Great grand final matchups we were robbed of

[secondary]

With the amount of 97' 98' answers, it makes it even sweeter that the crows snagged those two flags. We all know what's happened since. Nothing.

2002-2003 power v Brisbane, should have at least met twice.

A west coast Freo derby in 2015 would have been perfect too.

 

[HairyO]

I think it would have been a let down. Hawks were on the decline and snuck into the top 4 off the back of winning 6 of 7 games decided by under 10 points.

Collingwood fans wont like reading this.

 

[Soggy2112]

Collingwood fans wont like reading this.

I say the same thing about them. They’ve been impressive this year, but their percentage is 20 points lower than Sydney’s (the second lowest of the top four), I think that shows that they don’t quite have the quality to match it with the top sides this year.

 

[Boyohboywowwee]

Sydney v Richmond or Adelaide 2017

Sydney starting 0-6 and loosing only 2 more games til mid September. Form team going into finals

 

[Proper Gander]

I think it would have been nice to see a Geelong v Melbourne grand final in 2011. We were robbed of a truly memorable match there

 

[Shooter#17]

1998 Roos vs Dees, because of the ridicules top 8 system back then Melbourne were disadvantaged for finishing 4th and thumping 5th placed Adelaide in the first week of finals, not only did they not get a week off but had the privilege of going into the harder side of the draw where they got to play the 1st placed Roos in a prelim.

 

[iameviljez]

1998 Roos vs Dees, because of the ridicules top 8 system back then Melbourne were disadvantaged for finishing 4th and thumping 5th placed Adelaide in the first week of finals, not only did they not get a week off but had the privilege of going into the harder side of the draw where they got to play the 1st placed Roos in a prelim.

Could be my memory, but I don't remember Melbourne really being within cooee of Norf that year. I can't say it would have been a "great grand final matchup", especially given that the PF wasn't all that close.

 

[iameviljez]

No chance, you’re lucky we literally shat the bed in week one of finals, put Chappy and Enright back in the 2013 prelim team and it’s a different story

We were extremely lucky to be within cooee in that Prelim, we were pretty comprehensively outplayed.

The reality is, for mine, that when Hawkins' back was done and Dawson Simpson stuffed his knee, we were in big trouble. We basically had to win the footy without a competitive ruckman, and kick goals without a competitive tall forward.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

Fremantle v WCE in 2015.

Would also have liked to have seen Adelaide v Sydney in 2012 (although obviously the Hawthorn win was epic and they were the best team all year), Hawthorn v Geelong in 2013 and Port Adelaide v Sydney in 2014. Much more interesting than the match ups we got.

Also GWS v Sydney in 2016 while I’m at it.

Brisbane v Richmond in 2020 would also have had a huge edge.

Incredible to think Hawthorn competed four consecutive prelims decided by under a goal. To win three of them is extraordinary.

 

[iameviljez]

Let’s remember had we kicked straight in the 1994 preliminary final against Geelong and hadn’t had bad umpires that gave Geelong charity free kicks which was 34 to 12 in their favour we would have possibly beaten the Eagles the following week.
Then when Carey went down in Round 1 in 1997 I believe cost us the flag that year and kicking 2 goals 9 points in the 2nd quarter in the 1998 Grand Final when we should have been 10 goals in front not 4 goals at half time cost us the flag that year.
Plus if we had a Top notch Midfielder in a Buckley stopped us I dare say as well.
So if things had gone right we could won the 1994,97 and 98 Premierships with wins in 1996 and 1999 which would be 5 premierships in 6 years but hay it didn’t.

With all due respect, this is a bit silly. We can play that game with pretty much any club that has a decent period of success, and all it goes to show is that to win a string of flags, you need a sizeable amount of luck to go with your talent.

Don't forget, North pretty much got handed the 1999 GF by Essendon pulling off probably the best choke of the 90s.

 

[Soggy2112]

Fremantle v WCE in 2015.

Would also have liked to have seen Adelaide v Sydney in 2012 (although obviously the Hawthorn win was epic and they were the best team all year), Hawthorn v Geelong in 2013 and Port Adelaide v Sydney in 2014. Much more interesting than the match ups we got.

Also GWS v Sydney in 2016 while I’m at it.

Brisbane v Richmond in 2020 would also have had a huge edge.

They beat us pretty comfortably in the QF. We played out of our skin in the PF and nearly got over Hawthorn but that team was still a few years away from peaking and not genuinely up to that level yet, we rode a fairly easy draw to get to the top four.

 

[DopeMaster]

2019 Pies v Tiges would have been pretty epic. There was no ‘robbing’ as Pies shit the bed in the PF, but two ‘big four’ Melbourne clubs going at it in the GF would have been a real spectacle.

 

[iameviljez]

With the amount of 97' 98' answers, it makes it even sweeter that the crows snagged those two flags. We all know what's happened since. Nothing.

We should have had an Adelaide-West Coast GF in 2005, but hte GF we got was pretty good.

 

[Shooter#17]

Could be my memory, but I don't remember Melbourne really being within cooee of Norf that year. I can't say it would have been a "great grand final matchup", especially given that the PF wasn't all that close.

Beat them early in the season and lost the prelim by 30 points with Jeff white on one leg. Dees would have won the GF comfortably if the roos kicked like they did in the GF.

 

[iameviljez]

Beat them early in the season and lost the prelim by 30 points with Jeff white on one leg. Dees would have won the GF comfortably if the roos kicked like they did in the GF.

AFL tables says you also got spanked by them in midyear. As vital as Jeff White was, he wasn't worth five goals.

In fairness, the team that really should have been there over Adelaide was the Dogs, but they turned in a PF shocker.

 

[Shooter#17]

AFL tables says you also got spanked by them in midyear. As vital as Jeff White was, he wasn't worth five goals.

In fairness, the team that really should have been there over Adelaide was the Dogs, but they turned in a PF shocker.

Also got spanked by St Kilda by around 90 points mid year, how did that play out in finals for them? Dees were a lot better side than the Dogs in the pointy end of 98, nonsense to suggest otherwise.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

They beat us pretty comfortably in the QF. We played out of our skin in the PF and nearly got over Hawthorn but that team was still a few years away from peaking and not genuinely up to that level yet, we rode a fairly easy draw to get to the top four.

Still would have been nice to see two non-Victorian teams play off in the GF. Maybe the Crows played their GF in the prelim (when the Hawks couldn’t kick straight) but you never know what could have happened in a GF. Especially given the Crows had more scoring shots than the Swans in the QF, and you beat the Swans at the SCG in R6.

It’s actually crazy that the Crows finished 2nd that year, it doesn’t stick in the memory. Feels more like a fifth placed side that made it to a prelim. Maybe because they finished 14th and 11th either side of 2012.

 

[demondavey]

Hawthorn fans everywhere

DENHOLM REYNHOLM

 

[demondavey]

I wonder how 2014 would have gone with Port v Sydney.

Wasn’t Fitzroy in 1986 really quite strong? Interesting that that year Sydney finished higher than Carlton but had to play the QF at the G. If Sydney had won that then Carlton would have played Fitzroy and Hawthorn would have played Sydney in the semis.

It looks like Fitzroy were well and truly accounted for however in the PF.

 

[iameviljez]

Also got spanked by St Kilda by around 90 points mid year, how did that play out in finals for them? Dees were a lot better side than the Dogs in the pointy end of 98, nonsense to suggest otherwise.

Possibly they were, it was after all 25 years ago. But I don't think that you can argue that a side with % of 102, who gets beaten by 5 goals in the PF, would have suddenly, magically, been a great GF matchup the week later.

 

[PJays]

Great thread. There’s been so many

For me:

And note, my answers are more "Grand Finals I wish had happened" not necessarily ones we expected to see but didn't

St Kilda vs Bulldogs in any of the eras where both success starved clubs were up and about- eg 97-98 and 08-10. Not that both teams were clearly the best teams in those years, but they were both contenders. Regardless, if they’d met in any of those years there would’ve been a huge “feel good” factor in the build-up.

North Melbourne vs Essendon 1999 – North had made 7 prelims in a row (No one’s done that since, including Hawthorn or Geelong) and Essendon were the emerging superpower.

St Kilda vs Geelong 2010 would’ve been an awesome rematch after the drama of 2009, and would’ve almost certainly been a very tight affair like the 09 GF, 10 QF and round 1 2011.

Geelong vs Hawthorn 2013 would’ve been epic (as the 2013 prelim was) with the great rivalry and the Kennett curse still alive.

Sydney vs Hawthorn 2016 would’ve been huge in the context of previous meetings in 2012 and 2014. It would’ve been the decider in the best of 3, held 2 years apart with Buddy again playing his former team.

Sydney vs GWS 2016 would’ve been great for AFL footy, and especially because it would’ve been a rare instance where the Grand Finalists meet for the 2nd time in the same finals series. (Hawthorn WC 2015 and Bris Coll 2003 are other examples I can think of)

Richmond vs Collingwood 2019 would’ve been interesting in the context of Collingwood destroying them in the 2018 prelim and splitting the 2019 games 1 apiece. Plus it’s two huge supporter bases. And a rare GF between traditional VFL powerhouses, the first since Essendon vs Carlton in 1993. Melbourne would’ve been truly up and about. Instead we got a GWS team who had snuck in after finishing 6th, played their GF the week before and showed little fight in the real GF.

 

[iameviljez]

Sydney vs GWS 2016 would’ve been great for AFL footy, and especially because it would’ve been a rare instance where the Grand Finalists meet for the 2nd time in the same finals series. (Hawthorn WC 2015 and Bris Coll 2003 are other examples I can think of)

West Coast/Sydney 2006, West Coast/Collingwood 2018.

 

[Soggy2112]

Still would have been nice to see two non-Victorian teams play off in the GF. Maybe the Crows played their GF in the prelim (when the Hawks couldn’t kick straight) but you never know what could have happened in a GF. Especially given the Crows had more scoring shots than the Swans in the QF, and you beat the Swans at the SCG in R6.

It’s actually crazy that the Crows finished 2nd that year, it doesn’t stick in the memory. Feels more like a fifth placed side that made it to a prelim. Maybe because they finished 14th and 11th either side of 2012.

Did we have more scoring shots? Maybe it’s just my memory but I remember feeling like we were never in that game, and had a pretty poor first half in the SF. The prelim was the absolute best footy we could’ve played and still wasn’t enough to beat that Hawks team.

That 2012 year was really fun to watch, but looking back it was clear we weren’t ready to be a top side yet. I think it was a combination of an easy draw off the back of 2011, a talented group (Dangerfield and Walker in particular had their breakout years that year), and the sugar hit of a new coach meant what was probably a 7th-8th quality side got to 2nd, we got found out the next year and had to build back up (similar to the Dees after 2018).

 

[Shooter#17]

Possibly they were, it was after all 25 years ago. But I don't think that you can argue that a side with % of 102, who gets beaten by 5 goals in the PF, would have suddenly, magically, been a great GF matchup the week later.

You mean a side that beat both the premier and previous seasons GF side in the first 2 weeks of the finals by 50 points each? Not that big of a stretch, oh and had won their previous 7 matches prior to the prelim by an average margin of over 50 points also

 

[juss]

2019 Pies v Tiges would have been pretty epic. There was no ‘robbing’ as Pies s**t the bed in the PF, but two ‘big four’ Melbourne clubs going at it in the GF would have been a real spectacle.

Agreed. While Richmond were the power team of that period, the Pies would no doubt have put up a much better game for neutrals than what GWS did.
The build up would have been enormous, and Collingwood were a real thorn in the side of Richmond in the way they matched up quite well.