What is the worst team in AFL history?

[Slattery_20]

The funny thing about that was we had only just recently smashed the premiers Carlton ending their 20 odd game winning streak..

That fortnight perfectly sums up (early years) Freo.

 

[cammo78]

Did you know those elderly people who were ALWAYS behind the goal? I've never actually been to the SCG, but whenever Swans matches were broadcast here in WA back then ( bizarrely, channel 7 would always broadcast Sydney matches in the early - mid 90s, despite the fact they were a poor side and had virtually no support in Perth) I would always see a group of older Swans supporters, always dressed in white, holding banners behind the goal

One of them is in the circle singing the song with them after each win.

 

[Slattery_20]

FUN FACT!

The last time Essendon finished last on the ladder was the 1933 season.

This is the longest running legacy of not finishing last in the AFL today.

Not bad considering the number of teams have been growing and growing ever since.

The demand to be successful just bleeds from this club. Winning culture never dies.

Fun fact b).
Essendon have never had a losing streak of 7 against one side.
Ever.
We're currently on 6 against the Pies.
This factoid brought to you by Dos23

 

[cammo78]

FUN FACT!

The last time Essendon finished last on the ladder was the 1933 season.

This is the longest running legacy of not finishing last in the AFL today.

Not bad considering the number of teams have been growing and growing ever since.

The demand to be successful just bleeds from this club. Winning culture never dies.

Who gives a rats tossbag?

 

[Doss]

Fun fact b).
Essendon have never had a losing streak of 7 against one side.
Ever.
We're currently on 6 against the Pies.
This factoid brought to you by Dos23

Not quite! Have never had a losing streak of 7 against one side since 1976

 

[Ron The Bear]

Fun fact b).
Essendon have never had a losing streak of 7 against one side.
Ever.
We're currently on 6 against the Pies.
This factoid brought to you by Dos23

Way too good to be true. For starters:

13 v Carlton 1968-74
12 v Carlton 1932-39
11 v Collingwood 1932-38
11 v Richmond 1914-21

 

[Doss]

I think Slattery_20 got a little over excited there.

To reiterate, what I says originally was that the last time Essendon had lost more than six matches in a row against a particular opponent was in 1976, when they dropped nine in a row to Richmond.

Since then, they've had losing streaks of six against Hawthorn (twice), Port (twice), Collingwood (twice- current), Footscray, North and Geelong. But each time Essendon was at risk of extending their losing streak to seven against those opponents, they won.

We are currently on a run of six against Collingwood, so it adds some statistical interest to the Round 23 game between the two clubs.

 

[Kram]

they got robbed by the umpires (Even as a Carlton fan, I'll admit the umpires gave us our Round 1 victory of the Dockers) and lost games due to inaccuracy against opponents they outplayed.

IIRC Silvagni hanged on to Modra the entire game and then went forward late in the game to kick the winning goal from a soft free to get Carlton up by a point, nearly threw a brick through the TV watching that.

 

[bluemarq]

FUN FACT!

The last time Essendon finished last on the ladder was the 1933 season.

This is the longest running legacy of not finishing last in the AFL today.

Not bad considering the number of teams have been growing and growing ever since.

The demand to be successful just bleeds from this club. Winning culture never dies.

Don't get too smug. Carlton had never finished last AT ALL by the end of the 2001 season (in which they made it to the qualifying final and should really have gone on to the prelim) - look what happened after that.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Well, nobody has mentioned the obvious and said GWS.

They've only ever won 1 AFL game in their entire history!

 

[bluemarq]

IIRC Silvagni hanged on to Modra the entire game and then went forward to kick the winning goal from a soft free to get Carlton up by a point, nearly threw a brick through the TV watching that.

Yep, I was there at the game- right behind the goals - and can confirm that SOS spent the entire game hanging onto Modra like a bride holding on to her groom. As a one eyed Blues fan, even I thought the umpiring was disgraceful and that Fremantle were the measurably better side on the night. It was a double injustice, as it sort of set the Dockers up for their most infamous and tumultuous season - I often used to wonder what would have happened if the Dockers had won that game - maybe Damien Drumm would have kept his job?

If its any consolation, Carlton got paid back in karma many times over during the next six nightmarish seasons!

 

[Slattery_20]

Ah. My bad on the mis-quoting.
Still a good one IMHO. Even though our ladder finishes are probably worse in the 00s than the 70s, it's interesting that our losing streaks weren't as long.

Don't get too smug. Carlton had never finished last AT ALL by the end of the 2001 season (in which they made it to the qualifying final and should really have gone on to the prelim) - look what happened after that.

"Longest running legacy today" is, technically, correct; probably could have been put a bit more clearly though.

 

[Collingw2010d]

Well, nobody has mentioned the obvious and said GWS.

They've only ever won 1 AFL game in their entire history!

Surely they have a better winning ratio than GCS even though they're a season behind?

 

[Doss]

Surely they have a better winning ratio than GCS even though they're a season behind?

GWS have won 1 of 12= winning percentage of 8.3%
GC have won 3 of 34= winning percentage of 8.8%

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Did you know those elderly people who were ALWAYS behind the goal? I've never actually been to the SCG, but whenever Swans matches were broadcast here in WA back then ( bizarrely, channel 7 would always broadcast Sydney matches in the early - mid 90s, despite the fact they were a poor side and had virtually no support in Perth) I would always see a group of older Swans supporters, always dressed in white, holding banners behind the goal

Yep got to meet Kenny Williams and his wife and mates in 1994 when the swans started having post match functions across the road from the SCG at the Moore Park Bowling Club. Barassi introduced these post match functions. They were in the SCG Trust members area so I coudn't get in that area during game days.

In 1995 they had post match functions at the back of the Bradman stand, the first time in years that the SCG Trust let the swans have post game functions at the SCG. I got to know Kenny quiet well and he would regularly introduce me and my mates to swan players. I noticed on Friday night when they beat Geelong he was still leading the swans players in the post match song. On Ya Kenny

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

...
Having said that, the Roy's were never beaten by as much as 186 or 165 - something Melbourne and Port have been disgraced for!

But not far off 157 pts v Hawks in 1991 and 151 pts v Richmond in Rd 21 in 1996.

 

[Ron The Bear]

I got to know Kenny quiet well...

How did he escape getting decapitated by that Lockett skimmer? Lockett would get weeks for that now.

Around 1:25. Terrible picture quality, but you get the idea.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

The title for this thread needs to be edited, it reads horribly!

Fitzroy in '96 would have to be the least competitive team in recent memory, but they were fighting with one hand tied behind their back. Sydney in '93 would have given them a run for their money, so to speak.

True, and the other arm had been cut off.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

How did he escape getting decapitated by that Lockett skimmer? Lockett would get weeks for that now.

Yeah Kenny almost copped it and I remember he wasn't happy after the game. But he was one of the first people to stick out his hand and welcome Plugger to the swans. They were always having a chat.

 

[iluvparis]

FUN FACT!

The last time Essendon finished last on the ladder was the 1933 season.

This is the longest running legacy of not finishing last in the AFL today.

Not bad considering the number of teams have been growing and growing ever since.

The demand to be successful just bleeds from this club. Winning culture never dies.

Ahhh - you realise the fact the number of teams in the comp has been expanding means that it is easier to avoid finishing last.

 

[lihei]

FUN FACT!

The last time Essendon finished last on the ladder was the 1933 season.

This is the longest running legacy of not finishing last in the AFL today.

Not bad considering the number of teams have been growing and growing ever since.

The demand to be successful just bleeds from this club. Winning culture never dies.

Same club that has won 2 flawed premierships? 1897 & 1924: FACT!

 

[lihei]

Well, nobody has mentioned the obvious and said GWS.

They've only ever won 1 AFL game in their entire history!

Great pick-up!

 

[Lord Nicholson]

Same club that has won 2 flawed premierships? 1897 & 1924: FACT!

Flawed how?

Gotta play by the rules given at the time, friendo. Just because they weren't decided by a Grand Final doesn't make them any lesser than any other flag. In fact, we're the only ones to win them in the truely original style of a round robin. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, all you other clubs that have to hang your success on a new-fangled gimmicky "Grand Final" whosigowhatsit.

If you want to talk about flawed, we can have a chinwag about the challenge system...

 

[Dirty Bird]

But not far off 157 pts v Hawks in 1991 and 151 pts v Richmond in Rd 21 in 1996.

25 x 4 = 100 minutes. - 157 point loss - outscored 15.7 points every 10 minutes
20 x 4 - 80 minutes. - 165 point loss - outscored 20.6 points every 10 minutes
Using the same scoring rates for an additional 20 minutes of game time Port would have lost by 206 points, lets not go near Melbourne, that's just too ugly.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

25 x 4 = 100 minutes. - 157 point loss - outscored 15.7 points every 10 minutes
20 x 4 - 80 minutes. - 165 point loss - outscored 20.6 points every 10 minutes
Using the same scoring rates for an additional 20 minutes of game time Port would have lost by 206 points, lets not go near Melbourne, that's just too ugly.

That is useless analysis because for the last 5 or 7 years the clock stops when the umpire calls for a ball up. Prior to that the clock just kept on ticking away when the umpire blew his whistle and called for a ball up. That's why sides used to force multiple ball ups when it was close late in the game and just killed time. Mind you the umpires used to call ball ups, a lot quicker than they do today, which is turning the game into a rugby scrum.

In the good ole days a 10 goal quarter by both teams turned a 25 minute quarter into 30 to 32 minutes.

These days a 6 to 8 goal quarter can see a quarter go anywhere from 32 to 37 minutes. The multiple ball ups, the stopping of the clock everytime a ball up is called and a centre bounce after a goal going from an unspecified time break to 30 seconds to 45 seconds for TV broadcasters commercials, has seen the game time blow out.

That's why it is useless when commentators say we have hit red time and we still have 7 to 8 minutes left in the quarter. So 12 game time minutes takes 20 minutes implys 20 game time minutes will take about 35 minutes to play out the quarter.