Essendon 2000 has to be the greatest Team of all Time?

[Philth]

'99 Essendon didn't have Hird, Lucas and Jason Johnson due to injury. Added Barnes. Massive injection of talent between seasons.

'01 Essendon was running on fumes. Hird played the GF with a torn groin, Fletcher on a leg fracture, Barnes couldn't kick on his favoured side due a heel injury, Misiti and Mercuri half fit, Long and Wallis pretty much miss the whole season.

2000 Essendon beats the 99 and 2001 Essendon sides by 5-10 goals in a GF.

Back to the thread the only sides I've seen that would make me nervous vs Essendon in 2000 would be Geelong 07 and 08, Carlton 95, St Kilda 09 and maybe Geelong & Collingwood 2011. Would still back them though.

Come on mate.
You know Richmond 2017 would belt all of those teams.

 

[royboy2]

Nice try Dan 26, even going for Collingwood as your team of choice...but were not falling for it

 

[Cyclops]

You may have forgotten these susceptible pansies, M Johnson, J Johnson, D Solomon, D Hardwick, P Barnard, D Wallis...

"Tough" lol. Brisbane shat on them the year after and Carlton the year before.

They were an excellent skilled side, one of Sheedys best, and he was a great coach. But the GOAT side? Not even Sheedys best Essendons side.

Madden>Barnes and Alessio, Watson>Hird (I understand if you dispute this one, it's close) the 2000 backline was formidable but not close to 84, there were forgotten stars like Merv bloody Neagle. The 80s had gods on the wings, Dipper, Hawkins, Flower, and Neagle was very much in that company. Our greats in Millane and Barham aren't top 3 for the decade.

Duckworth would have torn Wallis and Solomon in half. Fletcher was annoyingly good: Him, Hird and Lloyd would slot into the 84 side, almost no one else.

Honestly look at who they beat. Essendon 84 were up against two powerhouse machines in Hawthorn and Carlton at their peak of multi flag dynasties. The bad clubs were awful but the good ones were flagrantly and unfairly stacked with champions. They beat Yabby Jeans Hawks featuring a host of immortal stars.

2000 faced a milktoast Melbourne side whose best player would get you a decent Scrabble score but is in no one's best ever side. Other titans of the 2000 era were....um...

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Carlton 95 were a great team and the next best. But they got humiliated 2 weeks on the trot to Sydney and St.Kilda. An average West Coast in Perth lost by a point to them for about the 100th time that decade. Brizzy pushed them to the brink in week 1 of the finals and The Cats also almost got them at Princess Park. But they were good. Winning is winning but you can't compare what anyone else did in terms of their best against the Mighty Dons.

Essendon 2000

Points For

2816 and 1770 Against

159.1 Percentage


Carlton

2357 For, Against 1711

137.8 percentage

 

[Fadge]

Carlton 95 were a great team and the next best. But they got humiliated 2 weeks on the trot to Sydney and St.Kilda.

What better way to pay for a footy trip than lose some meaningless games against non-contenders at short odds?

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What better way to pay for a footy trip than lose some meaningless games against non-contenders at short odds?

You mean high odds? Haha I know what you meant. I heard that before too.

But Fadge didn't you hear, The mighty dons did that too against The Doggies. Sheed's was in on it as well.

 

[Fadge]

You mean high odds? Haha I know what you meant. I heard that before too.

But Fadge didn't you hear, The mighty dons did that too against The Doggies. Sheed's was in on it as well.

Carlton lost when they were short odds.

Nothing surer.

 

[Nuggets73]

Joke question.

Not even the best Essendon side in livjng memory. Essendon 1984 would have beaten them to a pulp and shat the remains in the gutter of Mt Alexander Road.

2000 was a crap year, Essendon a very skilled side head and shoulders above the rest but the lack of any reasonable rival made them look better. Footy got better and Essedon were left behind.

Underperformed? Not really, they were susceptible to the thump, as Carlton and Brisbane showed.

Lloyd was hard and Hird wore hits and still played well but you coukd rattle the Bombers cage and they didn't like it.

Very good, but not even great.

Agreed - the Dons 84/85 side would have blown them off the park … Simon Madden would have dictated terms out of the centre, Alessio would have been no match.

2000 was a great season, probably best ever - but they aren’t in the conversation of the best sides of all time.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Carlton lost when they were short odds.

Nothing surer.

Yeah I know how short they were.

Do you believe that though? Fact or someone just talking bs and others have gone on with it?

edited - Swans were half decent that year and obviously made the Granny the next season. They had some good results in 95.

Beat North in Melbourne. Beat The Dons. Lost by a point at WCE. 3 finals teams. I don't believe Carlton meant to lose considering you had Richmond also at the top and Geelong doing well. I reckon that's garbage.

 

[Rich01]

Essendon were phenomenal that year.
Carlton probably the only decent side in that top 8 to contend in any other year.

Melbourne were average.
North on the decline after a very decent last few years.
Several other middling teams in and around the bottom part of the eight.
Brisbane, who were a season short of their big launch and three peat.

Essendon were far and away superior to any other team in that particular year, and the most dominant I’ve seen.

We really should have been talking about them as a dynasty team though. 99 they were upset in the prelim and would have rolled the eventual premiers. 2001 they were beaten by a team that performed better on the day, but one in which the Essendon captain himself said he was greatly disappointed by his teams performance.

Regardless of whether it should have been back to back or a three peat, the Bombers team at that time left at least one flag out there.

 

[rapidfire7]

Yes, although it certainly wasn't one of the great midfields.

 

[rapidfire7]

I think Essendon's surprise win in 1993 (not that they didn't deserve it) probably evens the ledger a bit for them only winning 1 Premiership from 1999-2001.

Sometimes you lose the ones you should probably win (Geelong '08, Hawks '12, Swans '16), and win the ones you probably shouldn't (Hawks '08, Geelong '09, Swans '12)

 

[Dirty Bird]

Our AI overlords have spoken!

When asked "Which AFL team is the greatest over a single season?"

View attachment 1892164

cant take seriously with incorrect data

 

[Mofra]

No.
They were over the cap, as Ricky Nixon has publicly stated via their domain-name scam for Lloyd and Hird. Any team that cheats does not deserve to be lauded as the best of anything.

 

[Roddy]

Best single season? Sure, they can have that if they want it. What's the use of it if it though, only nets you one single, solitary flag? Clarko's Hawks didn't have a single season like that, but they nabbed four flags from five Grand Final appearances in eight years, including a threepeat. You probably won't get any better than that in the equalisation era.

Which would you prefer??

 

[Sherrinator]

Easier to have a dominant season when you get to play at home all the time.

 

[Yoda_]

Why do people keep mentioning multiple flags when the question is about a single season?

people are idiots who like to diminish others and innate ones own team

comprehension today isn't great

 

[Yoda_]

Easier to have a dominant season when you get to play at home all the time.

Fun fact, we only played 9 games at our 'home' ground of Telstra dome / Optus stadium / AFL central / Colonial Stadium / Marvel Stadium

 

[Yoda_]

No.
They were over the cap, as Ricky Nixon has publicly stated via their domain-name scam for Lloyd and Hird. Any team that cheats does not deserve to be lauded as the best of anything.

does the Hawks who were on Peds be discounted in there three peat? do the Blues in 95 get discounted because they were paying over the cap? do the Pies teams get discounted because they were doing illegal substances?

all hyperbole, all unproven, all universally agreed that happened but here we are..

 

[Yoda_]

Second best season behind the 2000 Bombers would have to be the 2007 Cats side. To have 7 all Australians is something else

 

[Ctracks]

These are the comebacks of people that struggle to articulate a response

You’re so funny.

 

[Arr0w]

You’re so right.

 

[Ctracks]

Arrow, you’re as sharp as a sponge.

Are you going to DM that it’s all just good banter, only to go crying to Chief to give me a 7 day break. That’s really soft.

 

[Cyclops]

"2000 is the GOAT because numbers" is very poor argumentation. Real teams play each other for real outcomes and numbers on the page are the results not the explanation.

Essendon 2000 beat all comers, that's all you can do. It's a credit to Sheedy he could craft such a dominant season from the materials available. They simply aren't as good as some other dominant sides thay faced stiffer competition.

There's an argument along the lines of "each premier since 2000 would beat all succeeding premiers" ie 2001-03 lions would beat 04 Port who would beat 05 Swans who would beat 06 Eagles.

The explanation is the draft and reduction of COLA has smoothed the comp out, and it's more and more about coaching and luck with FS.

I don't agree with it fully but it is becoming harder to assemble powerful lists. The last 4 premiers have had clear makeshift elements (Richmonds dodgy rucks, Melbournes suspect depth, Geelongs pensioner plan and the Pies use of guys like Frampton). The days of Essendon assembling the baby Bombers and maturing them into a force over 8 years, or Brisbane and West Coast assembling solid gold midfields are receding.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Best single season? Sure, they can have that if they want it. What's the use of it if it though, only nets you one single, solitary flag? Clarko's Hawks didn't have a single season like that, but they nabbed four flags from five Grand Final appearances in eight years, including a threepeat. You probably won't get any better than that in the equalisation era.

Which would you prefer??

What’s the use of winning a flag?

Peak BigFooty