Finalists record at the MCG this seasonRichmond: 14 games, 14-0
West Coast: two games, 2-0
Collingwood: 14 games, 8-6
Hawthorn: nine games, 7-2
Melbourne: 11 games, 5-6
Sydney: two games, 2-0
GWS Giants: two games, 1-1
Geelong: nine games, 2-7
Good enough to win, but good enough to beat the MCG?Peter Ryan
The Age
26 Aug 2018By the end of his dual premiership career, West Coast premiership player Guy McKenna greeted the MCG like a long-lost brother.
But the first few times he played at the home of football, he trod warily around the home of football, treating the venue like it was the scary big kid who lived next door.
He remembered the crowd heaving and the relentless pressure that created for the visitors as the Eagles took time to build a team capable of winning at the MCG.
By 1992, the team was assembled and the Eagles won their five games at the venue that season on their way to a famous premiership.
Before that season they had won two of their 11 games at the place where the grand final will be decided for the next 40 years.
That's a similar record to the one the Giants hold now with just two wins in 13 attempts at the MCG.
"It's a foreign environment," McKenna told Fairfax Media.
"As a young fella when you first step out at the MCG it is just like another player. It's like your big brother is staring down at you.
"Even 30,000 Melbourne supporters could create a roar that could shake you to the bone.
"It's not until you get older that you learn to block it out and you get in the moment better."
Such is the mystique of the ground that it is looming once again as a huge factor in deciding which team wins the flag.
Richmond seem as unbeatable as Winx at the MCG, having now stretched their winning streak to 21 at the ground.
But the Tigers aren't the only team unbeaten at the MCG this season.
West Coast and Sydney will also enter this year's finals series without having lost at the grand final venue in 2018.
Admittedly those three non-Victorian teams have won just five out of five at the MCG in 2018, which, even though four of the wins have been against finals opponents, pales into insignificance when compared to the top-of-the-table Tigers' run.
But that trio of non-Victorian teams need to look to any positive they can find, because in 2018, with the four MCG co-tenants, Richmond, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Melbourne, part of the same finals series for the first time, the venue looms as a huge factor.
Recent history suggests the MCG – which was locked in as the grand final venue for the next 40 years earlier this year – should give those Victorian teams an advantage if they meet a non-Victorian team in a grand final.
The past five premiers have been Victorian-based and defeated non-Victorian teams on the big day.
Sydney's 2012 premiership team is the only non-Victorian team since 2003 to defeat a Victorian team on grand final day.
Such is the lack of exposure to the MCG in finals for some of those teams that the Swans of 2016 were the only non-Victorian team since 2006 to play at the MCG in the lead-up to the grand final.
No wonder clubs from outside Victorian were a little concerned at the decision to lock the MCG in as the home of the grand final for the next generation and beyond.
The interesting point McKenna made, however, was that it wasn't so much the ground's dimensions that caused the issue but the overwhelming sense he had early in his career that he was intruding on someone else's space.
"I have no doubt there is an advantage for the Melbourne sides that play there a lot who understand the nuances of the oval, but it's probably the other side of the fence that matters more," McKenna said.
"The green grass is all well and good but it is just atmosphere that the crowd brings that can unnerve a young player."
The other possibility is that the presence of the MCG co-tenants this season may mitigate the Tigers' MCG advantage to some extent.
Somehow, until now, the quartet of Victorian clubs with 51 premierships between them have rarely crossed paths September for most of their storied history.
But now they have all arrived at the same time with the same intent.
Collingwood and Hawthorn both have positive win-loss records at their home venue this season while Melbourne's sits at just under 50 per cent.
Geelong, who play home games at GMHBA Stadium, struggle to win at the MCG having won two of their seven starts on the track in 2018 and six of their 12 finals there under Chris Scott but they pushed the Tigers to three points in round 20 and Scott says the venue holds no fears.
However, it's worth noting no premier in the past decade has won the premiership having a worse record at the MCG in their flag-winning season than both Geelong and Melbourne have this season.
Most of all, no team has beaten Richmond, who face the prospect of meeting Hawthorn for the first time in their history in a final and the Demons for the first time in a final since 1940.
That's the reality facing the seven remaining teams. Can they defeat the Tigers in their own backyard when it matters most?
By the time McKenna went back to his second grand final in 1994, the MCG held no fears.
"It is a not a habit but you are comfortable once you have won," McKenna said.
"When you step back out there it is like a long-lost brother you can go up and hug, whereas when you haven't played there it's like the big brother from next door where you go, 'hang on'."
That sentiment hasn't changed much. In 2018, the MCG is a factor that can't be denied.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/good-enough-to-win-but-good-enough-to-beat-the-mcg-20180825-p4zzox.html
