Was that the worst loss in history?

[Eshay187]

As far as margins are concerned, here are the 3 bigger losses:

1. 190 Points
Fitzroy def Melbourne
1979: Fitzroy finished 4th


2. 186 Points
Geelong def Melbourne
2011: Geelong Premiers

3. 178 Points
Collingwood def StKilda
1979: Collingwood finish 3rd on the ladder and are grand finalists

This Sydney team was technically bottom 4 (however bye round makes it a bit weird), and unlikely to make the finals. Hardly a powerhouse team at the minute, losing to teams like GWS and Gold Coast, (and probably should have lost to North).

Sydney also missing their 2 key defenders, and, let’s be honest, anyone who watched the game can tell you, the swans didn’t even play that well.

Add to that, the modern game is typically lower scoring, and coaches can enact tactics to slow the game.

Did we just witness the worst loss in 126 years or VFL/AFL history?

If so, how are you marking the occasion? (I’m sitting on a beanbag in my daughter’s room writing a post on an AFL forum)

 

[Taper]

Port were pretty bad in 2011. Losses by 165 and 138 in consecutive weeks while the club was broke and had tarps over seating bays at their home games.

 

[Yeti]

I thought it was pretty good to be honest?

 

[theiaofseed]

Port were pretty bad in 2011. Losses by 165 and 138 in consecutive weeks while the club was broke and had tarps over seating bays at their home games.

That was against reigning premiers and the team that would play in 4 of the next 6 Grandfinals. West Coast averaging losing margin over the last 5 weeks has been 17 goals.

 

[WillHayward]

Round 18 will be interesting.
Lions v Eagles in Brisbane.

 

[Dan26]

Most of the teams who have been thrashed are bad teams. West Coast are just no good unfortunately. The worst losses are when a capable teams suffer such a loss. Two particular matches stand out in history


Second worst loss in history:
Essendon lost to Hawthorn by 160 points in 1992, despite finishing the season with a 12-10 record. Normally a loss like that blows out in the last term, but incredibly Hawthorn eased up and the Bombers doubled their own score in the last quarter. The Hawks could have won by 200 points, which I think makes it the second worst loss in history (the worst is below). A 12-10 team losing to a 14-8 team, after Essendon had beaten Hawthorn earlier in the season. It doesn't get much worse than that. Look at the scoring shots at three-quarter time! Remember this was a Bombers team who won more games than they lost that season.

1st quarter
Ess: 2.1.13
Haw: 8.7.55

2nd quarter
Ess: 4.3 27
Haw: 16.14.110

3rd quarter
Ess: 4.5.29
Haw: 24.23.167

Full time
Ess: 8.8.56
Haw: 32.24.216


Worst loss in history:
North Melbourne finished minor-premiers in 1983. That makes the below loss inexplicable, and one of the most baffling in the history of the game. Round 13, 1983. Fitzroy beat the eventual minor-premiers by 150 points. But get this. North Melbourne won the second quarter! That means North Melbourne, the minor-premiers, lost the other three quarters by 153 points!

1st quarter
Fitzroy: 8.4.52
Nth.M: 2.2 14

2nd quarter
Fitzroy: 13.8.86
Nth.M: 8.3.51

3rd quarter
Fitzroy: 24.11.155
Nth.M: 10.5.65

Full time
Fitzroy: 34.16.220
Nth.M: 10.10.70

Honorable mention to Essendon's 163 point loss to the Swans in 1987, despite being a somewhat competitive 9-win team that year.

 

[The Airing of Grievances]

Damn you Dan! After many years of therapy I had managed to relegate the memory of those matches in 1987 and 1992 to the dustbin. Now it all comes flooding back

 

[The Airing of Grievances]

Round 18 will be interesting.
Lions v Eagles in Brisbane.

May not be quite as bad, even though the Lions forward line is stronger than Sydney's. For some reason WCE have never played well at the SCG, even in years when they have had powerful sides. I think some of the classic close games around 2005-6 were played at Stadium Australia. In fact it's difficult to remember the Eagles last SCG win.

 

[The Airing of Grievances]

As far as margins are concerned, here are the 3 bigger losses:

1. 190 Points
Fitzroy def Melbourne
1979: Fitzroy finished 4th


2. 186 Points
Geelong def Melbourne
2011: Geelong Premiers

3. 178 Points
Collingwood def StKilda
1979: Collingwood finish 3rd on the ladder and are grand finalists

This Sydney team was technically bottom 4 (however bye round makes it a bit weird), and unlikely to make the finals. Hardly a powerhouse team at the minute, losing to teams like GWS and Gold Coast, (and probably should have lost to North).

Sydney also missing their 2 key defenders, and, let’s be honest, anyone who watched the game can tell you, the swans didn’t even play that well.

Add to that, the modern game is typically lower scoring, and coaches can enact tactics to slow the game.

Did we just witness the worst loss in 126 years or VFL/AFL history?

If so, how are you marking the occasion? (I’m sitting on a beanbag in my daughter’s room writing a post on an AFL forum)

When your midfield is allowed to do as it pleases all game, the absence of a couple of defenders is neither here nor there. Swans could have played with 2 defenders and still won comfortably.

 

[Kanye West]

No, I actually enjoyed it. Here's to hoping I get to see it again this week!

 

[Defabs]

Most of the teams who have been thrashed are bad teams. West Coast are just no good unfortunately. The worst losses are when a capable teams suffer such a loss. Two particular matches stand out in history


Second worst loss in history:
Essendon lost to Hawthorn by 160 points in 1992, despite finishing the season with a 12-10 record. Normally a loss like that blows out in the last term, but incredibly Hawthorn eased up and the Bombers doubled their own score in the last quarter. The Hawks could have won by 200 points, which I think makes it the second worst loss in history (the worst is below). A 12-10 team losing to a 14-8 team, after Essendon had beaten Hawthorn earlier in the season. It doesn't get much worse than that. Look at the scoring shots at three-quarter time! Remember this was a Bombers team who won more games than they lost that season.

1st quarter
Ess: 2.1.13
Haw: 8.7.55

2nd quarter
Ess: 4.3 27
Haw: 16.14.110

3rd quarter
Ess: 4.5.29
Haw: 24.23.167

Full time
Ess: 8.8.56
Haw: 32.16.216


Worst loss in history:
North Melbourne finished minor-premiers in 1983. That makes the below loss inexplicable, and one of the most baffling in the history of the game. Round 13, 1983. Fitzroy beat the eventual minor-premiers by 150 points. But get this. North Melbourne won the second quarter! That means North Melbourne, the minor-premiers, lost the other three quarters by 153 points!

1st quarter
Fitzroy: 8.4.52
Nth.M: 2.2 14

2nd quarter
Fitzroy: 13.8.86
Nth.M: 8.3.51

3rd quarter
Fitzroy: 24.11.155
Nth.M: 10.5.65

Full time
Fitzroy: 34.16.220
Nth.M: 10.10.70

Honorable mention to Essendon's 163 point loss to the Swans in 1987, despite being a somewhat competitive 9-win team that year.

Interesting take and you’ve convinced me that the completely unexpected maulings are the ones that should be considered the worst losses of all time.

I still think geel v melb deserves to be in contention as one of the worst ever losses as Melb until that point in the season were doing ok. They were 7 wins a draw and 8 losses with a % just under 100%. They were only 1 game outside the 8. Yes melb struggled from 2007 to 2015 but they actually were not a bad side in 2011.

 

[PhatBoy]

Given the refreshed criteria, Geelong’s 110-point loss to Sydney in 2014 was pretty bad. We finished 2nd to Hawthorn in the minor premiership, two and a half wins clear of Sydney themselves. We had kicked 2 goals to 3qt.

Still sits alongside the 86-point round 9(?) loss to Collingwood in 2008 as the most baffling margin in a Cats game for the last 20 years or so

 

[Dan26]

Collingwood's loss in round 23 to Geelong in 2011 ranks as one of the worst of all time. According to my criteria, its is probably 3rd worse loss ever, If not certainly top 5.

To put it into perspective, Collingwood's win-loss record and percentage entering the match was 20-1 with a percentage 181.7%. That's not just astonishing, it's "best-of-all-time" type numbers.

Then this happened:

1st quarter
Coll: 4.0.24
Gee: 2.5.14

2nd quarter
Coll: 5.0.30
Gee:12.8.80

3rd quarter
Coll: 7.2.44
Gee: 16.15.110

Full time
Coll: 8.5.53
Gee: 22.17.149

A team that had lost one game with a percentage of 181%, and then won the first quarter versus Geelong, proceeded to lose the next three quarters by 106 points.

It proved catastrophic in retrospect, because Collingwood was never the same after that loss. The following year they finished 4th with 16 wins and a percentage of only 116%, and gradually moved out of premiership contention for another 6 years. That loss to Geelong in 2011 was a major turning point for them.

 

[Eshay187]

When your midfield is allowed to do as it pleases all game, the absence of a couple of defenders is neither here nor there. Swans could have played with 2 defenders and still won comfortably.

This is true, my wife who knows nothing about football remarked at one point while mostly watching TikTok “why aren’t they tackling him?” As Warner just ran past opponents knowing they weren’t going to bother genuinely trying. Deplorable stuff.

 

[Eshay187]

I don’t know if I agree with the criteria that “worst loss” is most unexpected loss. They feel like weird anomalies rather than genuinely bad, with the exception of Pies 2011 assuming it genuinely was a catalyst of some sort.

If we are going down that path, things like Adelaide’s loss to Richmond and that camp are surely in the conversation. Which tbh is probably a far more interesting conversation…

 

[wagstaff]

Honorable mention to Essendon's 163 point loss to the Swans in 1987, despite being a somewhat competitive 9-win team that year

To make that performance even worse, the Swans that day were without their reigning Brownlow Medalist (Greg Williams) and club captain (Dennis Carroll).

 

[Dan26]

I don’t know if I agree with the criteria that “worst loss” is most unexpected loss. They feel like weird anomalies rather than genuinely bad, with the exception of Pies 2011 assuming it genuinely was a catalyst of some sort.

The logic I’m using is that the teams suffering these bad losses that I’ve brought up were not bad teams. This, in my view makes them horrendous losses, because the team suffering the loss is playing at a level exponentially below what they are capable of.

 

[Defabs]

Collingwood's loss in round 23 to Geelong in 2011 ranks as one of the worst of all time. According to my criteria, its is probably 3rd worse loss ever, If not certainly top 5.

To put it into perspective, Collingwood's win-loss record and percentage entering the match was 20-1 with a percentage 181.7%. That's not just astonishing, it's "best-of-all-time" type numbers.

Then this happened:

1st quarter
Coll: 4.0.24
Gee: 2.5.14

2nd quarter
Coll: 5.0.30
Gee:12.8.80

3rd quarter
Coll: 7.2.44
Gee: 16.15.110

Full time
Coll: 8.5.53
Gee: 22.17.149

A team that had lost one game with a percentage of 181%, and then won the first quarter versus Geelong, proceeded to lose the next three quarters by 106 points.

It proved catastrophic in retrospect, because Collingwood was never the same after that loss. The following year they finished 4th with 16 wins and a percentage of only 116%, and gradually moved out of premiership contention for another 6 years. That loss to Geelong in 2011 was a major turning point for them.

I was thinking of this loss as one of the most baffling and worst losses too. Collingwood had started a gentle decline before this game but nothing to be overly concerned with. They had not conceded more than 100 points for 35 straight games which was unheard of at the time.
In that Geelong game, the margin was 19 points just before Qtr time and then a couple of scintillating plays from Geelong and you felt the Cats were getting on top. That second Qtr Collingwood played their worst Qtr since 2005 and they never really regained that killer edge I felt in that era.
Only the second half of the 1st Qtr and 1st half of the 2nd Qtr in the 2011 GF did Collingwood look impressive (32 point turnaround).

The 2008 round 9 clash I agree with the poster who brought this up. Collingwood were slightly better than a mid range team that season. Cats were unbeatable. The way Collingwood played that game made Geelong look like a reserves side. They were hopeless in defence and look confused whenever they had the ball. Had Geelong not kicked 3 goals in the opening 3 mins of the third Qtr the margin would have been over 100 points. The margin was perplexing really. It is one of the most surprising thrashings of all time.

 

[Schauermann]

I nominate Carlton losing to Collingwood Rd23 last year. 1 point loss in the last round costing them a finals spot.

Our North game earlier this year is up there on current ladder position. Probably even worse, we fell to a bottom 2 not a top 4 team.

 

[Daka]

I feel like it's worse than the Geelong v Melbourne game from 2011, because Geelong were the top team & Sydney have not been a top team this year.

 

[Hobbes]

Port were pretty bad in 2011. Losses by 165 and 138 in consecutive weeks while the club was broke and had tarps over seating bays at their home games.

And, famously, they were beaten by the bye.

 

[Gavin Excell]

In Carltons record breaking 1995 premiership year they lost only 2 games.

Back to back half way through the season to the middling Saints and Swans by 10 goals plus.

 

[Footy_Fan2007]

The Hawthorn loss is up there too considering they were on the bottom when they beat the eagles by 116.