Another covid affected season is nearly in the books and what a Grand Final we have been left with, the Melbourne Demons vs Western Bulldogs. Two of Victoria’s older clubs both starved of recent premiership success, with the exception of the Bulldogs triumph in 2016. Some fun facts from when Melbourne last won:

• Man hadn’t yet landed on the moon.
• The Beatles had just toured Australia.
• The average weekly wage was $30.
• The median house price was $15,000.   

Two of the best teams all year have made it through albeit via very different paths. Melbourne finished on top of the ladder after a huge come from behind win against Geelong at their home ground GMHBA stadium, where their captain and superstar ruckman Max Gawn fulfilled every kid's dream of kicking the winning goal after the siren. From there, they comfortably took care of Brisbane in their qualifying final before this time smashing Geelong in the preliminary final whereby Max Gawn was again the star booting five goals.

The Western Bulldogs run was not so comfortable, relinquishing a top four spot they held all year in the final round by the slimmest of margins. Seemingly out of form, they travelled to Tasmania to take on the Essendon Bombers, a team they lost to late in the season, in an elimination do or die final. After a tight first half the Bulldogs team from earlier in the year emerged in the second half to run all over the Bombers and set up a date with the Brisbane Lions in Brisbane. In what was one of the games of the season, the Bulldogs emerged victorious by just one point to book a place against the Port Adelaide Power in a preliminary final. 

Travelling again to play the Power, few gave them much of a chance to win but boy were they wrong, the Bulldogs came out on fire and put the game to bed by quarter time. Next up, another plane ride, this time to Perth to meet the Demons in the 2021 AFL Grand Final. After seven goals in the last two finals, is rising superstar Bailey Smith about to become one of the youngest Norm Smith medallists ever? 

The stage is set for one of the best Grand Finals in recent memory. Whilst it won’t be played at the traditional home of football, the MCG for a second straight year, Perth’s Optus Stadium is the by far the next best venue possible.

Uncle Jack, as we do every year, will be commemorating the 2021 AFL Grand Final with our officially licensed AFL 2021 Premiership Watch for the winning team. Premiership Cup inspired silver and gold steel band and case beautifully complimented by the dial with the winning teams colours, logo and the AFL Gold Premiership Logo. With the case back having all their premiership years etched on it, this simply is a must have for any fan of the winning team. The details of the release of this stunningly designed, official AFL Premiership watch are below. You do not want to miss out if your team (or the team of anyone you know) gets up on the last Saturday in September.