<p>Performing on the biggest stage in September is the best way to enhance your reputation as one of the game's elite.</p> <p>While the stars shine, it’s often the performances of the unsung heroes and unheralded names that live long in the memory bank and become the stuff of legend the more time passes.</p> <p>Whether it be an unexpected bag of goals or a big unexpected individual performance of a five-minute patch that turns a game on its head, these are moments that go down in the folklore of clubs and enshrine people as club legends and fan favourites.</p> <p>So, here is Sportsbet’s list of the best AFL Finals cameo performances this century.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Nick Davis – 2005 Semi-Final</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>I see it, but I don’t believe it.</p> <p>It’s the commentary from Anthony Hudson that immediately springs to mind whenever his name gets mentioned.</p> <p>A low-scoring affair in Sydney after the Swans had lost a classic clash against the Eagles in Perth – the first of many epic battles between those two clubs over this little period, The Swans returned to a home Semi-Final and were in a deep hole.</p> <p>Enter Nick Davis, who after a quiet first half, forced himself into the spotlight with a goal in the third quarter. A timely, momentum-shifting goal that gave the Swans that glimmer of hope.</p> <p>A three-goal final quarter later, Davis had single-handedly lifted the Swans into a Preliminary Final, after kicking his fourth goal of the half with just seconds remaining.</p> <p>Even when you watch the replay today, you can’t help but shake the commentary from Huddo.</p> <p>“I see it, but I don’t believe it”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Clay Smith – 2016 Preliminary Final</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>There had to be one from ‘that’ prelim.</p> <p>Of all the guns in the Bulldog team that could have stepped up with a bag of goals, the emergence of Clay Smith on the big stage was remarkable.</p> <p>Four first-half goals in a preliminary final to keep the Dogs right in the fight and prevent the Giants from pulling away.</p> <p>What made this performance even more remarkable was the personal circumstances surrounding Smith leading into the game.</p> <p>Revealing in the post-match interviews that he had lost a close friend in a car accident in the days leading up to the game, Smith was touch and go as to whether he’d even take the field.</p> <p>He not only took the field but went on to produce a performance of a lifetime and be a big reason why the Dogs went on to their first Grand Final in 55 years.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Nick Duigan – 2013 Elimination Final</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It was the special Elimination Final performance that pushed Nick Duigan to instant hero.</p> <p>And it was the performance that elevated the humble Subway sandwich into hearts and extra significance to Carlton supporters as well as the christening of a new holiday.</p> <p>A fun reminder too, Carlton wasn’t even meant to be in the finals this year. They snuck in from ninth after Essendon was booted out.</p> <p>Duigan had only played the three games before that day this season. The guy who might have been named captain of the club wasn’t meant to be in the team on Elimination Final day against the Tigers either.</p> <p>While he was chowing down a Subway in the grandstand, Brock McLean pulled up injured in the warm-up and suddenly, Duigan was back in for his fourth game of the season.</p> <p>Cast in a new role up forward, having only kicked five goals in his previous 41-game career, Duigan kicked four memorable goals to play a key role in a Blues boilover.</p> <p>He’d only play one more game in his career after, but his moment is still celebrated.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Mason Cox – 2018 Preliminary Final</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Who was going to stop the juggernaut that was Richmond on its way to back-to-back flags in 2018?</p> <p>Whatever it was going to be, it needed to be bigger than Texas.</p> <p>No one would have picked it to be the American convert Mason Cox to tear the Tigers a new one in a Preliminary Final at the home of football.</p> <p>As the Pies had navigated their year with a mid-sized forward line as they battled injuries yet played some breathtaking football to get themselves to the penultimate weekend, Cox was the focal point of the Pies's front half.</p> <p>Lining up on Tigers champion Alex Rance, you’d think it would be an easy matchup against a guy who, albeit bloody tall, is still learning the game.</p> <p>What transpired though was the performance that remains in Preliminary Final folklore. Cox put on a contested marking clinic against Rance to shell-shock the Tigers.</p> <p>Cox hauled in eight contested marks kicked three first-half goals and put the Pies into the Grand Final.</p> <p>Remarkable for a guy who had only picked up a Sherrin for the first time four years prior.</p> <p>The Pies fans still chant “USA, USA” from the rafters. It’s a core and longstanding memory from the night that Cox proved that he could play this game.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Stuart Dew – 2008 Grand Final</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Five minutes is all it takes to write your name into football immortality.</p> <p>Dew’s five-minute third-quarter cameo in the 2008 decider against the all-conquering Geelong has been hailed as one of the great Finals cameos and great Grand Final performances of all time.</p> <p>Let’s also remember that Dew had come out of retirement to play in the 2008 season. He’d retired at the end of 2006 after losing match fitness but was coaxed out by Clarkson to play.</p> <p>Precisely for moments like this.</p> <p>Dew kicked two third-quarter goals and set up two others to turn the game in the favour of the Hawks.</p> <p>The Cats would rue their early misses, as Dew’s daggers ripped the game apart, turning a slender one-point lead into a 30-point advantage heading into the final change.</p> <p>Despite all the success that has followed Hawthorn since the day that the “Deeeeewwwwwwwww” chant rang around the MCG, This one is the one that sticks out the most.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>AFL Premiership Odds 2024</h2>