Scotty Watters Reviews the AFL Prelim Finals (21.09.2026)

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Mark Duffield (1:06)

Yes, he was part of the magnificent seven in that Teal Cup team back in 1985 He was also a grand final player at West Coast in 91 Also played footy at Sydney and Fremantle and he coached St Kilda and he coached Aviaco to Waffle Flags. He joins us on the show to talk about a magnificent preliminary final weekend. Scotty Watters, Scotty, welcome.

Scotty Watters (1:28)

Good morning, mate. What a weekend of football preliminary finals. They just deliver time and time again. It was a sensational week to watch the game.

Mark Duffield (1:36)

So they do deliver. But can you remember a better weekend of preliminary final footy, a more dramatic weekend?

Scotty Watters (1:44)

Oh, I'd have to go back through it. But look, I was at the SCG, obviously, for Fremantle's game. And just the way that the Sydney crowd turned out, you know, sold out record numbers. Beautiful night in Sydney. Ground was immaculate. One of the most historical grounds in Australia.

Probably barred the MCG for me as being the ground that I love going to. And just, yeah, the whole, the effort of Sydney early, the way Fremantle had to recover, just amazing for football. And then to see what Hawthorne and Brisbane dished up a day later, what an incredible weekend. So off the top of my head, probably not. But I'm sure somewhere in the archive, someone will create an argument. But what a weekend.

Mark Duffield (2:33)

Let's talk a little bit about Dean Cox off the top, Scotty. I thought, well, I said in my editorial today, I think if there's a coach of the finals award, Dean Cox should already have it locked away.

To reframe that team from what they were before the Pullman incident happened to what they turned out to be in their two finals in the qualifying final against Brisbane, which they won by 53 points. And in this preliminary final against Fremantle, which they led by 28 points at one point in the third quarter. What an incredible performance.

Scotty Watters (3:11)

Incredible. Yeah, I agree. I would almost have him coach of the year based on the adversity that, you know, or the crisis really, that the club has needed to navigate and still is navigating. But he's been a pretty steady presence through that.

Look, you get involved in coaching, you know, and initially you're thinking, well, I'm teaching players or supporting players or creating an environment where players can achieve their best. The reality is, as an AFL head coach, the different levels of crisis and challenges that are outside of football that come your way are huge tests. I know at St. Kilda, there were rape cases, there was challenges with drugs. There's a lot of different things that you feel like are outside of the football scope.

He's done an incredible job of navigating that group through emotionally and deserves a lot of credit for what he's done.

Mark Duffield (4:20)

Now, how concerned were you at half time for Freemantle?

Scotty Watters (4:25)

Well, there were some obvious things. I mean, Sydney's pressure was off the charts. I mean, Freemantle tried to run the ball, but the tackling pressure from Sydney was just ferocious.

I think the thing that still gave a degree of optimism is that the game, it didn't get out. The margin never seemed insurmountable. It felt like it was getting close.

But it definitely just felt like they were still in touch if they could get their moments. Three-quarter time, I probably felt like Freemantle could get back to within 10 points. I wasn't certain whether they could get all the way back. Probably what we did in fact there in was just when the elastic band broke for Sydney, it really broke. They looked mentally and emotionally exhausted in the last quarter. So Freemantle's better players stood up right when it needed to happen. The move of Bolton going forward was critical. Jackson was good. Cox had his moments late in the game too, which I thought were pivotal. Dudley was good as well. So they did the right things at the right time to get a result, but they're going to need to be more consistent to beat an incredible Brisbane team this weekend.