Which non-Victoria team was forced to play a home final in Victoria after 1990? I know the Brisbane Lions were forced to play a "home" final at the MCG in 2004.
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threenewpadlocks
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Indeed, this idea that the AFL was fully national or something swallowing up all of the country's best talent is just wrong because Fremantle and Port were able to both play numerous good players that were playing in the state league the season before. Port Adelaide's best and fairest winner in their inaugural AFL season was a SANFL mature after the year before.
It took until the 21st century to the way teams drafted and played their reserves with state league alignments, where before that it was a bit of a mess with the AFL running both an AFL reserves competiton and the former VFA in the late 90's. The idea of drafting an 18 year old direct from the TAC cup and then developing their skills through the reserves, and all teams having the financial capability to pay close to the full salary cap really only took its modern form in the 21st century. There's just as valid arguments as the post-2002 TV deal and squad sizes and settling and state leagues quality stabilising as a completely new setup that previous flags before that don't count, if you're not counting 1989, it's just as valid to not count 1996 when teams were still battling mergers and half the rich clubs were cheating the salary cap.
West Coast hosted Essendon at the MCG in the 1996 semi.
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1990. WC hosted semi final v Melb at Waverley
1991 WC hosted Melb in a semi at Waverley
1991 WC hosted Geelong in a prelim at Waverley
1996 WC hosted Essendon in a semi at MCG
2002 Adelaide hosted Collingwood in a prelim at the MCG
Important to note the MCC controls the finals. I think it started with no interstate finals (Sydney 1986 for example). Then when WC started, interstate sides could only host finals in week 1. Then it changed to all prelims in Melb. Then at least 1 prelim in Melbourne. Finally what we have today.
Whenever finals rules are changed, MCC gets compensated. Either more MCG games or extending the GF agreement
Just because Darren Mead won Port's inaugural B+F, doesn't mean that the AFL wasn't swallowing up the best talent in the land by the mid-90s. It more so means that recruiters just missed a few. Besides, Mead didn't exactly go on to be a star.
It was really across the 70s and 80s that this started to happen, but as an ongoing process.
Yes, and in 1999 West Coast had to play Carlton at the G in a semi final. Ridiculous.
threenewpadlocks
Brownlow Medallist
There were still more of them - Fremantle recruiting players from Claremont, players like Josh Francou who was very good and still playing state league.
Some of it is yes recruiters but some of it is the fact that with only one team per state not every player wanted to relocate states to play AFL rather than play state league, which is more or less unheard of in the 21st century.
Well then. The league was compromised for longer than I thought. That makes West Coast's success in the early 90s even more impressive. Just a minor correction - the 2002 Adelaide v Collingwood prelim was correctly played at the MCG because the number 4 seed Collingwood was victorious in their qualifying final against Port Adelaide and the number 3 seed Adelaide lost their qualifying final to Brisbane before beating the Demons in their semi final.
Also, you left out Brisbane's 2004 "home" prelim against Geelong at the MCG, which ended up triggering the abolishment of that ridiculous rule and Leigh Matthews still claims to this day that it probably cost them a fourth consecutive flag. This is what the then recently retired AFL chief executive said about the situation at the time: "That's a terrible inequity to the system, it reflects the inflexible unreasonable, parochial, narrow-minded view of the Melbourne Cricket Club and the MCG Trust.
"Andrew Demetriou, the current CEO of the AFL, is on record only in the last week as saying they offered a million dollars to have this Brisbane Lions game transferred this coming week." Spoiler alert - the MCG turned down the million dollars and forced the Lions to play their "home" prelim at the MCG.
Thankfully, the AFL fixed that the following year and we saw it in full effect in 2006 when the prelims were rightfully hosted in Sydney and Perth. Since then, 12 of 16 prelims played outside of Victoria have been won by the home team.
Agree, but these were very much exceptions rather than rules
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Sorry it was the semi final. Adelaide v Melb at the MCG
So that was when the old 'one final at the MCG each week' rule was in place. Another ridiculous rule that insanely benefitted the Victorian teams. It must have been removed immediately because we saw the 2003 semi finals being played in Brisbane and Adelaide.
Gee whiz. Non-Victorian teams had it pretty rough back then. I'd be incredibly annoyed and feel cheated if my team finished top 6 and was forced to play a home final in Melbourne, especially if was against a Victorian team.
It was absurd. It was eventually fixed but far too late.
Point being, 1990 wasn’t some national switch being flicked. It all happened by degree. But the most significant point was the entry of Brisbane and West Coast in 1987 - if people want to seperate the VFL and AFL “eras”, that’s the most logical point.
bomberclifford
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Poor Saints.
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Why 1990? Because the name changed?
It's as good a time to consider when the competition considered itself a national competition as opposed to a state league.
MelbourneGWS
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But it was also from 1982, that South Melbourne move to Sydney became permanent? If you are going by 1987 when WCE and Brisbane entered, rather than when the name of the competition officially changed from the VFL to AFL, why not also consider 1982 by that metric?
1990 makes the most sense (the year, not me
)
Well you could. Works for Essendon! But it wasn’t a new club, it was a relocation - and it wasn’t a nationalisation of traditional football states, but moving into new territory, so to speak.
I think adding two new clubs after 62 years with twelve clubs, both in new states, is the most logical.
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Only because you flogs lost 3 of them
