Has the era of the era ended?

[The Warlord]

The AFL has long sought equalisation in the sense that any team can plausibly beat any other team on the day.

An English Premier League set up where only four or five teams can realistically win the comp, and money differences mean some teams are hugely stronger than others, is its worst nightmare.

We're seeing this come to pass in the home and away more and more every year, and the last three premiers all being different indicates that is playing through to September as well.

Crucially though, the Bulldogs dropped off after their 2016 flag, Richmond didn't go back to back and don't appear to a realistic premiership threat this year and the Eagles don't seem unbeatable this year.

Was the Hawthorn threepeat the last of the great eras?

Have all the changes the AFL brought in, especially free agency, meant that the days of one team being noticeably stronger than the others, or one team having an extended run of genuine premiership contention (North's seven prelims in a row in the 90s/00) gone for good?

And is that a good thing?

 

[gavaniacono]

Innovation is now King. Adapt or die. I think the Tiges have fallen victim of a style thats shelf life has expired.

Though I think Eagles look excellent currently and why not they be able to win another flag this or next year?

 

[Max zero]

I gave you a like just for the thread title.

To answer the question too small a sample. We just got out of a period dominated by two teams.

 

[Strange Cat]

Considering WCE are a good chance of going B2B I would say this thread is a bit premature.

Eras will come and go no matter what the AFL tries to put in place.

 

[Geoffa32]

WCE about to begin theirs.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[simba_]

Considering WCE are a good chance of going B2B I would say this thread is a bit premature.

Eras will come and go no matter what the AFL tries to put in place.

except there's literally no sign of anyone having any kind of dynasty post-Hawthorn. it's been a mash of teams coming and going

I gave you a like just for the thread title.

To answer the question too small a sample. We just got out of a period dominated by two teams.

that was 4 years ago man

 

[The Warlord]

Innovation is now King. Adapt or die. I think the Tiges have fallen victim of a style thats shelf life has expired.

Though I think Eagles look excellent currently and why not they be able to win another flag this or next year?

True re Eags, they may be about to start a Hawthorn like reign of dominance.

But there's every chance another team - say Port - wins the GF kind of out of nowhere.

 

[Strange Cat]

except there's literally no sign of anyone having any kind of dynasty post-Hawthorn. it's been a mash of teams coming and going



that was 4 years ago man

Who to say a team isn’t starting a dynasty this year or if WCE will continue to be successful

Far too early to be writing off any team just because the Tigers failed to have a dynasty.

 

[The Warlord]

except there's literally no sign of anyone having any kind of dynasty post-Hawthorn. it's been a mash of teams coming and going

Worth recalling according to everyone right now we should be in the middle of the GC/GWS draft concessions era.

Neither team has even made a GF.

 

[The Warlord]

Who to say a team isn’t starting a dynasty this year or if WCE will continue to be successful

Far too early to be writing off any team just because the Tigers failed to have a dynasty.

The Bulldogs didn't either, and we have a wider sample there.

If the "old rules" held, you would have expected the Dogs to have made at least another GF since 2016, at the very least to have gone deep in September.

 

[WestCoast05]

Richmond won the minor premiereship just last season after winning the cup.
Early days but West Coast looking a chance to contend again this season after winning the cup.

Premature to declare eras over.

 

[The Warlord]

Richmond won the minor premiereship just last season after winning the cup.
Early days but West Coast looking a chance to contend again this season after winning the cup.

Premature to declare eras over.

What about the Dogs though?

 

[Leather Poisoning]

No, teams can still stay right up the top for a while.

Sydney made grand finals in 2012, 2014 and 2016. 5 year span and made the granny 3 times.
West coast made the grand final in 2015 and 2018. Dunno what happened to them in 2016/17 but they're up and about and looking good.

Richmond sprung up out of nowhere to win a flag. So did bulldogs. Fast risers struggle to maintain.
Hawks were a fast riser in 2008. Then spent 3-4 years filling out the list for it to be a more sustainable outfit.

 

[Zoom]

West Coast should walk it this season. Only team capable of stopping them is GWS but I have my doubts about them. Geelong don’t have the forward line to score high enough against WCE and Richmond + Melbourne have lost the plot. Every other side is poor to ordinary and are simply making up numbers.

The only issue West Coast has is that it’s early days. You probably don’t want to be overwhelming favourites at this stage. No doubt they enjoyed flying under the radar all of last season, just as Richmond did in 2017, but for the whole season, every other side will be picking apart their game plan. It only takes one clever coach to figure you out when it matters. It has happened before and it will happen again. Probably not to WCE though. I think they’re an awesome team and the rest of the competition is generally quite weak. They should have no troubles going back to back.

 

[The Warlord]

No, teams can still stay right up the top for a while.

Sydney made grand finals in 2012, 2014 and 2016. 5 year span and made the granny 3 times.
West coast made the grand final in 2015 and 2018. Dunno what happened to them in 2016/17 but they're up and about and looking good.

Richmond sprung up out of nowhere to win a flag. So did bulldogs. Fast risers struggle to maintain.
Hawks were a fast riser in 2008. Then spent 3-4 years filling out the list for it to be a more sustainable outfit.

Let's see in three years time.

 

[Ok Boomer]

Too early to call. I think at some point an overwhelmingly dominant team will emerge again. I hope its us now

 

[Dazzler9]

What about the Dogs though?

Not every premiership has to result in a dynasty.

 

[FRUMPY]

What about the Dogs though?

The dogs are not a dynasty side. They 'fluked' a flag and by that I mean they played the best football that year at the right time (last 8 weeks of the year or so), aside from that period they have been pretty average.

Tigers were a chance but their luck run out (injury wise) and now 'star' players are being found out to be average players in a great side without Race, Cotchin, Dusty, Reiwoldt playing

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Let's see in three years time.

Let's see what?

 

[footyfan1978]

The AFL has long sought equalisation in the sense that any team can plausibly beat any other team on the day.

An English Premier League set up where only four or five teams can realistically win the comp, and money differences mean some teams are hugely stronger than others, is its worst nightmare.

We're seeing this come to pass in the home and away more and more every year, and the last three premiers all being different indicates that is playing through to September as well.

Crucially though, the Bulldogs dropped off after their 2016 flag, Richmond didn't go back to back and don't appear to a realistic premiership threat this year and the Eagles don't seem unbeatable this year.


Have all the changes the AFL brought in, especially free agency, meant that the days of one team
having an extended run of genuine premiership contention (North's seven prelims in a row in the 90s/00) gone for good?

And is that a good thing?

No and No.

It certainly is harder now for four or five clubs to dominate the flags for two or three decades like happened between 1967 and 1989. In that time period before salary caps and drafts could start to take effect we saw Carlton win seven flags, Hawks win seven flags, Richmond win four flags, Essendon win two flags and North win two flags. But I still feel a club or two can win a lot more than others over a decade if they get their list just right in one generation of players. But four or five clubs dominating like happened before salary caps come in was gone forever from three decades back. From 1990's onwards every club gets a lick of the ice cream at some stage and the equalisation policies designed to make it that way. But no reason individual clubs can screw it up badly for two or three decades or get it right beautifully for two or three decades. Geelong for example barely been down for any length of time and in draft and salary cap era been in four grand finals from 1989 to 1995 and then from 2007 to 2011 another four grand finals. Maybe in 2019 they make another. They never really been down at all and adapted really well to when the system was changing in mid to late 80's. Swans were crap in early 90's but once the priority pick era came about they jumped on board and road it beautifully to rise up and make a grand final in 1996 on back of it and never really been down in over two decades. But at same time many other clubs have won one or two flags and got the lick of ice cream at some stage. A couple like mine and Demons have really sucked at adapting to the salary cap and draft era. Think one or two clubs getting it spot on and one or two screwing it up badly will still happen a lot. But a dozen other clubs will be up and about at some stage and down at others.

 

[Roobs321]

The Bulldogs can be seen as an anomaly I think. Yes, we are in the midst of a competitive era, however, if you think about it, the last time that a defending premier went back to back with a minor premiership was...um...Hawthorn in 1989. The last times that a minor premier won the flag were 2013, 2010, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2000 and then the early 90s . It is best to think about it in terms of club eras overlapping, and in the case of Hawthorn, Geelong and Brisbane they just found that September belief on regular enough occasions to leave some hard-luck stories in their wake.

West Coast have a sustainable outfit with a self-managing degree of exotic obstacle, but they are hardly unbeatable, and still have many sliding doubts to counter over coming years. Other sides will certainly have scope to win it for themselves, even remove them from the equation. But I suspect they'll need a strong footballing foundation to do it, with Brisbane, GWS and maybe Essendon the best prospects at achieving this over the next two years, beating WCE at their own game.

 

[Corkintheocean]

We've had three eras/dynasties in 18 years (Lions, Cats, Hawks).

Not exactly sure how much more frequently you expect to have them?

If anything, tanking for picks and free agency (and increased player wages) would lend itself towards the creation of super teams, not against them.

 

[Silent Alarm]

IMO it's more to do with a worse competition and less bolstered, much thinner lists.

Ultimately one or two injuries, a retirement, a young player not coming on as hoping is enough to see you drop down.

Meanwhile the Bulldogs and Toiges won premierships mostly through sprit and guts and a ratbag '* off, why can't we win this?' mentality. And good on them. Good players played as they should but those borderline ones played out of their skin, because they felt valued and part of something. Good coaching to get a morale like that up and going.

I know people on here hate it, but I like an era. The Hawthorn of 2012-2016 were great to watch; ball-carriers, spreading, that sense that if one bloke has a quiet game Luke Bruest'll kick five in his absence... it's even crazy to look back on teams like the 2010-2012 Collingwood, the Geelong teams who missed out for about six years, St Kilda... you even had 'eras' of losers/making lots of prelims.

That's sort of over now. Not sure if it's a good thing.

 

[The Warlord]

Not every premiership has to result in a dynasty.

But prior to that there hasn't been a team I can remember that won a flag without also having GF appearances close by either side of the flag, and/or multiple prelims etc.

 

[The Warlord]

The dogs are not a dynasty side. They 'fluked' a flag and by that I mean they played the best football that year at the right time (last 8 weeks of the year or so), aside from that period they have been pretty average.

Tigers were a chance but their luck run out (injury wise) and now 'star' players are being found out to be average players in a great side without Race, Cotchin, Dusty, Reiwoldt playing

Yeah, this is my point, are we going to see this more and more - teams needing everything to go right to win the flag because the comp is by and large so even.