Grand final bets are off because WA and Qld premiers are too busy

OpinionReporterSeptember 25, 2026 — 8:00pmSeptember 25, 2026 — 8:00pmIt’s a time-honoured tradition for state premiers keen to bask in some of the glory of major sporting events to offer light-hearted wagers to counterparts when their corresponding state teams reach the grand final.But with less than a day to go until the Fremantle Dockers take on the Brisbane Lions at the big dance, WA Premier Roger Cook and Queensland Premier David Crisafulli look unlikely to make a bet with both men’s offices telling us how busy they were.Western Australian Premier Roger Cook.Matt JelonekCook has been in Vietnam this week on a trade mission, while Crisafulli has been busy putting a rocket up the bureaucracy in his state.To be fair, being a premier is no mean feat, but starving poor political journalists of an angle during a week when the only thing anyone cares about is sport is a little rude in this writer’s opinion.There have been some fantastic wagers between premiers over the past decade.Ahead of the return of the AFL State of Origin game between WA and Victoria, Cook bet Premier-at-the-time Jacinta Allan a carton of their respective state’s best beer for the winner.WA lost and Cook bought Allan a carton of Swan Draught. I don’t follow Victorian politics that closely, but I gather the rest of Allan’s year went swimmingly after that.Last year Crisafulli accepted a bet from New South Wales Premier Chris Minns that the losing state in the NRL State of Origin series had to film a tourism add for the winning state.From our partners