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Best AFL Grand Final Goals

10/06/2025|SB Staff|AFL News
<p>AFL Grand Final day is an elevated occasion, which makes the deeds done on-field more significant.</p> <p>Some of the best goals kicked on Grand Final day are often referred to as landmarks and constantly replayed in the annals of Grand Final folklore.</p> <p>God are there some absolute rippers to choose from. It’s almost impossible to narrow it down to a list of 10, let alone five.</p> <p>But our team of experts at Sportsbet has somehow managed to produce a list of the best six AFL Grand Final Goals since the turn of the century. Check them out below!&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Dom Sheed – 2018</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It’s become regarded as one of the most clutch moments in Grand Final history.</p> <p>A shot from an impossible angle, deep in the last quarter, and a straight kick will put your side in front with a little over two minutes to go in the Grand Final.</p> <p>The build-up starts from a Jeremy McGovern intercept in defence. He goes to Vardy on the wing.</p> <p>Liam Ryan gets up for a climb and brings down a big mark before finding Dom Sheed in the pocket.</p> <p>Was Maynard blocked? Probably yes. But the umpire ruled it fine for Sheed to take the shot.</p> <p>He needed to be inch-perfect, and he was. As BT put it, “He’s got the most impossible goal.”</p> <p>To do it against Collingwood? Just makes it all that much better.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Adam Goodes – 2012</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>“Cometh the moment, Cometh the champion”</p> <p>With the Swans leading by a point with just over five minutes to go, they were pressing to try to nail the knockout blow.</p> <p>Nothing was connecting as the Hawks kept on trying to rebound the ball but repeatedly got caught in the Swans’ web.</p> <p>Heath Grundy sends the ball back into attacking 50 to a pack hoping one of the big men can bring it down.</p> <p>Waiting out on the right for the crumb is Adam Goodes. The dual Brownlow Medallist, at this stage playing with a torn PCL, takes a quick moment to compose before quickly getting his right boot to the ball.</p> <p>He dribbles it through for an iconic goal to put the Swans seven points up and on the brink of glory.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Dustin Martin – 2020</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>If his legacy wasn’t cemented already, his goal to seal the 2020 Grand Final would have done it for Dustin Martin.</p> <p>His three previous goals in the game came at the most crucial of times, with each goal proving pivotal in keeping the Tigers both in and ahead of the game.</p> <p>With a 24-point lead with just over a minute to go, Dusty’s fourth goal was the most special of sealers.&nbsp;</p> <p>Martin swooped on the loose ball just metres from the boundary line in the forward pocket. Within seconds, he had shrugged off a tackle from Patrick Dangerfield, set himself, and snapped across his body to kick the most remarkable goal.</p> <p>Sealing the game, Sealing his third Norm Smith Medal, and his legacy as the greatest finals player ever.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Tom Boyd – 2016</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It’s just ticked into ‘time-on’ in the final quarter and the Bulldogs are minutes away from breaking a 62-year premiership drought.</p> <p>With a glimmer of hope for the Swans, a hobbled Lance Franklin gathers the ball and attempts to send his side forward before he’s brilliantly tackled by Bulldogs warrior Dale Morris.</p> <p>Tom Boyd gathers the ball from inside the centre square. A kind bounce and he will seal the game for the Dogs.</p> <p>The stadium held its breath as it sailed towards home and got the favourable bounce. Take it away BT…</p> <p>“Boyd’s kicked a goal…. From inside the centre square”</p> <p>“Firetruck.”&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Paul Chapman – 2009</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>It’s not so much the kick for goal that qualifies this on the list. Even though it is a rather good snap, It’s the build-up to the goal that places it on the top shelf of Grand Final goals.</p> <p>The Saints have led close to all day on a damp and grey Grand Final day. But after only losing two games that year, the Cats were closing in, chasing their vindication from the year before.</p> <p>With the scores tied at 67 apiece in ‘time on’ in the final quarter, a loose ball bobbles in the centre of the MCG, before the famous Matthew Scarlett toe-poke sets the Cats in motion.</p> <p>The toe poke to Gary Ablett Jnr who sends it deep into attacking 50 to a pack of players. Travis Varcoe crumbs the ball and gives it to Paul Chapman, who snaps over his shoulder to put the Cats in front.</p> <p>It was the decisive blow that broke the Saints and delivered the Cats their second flag in three years.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>Luke Hodge – 2015</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The Hawks have come flying out of the gates at the MCG. They can smell blood in the water at the start of the second quarter on their quest to make it three premierships in a row.</p> <p>The Hawks skipper Luke Hodge, already on his way to his second Norm Smith Medal, decides to take things upon himself and hammer the first nail into the Eagles' coffin.</p> <p>The Hawks build the ball from the middle as their stars all get involved. Smith, Birchall, and Rioli all with a possession before the genius Rioli spots his skipper in a one-on-one in the pocket.</p> <p>While temporarily spoiled away but back into the field of play by the Eagles defender, Hodge wins it back and sends a high banana kick towards the goals. The left-foot checkside never looked like missing as the Hawthorn supporters in the grandstand went into raptures.</p> <p>The captain's exclamation point was the start of the procession as the Hawks belted the Eagles.</p>

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