Amazing coincidences in football

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Richmond's last four premierships - 1980, 2017, 2019 & 2020 - were all won when the Tigers finished third on the ladder.

Richmond were VFL premiers in 1980 and South Fremantle WAFL premiers the same year, and both the Tigers and Bulldogs have won the 2020 premierships 40 years later.
 

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1973 - Richmond finishes third on ladder and loses Qualifying Final. Beats St. Kilda in Semi Final to keep hopes alive. Has narrow 7 point win in Preliminary Final before going on to claim Premiership (the first in back-to-back).

Richmond and St. Kilda do not play in same finals series for 47 years.

2020 - Richmond finishes third on ladder and loses Qualifying Final. Beats St. Kilda in Semi Final to keep hopes alive. Has narrow 6 point win in Preliminary Final before going on to claim Premiership (the second in back-to-back).
 
North park said:
1973 - Richmond finishes third on ladder and loses Qualifying Final. Beats St. Kilda in Semi Final to keep hopes alive. Has narrow 7 point win in Preliminary Final before going on to claim Premiership (the first in back-to-back).

Richmond and St. Kilda do not play in same finals series for 47 years.

2020 - Richmond finishes third on ladder and loses Qualifying Final. Beats St. Kilda in Semi Final to keep hopes alive. Has narrow 6 point win in Preliminary Final before going on to claim Premiership (the second in back-to-back).
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Edit: Richmond finished second in 1973, not third. Remainder is correct.
 
Jason Ball and Eagles and Swans as follows:

1. Jason Ball was originally from the suburb of Swan View in the Perth Hills. He attended Swan View High School and played for the Swan View Junior Football Club.
2. His original WAFL Club was Swan Districts.
3. Drafted by the West Coast Eagles, Ball made his AFL debut against the Sydney Swans at the SCG in 1992. This match was won by the Sydney Swans, and the most recent example to date of the eventual wooden spoon team beating the eventual premier.
4. Jason Ball played in West Coast's premiership team in 1994, a year the Sydney Swans collected their third successive wooden spoon.
5. Ball was not originally part of the Eagles' team that went to Sydney to play the Swans in Round 16 1997 for a Saturday night game at the SCG. Recovering from injury and spending a relaxing long weekend at Jurien Bay, a WA coastal town about two hours north of Perth close to the Pinnacles, Ball received an urgent phone call. The Eagles squad in Sydney had encountered some unexpected injury and illness problems, and now Ball was a required player. He raced back to Perth, jumped on a noon flight to Sydney and that night played for West Coast against Sydney, the Swans winning easily.
6. Ball was traded by West Coast to the Sydney Swans at the end of the 1999 season.
7. Jason Ball's final game was the 2005 Grand Final for the Sydney Swans in a 4-point victory over the West Coast Eagles, the Swans' first premiership in 73 years.
 
BigVic said:
Fremantle led by 10 points in their first Grand Final in 2013, and lost

West Coast led by 10 points in their first Grand Final in 1991 and lost

Both were against Hawthorn.
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Trail by 10pts at 3QT- is that what you mean?
 

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Melbourne and St. Kilda currently have the longest premiership droughts in the AFL, not winning premierships since 1964 and 1966 respectively.

Grand Final appearances have been few and far between for both clubs since then, and the Dees and Saints have never played off in a premiership decider. It is interesting that in both of Melbourne's unsuccessful grand finals since 1964 in 1988 and 2000 St. Kilda took home the wooden spoon in both seasons, while in two of St. Kilda's four seasons in which they finished runner up in 1997 and 2009 Melbourne finished on the bottom of the ladder.

When St. Kilda took home its most recent wooden spoon in 2014, Melbourne did not finish as runner up for the premiership, but rather runner up for the wooden spoon, the Demons ending the season 17th. And a season ending with Melbourne second last and St. Kilda last is hardly unique - it also happened in 1910, 1920, 1924, 1977, 1979, 1985 and 1986. Conversely there has only ever been one season in which St Kilda was second last and Melbourne last, and this was in 1905.
 
In 1980 the top 3 finishing teams after the home and away were Geelong, Carlton and Richmond. But none of these combinations met in the Grand Final.

It took only two years for a Carlton vs Richmond GF.

But it took exactly 15 years to see a Carlton vs Geelong Grand Final and then another exactly 15 years to see a Richmond vs Geelong grannie.
 
terrybull said:
In 1980 the top 3 finishing teams after the home and away were Geelong, Carlton and Richmond. But none of these combinations met in the Grand Final.

It took only two years for a Carlton vs Richmond GF.

But it took exactly 15 years to see a Carlton vs Geelong Grand Final and then another exactly 15 years to see a Richmond vs Geelong grannie.
Click to expand...
25 actually.
 
Meteoric Rise said:
After the 2020 Prelims every one of the 8 clubs who qualified for the finals had lost one final.

Unsure if this qualifies as an amazing coincidence, but…has it ever happened before?
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I think the only way for this to happen is if the two QF losers make the GF, which I don’t think has happened before in the current system.
It’s certainly not possible in the final 5 and final 4 systems since whoever qualifies from the 2nd semi won’t have lost.
 
Meteoric Rise said:
After the 2020 Prelims every one of the 8 clubs who qualified for the finals had lost one final.

Unsure if this qualifies as an amazing coincidence, but…has it ever happened before?
Click to expand...
Didn’t Dogs and Swans lose in 2016?

edit: nvm forgot Dogs came 7th
 
Gameova_ said:
Are they really amazing coincidences though? Pretty common.
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You think it is pretty common for a team containing that season’s Brownlow Medallist to lose the Grand Final to a team they beat in the Grand Final the previous season when that team contained that season’s Brownlow Medallist?

When did that happen before or since?
 
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