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

[Footy_Fan2007]

I actually go with 2009. They were battle-hardened and you knew they weren't putting in maximum effort week to week like they did 2007-2008. They knew they could end a game in a quarter of footy and just ease up as it was all about September for that team.

A couple of new challengers emerged on the scene in the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood.
I never once feared St Kilda if we faced them once more in September. I recall majority of pundits were confident of St Kilda getting a hold of us again.

The saints were the best team of 2009. And they were also the better team on GF day.
Unlucky not to win it. And if we had won 2008 they, probably would have beaten us.

But then again they had a chance the following year for redemption. Twice. And still blew it.

 

[windyhill]

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)

Cats stiff in ‘93, Bombers dodged a bullet there.

 

[RonnieRaven]

Bombers 2000
Blues 95
Cats 2011
Lions 2001

Yep and all those teams have question marks playing by the rules.
Bombers Salary
Blues Salary
Cats dank charters Thompson
Lions extra salary rehydration IV

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Yeah nah . Not in the top 5 of the past 50 years, and not even the best Essendon side. The better sides IMO are :
Richmond 74
Carlton ( anyone of 79 81 or 82)
Essendon of 85
Hawthorn of 89 88 83 91
Brisbane ( anyone of 2001-03)
WCE 92

Still a great team ,but for me lacked a real menacing presence.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

West Coast 92 nowhere near them. A great, great side. A great finals side that were battled hardened. They needed those hard lessons of the season before to triumph in 1992. That 23 point beat down at Subi in week 1 of the finals in 91 made them strong and prepared for the Elimination Final in 1992. They just, just won that game and were down at every change before getting home late on. The Hawks did what they did in the earlier meeting that year, kicked inaccurate in the first quarter. 4.6 to 1.0 out at Waverley and 4.6 to 1.3 in the first out at Subi. But they won so credit to them. But just. Hawthorn would have won it that year if they got past The Eagles. Beat Geelong 2 from 2 that year and they would have got them again just like in 89 and 91 finals.

The Eagles lost at home to Collingwood after leading by 31 points in a bogged down Subi. And The Eagles scored a miserly 3 goals in both away games to the Saints and Bulldogs getting bruised, battered, bashed and smashed. Poor start to the year too losing to Sydney, Fitzroy ( who were decent actually in 92 ) and drawing to Brisbane. Beat Richmond by a point too. Fair enough they had injuries and started the season slow. But comparing what they did to Essendon is beyond belief.

No way. Dons>>>Eagles. Not even close.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Hawks were awesome on Grand Final Day 2008 and throughout the whole season. Geelong missed some chances but a lot of those points were rushed.

The best side won on the day and during the finals.

 

[Frank Grimes]

I'm pretty confident Geelong of the late 00's seasons would defeat the Essendon 2000.

When coming to this conclusion I'm looking at who their competition was during that time. I think Geelong had harder competition with the likes of St Kilda, Collingwood and to a lesser degree Bulldogs. Essendon of 2000 really only had an over the hill Kangaroos side as any sort of threat and when a very good side did come along in 2001 (Brisbane) Essendon was shown up.

In short Geelong were the best in tougher seasons, while Essendon were the best in a comparatively weaker season.

 

[StillAtLarge]

I still remember how banged up Essendon was on grand final day in '01. If they'd played Brisbane at full strength the result could well be different and we'd form a completely different retrospective view of the 2000 side. Also, Mercuri, Moorcroft, Heffernan, Blumfield, Rioli and Ramanauskas all fell off a cliff after 2001 form-wise due to injury, illness and family issues (the salary cap debacle didn't help either) all hastening the decline of what was an incredibly dominant team and perhaps diluting its legacy.

I think we also forget that the retirement of Bewick in 2000 (and injury to Long the following year) meant the side Essendon fielded in '01 was unquestionably weaker (in: Jacobs, Rioli, McVeigh out: Wallis, Long, Bewick).

 

[Cyclops]

Which has nothing to do with 2000.
You won't get a tougher, skilled and cohesive footy team, than 2000.

2001. 1984. 1988. 1989. All tougher and more skilled, and at least as cohesive, proved it by beating harder rivals. That's just the ones I've seen.

As posted out ITT the 2000 midfield is "even" rather than GOAT material. The defence was seriously good, arguably Essendons best ever (bit not IMHO) and the forwards likewise are brilliant and under rated, Lloyd especially. The ruck division is likeable at best.

I feel some young Essendon people are disrespecting Sheedys greatest side here.

 

[BF Tiger]

I'll give you $50 if you can name one team that won more than one premiership in one season.

Richmond won three in 1973.

 

[boncer34]

Richmond won three in 1973.

Cute.

 

[boncer34]

2001. 1984. 1988. 1989. All tougher and more skilled, and at least as cohesive, proved it by beating harder rivals. That's just the ones I've seen.

As posted out ITT the 2000 midfield is "even" rather than GOAT material. The defence was seriously good, arguably Essendons best ever (bit not IMHO) and the forwards likewise are brilliant and under rated, Lloyd especially. The ruck division is likeable at best.

I feel some young Essendon people are disrespecting Sheedys greatest side here.

Wait till you find out who Brisbane played in the grand final.

 

[Bombfire]

2001. 1984. 1988. 1989. All tougher and more skilled, and at least as cohesive, proved it by beating harder rivals. That's just the ones I've seen.

As posted out ITT the 2000 midfield is "even" rather than GOAT material. The defence was seriously good, arguably Essendons best ever (bit not IMHO) and the forwards likewise are brilliant and under rated, Lloyd especially. The ruck division is likeable at best.

I feel some young Essendon people are disrespecting Sheedys greatest side here.

Sorry, but even on some basic stats like games won, percentage etc, 2000 has Lions and Hawks covered.
The Dons outfit in 2000 put it all together for all to witness.
They were just overwhelming.

 

[btdg]

Essendon 2000 are really hard to evaluate because, IMO, the league just got a heap weaker.

Carlton, for example, were an aging team that finished 6th the year before (and lucked into a grand final after getting belted in the first week of finals). Rolled out essentially the same team in 2000, and were clearly second best and miles ahead of the pack until Koutoufides injured his knee (and a bunch of other older guys hit the wall). That was an ordinary team, yet the only team in touching distance.

Melbourne ended up in the GF after going 14-8. They had a good year, but had been 14th the year before, and dropped to 11th the year after.

It was just a weird transition season in between two eras. North, Adelaide, the Bulldogs, even St Kilda had all been very good over the previous 4-5 years but were just coming to the end of their run. The next era of good teams: Brisbane, Port, Collingwood - were all a year or two away.

There's no doubt that Essendon team were exceptional, and would have been competitive, if not premiership favourites, in any season before or since. Their dominance was definitely a reflection of the state of the competition, though.

 

[demondavey]

Who else can really compare to that team? Losing a single game all season and destroying teams left right and centre is just unheard of. Geelong 2008 had their chance, but they got beaten when it truly mattered. They can't be compared to the great Dons in that respect because there's no flag. It's a results orientated business where nothing else matters but delivering the end product. Balls and nerves of steel and a championship mindset to reign supreme after suffering such heartbreak the year before at the hands of The Koutifides inspired Navy Blues. The word was they all sat down together at dinner ( eating a meal, a succulent chinese meal? ) after the Grand Final of 1999 and vowed to ensure that they take out the cup in 2000. And they fulfilled on that promised to one another and ran through every one in their wake leaving behind a path of destruction and damaged goods capturing The Premiership Cup.

Essendon 2000 is the greatest team to play the game. 16 Teams in the comp, the past teams just had way less teams to compare.

Who could you make comparisons with for arguments sake that they could match it with or topple The Dons? IMO you can't. But why not debate as we all love a good yarn.

Brisbane of 01 and 03 absolutely smashes Essendon out of the sky.

 

[demondavey]

Sorry, but even on some basic stats like games won, percentage etc, 2000 has Lions and Hawks covered.
The Dons outfit in 2000 put it all together for all to witness.
They were just overwhelming.

They were good, but Brisbane were better in their halcyon days

 

[boncer34]

Brisbane of 01 and 03 absolutely smashes Essendon out of the sky.

2nd on the ladder with 17-5 and 3rd on the ladder with 15-7 smashes first on the ladder with 21-1?

Interesting.

 

[Fadge]

2nd on the ladder with 17-5 and 3rd on the ladder with 15-7 smashes first on the ladder with 21-1?

Interesting.

Lots of mental gymnastics taking place in this thread...

 

[boncer34]

Lots of mental gymnastics taking place in this thread...

It's very simple. Yes that team is the greatest single season team we've ever seen.

 

[Fadge]

It's very simple. Yes that team is the greatest single season team we've ever seen.

I actually don't know how anyone who saw that season unfold could argue otherwise unless they are just taking the p1ss.

 

[btdg]

I actually don't know how anyone who saw that season unfold could argue otherwise unless they are just taking the p1ss.

Really? I think they were the furthest ahead of the competition, but there have been other single season teams that I think equally strong overall. From what I've seen, a Mount Rushmore would be:

• Essendon 2000
• Hawthorn 1988
• Carlton 1995
• Geelong 2007

Those 4 teams playing against each other in a round robin would be very interesting to watch. Essendon might start favourites but I think both Carlton 95 and Geelong '07 had the defence to slow them down, and both those teams would handle them well in the midfield I think.

 

[Fadge]

Really? I think they were the furthest ahead of the competition, but there have been other single season teams that I think equally strong overall. From what I've seen, a Mount Rushmore would be:

• Essendon 2000
• Hawthorn 1988
• Carlton 1995
• Geelong 2007

Those 4 teams playing against each other in a round robin would be very interesting to watch. Essendon might start favourites but I think both Carlton 95 and Geelong '07 had the defence to slow them down, and both those teams would handle them well in the midfield I think.

Yep, they were all great teams, but none had the full season record of Essendon 2000.

Lost a single home and away match by less than a kick and won their three finals by a combined margin of 230 points.

They were unbelievable.

 

[Bombfire]

2nd on the ladder with 17-5 and 3rd on the ladder with 15-7 smashes first on the ladder with 21-1?

Interesting.

Another interesting bit - Lions in 03 put to the sword by the Dons round 16 with the likes of Cupido, Bullen, Bolton, Henneman, young Teddy Richards etc
The greatest side of all time would not get beaten by a team with that lot wearing red and black.
Lions in 03 pretty good but not at the pinnacle.

 

[Bombfire]

They were good, but Brisbane were better in their halcyon days

I suspect you’re still haunted by Longy taking out your big fellow.

 

[Cleansweep17]

I actually don't know how anyone who saw that season unfold could argue otherwise unless they are just taking the p1ss.

But wait I thought you said the strength of the opposition determines how good a team is? Dees 00 weren’t very good. Make up your mind

 

[Yoda_]

Leave town you cowards

quit whinging ya sook