Best prelim finals of all time

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Best one in the AFL era?

For me 1997 for sure. Darren Jarman ..... nuff said!

Collingwood vs Hawthorn 2011, Luke Ball kicks the winner and Dale Thomas makes the game saving tackle.
Hawthorn vs Geelong 2013. Hawthorn were the better side but goal kicking let them down, but they fight back to steal it with Travis Varcoe missing an easy shot at goal late.
Essendon vs Carlton 1999. What else do I say, it was back and forth all day and Justin Murphy threw the ball up into the air in celebration when the siren went.
Geelong vs Collingwood 2007. An epic game in front of 98,000.
GWS vs Western Bulldogs 2016. Amazing game.
 

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Freomaniac said:
Was the 1988 preliminary final an epic game?

Demons won 3 finals in a row to make the 1988 grand final.
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It was for Melbourne supporters 😜

Not really epic though it was a pretty decent game in the wet at Waverley. A bit of 80s action which saw O'Dwyer suspended and miss the GF and a huge torpedo goal in the wet from the centre square by Garry Lyon.
 
Strebi3 said:
2011 noms are weird. I was 13 at the time and just remember a poor skilled game where Hawthorn led for most but couldn’t quite shut the door. Can you judge a prelim off one quarter of footy? All I hear talked about is buddy’s dribbler and Luke Ball’s winner. Two great moments but hardly a game you’ll rewatch in full!
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I tend to agree. Extremely overrated PF. I came on here as I rewatched the Coll GWS PF in full for the first time yesterday.

This game I believe is the greatest PF of all. It was not a typical 58 v 57 game where both teams executed poorly.

The skills, pressure, tackling, intensity and defensive efforts from both teams were A+. It was also a fairly fast moving game with barely any dead time. The momentum swings were great also.
After Collingwood kicked the first two goals, they then went over 2 quarters without a goal. In between GWS kicked 5 and looked like it would run away with the game.
5 quick goals from Collingwood setup a grand stand finish in the 4th.
Amazingly in the last 12 mins, there was only one further scoring shot with GWS goaling with still over 6 mins left.
You then had murphy’s late spoil on keefe and Greene’s checkside kick being marked on the line by sidebottom.
It then concluded with Collingwood in typical fashion forcing stoppage after stoppage, doing enough not to concede a free kick.
Nothing will beat the euphoria experienced from being at the game with 97k other pie fans but having rewatched the game months after watching it live, I can fully appreciate that it was possibly the greatest PF of all
 
Hawks/Port in 2014 (I think) was a sick game. Port probably got unlucky with the umpires there and missed out on a GF.
 
Plugger35 said:
The Port v St Kilda prelim in 2004 was an all time classic, just a shame we lost.

At least the G Train kicked a ton but all the people running on the ground for it killed our momentum.
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I watched this game the other day. It hardly killed the momentum. It was the first quarter and 2nd goal of the match.

Reiwoldt played a blinder as well as the G train.
It reminded me of how good the saints were around that time.
Unlucky not to win a flag.
 
Too many to name.

1993 Bombers vs Crows
1994 Roos vs Cats
1996 Swans vs Bombers
1997 Dogs vs Crow
1999 Dons vs Blues
2001 Dons vs Hawks
2004 Port vs Saints, Cats vs Lions
2006 Crows vs Eagles ( 2005 pretty good too great intensity )
2007 Cats vs Pies
2009 Saints vs Dogs
2011 Pies vs Hawks
2012 Hawks vs Crows
2013 Hawks vs Cats
2014 Hawks vs Port
2016 Giants vs Dogs
2018 Pies vs Tigers - Huge upset. Pies first half was immense.
2019 Richmond vs Geelong
2020 Port vs Richmond
2022 Swans vs Pies
2023 Pies vs Giants
 
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1994 PF - North v Geelong.

It will be 30 years this September since I saw the game live, and while I have never seen the replay, there are so many moments (besides the last 20 seconds) that unfortunately, I have been unable to forget. Most commentators from that period have it as their greatest game of all time, or at least in their top 5, and it is easy to understand why, it was action packed from start to finish, played at a ferocious pace and had some outstanding moments of individual brilliance. Unfortunately, it also had some of the most one-sided umpiring in the history of the game, it's a shame Channel 7 didn't capture the moment the Geelong President hands over those three envelopes of cash to umpires Carey, Allen and Mitchell.

But I'm not bitter. I've gotten over it, truly I have.
 
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DEVO said:
1994 PF - North v Geelong.

It will be 30 years this September since I saw the game live, and while I have never seen the replay, there are so many moments (besides the last 20 seconds) that unfortunately, I have been unable to forget. Most commentators from that period have it as their greatest game of all time, or at least in their top 5, and it is easy to understand why, it was action packed from start to finish, played at a ferocious pace and had some outstanding moments of individual brilliance. Unfortunately, it also had some of the most one-sided umpiring in the history of the game, it's a shame Channel 7 didn't capture the moment the Geelong President hand over those three envelopes of cash to umpires Carey, Allen and Mitchell.

But I'm not bitter. I've gotten over it, truly I have.
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Superb match. Indeed Geelong got given a cushy ride that day. I still feel like North should have been able to get the job done and would've given West Coast a far better match.
 
Mr Meow said:
Superb match. Indeed Geelong got given a cushy ride that day. I still feel like North should have been able to get the job done and would've given West Coast a far better match.
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Agree. Would have been awesome. Carey V Jakovich. Not sure we would have won but we would have got closer than 80 points
 
94 North vs West Coast would have been sublime. Imagine the build up between Carey and Jackovich? The media would have had a field day.

I reckon North genuinely could have got the Eagles had they met. Maybe I'm clutching at straws? Weagles flogged em at The G and then a fast finishing North fell short by 9 points at The WACA. 40 at Three quarter time. Grand Finals are anyone's game though.

Hindsight, yeah. I think I'm clutching at straws. North and Carlton choked it up when it truly mattered.

And ****en Micky McGuane. Boy oh boy.
 
2007 Cats v Pies. I have never felt more stressed at a game of AFL than this one. It started with a lock-out (luckily my mate and I decided not to go for a pub meal in Richmond; had we done so we would not have got back into the MCG before 1Q).
This game went right down to the wire and, thanks to the heroics of GAJ, Joel Corey and Brad Ottens, Cats prevailed.... just. But the tight finish was all Cats needed to reset their premiership march
 
Sttew said:
2007 Cats v Pies. I have never felt more stressed at a game of AFL than this one. It started with a lock-out (luckily my mate and I decided not to go for a pub meal in Richmond; had we done so we would not have got back into the MCG before 1Q).
This game went right down to the wire and, thanks to the heroics of GAJ, Joel Corey and Brad Ottens, Cats prevailed.... just. But the tight finish was all Cats needed to reset their premiership march
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It was a great game, Collingwood played out of their skin given the talent discrepancy - take a look at Ottens opponents in the ruck , Guy Richards and Chris Bryan iirc. Nick Maxwell's one handed take down tackle of a charging Max Rooke one of the greatest tackles of all time .
 
PCORF said:
Yep, nearly always!
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comedy fan GIF by CollingwoodFC
 
Magpie Since 1986 said:
It was a great game, Collingwood played out of their skin given the talent discrepancy - take a look at Ottens opponents in the ruck , Guy Richards and Chris Bryan iirc. Nick Maxwell's one handed take down tackle of a charging Max Rooke one of the greatest tackles of all time .
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The odds of Collingwood winning that game were probably similar to the 2018 PF against Richmond. It would have been one of the biggest upsets had Collingwood won.

Despite the 5 point difference, I felt Geelong had the ascendancy for most of the game, not too dissimilar to the 2023 GF win by Collingwood.

Cloke got Collingwood in front at the beginning of the 4th but Geelong immediately goaled, actually I think they goaled 3 times in a few mins. When Medhurst goaled to make it 5 points with no more than a min left (a bit like Daniher’s goal), they had a half chance in the final seconds but couldn’t capitalise.

Amazing game. No Pie supporter would have been disappointed with their efforts that night.
 
For me it's Carlton v Essendon 1999. Mostly because I am a Carlton supporter and that is my bias. The one point margin was great and a big part of it but the build up prior to it was epic. It was like a WWE build up for those who were around then and can remember.

Carlton underdogs, flogged by Essendon earlier in the year. Essendon the top team and flag favorite. Carlton and Essendon's rivalry is probably the most spite fueled in the AFL. Collingwood and Carlton is probably the biggest rivalry but it's a respectful one, both clubs deep down have a lot of respect for eachother but they also love to beat each other, hate to lose to each other. Carlton and Essendon genuinely hate each other and back then this was at its peak. John Elliott coming out prior to the game throwing barbs at Essendon about how they cheated in 1993 to win that flag, it fanned the flames immensely.

Carlton did not expect to win, they had been down, they had lost a final and got a second chance, they were a team on the up but expectations were low. You had Koutoufides put on one of the best individual performances I've seen in a game of football. Big name V big name. Two massive clubs who at the time had never experienced failure, were always successful, Carlton top of the table and one premiership ahead of Essendon. It was a big final without the drama. Then the rest was history.

The build up like that, the way it was and then for the game to go that way, it was a lot of fun to experience that.
 

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