- The Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions will contest the AFL decider
- Great of the game turned TV star has made intriguing announcement
Footy fans have let their imaginations run wild after leading Channel Seven commentator Brian Taylor teased an ’emotional’ and ‘incredible’ announcement to be made straight after the AFL grand final.
The former Collingwood star’s intriguing announcement appeared on social media platform X the day before the big game between the Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions.
‘Something is going to happen at the end of the grand final … it will be pretty emotional and an incredible surprise to everyone in the footy world,’ he told South Australian radio stars Rowey and Timmy G.
The fact it would have to be a very major announcement to be made after the biggest game of the year plus the vague nature of the post has led to many footy fans drawing some bold conclusions.
Some are predicting Taylor could be set to call time on his long commentating career, which has made him a polarising figure.
‘It would be the most BT move ever to try and make it all about him immediately following a team winning the premiership,’ one posted on Reddit.
‘Watch him announce his retirement followed by announcing there is still time for a comeback,’ another added sarcastically.
Others joked that BT might be using modern technology to prolong his commentary career.
‘BT has given his voice away to AI so we don’t miss him during his retirement. All games AFL, VFL all the way down will be called by BristleAI,’ one joked.
‘BT has signed on for 30 more years as the sole commentator for all of football,’ added another.
‘Roaming Brian is the new channel 7 flagship show. He will be getting an hour every night from 7pm to roam live,’ posted another as footy fans ripped into the popular footy commentator.
Others suggested it could be the retirement of Sydney Swans coach John Longmire who has held the clipboard since 2011.
‘Longmire retiring could make sense with what’s happened with Dean Cox and West Coast,’ a follower posted.
There were also plenty of conspiracy theories, some serious, some not so much.
‘The winning team will be announced as receive qualification to the Asian Champions league,’ one fan joked.
‘No more welcome to country?’ asked another.
‘The person that hired Tina Arena will be fired?’ questioned yet another.
Some think the big announcement will be the triumphant return of Bruce McAvaney to the commentary team at the age of 71.
‘Surely will be will be the return of Bruce McAvaney to commentating AFL footy in 2025,’ one fan posted.
‘Based on his cameo last week, that’s got to be the ’emotional and incredible surprise’.’
On a more serious note, some AFL supporters believe the announcement might involve Neale Daniher, who was diagnosed with MND in 2013.
Scottish researchers recently made a breakthrough in the fight against killer motor neurone disease and some fans believe Daniher might be looking to take part in some form of treatment to save his life.
‘Will likely be Neale Daniher related,’ one fan posted.
‘Might be invited up by [four-time AFL premiership coach] David Parkin to help present the Jock McHale medal – Parkin is close with the Danihers and is a long term Melbourne fan.’
‘Scrolled through a lot of posts that made me laugh before I got to this. I reckon you are onto a winner,’ another supporter agreed.
‘If Brisbane wins, I could see Neale presenting the Jock McHale Medal to Fages,’ added another.
Whatever the announcement, it will have to be huge to supersede the first AFL grand final since 2006 to not feature any Victorian teams.
The Sydney Swans, this year’s most dominant team and minor premiers, will face off against the surging Brisbane Lions from 2.30pm.
Swans coach John Longmire will be aiming to improve his finals record after losing the last three grand finals with Sydney under his watch.
Meanwhile Brisbane’s Chris Fagan is on the brink of making history as the first non-playing coach to secure a VFL/AFL premiership – and avenging the pain of losing last year’s decider to Collingwood.
