As expected both sides on Friday named unchanged sides. While the Cats easily accounted for the Brisbane Lions at the same venue as the 2020 decider the Tigers did it the hard way defeating Port Adelaide in Adelaide on Friday night by a solitary goal in a match that went right down to the wire. Still the Tigers having won the premiership in 2017 and 2019 along with defeating the Cats a month ago are favourites.

The match is officially a sell out and starts at 7:30pm Victorian/NSW/Tasmanian time and 6:30pm local time. Around 30,000 fans will be in attendance. With Victorian based Geelong and Richmond members banned tickets went on sale to the general public and promptly sold out. Should the Cats win former Geelong games record holder Ian Nankervis will present the premiership cup while tennis player and one-time cricketer Ash Barty will do the honours should the Tigers win.

AFL GRAND FINAL 2020
RICHMOND TIGERS V GEELONG CATS
SATURDAY 24 OCTOBER 2020, 19:30 AEDT
GABBA, BRISBANE

PREDICTIONS
Ben – Cats 20 points
Oscar – Tigers 15 points
Cassie – Cats 7 points

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: –
OUT: –
B: Jed Bews, Harry Taylor, Jake Kolodjashnij
HB: Lachie Henderson, Mark Blicavs, Tom Stewart
C: Mitch Duncan, Joel Selwood, Sam Menegola
HF: Luke Dahlhaus, Gary Rohan, Gryan Miers
F: Mark O’Connor, Tom Hawkins, Gary Ablett
FOLL: Rhys Stanley, Patrick Dangerfield, Cam Guthrie
INT: Jack Henry, Brandan Parfitt, Zach Tuohy, Sam Simpson
EMER: Tom Atkins, Zach Guthrie, Esava Ratugolea, Brad Close

RICHMOND TIGERS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: –
OUT: –
B: David Astbury, Dylan Grimes, Noah Balta
HB: Liam Baker, Nick Vlastuin, Bachar Houli
C: Kamdyn McIntosh, Dion Prestia, Marlion Pickett
HF: Kane Lambert, Jason Castagna, Dustin Martin
F: Tom Lynch, Jack Riewoldt, Daniel Rioli
FOLL: Toby Nankervis, Shane Edwards, Trent Cotchin
INT: Jack Graham, Shai Bolton, Jayden Short, Nathan Broad
EMER: Oleg Markov, Josh Caddy, Mabior Chol, Jake Aarts

UMPIRES
FIELD: Matt Stevic, Simon Meredith, Craig Fleer EM: Robert Findlay
BOUNDARY: Michael Marantelli, Ian Burrows, Matthew Konetschka, Matthew Tomkins
GOAL: Matthew Dervan, Steven Piperno EM: Steven Axon

INJURY LISTS

GEELONG – Updated 20 October 2020
Nakia Cockatoo Wrist Season
Nathan Kreuger Knee Season
Rhys Stanley Knee Test
Jack Steven Hamstring 1-2 weeks

RICHMOND – Updated 20 October 2020
Callum Coleman-Jones Suspension Six matches
Noah Cumberland ACL Season
Jack Higgins Calf Test
Bigoa Nyuon Shoulder Season
Ivan Soldo Knee Season
Sydney Stack Suspension Six matches