Which are your teams of the decade - 90's vs 00's vs 10's?

(Opinion) Which is the best team from the list?

  • 1990 to 1999

    Votes: 45 50.6%
  • 2000 to 2009

    Votes: 29 32.6%
  • 2010 to 2017

    Votes: 15 16.9%

  • Total voters
    89
Apr 24, 2013
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My goodness that’s one very talented forward line, with Matthews going forward to rest in the pocket too :eek:

And so much run from defence with some very capable stoppers. Nice team!


6 x AFL TOTC and another 3 or 4 that would have been worthy inclusions.
 

blitzer

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I've always been a believer that modern training methods and fitness would tend to outweigh any benefits from slightly better talents (which is hard to prove in any case). So in a real match I think the 10s would win - I think the midfield would just be so dynamic plus on average the players are just bigger and more athletic.

The 90s side would have been amazing to watch though and there is some really talented footballers. But I think the midfield of the 10s would be too dynamic with all its powerful line breakers to stop. Plus I think the key forwards of the 90s would not fare nearly as well against the taller defenders of the 10s as they did back in their own era. Just remember its not one on one anymore. So you would have an entire forward line of guys outsized against their opponents who are all great at leaving their man and blocking up space.
 
Aug 27, 2014
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there are no other teams worthy
Just remember its not one on one anymore.
Why make an assumption made up games from teams from all eras would be played in the present time and conditions?
We may well be playing in mud, with just 2 reserves and not 4 interchanges as an example. Hate to think what a full back of now used to forward line of opposing team filled with closer to 36 bodies would cope playing Lockett one out with all that space Plugger leading into.
 

Pykie

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It is interesting. I would back Rance to be able to not only neutralise Carey, but also run off him and I would put Lake on Dunstall and I think he would go quite well as well. Both are attacking defenders, so when they get the ball, they can run off their opponents and turn it into an attacking opportunity.

Ablett is a bit tougher, as I am not sure who would go on him as he is a bit too small for a tall defender. Nick Smith might have to go on him and I don't know how that would work, though Smith, a few years ago, he was second to none when it came to shutting down small or medium forwards. Perhaps someone can think of a better defender though than Smith to go on Ablett, as he would have to be a small to medium defender.

You keep thinking of Carey and Ablett as those players at the end of their careers.

Early 90's Carey is the most mobile and damaging key forward ever.

Ablett played on the wing for the first period of his career.

They were both mobile as *.
 

Pykie

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I have a theory, and I could be wrong, that when it comes to footballers they become even better in the eyes of the general public after they have retired, especially the great players as people remember their strengths and forget those players weaknesses. Highlights I think have something to do with this as the only footage you would likely see of some of those players from the 90's or earlier would be highlights, of the players doing brilliant things. They don't include the average things, or the clumsy things, and this makes people remember these players as perhaps being even better than they actually were.

I guarantee you that in 15 years time, no one will be showing footage of Buddy dropping a simple mark, just like no one shows footage of Lockett missing the ball, and sort of stopping when his opponent runs it out of defence, or when Peter Dacos was trying to kick the ball, practically missing it entirely (if something like that happened).

I think it is why the current players on this thread are rated more harshly, as we have a clear memory of the current players weaknesses as well as their strengths, we can actively remember times when Rance got pantsed, or when Dangerfield had a stinker of a match.

I have a theory that those that actually lived through most of these era's can remember how dominant some of these players were in their respective era's.

Rance not only neutralizing but running off Carey?

* me, he better be the next AFL TOTC fullback then.

Some of the greatest defenders of all time lived in the 90's and Carey and Ablett made absolute mince meat out of them, week after week.

Much more regularly than even the likes of N.Riewoldt, Franklin etc have done in their careers.

Jackovich, Silvagni had their moments, when they probably broke even with the likes of Carey and Ablett.

But dominated them? Like Rance does to some modern forwards? Haha, absolutely never.


You may dispute plenty of things about Carey in the other thread, but make no mistake, the Duck IS, not arguably, IS the greatest contested mark to ever play the game. He still holds CD records for contested marks and they only captured the last 3 years of his career.

Do you think Rance could go consistently with the greatest mark of the football in over 150 years of the game?

I think Buckley is pretty underrated in this thread as well, as well as Rob Harvey. Harvey was as good as Ben Cousins and a similar player tbh, just in a worse side without the flags.

Buckley would be an absolute zone buster in modern footy.
 
Last edited:
Aug 27, 2014
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there are no other teams worthy
Jackovich, Silvagni had their moments, when they probably broke even with the likes of Carey and Ablett.
Jako and SOS would have won more duels than lost against those two as brilliant as they were. FFS, Carey and Ablett could only get a goal between them on SOS in 1995 finals series from memory.
If they broke even on him overall good effort. You added a bit of mayo to make your point in wrong way for players from this era trying to go back and play on those guys.

As for Rance, FMD, I agree with you there. Rance trying to play on Lockett in late 80's or early 90's. We are talking 10 to 12 goals without even blinking. Would destroy him. Carey 5 or 6 from centre half forward on him. Rance would be in for a shock how hard it would have been to stop the goals flowing one out with them.
 
Feb 28, 2007
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I have a theory that those that actually lived through most of these era's can remember how dominant some of these players were in their respective era's.

Rance not only neutralizing but running off Carey?

**** me, he better be the next AFL TOTC fullback then.

Some of the greatest defenders of all time lived in the 90's and Carey and Ablett made absolute mince meat out of them, week after week.

Much more regularly than even the likes of N.Riewoldt, Franklin etc have done in their careers.

Jackovich, Silvagni had their moments, when they probably broke even with the likes of Carey and Ablett.

But dominated them? Like Rance does to some modern forwards? Haha, absolutely never.


You may dispute plenty of things about Carey in the other thread, but make no mistake, the Duck IS, not arguably, IS the greatest contested mark to ever play the game. He still holds CD records for contested marks and they only captured the last 3 years of his career.

Do you think Rance could go consistently with the greatest mark of the football in over 150 years of the game?

I think Buckley is pretty underrated in this thread as well, as well as Rob Harvey. Harvey was as good as Ben Cousins and a similar player tbh, just in a worse side without the flags.

Buckley would be an absolute zone buster in modern footy.

Carey also did not put on defensive pressure. I looked at his most sucessful year in terms of goals (1996) and there were 2 separate three-week stints where he laid no tackles at all, not one, so basically as soon as Rance got the ball he could do whatever he felt like as Carey would not have stopped him.
 

Masqualero

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Why make an assumption made up games from teams from all eras would be played in the present time and conditions?
We may well be playing in mud, with just 2 reserves and not 4 interchanges as an example. Hate to think what a full back of now used to forward line of opposing team filled with closer to 36 bodies would cope playing Lockett one out with all that space Plugger leading into.
The teams include coaches, I'd rate Clarkson as the best out of the other two.
 
Feb 28, 2007
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The teams include coaches, I'd rate Clarkson as the best out of the other two.

At least with the 00's and 10's the coaches of both decades are fairly obvious. It goes to both men who coached 3 time premierships. Thompson would get close to Matthews, as he did win 2 premierships in that time, but Matthews would just pip him. Clarkson though is the very obvious choice in the 10's though.
 
Sep 5, 2014
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Carey also did not put on defensive pressure. I looked at his most sucessful year in terms of goals (1996) and there were 2 separate three-week stints where he laid no tackles at all, not one, so basically as soon as Rance got the ball he could do whatever he felt like as Carey would not have stopped him.
You never saw him play the game.
 

blitzer

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Why make an assumption made up games from teams from all eras would be played in the present time and conditions?
We may well be playing in mud, with just 2 reserves and not 4 interchanges as an example. Hate to think what a full back of now used to forward line of opposing team filled with closer to 36 bodies would cope playing Lockett one out with all that space Plugger leading into.

I find it natural to assume that modern structures and conditions have evolved for 2 reasons. 1) Because of coaches trying to find new ways to win/gain an advantage - eg all the defensive forward press type stuff that we see and 2) because of rule changes. This to me suggests that the game if it were to be played would be closer to current conditions than what it was like 20 years ago.

Of course this is all just a theoretical debate anyway.
 

Listclogger

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As for Rance, FMD, I agree with you there. Rance trying to play on Lockett in late 80's or early 90's. We are talking 10 to 12 goals without even blinking. Would destroy him.

Like when Lockett kicked 10 on SOS back in 1989?

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May 20, 2011
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It is interesting. I would back Rance to be able to not only neutralise Carey, but also run off him and I would put Lake on Dunstall and I think he would go quite well as well. Both are attacking defenders, so when they get the ball, they can run off their opponents and turn it into an attacking opportunity.

Ablett is a bit tougher, as I am not sure who would go on him as he is a bit too small for a tall defender. Nick Smith might have to go on him and I don't know how that would work, though Smith, a few years ago, he was second to none when it came to shutting down small or medium forwards. Perhaps someone can think of a better defender though than Smith to go on Ablett, as he would have to be a small to medium defender.
So Rance easily beats Carey when Rance isn't even Richmond's #1 defender for the oppositions best key forward? and then Lake smashes one of the best and most productive 2-way running powerhouse forwards in Dunstall, an if that's not enough Nick Smith accounts for the most talented, freakiest player ever in Ablett Snr?

Wow
 
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