The culmination of a season’s gut busting work and potentially the highlight of a career’s worth of preseason pain – these are the footy finals’. Included in these exciting and brutal affairs are some bone jarring hits, which can prematurely end a player’s involvement in the game. It is at these times you want to ensure that you have the necessary protection in place. AFL Final mouthguard moments: Socking it to teeth loss. You might be surprised at the colourful episodes featuring the humble mouthguard, which have happened in recent years.

The Bash & Crash Of AFL Great Jonathan Brown

Running back with the flight of the ball and not knowing who is coming the other way invariably spells danger in AFL matches. Who can forget the bloody travails of Jonathan Brown of the Brisbane Lions, now a respected commentator of the game? Brownie would have to spend lengthy stays in nearby emergency wards, as surgeons battled to fix his horrendous facial injuries. Teeth and jaw would not fare well in these crunching impact injuries suffered multiples times by the great centre half forward. J. Brown, a Hall of Famer, did salute successfully in 3 Premierships for the Lions – making him one of the all-time AFL final’s champions. Yes, Brownie wore a mouthguard when he took the field for his weekly war zone engagements in the maroon, blue and gold. 

“You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth”

Carlton players have always been a bit different within the greater AFL family of superstar players. Sam Walsh wearing a mouthguard emblazoned with DIOR in the 2023 AFL Final’s series is a clear illustration of this. Selling your soul for a Maserati or some such high water mark of material gain is just so AFL in the current era. Bearing a luxury brand logo ensconced in your gob is oh so Carlton. “You took the words right out of my mouth,” with apologies for invoking an AFL persona non grata – Meatloaf!
“Not surprisingly, there were some curious reactions on social media.
“Is that….a Dior mouthguard?” sports journalist Marnie Vinall wrote on Twitter.
“He’s so cool,” was one reply.”

The Smart Mouthguard Recording Impacts In Game

The AFL even inserted a chip into a ‘smart mouthguard’ to record the number of head shaking impacts a player received during a match.

This technology was rolled out some 3 years ago and has provided the AFL boffins with some very useful data to crunch regarding head knocks happening in matches. Unfortunately for the players mouthguards can only protect teeth and not their entire head from the increasingly dangerous effects of concussion. Mouthguards do a good job in saving teeth but the brain is still vulnerable to bumps and swinging tackles executed at high speed with devastating force.

Mouth Guards Socking It In Front Of Goals

Surely the most notable mouthguard moment in games is when the player, after marking the ball or being awarded a free kick in front of goals, removes the device from mouth and puts it into his sock. Many fans scratch their heads at this and wonder WTF? Why would you take something out of your mouth and place it in a dirty, sweaty sock? How does this help with kicking straight? It seems that this act is employed as a mental trigger by the AFL player to go through his or her pre-shot routine. AFL is played at a frenetic pace and the set shot goal kicking part of the game demands a gear change down to a more measured process. Some pundits claim it is a pre-arranged signal to remind the players which leg to kick the ball with, however, this infers a level of intelligence I am not sure that I am comfortable with. Young blokes may not all be the sharpest tools in the shed during the heat of battle but I reckon they know their right from left even in these high pressure moments. There is an alternative to the sock placement, of course …

“David Sayers of Gwandalan gets to the point: “Footballers only have two places to locate the mouthguard while attempting a kick: the sock or the jockstrap. Where would you choose?””
– SMH.com.au

Hokball & Bringing Mouthguards To Training

The Hawks, ‘Hokball’ is taking the 2024 AFL Final’s Series by storm so far. The young Hawthorn team coached by Sam Mitchell has surprised most with their turnaround in form to become the hottest ticket in Melbourne. If they can journey to Adelaide and see off the Port Adelaide Power they will rise to one of the favourites to go all the way. The transformation in their form may have happened after Round 5, when Sam Mitchell instructed the young team to bring their mouthguards to training. This statement is a euphemism for a ‘no holds barred’ approach to man on man stuff at training. You see, professional AFL players are worth millions of dollars collectively and, therefore, an injury averse attitude can prevail most times at training. Clubs do not want their prize cattle unable to play due to intra-club inflicted contact injuries. Thus, it is a last resort risk to embark on this course of action and only occurs when attitudinal shifts are desperately required among the playing group. Boxing, with players sparring against each other, used to be a favourite back in the day but this practice has fallen foul of modern concerns regarding player welfare. Anyway, the end result is that Hokball is a game style built on maximum pressure around the ball and fast movement up and back all over the field.

“Sam Mitchell has created an environment that allows the players to express themselves and be true to their personalities, but the tradeoff is an underlying fanaticism in putting blue-collar work first. They are clean below their knees, put relentless tackle pressure on the opposition and they run their backsides off to defend.”
– The Roar.

Putting Pressure On The Ball Carrier

Pressure in AFL means tackling and chasing so that the opposition cannot easily move the ball. If there are multiple opponents in your face at all times it is tough to effectively pass the ball by hand or foot to your team mates. Therefore, your game style and strategies become undone to the detriment of you being able to score. Meanwhile, your opponent is off to the races whilst you are left behind ruing your missed opportunities. This fierce physical pressure builds up during quarters and players begin to second guess themselves and fumble often due to perceived pressure. Once bitten twice shy sort of stuff. It comes down to which team can apply the most pressure and who can stand up to it on the night.

Sucking It Up & Popping The Mouthguard Back In

You have to imagine what it is like to be crunched and bumped, jostled and jeered, tackled hard and slammed into the turf again and again. The AFL final goes on for some 2 hours of playing time over 4 quarters – it is a brutal arena not for the faint hearted. In AFL final mouthguard moments, the avoidance of teeth loss is an important basic requirement. Mouthguards have been thrown in frustration. They have been stuffed into socks and jocks. Despite these temporary indignities they provide crucial protection when it really matters in clutch moments. Suck it up sunshine and pop it back in and get on with the game!

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