Where did that come from - Unexpected performances?

[RUNVS]

I was thinking about Round 11, 2014 where the Swans smacked Geelong by 110 points at the SCG and I remember thinking at the time "where the **** did that performance come from". I mean up until that point in the season the Swans had been pretty good but I was not expecting that result at all going into that game as none of the previous 9 games showed the Swans had such a perfect performance in them. Every tactic worked, the defence was rock solid, the midfield was utterly dominant and the forward line looked really dangerous.

It could also be argued that the Swans did not perform like that for the rest of the year. Sure we had some good wins but nothing like that. It was the perfect game and I have no idea where it came from, or why the Swans were not able to bring out another performance like that again for the rest of the season.

So for this thread I thought we could discuss matches for your team where the performance of your team was so much higher than you thought they were capable of.

 

[JordyLuke]

Good thread idea!

That's how I felt after the Freo and Swans games (rounds 15 and 16 2015). 72 point and 89 point wins over two top four sides after losses to Essendon, GWS earlier in the year.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Good thread idea!

That's how I felt after the Freo and Swans games (rounds 15 and 16 2015). 72 point and 89 point wins over two top four sides after losses to Essendon, GWS earlier in the year.

Shows how much footy is played above the shoulders.

 

[Milux]

Round 23 2015 against the dogs. After a shit year. To perform like that against a top 8 team was a surprise.

 

[Moist Biscuit]

Freo vs St Kilda 2014..........

 

[Marley10]

Hawthorn vs Sydney 2014 Grand final owns this thread. the flip happened to Sydney that day.

 

[Marley10]

Oh and St Kilda vs Fremantle in 2014 where St Kilda smashed them.

 

[JordyLuke]

Hawthorn vs Sydney 2014 Grand final owns this thread. the flip happened to Sydney that day.

I never get sick of watching that game. Particularly considering that Buddy had defected to Sydney the very same year. Hawks were breathing fire that day and the Swans (aside from Franklin and Malceski) looked shellshocked.

 

[hawkman]

Round 10 2012. 5-4 sitting in 8th position, smashed by 10 goals by Richmond the week before. 2 goals down just a couple minutes before 1/4 time. 3 and bit quarters later Buddy has 13 and we win by 115. Starts a run where we dominate teams for nearly all of the rest of the season

 

[Forward Press]

Round 12, 2003. Travelling to Brisbane against a near-full strength Lions side in the middle of a threepeat. We had only won two away games all year (and in fact after this game we never won on the road again until 2004 - we were often roadkill in the early 2000s, at one point we had won something like 8 away games in 50 attempts).

Then some young Victorian named Chris Judd kicked 5 goals and we gave them a 70 point hiding. Forever known as the game where he announced his arrival onto the scene.

If Bruce was commentating that day he'd have an aneurysm.

 

[Bulldog1954]

Round 12 in 2004. The Dogs were 3-8 playing St Kilda who were 10-1. Saints lead by 3 goals at half time before we completely overran them in the second half. Ben Harrison did a great job on Riewoldt and Nathan Eagleton dominated

 

[helter skelter]

Richmond against the "crowbots" in '05 or '06. Adelaide were in ripping form and Richmond were not a good team at that point, yet they managed to get the win away from home thanks to some controversial tactics from Terry Wallace. I think it was Sheedy who dubbed it "basketball crap" in an interview afterwards.

 

[joop]

1995.
Stkilda bottom, Carlton top and we smash them by 10 goals. They did however win the next 13 and win a very well deserved and completely dominant premiership. Super underrated team the 95' Blues.

 

[BuffDog]

From an essendon point of view rd 15 2011 against Geelong deserves a mention.

I think we had lost about 5 on the trot, smashed by hawthorn the previous week and had a number of injuries.

We were 20 points down in the first quarter and the commentators predicted a 100 point loss but then we just played brilliant for 3 quarters and held on to win by 4 points thanks to a melksham goal.

Completely unexpected but Great game and helped us steady to make the finals

 

[ferrisb]

1995.
Stkilda bottom, Carlton top and we smash them by 10 goals. They did however win the next 13 and win a very well deserved and completely dominant premiership. Super underrated team the 95' Blues.

Was about to post this.

Season starts off 7-0
Lose to Sydney (bottom 4) by 72 points
Lose to Saints (bottom) by 56 (bottom), kicking 3 goals
Next week beat hawks (mid table) by 102
Don't lose another match for the year

Those two weeks stand out like the dogs proverbial 20 years on.

 

[Van_Dyke]

Was about to post this.

Season starts off 7-0
Lose to Sydney (bottom 4) by 72 points
Lose to Saints (bottom) by 56 (bottom), kicking 3 goals
Next week beat hawks (mid table) by 102
Don't lose another match for the year

Those two weeks stand out like the dogs proverbial 20 years on.

And then didn't we beat you the next year when you were on a similar run?

 

[blueiris]

Round 23 2015 against the dogs. After a shit year. To perform like that against a top 8 team was a surprise.

Especially when the CEO of the AFL gives you no chance at all

 

[raskolnikov]

I have no idea how we managed to beat Hawthorn last year.

 

[Jim Dixon]

Port Adelaide beating Hawthorn at Etihad in 2015. We'd served up so much dross but somehow produced a real 4 quarter effort and won against the Hawks.

Made all the rubbish performances beforehand look even worse when they showed themselves capable of that.

 

[catstorm]

Round 9 2008

Collingwood 20.14.134
Geelong 7.6.48

Right at the peak of our powers only regular season game we lost and got blown off the park.

 

[Jakksynn]

Round 10(?) 2012, when we were arguably ato our worst and we came up against a decent Carlton side. We absolutely belted them. From start to finish we were all over them. Spuds like Matt Thomas were playing like they were Chris Judd. We'd copped so many beltings it was just unbelievable that we were capable of doing that to a team

 

[Air_Chester]

I have no idea how we managed to beat Hawthorn last year.

It is more surprising when you've watched the whole season play out. At the time it was only surprising in manner, the result itself wasn't overly unimaginable though.

Round 9 2008

Collingwood 20.14.134
Geelong 7.6.48

Right at the peak of our powers only regular season game we lost and got blown off the park.

Similarly, Round 24, 2011.

Geel 22.17.149
Coll 8.5.53

That level of destruction was not expected.

 

[SBYM]

1995.
Stkilda bottom, Carlton top and we smash them by 10 goals. They did however win the next 13 and win a very well deserved and completely dominant premiership. Super underrated team the 95' Blues.

I was there that day at Waverley...you completely embarrassed us.

 

[dinger]

Elimination final vs Richmond, 2014
We'd had a pretty lacklustre end to the season and not a lot of people were expecting anything great from us, so the absolute beatdown we gave to Richmond was a surprise.

 

[seysearles]

From an individual perspective, the first name that popped into my head when i read this thread title was Paul Dear. He played one blinder his whole career and it just happened to be the 1991 grand final.