The biggest "What could've been?"

[fidstar]

It is considered a 'home final' by the ignorant. Absolutely.
But for those of us that know our real homeground was Princes Park, know we never get true homeground advantage in finals. Apart from 1945 itself when World War Two was on and the grand final was actually played at our homeground at Princes Park.

It's still a home ground advantage. I wouldn't complain about it if we got to play our "non home ground" games at the WACA.

 

[JatzCracker]

TLDR, so apologies if this was mentioned,. But outside the obvious draft misses - Collingwood not completing the Stevie J trade pre '07 due to a failed medical has to be up there with the biggest 'what ifs' of the last 20+ years. In isolation you could argue the 07 prelim + the 11 gf went the other way, not discounting the changes to the other performances of both teams.

 

[winty]

What could've been if the final 8 was introduced in 1993 instead of 1994, or if that season was for the full 22 games instead of just 20? After playing uncharacteristic defensive footy for most of the season, Blight removed the shackles off Geelong, and they proceeded to win the last five games straight, including wins over North by 94 points, Hawthorn by 82 points, eventual premiers Essendon by 32 points and West Coast by 20 points in the last round, but ended up finishing 7th by percentage.

 

[76woodenspooners]

We don't lose 64 GF by 4 points
We don't lose 65 Semi by 1 point
We don't lose 66 GF by 1 point
We don't lose 70 GF after being 44 points up.
We don't lose 73 PF after being 40 points up
We don't tie 77 GF
We don't lose 79 GF by 5 points.

We'd have 20 flags by the end of the 70's !

... This thread was created for us Collingwood supporters ...

+ 1981 GF
+ RIP Millane
+ Lockett
+ 2002 GF
+ Judd
+ 2010 GF (Thankfully Milne didn't have more poise)
+ 2011 GF
+ 2012 PF (RIP JMac)
+ Succession Plan

 

[BillyBrainless]

He wouldn't be a sports betting spokesman.

It'd be interesting to know how many broken legs he's caused by problem gamblers who owe money to nefarious people because of their gambling debts...

 

[Plugger46]

What if Modra had of played 1997?
The way i see it is that we won on the back of basically Jarman and no one spectacular in our fwd line.
Ellen 5 goals.. Bond 4..
What if Norf kicked straight in 1998?
8.22 at ft. Just reverse that add in momentum and i think the kicked a couple out on the full?
That would of been a paddlin **INSERT JASPER**
What if the Hodge,Judd,Ball reversed and ended up at different clubs?
Hodge at the saints, Ball an Eagle or Judd a Hawk? Weird isn't it?

 

[Plugger46]

And we hadn't have sacked Norm Smith......

If this were facebook i'd sad reacts this

 

[Always Ballin]

What could've been... if the AFL had fair rules RE: travel in the 80s and 90s.

1990: WC (3rd) host Melbourne (4th) at Waverley
1991: WC (1st) host Melbourne (5th) and Geelong (3rd) at Waverley
1995: WC (5th) host North Melbourne (6th) at the MCG
1996: WC (4th - winners) host Essendon (6th - losers) at the MCG
1997: WC (5th) host North Melbourne (7th) at the MCG
1999: WC (5th - winners) host Carlton (6th - losers) at the MCG

THIS is why we hate Victorians. They will never understand. Vic privilege.

 

[XhazzafootyX]

if st kilda drafted judd over ball lol

 

[adammania9]

THIS is why we hate Victorians. They will never understand. Vic privilege.

That's an extreme action to take when overlooking 30-year old football rules

 

[fidstar]

That's an extreme action to take when overlooking 30-year old football rules

I don't hate Victorians, but I also know had there been a rule where the AFL said there had to be one interstate Final every week (instead of 1 MCG game) the world would have ended when a Vic team was forced to travel to WA even though they finished higher on the ladder.

 

[footyfan1978]

It's still a home ground advantage.

It is a home state advantage. Not home ground advantage. There is a difference but I know quite a few are ignorant to the fact as clearly demonstrated earlier.

 

[fidstar]

It is a home state advantage. Not home ground advantage. There is a difference but I know quite a few are ignorant to the fact as clearly demonstrated earlier.

Back in the 90s when the Eagles played at the WACA every now and then, it wasn't technically our home ground. It was still undoubtedly had a home ground advantage over any Vic/SA/NSW/QLD team.

 

[footyfan1978]

Back in the 90s when the Eagles played at the WACA every now and then, it wasn't technically our home ground. It was still undoubtedly had a home ground advantage over any Vic/SA/NSW/QLD team.

That's nice. I miss seeing games played from there.

 

[Scotland]

Back in the 90s when the Eagles played at the WACA every now and then, it wasn't technically our home ground. It was still undoubtedly had a home ground advantage over any Vic/SA/NSW/QLD team.

It was one of our home grounds, we chose to play there because Subiaco had no lights until 2000.

 

[SnusCG]

What if the AFL invested squillions in a team from Tasmania instead of the dungheap at the Gold Coast?

While acknowledging how shit we have been over the past 7 years since our introduction in terms of ladder placement, it really does make more sense to have a team on the Gold Coast rather than in Tasmania. The population of Hobart and Launceston combined is only roughly 190'000 people compared to 576'000 people on the Gold Coast and while yes, Tasmania is a football state, the majority of those people already go for either Hawthorn, North Melbourne or any other established team.

There is a far larger market for improvement in popularity, sales and game attendances in Queensland as a state compared to Tasmania, and financially, we've received less help in 2016 from the AFL than GWS, St.Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane and only marginally more than North Melbourne who have been associated with Tasmania for a lot longer. It also allows the AFL to try and increase the talent coming out of far north Queensland like Townsville, Mackay, and Cairns through the use of the academy zone held by Gold Coast which is important for the growth of the game.

Add that to the fact that the average Crowd at a home game for Gold Coast (this includes the game in China of only 10'000) is still higher than that of GWS who finished 4th on the ladder by over 500 people a game, and that an average game at Metricon Stadium is still 14'017 compared to 13'197 at York Park (Hawthorn games) and 10'092 at Bellerive Oval (North Melbourne games)

Not saying that Tasmania doesn't deserve a team, but from both financial and growth aspects are concerned, Gold Coast over Tasmania is a smarter decision.

 

[fidstar]

It was one of our home grounds, we chose to play there because Subiaco had no lights until 2000.

I stand corrected.

 

[Scotland]

The classic West Coast 'what could've been' is if the VFL's entry conditions to prevent us building a super team from day one (which didn't work) were never in place.

If we don't pay the $4m up front, IPL maybe doesn't go bankrupt, and the WAFC never comes into being.

We can sign players from outside WA, participate in the draft the first few years etc. then we start with a very different side, and our great young players of the early 90s are probably spread around the league.

 

[GotTheGoodes]

While acknowledging how shit we have been over the past 7 years since our introduction in terms of ladder placement, it really does make more sense to have a team on the Gold Coast rather than in Tasmania. The population of Hobart and Launceston combined is only roughly 190'000 people compared to 576'000 people on the Gold Coast and while yes, Tasmania is a football state, the majority of those people already go for either Hawthorn, North Melbourne or any other established team.

There is a far larger market for improvement in popularity, sales and game attendances in Queensland as a state compared to Tasmania, and financially, we've received less help in 2016 from the AFL than GWS, St.Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Brisbane and only marginally more than North Melbourne who have been associated with Tasmania for a lot longer. It also allows the AFL to try and increase the talent coming out of far north Queensland like Townsville, Mackay, and Cairns through the use of the academy zone held by Gold Coast which is important for the growth of the game.

Add that to the fact that the average Crowd at a home game for Gold Coast (this includes the game in China of only 10'000) is still higher than that of GWS who finished 4th on the ladder by over 500 people a game, and that an average game at Metricon Stadium is still 14'017 compared to 13'197 at York Park (Hawthorn games) and 10'092 at Bellerive Oval (North Melbourne games)

Relocate one of those teams there then?

They kicked us out of our home & we're doing alright...

I reckon if they gave Tassie their own licence most Tasmanians would jump on board. Pretty passionate about their island are most Tassie people I know.

 

[Scotland]

Tassie has a 20k seat oval and a 21k seat oval. One averages AFL crowds of 13k, the other 16k.

Footy is as big as it's ever gonna get in Tassie, from an attendance perspective.

 

[Monkey King]

+ Succession Plan

That's a pretty big "what could've been" event.

 

[76woodenspooners]

That's a pretty big "what could've been" event.

For your club as much as mine

 

[Monkey King]

For your club as much as mine

Definitely more for your club, but for sure mine was not untouched by the decision.

 

[didaksrightfoot]

Ross Lyon could be a 2, maybe 3,-time premiership coach.

If the Hawkins post was called correctly, or that ball bounced slightly closer to Milne - that could've been back-to-back flags for the Saints.
(And then there's Freo's woeful kicking for Goal).

If Malthouse didn't go against his own succesful philosophy of 12 months earlier and not play an underdone Reid in 2011, or switch him with Tarrant much sooner (should've been done once Pods got injured).

 

[Ricky Vaughn]

Ross Lyon could be a 2, maybe 3,-time premiership coach.

If the Hawkins post was called correctly, or that ball bounced slightly closer to Milne - that could've been back-to-back flags for the Saints.
(And then there's Freo's woeful kicking for Goal).

If Malthouse didn't go against his own succesful philosophy of 12 months earlier and not play an underdone Reid in 2011, or switch him with Tarrant much sooner (should've been done once Pods got injured).

I think he did make the switch briefly, before he sent Tarrant to Johnson because he was cutting the Pies up.
A bit of a pick your poison with Hawkins and Johnson was on display in that GF, Reid couldn't go with Hawkins, nor could O'Brien go with Johnson.

Tarrant couldn't play on both of them.