Melbourne The Grand Final and New Years' Eve have a lot in common. For much of season 2000, speculation about potential grand finallists went no further than Carlton and Essendon. We were building ourselves up for an Essendon - Carlton Grand Final for so long that anything else would be a let down.
Finals are about momentum and peaking at the right time.
The Demons have both with 10 wins from their last 11 starts, including two brilliant finals' performances. They are more than worthy Grand Finallists. And for so long no one rated them. They had a no-name defence led by Anthony Ingerson, hardly a household name. But the unspectacular but rock-solid Nicholson and Ingerson have taken on the big jobs week after week and more than held their own.