WHILE plenty of people will have vested interest in the AFL grand final tomorrow one local family in particular, the Bailey’s, are more invested than most with Brent Bailey’s son, Zac Bailey, taking to the field for Brisbane.

The grand final kicks off tomorrow with the first bounce at 2.30pm where the Lions and Collingwood will battle for premiership honours.

Brent, a two-time premiership player for Portland in 1991 and 2003, will be heading to the MCG to watch his son along with partner Jorgie Sarahs while grandparents Meredith and Bill Bailey will be watching on from home in Portland.

“It’s pretty exciting to make a grand final,” Meredith said.

“It took a while to sink it too,” Sarahs added.

“You go through the motions a little bit and watching Zac from when he was drafted to now, the whole team has come such a long way it’s so amazing.”

“This is their year,” Brent said.

“It feels like they’re ready this year.”

Zac Bailey was recruited by Brisbane back in 2017 and has been a part of their rise in the competition playing a crucial role as a small forward and moving through the midfield.

The growing success of the side saw them win their first final since 2009 back in 2020 and they will now play off against Collingwood for premiership glory.

It has been an enjoyable ride for the 24-year-old’s family back in Portland, who can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow.

“It’ll be the first grand final for most of us – none of us have ever really been to a grand final,” Brent said.

“It’s going to be tight – I think Brisbane’s game plan works against Collingwood and that’s why they’ve done well the last few times Brisbane’s played them.

“They can push up and stop them trying to get fast breaks – if they can stick to their game plan it should be alright and just make it count down the other end.

“Collingwood have more experience than Collingwood in finals and there’s the hoodoo of the MCG so hopefully we can try and break that.”

Local connections

The 24-year-old will run out tomorrow alongside some other regional connections including Hugh McCluggage who grew up playing for South Warrnambool in the Hampden Football League.

Brent also pulled on the boots for South Warrnambool during his football career alongside McCluggage’s dad, Sam McCluggage, and they both won a premiership together.

“I caught up with Hugh’s dad at the first final for Brisbane and we watched that together,” Brent said.

“We’ve kept in touch during the year, and I also saw him at the Portland reunion when we played South so that was good.”

When asked during the time of his playing days if Brent and Zac shared any similarities, he said speed was the biggest asset of both of their games.

“I was quick like him, he’s a bit quicker than I ever was though,” Brent said.

“I also played similar positions, where he plays mid-forward, and I was pretty much the same.

“It is nice, watching him out on the oval running around.”

“You can really pick Zac out on the field because he runs exactly the same as Brent and does so many things exactly the same,” Meredith added.

Watching the side run out on the MCG together tomorrow will be a momentous occasion and while the family will be barracking hard for the Lions, it could almost have been a reverse if Zac didn’t end up in Brisbane.

“I was actually a Collingwood supporter before Zac was drafted,” Meredith said.

“Brent was Collingwood before Zac went to Brisbane, I even tried to have Zac as a Collingwood supporter but when he went to Brisbane, we were all Brisbane.”

“When he was in Adelaide for a bit, he refused to say he went for Collingwood because they’re not big Collingwood fans over there,” Brent added.

While the family formerly supported the Magpies, they believe Brisbane was the best place for him.

“Zac couldn’t have gone to a better club, the culture is fantastic, and Chris (Fagan) is just amazing, it’s been really nurturing and a great place for him to grow,” Sarahs said.

“Being out of the fish bubble is also good for Zac, he can sort of a have a normal life up there in Brisbane but in Melbourne it would have been hard,” Brent said.

As for tomorrow, Brent said they are as ready as they’ll ever be.

“I spoke to him on (Monday) and he’s doing okay,” Brent said.

“He said he’ll play forward and a bit through the middle but not much – he has only every played in one other grand final, so it’ll be a big occasion.

“He thinks he’s going alright – I can’t tell him too much.”

“You need to tell him to use his left foot a bit more I think,” Meredith added.