Your club’s best non-premiership year

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1983 trumps it but 2000 is the runner up for our club.
Last year of Bosustow at club and end of an era of the mosquito fleet in their prime.
Some amazing football played and went most weeks as a kid.



We were slow out of blocks for season after back to back premierships.
Injuries, suspensions and form were all over the shop for first 15 rounds of season. We only on 7 wins and three spots out of the final five after 15 rounds. Fitzroy, North and Hawthorn were the top three spots on ladder and would have the double chances in the finals and we were looking like we would not make it and had the top three teams on ladder in the run to make the finals. Each of those matches we would find ourselves behind by four to six goals at one point in match and produce some brilliant quarters to topple them all to show our best was still better so the remote hope of making finals was still alive and ability to produce more exciting football than those teams was on show in the run to make the finals.


Dominator, Bosustow, Harmes, Ashman, Hunter and the mosquito fleet were playing the best footy in the league as we win the next six in a row which included sensational wins over the those top three teams.
Bosustow got suspended in the big win over top of ladder North in second last round and would never play again.
That would be the end of the run with Buzz suspended. Perovic, Bosustow and Jimmy Buckley and a few others from best team missing again due to injuries and suspensions would see us bow out after that but man, it was a sensational ride until that point as a young kid going to footy nearly every week as a junior member for first time.


Seriously how good was Hunter?

Absolutely incredible player.
 
2018. Unless the older gen know another one in the VFL era.


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1999 i think. I would argue that our prelim final win over the Bombers that year, was our greatest ever victory outside of grand finals.

It was revenge for 1993 and it denied Essendon a possible 17th flag as well. I enjoyed that 2011 season as well. Too bad it was a false dawn though!
 
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In 1988 we just could not get over Melbourne they beat us 3 times including the prelim. I enjoyed beating Collingwood in the Qualifying final thought we lose that game as they won the previous two home and away games against us.
That is still our most recent finals game against the Pies. It would be nice to play Collingwood once again in a final and beat them.
 
2007 - you could see the beginning of something special for the team, Franklin becoming a star of the comp, the finals win over Adelaide

Kudos for not just nominating a grand final loss which is where the thread is headed. Exactly the sort of year I was trying to think of - a year which in hindsight was an important building block in ultimate success. And it was a hell of a lot of fun to watch as well.
 
Probably 2005. Won the minor premiership after 8 wins the previous year and won 10 in a row to finish the H&A. A combination of Ricciuto getting himself suspended and Craig's stubbornness to tag Robert Harvey cost us dearly in that QF, and ultimately pissed away a perfect GF opportunity.

Despite winning the minor premiership and making the GF in 2017, I thought we played better footy throughout most of 2016 and let it slip away. We finished with more points and a stronger % despite finishing 5th. Shat the bed in the last H&A game after going into it in 2nd position.

We were looking it for much of 2006, but we never really recovered after being hammered by West Coast in round 17. A few injuries didn't help either.
 
Seriously how good was Hunter?

Absolutely incredible player.
Crazy good. His bravery to go for a mark no matter what, despite built like a match stick was off the charts brilliance.
As a Carlton supporter I was spoilt as a kid to see him play week after week along with the likes of true Legend like Doull.
 
Already answered mine for my club of 1983 and added a few youtube videos for those that want to look back at a small taste of that season for my club.
But reading other clubs it makes me wonder what would I list as best non-premiership year for some clubs that not as much supporters as others.
Importantly for the club no longer in the league, Fitzroy, I think it probably 1983 or 1986 but I can still remember 1983, North thrashed us at Arden Street by 111 points earlier in season. A few weeks later Fitzroy thrashed North by 150 points at Junction Oval and remember at this point both in premiership contention and aiming to be top of ladder. I remember watching replay show Seven's Big League that Saturday night with this match and just thinking WTF?
North eventually would be minor premiers but Lions 150 point thrashing of minor premier stands out in my mind all these years later for Fitzroy as a really entertaining team. Garry Wilson, Bernie Quinlan, Matt Rendell and Micky Conlan were an exciting handful of stars for Fitzroy in this period and probably the collective height of their powers. Pity they lost narrowly to Hawks in first week of finals in weird circumstances.

For Melbourne 1987 was the best non-premiership year I remember. To see that club in finals for first time in my life, it was amazing as they had basically been cellar dwellars the previous 9 seasons I had followed of footy. It was exciting stuff to see them win finals in big fashion in front of actual big Demon fan crowds for first time. I assume many of them were from an older generation that grew up with them as the dominant club of late 50's and their previous premiership in 1964 which happened to be their last finals contention. Which amazing to think 23 years out of finals.

Similarly St.Kilda making finals for first time in my life was amazing to see in 1991 with Lockett, Winmar, Harvey etc at the height of their collective powers for Saints. I had only known them as cellar dwellars too so was bloody exciting football they played in finals v Cats at VFL Park back then.

Footscray were the third of those constant cellar dwellar group I knew as a kid. They actually made finals before Demons and Saints. 1985 with Doug Hawkins, Bryan Royal, Simon Beasley and Brad Hardie had been turned into a competitive team. Actually made the preliminary final v Hawks and only lost by 10 points from memory. Probably 1997 trumps it just for Dogs fans with their down hill skier playing style matched with the dirty tactics of Libba, Romero and Dimmatina. I probably prefer the 1985 version more but think the Dogs 1997 team was closer to a premiership than 85 version.

North, 1993, trumps 1983.
North top of ladder and out in straight sets in 1983 was just poor but the team was littered with stars like Glendinning, Krakouer brothers. Dempsey, Dench, Schimmelbsuch, Keith Greig etc etc. and played some good footy during home and away. None more so than the 111 point thrashing I watched them inflict on my boys at Arden Street.
1993 out in first week due to weird final six system from third spot on ladder but it was exciting football by McAdam, Carey etc in the home and away period.

Swans it would be 1986 or 1987. They still had some of their old South Melbourne day players like Tony Morwood but they also had some acrobatics and weirdness of Capper up front and the brilliance of the biggest spending spree I ever seen in an off season to have Merv Neagle, Greg Williams, Gerard Healy in the middle to provide the class and dash to pose a threat to super teams of Carlton and Hawthorn in those years. The memory of those two seasons was heady stuff at SCG for them especially the three weeks in a row they kicked 30 goals or more in a match that will probably live as a record forever.

Hawks 1984, probably their most entertaining team I remember, with the likes of Peter Knights, Lethal Leigh, Dermy, Buckenara, Ken Judge, Dipper, Rodney Eade, Tuck, Ayres etc playing top quality football and were one of the clear top two teams in league that season with Essendon. Dons got them on grand final day in last quarter but the Second Semi-Final by those two teams up there as one of best finals ever.
 
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I'll make a submission for Gold Coast and GWS.

Gold Coast - 2014. Had injuries, particular the one to Gary Ablett, not happened, they would have played finals.

GWS - 2019. GWS were an elite side in 2019 and made the Grand Final. 2016 was also another good year. They were unlucky not to make the Grand Final that year. Had GWS played in the 2016 Grand Final, I they would have won the flag and not Sydney.
 
2000. 16 wins in a row that season after a slow start to the season. Injuries at the end of the season and a terrible final quarter against Melbourne in the Qualifying Final cost us a Grand Final appearance that year.
 
2000. 16 wins in a row that season after a slow start to the season. Injuries at the end of the season and a terrible final quarter against Melbourne in the Qualifying Final cost us a Grand Final appearance that year.
I just checked. I think u won 13 in a row.

Writing was on the wall when u fell in a heap late season losing to Dogs, Ess and Port consecutively.

Good year though

But no was beating Dons

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