View Full Version : Sydney vs Essendon round 17 1987
On the Fox Footy Channel recently, they've been showning a 10 minute "highlight" package of Sydney's 163 point win over the Bombers in 1987. Made from some interesting viewing, and brought back a few memories of that day - one of the worst in our history.
Do any of you remember the match, and how would you comapre it to the 1992 game versus the Hawks? I rated the Hawks loss as worse personally (24.23 to 4.5 at 3/4 time), but at the time that 1987 loss was just incredible. Hard to believe that 39 games earlier we were being hailed as the greatest team of all time.
windyhill
18 Aug 2002, 18:07
Both sickening. hawthorn probably worse as i was there to actually live it and bloody well feel it. Always different to watching a game on television. Remember Chris Daniher kicked the first goal. Took plenty of rubbish off hawk supporters that day, loved it.
Originally posted by windyhill
Both sickening. hawthorn probably worse as i was there to actually live it and bloody well feel it. Always different to watching a game on television. Remember Chris Daniher kicked the first goal. Took plenty of rubbish off hawk supporters that day, loved it.
The amazing thing about the Hawthorn game was that they eased up.
When you lose by 160, normally the oppositon has to bang on a few at the end to blow out the margin. For example, when Geelong beat the Bears by 160, they kicked 14 in the last quarter.
But at three quarter time, Hawthorn had amassed 24.23 to our 4.5! 138 points up, and they let us kick 4 in the last.
If they kicked with any accuracy up until three-quarter time (say 32.15) they would have been in front by 207 to 29 at the last change!
From memory they kicked 8.7, 8.7 and 8.9 in the first three quarters. The Sydney game was a shocker, but I think the Hawthorn game just beats it.
I remember the Hawthorn game like it was yesterday. Trailing by sh*tloads (what was the half-time margin Dan?) at half-time, we went to the bar, came back up and it was early into the last quarter and we were 130+ down, unbelievable.
Seem to recall Duntsall booting 10+ (11,12,13?), it was also David Calthorpe's first game for the club, kicked 2 from memory.
Sydney 87?
I remember sitting in a mates loungeroom drinking copious amounts of VB, watching us get slaughtered, while they laughed their heads off.
Two very dark days in our history.
where's wally?
Originally posted by Wally
I remember the Hawthorn game like it was yesterday. Trailing by sh*tloads (what was the half-time margin Dan
Hawthorn kicked 8.7 in the frst quarter and 8.7 in the second to lead 16.14.110 to 4.4.28.
They then added 8.9 in the third to our 1 point!
They should have been 160 up at three-quarter time.
Bomber Spirit
19 Aug 2002, 23:20
I was living in Bendigo in 1987, but I'd moved to Sydney by 1992. So fortunately I wasn't at either game - I'm still traumatised by memories of watching 1987 on telly.
Must have been awful at the game. That was during the era when they used to play that dreadful "Show em ugh" song after every goal with the Swannettes doing their routine. It used to make me cringe when I moved up to Sydney - and the Swans didn't score many goals in those days.:p Then during the mid-1990s finally the powers that be up here got rid of that sort of thing and turned the Swans into a football club.
Somehow I have no memory of the 1992 game at all. Mustn't have been on telly in Sydney.
Must have been awful at the game. That was during the era when they used to play that dreadful "Show em ugh" song after every goal with the Swannettes doing their routine. It used to make me cringe when I moved up to Sydney - and the Swans didn't score many goals in those days.I agree, it was a ridiculous thing to do, and probably worse on television than it would be for those who watch live at the ground. I didn’t realise how annoying those “Swanettes” could be until I got the game from Name A Game.
To be fair, Essendon were just amazingly bad in that game. They were totally disorganised, made ludicrous changes to try and counter the Swans’ key players (Merrett onto Capper, Walsh into the ruck), and put the Swans under no pressure at all. If you compare Essendon’s effort with Carlton’s super-solid defensive display against essentially the same Swans side (who kicked only 3-5 for three quarters) you get the impression that if Essendon played the Blues on their form against the Swans they would have left with a final score of something like 30-20 odd to quite literally 0-0 (0)! Yet, the Bombers very nearly beat the Blues in the intervening week - losing only because of a colossal defensive blunder!
An illustration of how perfect Carlton’s manning up on the Swan forwards was vis-à-vis Essendon’s can be seen in the fact that in the last quarter against Essendon the Swans had 44 uncontested possessions (by my count) but against Carlton only ten or so!
Where the hell did this bump come from?
Where the hell did this bump come from?I do not know. How amazingly bad Essendon were in this game is beyond doubt, though, and needs both discussion and explanation.
Bomber32
4 Feb 2011, 23:37
The thread and the game should be consigned to the dustbin of history.:thumbsd::(
Call Me Cake
5 Feb 2011, 00:27
I literally read this thread thinking it was made yesterday or something.
Haha.
:P
great. i unknowingly clicked a dan26 thread thanks to this guy.
Whomb
Is this a record for a bumped thread - 8 years and 6 months ?
The Dustbin
5 Feb 2011, 06:21
The thread and the game should be consigned to the dustbin of history.:thumbsd::(
How rude :D
But I agree, geezus that game was a bad experience for a nine year old.
Howard Moon
5 Feb 2011, 06:27
i was so one eyed back then that i went to that hawthorn game..got the train home and watched the reply that i'd taped...
surely seeing it once was enough
Whomb
Is this a record for a bumped thread - 8 years and 6 months ?It'd have to be close!
MightyHawks
5 Feb 2011, 12:10
As a Hawthorn supporter, I couldn't believe the 1987 Sydney vs Essendon match. It made me think that the Swans were genuine contenders for the flag, yet we dismissed them by nearly 100 points in the finals a few weeks later.
The Hawthorn vs Essendon match in 1992 was the most one sided match I've ever been at. Dunstall kicked 12 goals yet only got 1 Brownlow vote. He was lucky to get that as too as a few players had fairly good games.
Dan's right that the Hawks eased off in the last quarter, as a 200 point margin was on the radar.
1992 was certainly a wasted opportunity for Hawthorn, eliminated by a narrow margin in Perth by the eventual premier a disappointing end.
As the siren sounded on that Hawthorn vs Essendon classic, I wonder what odds you'd have got on the Bombers winning the Premiership the following year?
It'd have to be close!
Here's an older, and more aesthetically pleasing bump.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15214&highlight=anna+kournikova
As a Hawthorn supporter, I couldn't believe the 1987 Sydney vs Essendon match. It made me think that the Swans were genuine contenders for the flag, yet we dismissed them by nearly 100 points in the finals a few weeks later.You probably forgot Carlton’s superb effort in manning up against the Swans in Round 19. The super Blues held Sydney to 2-1 (13) for a half - and the Swans did not play badly, Carlton just did not give them a single chance up forward because they played in from 100 percent of the time.
Their manning up was as perfect as Essendon’s was appalling, and it was clear from then on Carlton were not going to be beaten for the 1987 flag: indeed with a couple of exceptions they never looked like losing until the fifth round of 1988. Hawthorn were in their prime, but for the last part of 1987 and early 1988 Carlton simply could not be toppled - something which of course changed when the grounds turned really soft and slow. The Swans were probably shocked at how well Carlton played and what that demonstrated about their previous three opponents and never had a chance to recover with the game against Hawthorn the following week. Other teams, no doubt, wised up on the Swans to some extent because they showed they were only dangerous when not manned up. It is true that at times in 1988 and 1989 the Swans looked as good as at any time during 1986 or 1987, but they had become amazingly inconsistent and enigmatic owing to the unbalanced character of their side: the best on-ball division but weak in key positions.
The thing I remember was that we had some decent form going into the game and probably gave ourselves a chance - although I don't think Sheeds was watching Sydney's game the previous week!
...although I don't think Sheeds was watching Sydney's game the previous week!Sheedy could not have been watching the Swans’ win over the Eagles the previous week - if he had, he would have done or tried to do what Carlton did to utter perfection in the second half in Round Nineteen: man up, man up, man up - and the Swans would be held virtually scoreless. He must have not realised that perfect manning up would have to override everything in playing the Swans - Carlton had the aerial power to slaughter the Swans’ attack with Dorotich and Aitken playing the games of their life, but Sheedy was not exactly without resources in this area.
Bomber32
6 Feb 2011, 18:24
The thing I remember was that we had some decent form going into the game and probably gave ourselves a chance - although I don't think Sheeds was watching Sydney's game the previous week!
I think most people tend to forget the fact that Sydney were in red hot form at that time. They annihilated West Coast the previous week by 130 points, did the same thing to us by 163, and then belted Richmond by over 100 points the next week. On all occasions they kicked 30 goals plus. They were the only side in VFL/AFL history to kick 30 goals three weeks in a row.
I think most people tend to forget the fact that Sydney were in red hot form at that time. They annihilated West Coast the previous week by 130 points, did the same thing to us by 163, and then belted Richmond by over 100 points the next week. On all occasions they kicked 30 goals plus. They were the only side in VFL/AFL history to kick 30 goals three weeks in a row.The actually beat Richmond by only 91 points, but the way a white-hot Carlton defence slaughtered them without the Swans playing badly (as I have said before) makes little excuse for such a debacle if Essendon were any sort of a finals contender.
In fact, even after the Swans annihilated West Coast, critics were thinking an in-form Essendon side would beat them because they were without Greg Williams and Dennis Carroll. As it turned out, Brett Scott played the game of his life as a substitute for Williams, and despite the early loss of David Murphy, Gerard Healy, Barry Mitchell, Stevie Wright and Mark Browning slaughtered the Bomber on-ballers. The strange thing - especially given the way a super Carlton side (you should really watch that game (http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=703053) and Name A Game does have it (http://www.sportsdelivered.com/1987-round-19-carlton-v-sydney.html)) destroyed the Swans attack to the tune of only 2-1 (13) for the second half in near-perfect conditions really makes one think the problem was not the Swans' form but Essendon's poor strategy. If they had focus on manning up the Swans' forwards, the Bombers might well have made a big contest at least - and they did of course beat the Swans at Windy Hill earlier in the year.