Most underachieving teams?

[GoldbergsGold]

In the 90's - West Coast. MCG rule destroyed them big time that decade. As it did the Lions in 2004.

I don't think Brisbane would have won the 2004 Grand final even if they played at The Gabba. 2 injured key forwards with Lynch and Brown really set them back, Lynch getting injured in round 22.

 

[119others]

In the 90's - West Coast. MCG rule destroyed them big time that decade. As it did the Lions in 2004. Absolutely pathetic stuff. Stuff of the Pittman mould. The Pittman! ( Pittman Material )

Arguably North. Not arguably. Factual. Kicked themselves out of the game in that 94 Prelim. Injuries were their undoing in 93. 1997 Pagan was livid at Archer and Schwass they were huge losses but I still fancy the Sainters who were rampant with Heatley up forward. 16 goals in two games vs North that season. 98 GF 6.15 was their score at half time. Made up for it the next year though as the Bombers suffered the same fate vs the Blues in that epic Prelim. Bombers themselves deserved more in 96 and the season mentioned.

The 90's really was a decade that delivered. But also consisted of Teams that failed to deliver. The good old Navy Blues really faded away badly in seasons 92 and 94, thank God for 95. That 92 season was a lot like 2022 where they lost their last couple of games falling out of the finals places.

And what about The Western Bulldogs? Another 90's team that promised so much. Displayed so much. But returned so little. Prelims in 92, 97, 98, 99 lost to an Eagles team that was diabolical after the half way mark. 1994 lost after the siren to the cats then were humiliated by Gary Lyon and The Dees a week later. 97 was the one that got away though man that Liberatore kick looked good imo. Failed prelims would bite the dogs again in the latter 2000's so thank god for 2016.

Port and Adelaide had their fair share of squandered opportunities in the 2000's. Port made amends in 2004 but the Crows weren't so lucky.

Adelaide - 2002, Prelim. 2003, semis. 2005&6, prelims. 2007 - Buddy Stile the show. 2008&9 - We got em twice. 2017 belted.
Port - 2001,02,03 they were known as the great chokers. Revisited those times again somewhat of late.

We've lost our fair share of Grannies too but were second best in 2003, 2011 and 2018. Chance blown in 2019 vs The Giants but Richmond would have beaten us comfortably anyway.

Geelong, well their record speaks for itself.

Swans - Lost a lot of grannies too. 2006, 2014, 2016, 2022 - I reckon they were lucky in 2005. Sampi was held. Phil Matera and Lynch didn't play who were their two leading goal scorers. Lynch was in bad form but Worsfold made two shocking decisions that day selecting Gaspar and was it Jaxon Crabb or someone? Lucky free kick to Hall for that hold on Cox. Very lucky.

To be fair the umpiring in 2016 was nothing short of shambolic.

As a Swans hating Crows fan (Tippett) who wanted the Dogs to win I have never ever seen a team so badly rogered as the Swans in the 2016 Granny. Any form of neutral umpiring see the Swans win that game. It was just disgustingly biased to any neutral fan

 

[WillHayward]

The answer is always the Nick Riewoldt era saints.

Saints when they had Locket Loewe Winmar Harvey Burke Frawley Rice should have done better in 1991.

Probably couldn't have beaten the Hawks through.

 

[rapidfire7]

Richmond have won 8 of their last 10. Hardly a stretch. So have Hawthorn. Carlton 8 of their last 11.

Not saying saying it's a stretch for all teams in all circumstances, but given Geelong were never the best team from '89-'95 and ran into some of the greatest outfits of all time in those GFs, I think it is a bit of a stretch to say they should have won most/all of them from the period.

1992 was the only year we finished top, and I see that as the only one that we had any right to win ('89 would have been last minute heist). But the Eagles still had the wood on us across that entire period, and beat us convincingly a couple of weeks earlier. They were just better.

 

[Purpletown]

Given the 79 frees for 48 frees against free kick score line in favour of the Bulldogs that finals series, represented a roughly 8 free kick swing per final towards the Bulldogs when compared to their home and away free kick average, it does raise certain red flags with me.

Free kick counts on their own are not a safe way to judge umpire bias. Collingwood in 2023 had a 40-54 free kick count in the finals, but few neutral observers who watched the games would be in any doubt the umpiring fell heavily Collingwood's way.

I can't recall all the 4 finals played by the Dogs well enough to comment on the umpiring overall. I have watched replays of certain parts of the Grand Final, and it is probably undeniable the Bulldogs got some favourable umpiring in that match. Did the umpires make the difference in them winning in all or any of the finals in 2016? My answer is I simply don't know. Their 8 free kicks per match surplus looks very unusual. What are 8 free kicks worth? I personally think a free kick is on average worth about 1 x inside 50, given free kicks are on average awarded in the centre of the ground and from there the recipient team would normally get inside 50 before the opposition team touches the ball. What is an inside 50 worth? The Dogs had 234 inside 50's for 56 goals 48 behinds that finals series. So 384 points total from 234 inside 50's. So an inside 50 to them looks to have been worth 1.64 points on average. If for example you neutralised their 31 free kick surplus, you would likely be reducing their scoring surplus by about 31 x 1.64 points across the finals series. 51 points on the scoreboard. They won their 4 finals by a combined 97 points.

The Grand Final free kick surplus was 12. 12 x 1.64 = 20 points. The Bulldogs won by 21 points. Would pure neutral umpiring have changed the result of the match?

The trouble with this kind of analysis is it is purely speculative. But based on the unsafe assumption that a neutral free kick count = neutral umpiring across the 4 finals, we could still say the Bulldogs played well enough to accumulate a 48 point scoring surplus across 4 finals, 3 of which were played on the opponent's home ground, none of which were played on the Bulldogs home ground, and the weakest performance of any of those 4 opponents in the home and away season had been 16w-6l 143%. So they were all strongly performed teams.

So you should be satisfied I have now considered the question of "known umpiring bias."

The Bulldogs also had a licence to throw the ball in that GF.

 

[Cleansweep17]

Geelong 12-21

I don’t think it gets worse than that when you compare the respective ladder positions and the amount of prelim finals. Should’ve had at least 2-3 flags during this time.

On a club wide basis it’s St Kilda. 1 flag by 1 point. Speaks for itself.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Bulldogs deserved something I reckon in all those failed attempts. 97 and 09 are the one's that got away. In 2009 Geelong would have been just far too strong though they were a resilient bunch. And after the 2008 heartache and that epic match against the Saints where they just fell short missing several players, they would have been far too strong for the Doggies.

1997 vs The Sainters would have been a game of mass proportions. Doggies would have got them I reckon. Liberatore, Grant, Smith, Darcy, Cook - I forgot he snagged 6 majors in that Prelim. I completely forgot about that. Really huge chance gone begging.

That '' point '' by Libba. Hmmm. Looked good to me.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Fraudmantle

'' Freo vow to win the Premiership in 2023 ''

No you didn't. We did.

Then Brennan Cox

36

Brennan Cox

Age

25

Ht

195cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.1

3star

K

5.8

2star

HB

5.3

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.1

4star

MG

182.8

3star

D

12.3

3star

K

7.5

3star

HB

4.8

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

1.0

2star

MG

182.8

3star

D

11.0

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

5.2

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.8

4star

comes out and says '' I'll win a premiership with Freo ''

A week or two later, he does his hammy.

Don't speak. DO. DO!!!!!



So true

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Disagree on Adelaide of 05/06 they lost twice to the Eagles and once to The Saints.

You lose 3 finals in 2 seasons you don't deserve a Premiership. Simply not good enough. Especially when you lose to The Eagles 5 times out of 6 meetings in that time and once to the tune of 82 points. Their only win was in the final home and away game of the season in 2005 when The Eagles were already guaranteed of two home finals and a double chance.

I wonder what would have happened if the Eagles won that game against Adelaide and had to face the Saints and The Crows faced Sydney however in the first week of the finals.

 

[go_the_dockers]

Disagree on Adelaide of 05/06 they lost twice to the Eagles and once to The Saints.

You lose 3 finals in 2 seasons you don't deserve a Premiership. Simply not good enough. Especially when you lose to The Eagles 5 times out of 6 meetings in that time and once to the tune of 82 points. Their only win was in the final home and away game of the season in 2005 when The Eagles were already guaranteed of two home finals and a double chance.

I wonder what would have happened if the Eagles won that game against Adelaide and had to face the Saints and The Crows faced Sydney however in the first week of the finals.

Ruicutto got suspended for 1 game, and they lost by under a goal.

They should have made a GF