Background
Essendon were defending their 2000 premiership, and went into the game having finished on top of the ladder on percentage ahead of second placed Brisbane (both had won 17 games). Brisbane had won fifteen consecutive games leading up to the Grand Final, a streak which commenced with a major upset of Essendon at the Gabba in Round 10. It was the Brisbane Lions first appearance in a Grand Final after only joining the AFL in 1997. Essendon were the dominant team between 1999 and 2001, losing just 11 games from the start of 1999 until the 2001 Grand Final.
In the 2001 finals series, Essendon defeated Richmond by 70 points in the First Qualifying Final and then defeated Hawthorn by 9 points in the First Preliminary Final to advance to the Grand Final. Brisbane earnt their place in the Grand Final by defeating Port Adelaide by 32 points in the Second Qualifying Final and then Richmond by 68 points in the Second Preliminary Final.
In the lead-up to the match, Brisbane's Jason Akermanis won the Brownlow Medal. The two coaches, Kevin Sheedy and Leigh Matthews, had met in a Grand Final 11 years prior, when Matthews' Magpies ended their so-called "Colliwobbles" (a drought lasting 32 years) to defeat Sheedy's Bombers in the 1990 AFL Grand Final.
As of 2012, five players from this Grand Final, including two captains, are senior coaches in the AFL: James Hird (Essendon), Michael Voss (Brisbane), Brad Scott (North Melbourne), Chris Scott (Geelong) and Damien Hardwick (Richmond).
Read more about this topic: 2001 AFL Grand Final
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