Vdubs
Hall of Famer
Good points.All of us make subjective claims about quality all the time. They're impossible to avoid. You've been doing so yourself all throughout this conversation. Hence your claims about Richmond's quality.
Your subjective belief is clearly that every era is of equal quality and that every premiership therefore is equally hard to win. Every statement you have made implies as much. Now, that's fine if you want to believe it - even though personally I think it's an incoherent position to hold, as to me it's self-evident that not all premierships are created equal and that some are better then others - but if you're going to premise your arguments on that belief, at least be willing to own and defend it.
If you had said "Richmond were the best team this year" I would have accepted that as a fairly reasonable view. But you didn't. You went further than that and made claims about their historical excellence relative to other teams which imo were miles better. That's the part I dispute (very strongly)
I've just been reminded of the 97,98 Crows flags that I had said were superb, and they certainly weren't the best team in both years, but did go on to win flags.
All I can conclude is that if Richmond go onto to win 1 or 2 more GF's in this era, they should be as highly regarded as Lions, Cats and Hawks teams of the modern era.
You are probably right with all your points about my claims, but I also feel the need to reject those who discredit Richmond's wins as if inferior because of the competition.