Great Grand Finals?

[HairyO]

Must admit I rate 2014 as one of the better ones in recent memory despite the one sided scoreline. Just thought it was the epitomy of a powerful Grand Final performance and I normally hate the season finishing with a lopsided game.

Im okay with it. If one side is truly better (especially if the media have talked them down and talked up their opponent relentlessly) then I can appreciate it.

2014 and 2015 were great for exactly that.

I also enjoyed 2007. Geelong stuck their foot on Port's throat early and never lifted off until the final siren. That takes supreme dedication.

 

[King_Steele]

04, 06, 08 & 12 for me

 

[King_Steele]

09/10 draw deserve a mention

 

[Tyler Hodges]

Taking the bias out of it, I rate in this order;
2016
2010 Draw
2012
2008
2009
2006
2005
2011

06/05 good ONLY because of the closeness they were some of the worst displays of skills/scoring.

16/11/12/09 best for both sides playing well
08/12/16/10 best for underdogs with most magic moments.

Seriously thinking this game will break into my top 3!

 

[Roddy]

The final margin reflects the quality of the opposition

Yep, worst Grand Finalist in modern football history.

 

[Roobs321]

2014 is saved by the Hawks performance, which is by far the most devastating GF performance of the AFL era. You cannot but be in awe.

 

[Roobs321]

Love the 1992 flag. When Geelong jumped us early and Pyke got ironed out, it was all looking like going pear shaped. But that momentum shift in the second, followed by the 3rd quarter surge was fantastic. Right off the top of my head can think of several 'moment's from that game (and yes - backed by superb commentary), where as 2006 I usually just come back to smother, handball, shepherd, goal when I think of highlights. 14 years between them but far more vivid memories from 92'.

There are certainly some what if moments for the cats in the first half. Hocking is a bit wasteful early on, then the Cats have a series of wayward shots whilst up a couple goals in the second quarter. A very talented side.

From an Eagles perspective, it is just the perfect GF to sit back and enjoy. I'll always have to side with 2006 as that was "my" flag (I didn't become an Eagles fan until 1995, and was still 17 when 2006 came along), and 2006 was generally a more memorable and reasonably skilled contest than 2005. If 2006 hadn't been my first invested flag, 1992 would probably reign supreme for me as well. Both will certainly take some beating (no disrespect to 1994, our most formidable premier to date).

I think that is the fifth time I've watched the 1992 DVD, and in general it's just an engaging, classy 150 minute package.

 

[BK Eaglesfan]

There are certainly some what if moments for the cats in the first half. Hocking is a bit wasteful early on, then the Cats have a series of wayward shots whilst up a couple goals in the second quarter. A very talented side.

From an Eagles perspective, it is just the perfect GF to sit back and enjoy. I'll always have to side with 2006 as that was "my" flag (I didn't become an Eagles fan until 1995, and was still 17 when 2006 came along), and 2006 was generally a more memorable and reasonably skilled contest than 2005. If 2006 hadn't been my first invested flag, 1992 would probably reign supreme for me as well. Both will certainly take some beating (no disrespect to 1994, our most formidable premier to date).

I think that is the fifth time I've watched the 1992 DVD, and in general it's just an engaging, classy 150 minute package.

I've certainly watched 92' more than 06', even just since 2006. Don't recall watching a replay of 94' at all in the last 10 years.

 

[Ok Boomer]

Sydney would've won had Cousins not been on something in that last quarter. I've never seen a player run out a game like that - especially not a match of that intensity. Freakish performance.

Cousins had a pretty quiet second half to the 2006 GF, so of course this post is absolute nonsense.

 

[Ok Boomer]

2002 and 2009 are my favourites, excluding 2006. 2005 was a great tactical battle instead of a spectacle.

 

[Collingwoodity]

Ps. 2007 was the best team performance ever in a GF. The final margin reflects that.

Port Adelaide were not the 2nd best side that year. That was the main reason for the final margin.

 

[Gydafud]

Port Adelaide were not the 2nd best side that year. That was the main reason for the final margin.

Explain your reasoning good sir

 

[Seeds]

But the 2014 Swans were the best assembled team of all time.

I don't think 2007 was any better than 1988. Two champion teams demolished mediocre opposition.

Particularly the 2008 Power (13th); and to a lesser extent the 1989 Demons (4th) couldn't fight back to that same level reached the previous year after those demolitions.

Alternatively, Hawthorn's demolition of a fledgling Essendon in 1983 is considerable in comparison to 1988/2007, given that Essendon were good enough to return the favour with interest in the following two years. It still hurts to this day but 1984 was a cracking game.

I've been to the last 20 GF and taking the Hawthorn glasses off, the best GFs in that time were 98, 02, 05, 06, 08, 09, 10, 12, 13 and 16.

I enjoyed 01, 05, 07, 08 and 16 mainly due to clubs winning for the first time of breaking significant premiership droughts. I particularly enjoyed 2008, 2014 and 1986 because they fell on my birthday.

The 1988 hawks team is a better example.

 

[undefined]

Cousins had a pretty quiet second half to the 2006 GF, so of course this post is absolute nonsense.

'Pretty quiet' you say? He was in and around everything in that final term. Gut running to the extreme. Throwing himself at everything.

Using his lower than usual stat count on the day (which for an Eagles fan you obviously don't recall too vividly) as evidence to completely disregard the validity of one's views on a forum of opinion - that, that is what's nonsensical here.

 

[iluvparis]

I don't see it as being as special as many others do. Always felt Geelong were destined to win that game.

And the skills were only marginally better than in 05/06 - was still and absolute tacklefest.

2011 and 2012 were both infinitely better games - absolute belters the both of them!

 

[iluvparis]

Im okay with it. If one side is truly better (especially if the media have talked them down and talked up their opponent relentlessly) then I can appreciate it.

2015

Lol wut? You were super heavy favorites and most expected you to touch up the Eagles like you did. One of the more forgettable GFs of the last 20 years with Darling's squib the main highlight.

 

[HairyO]

Lol wut? You were super heavy favorites and most expect you to touch up the Eagles like you did. One of the more forgettable GFs of the last 20 years with Darling's squib the main highlight.

Rubbish. We were too old and too slow and it was going to be too hot. We had tavelled back and forth to Perth 3 times in 6 weeks and they had flogged us in our most recent game.

The talking heads all went for West Coast.

 

[dajesmac]

2006
2008
2005
2016
2009
2010

 

[Coaster2012]

Sydney would've won had Cousins not been on something in that last quarter. I've never seen a player run out a game like that - especially not a match of that intensity. Freakish performance.

I highly doubt Cousins went out and smoked a crack pipe on the 3rd quarter break. Stupid comment.

 

[catters078]

2012 was the best I've seen in the 25 years or so I've been watching.

I think 09 was second due to the physical slog it was...although because I'm cats I may be biased

After that 05 and 06 then 2010.

Of the non close grand finals I still think 1997 was engrossing

 

[iluvparis]

Rubbish. We were too old and too slow and it was going to be too hot. We had tavelled back and forth to Perth 3 times in 6 weeks and they had flogged us in our most recent game.

The talking heads all went for West Coast.

You were $1.63 faves and any reasonable judge thought that you would win. That is even more favored than Adelaide is over Richmond this year.

Why do all these hawks fans try to propagate this myth that they were massive underdogs in the two flags they played against the WA teams.

 

[iluvparis]

Look at all these talking heads going for the Eagles

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-10-03/who-wins-and-why-our-writers-tip-the-grand-final-victors

Lel

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

1989

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...9-grand-final-had-it-all-20151001-gjz0wc.html

Best grand finals, No.1: Tough, tight, terrific, the 1989 grand final had it all

• Rohan Connolly
  Just where do you start with the 1989 grand final? So much incident. So many stories. So hectic and high scoring. Such a dramatic finish. As the curtain closed on the VFL era of football, it certainly did so in style.

Greatest Grand Finals - 1989
Brereton's KO, Ablett's nine goals, the Hawks hanging on desperately for the win - was this the greatest grand final of all time?

Hawthorn were the old pros, playing in their seventh successive grand final and aiming for back-to-back premierships for the first time in the club's history. Geelong were the precocious up-and-comers, sweeping their way through September with the freakish Gary Ablett on fire. It was a great script. And it delivered.

From the very first bounce, in fact, when in the one passage of play, Ablett got the Cats off to the perfect start as, simultaneously, Hawk heartbeat Dermott Brereton hit the deck, lined up and shirtfronted by Geelong's Mark Yeates in retribution for an incident earlier that season.

• terms and conditions and privacy policy .
  
  That became an ongoing narrative for this epic grand final. Champion Hawthorn rover John Platten was knocked out. Hawthorn strongman Robert DiPierdomenico beat off three Geelong opponents, Neville Bruns, Andrew Bews and Garry Hocking, as all tried to take him down.
  
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  Premiership coach Allan Jeans holds up the cup. Photo: Ray Kennedy
  Then, camped under a ball waiting to mark, "Dipper" was smashed by a charging Ablett. More broken ribs. And a slowly deflating lung that would see the Brownlow medallist rushed to hospital before he'd even had time to accept his premiership medal.
  
  But among the carnage, Hawthorn played some sensational football as the Cats became too caught up in the physical battle. The Hawks slammed on eight goals in that frantic opening term to open up a 40-point lead by quarter-time
  
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  Dermott Brereton kicks for goal. Photo: Getty Images
  Geelong, though, had Ablett. He'd already kicked 18 goals in the Cats' previous three finals. This would be his masterpiece. In the second quarter alone, he marked one handed and threaded a checkside goal from the boundary line. Then, soaring above a pack at a ball-in, he snatched the ball and in one movement snapped another unbelievable major.
  
  It was still 36 points the difference at the final change despite Ablett's six goals. But a brutal game had left too many Hawks barely standing, skipper Michael Tuck and Gary Ayres two more casualties, Hawthorn with no fit interchange players left.
  
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  Chris Langford celebrates, while Gary Ablett laments Geelong's defeat. Photo: Supplied
  Geelong would give it one last shot. After trading more goals, Ablett's eighth goal, a superb left-foot snap after fending off Chris Langford, then a snap from Shane Hamilton, got the margin back to just 11 points. Again the Hawks replied through Dean Anderson.
  
  Still the Cats kept coming. There were four minutes left when Ablett marked and converted, incredibly, his ninth goal in a Norm Smith Medal-winning performance.
  
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  With just 59 seconds left and 12 points the difference, Geelong's David Cameron marked 45 metres out. His goal was the 42nd of this amazing game. The ball returned to the middle with 29 seconds left on the clock.
  
  Out on their feet, the Hawks forced a ball-up, DiPierdomenico, somehow still breathing, forcing a second. And as a score of weary bodies picked themselves up from that stoppage, the siren rang.
  
  History for Hawthorn. And for Ablett, whose nine goals equalled a grand final record set by Gordon Coventry in 1928. It was the second-highest aggregate score for a grand final. And one of the most brutal. It had everything. Hence its permanent place in the hearts and memories of the football world.
  
  Geelong coach Malcolm Blight would sum it up nicely in The Final Story.
  
  "That fact that the '89 grand final is held in such esteem by most people that love the game of football … it was a joy to be involved, for all the good and bad of it. It's just that every time we talk about it now, we still can't win the bloody thing."
  
  

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

I watched this game just recently. Hawthorn shot away from Geelong early and Geelong played catch up all day. Greatest GF ever...NO hecken way. Far from it. Geelong's defence that day was non existant. Tim Darcy and Michael Shultze were very average campaigners. and they were Geelong's Key backmen. Brereton was not hit hard enough by Yeates ..he should have jumped on him and whacked him again. He then went down to the forward pocket and played on another ordinary campaigner in Steve Hocking who should have hit him the same way he hit Lethal in 1985. Instead he stood there and let DM take a relatively uncontested mark. Sure it was a high scoring game and Geelong got within a kick but truly NEVER looked like winning the game. For Hawthorn supporters this one would be right up there but Geelong to me that day were poor and had virtually no Defence to speak of. Hocking was our best mid fielder and he was the player opposition sides targeted early. He never was as good in the big games was our Buddah. You can go on but best recent GF was 2011...Geelong "we know how to play the game never rang truer"! 1989 Forget it!!!!!

 

[STeeLhawk]

1989, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010 Game 1, 2016.
As a Hawks supporter, highly rate 2008 and 2014.
I've been told 2012 was a great one, but for some strange reason, I don't seem to remember it...