Toughest AFL GF

[footyfan1978]

1945 without doubt
1971 since we seen footage of grand finals
1960's and 1970's where only umpires on ground could report and tv cameras not involved meant it was no rules out of sight of the one umpire.
It has been way cleaner in eras I been watching as they got more umpires to see what is going on and a lot more cameras that can be used as evidence since the 1980's.

 

[Tzatziki_Man]

The 2009 GF is the toughest AFL GF I've seen, it was like a heavyweight bout that went for the full 12 rounds and went right down to the wire.



The 16 min quarters count against last year's GF as being one of the toughest AFL GFs as it lacked the war of attrition you get with full length quarters.

I aint ranking, just think 16 less minutes shouldn't discredit how difficult all these lives would have been during the period leading up the game.

Then the game itself was surprisingly physical.

 

[Bollox]

All time...1945

More recent times, best hard contested footy was probably 2009 GF. High standard even in greasy conditions. The type of contested footy i luv and two seriously good and evenly matched teams. Was the pinnacle of that great Geelong team.

 

[Dwhale44]

2014 grand final

The defending champions going into the grand final as the underdog. Media and neutral supporters on the Sydney Swans bandwagon. The focus being on Buddy and his "superstar" teammates about to embark on premiership glory.

Nobody expected to see the Hawthorn unit that turned up, tough as nails, executed their game plan with perfection AND ultimately stopped the Swans from executing theirs.

The best game in the history of the AFL happened on grand final day 2014.

Drove though Leongatha today and I swear I could still hear whispers in the street about that bump on Hanners

 

[Upgrayedd]

The one in a cold rainy night in Stoke

 

[Bollox]

There's never anything heroic about the biggest guy on the paddock poleaxing the smallest bloke when he's in the air. You can do it anytime you get the opportunity, but you just dont. Only Hawthorn fans described it as tough.
"Tough" was Hannebery getting up.

 

[theyellowsash]

They played football, a different game to whatever it is they play today!

They pretended to play football so that they could punch each other a bit

 

[JackFlash]

They pretended to play football so that they could punch each other a bit

"pretended"? It is very unlikely Richmond of 2021 would score against either team under the 1989 rules of football. If reversed both the Hawks and Cats would be unfamiliar with what game they were playing?

 

[hilly]

There's never anything heroic about the biggest guy on the paddock poleaxing the smallest bloke when he's in the air. You can do it anytime you get the opportunity, but you just dont. Only Hawthorn fans described it as tough.
"Tough" was Hannebery getting up.

Rich from someone that has endlessly potted a jockey-sized player that clocked 432 games.

 

[Freofalcon]

Not VFL/AFL but these WAFL Grand Finals always stick out in my memory as being a bit "How's your father"

 

[NetworkNerd]

2014 grand final

The defending champions going into the grand final as the underdog. Media and neutral supporters on the Sydney Swans bandwagon. The focus being on Buddy and his "superstar" teammates about to embark on premiership glory.

Nobody expected to see the Hawthorn unit that turned up, tough as nails, executed their game plan with perfection AND ultimately stopped the Swans from executing theirs.

The best game in the history of the AFL happened on grand final day 2014.

Don't forget that Sydney list was rated the best of the last 50 years. Amazing upset by the Hawks

 

[CholEstrol]

Not VFL/AFL but these WAFL Grand Finals always stick out in my memory as being a bit "How's your father"

If you're going non AFL/VFL this is the one.
(3) Different versions of the 4 big brawls from the 1991 SANFL Grand Final - YouTube

 

[EDFL follower]

There's never anything heroic about the biggest guy on the paddock poleaxing the smallest bloke when he's in the air. You can do it anytime you get the opportunity, but you just dont. Only Hawthorn fans described it as tough.
"Tough" was Hannebery getting up.

Of course you do it when you get the chance especially in a grand final. Why wouldn’t you do it?

 

[Pessimistic]

There's never anything heroic about the biggest guy on the paddock poleaxing the smallest bloke when he's in the air. You can do it anytime you get the opportunity, but you just dont. Only Hawthorn fans described it as tough.
"Tough" was Hannebery getting up.

Neittz poleaxing McCabe while he had his head over the ball is a revered ‘highlight’ of the ‘dees’ last half century. I kid you not

 

[Pessimistic]

Don't forget that Sydney list was rated the best of the last 50 years. Amazing upset by the Hawks

Because every media person and his dog had said the hawks played ‘pretty football’ which wouldn’t work in the wind/rain/heat/pressure whatever word you name it they said it

Watching those grand finals was some of the most laid back moments of my life (pity about the prelims)

 

[juzz88]

Can we pin a list of all of the GFs in the OP or something? I have to keep going back and forth between here and Google to figure out what game everyone is talking about.

 

[Pessimistic]

There's never anything heroic about the biggest guy on the paddock poleaxing the smallest bloke when he's in the air. You can do it anytime you get the opportunity, but you just dont. Only Hawthorn fans described it as tough.
"Tough" was Hannebery getting up.

Hananebarry would have a pained face after 35 seconds of footy

 

[Shane Heard]

Just so you know what tough means this from the epitome of it >

Ahhh what a glorious moment in GF history.

Voss the beast. The Akka handpass.

Scott Burns- 0 premierships

Imagine living with that memory for the rest of your life.

Que sera, sera lol

 

[Shane Heard]

Because every media person and his dog had said the hawks played ‘pretty football’ which wouldn’t work in the wind/rain/heat/pressure whatever word you name it they said it

Watching those grand finals was some of the most laid back moments of my life (pity about the prelims)

It’s just a fact that no one really cares about HFC premiership games.

They’re all so very dull.

84’ was good though will all those cheap shots dished out by multiple heroic hawks. And of course Dipper’s utterly coward, pathetic elbow on Keven Walsh’s jaw that stopped play for 7 or 8 minutes that gave us a rest and helped us pulverise you into pulp in the end.

Good times.

That avalanche of goals in the last qrt was some of the most serene and satisfying moments of my life...

 

[74561347]

1945 without doubt
1971 since we seen footage of grand finals
1960's and 1970's where only umpires on ground could report and tv cameras not involved meant it was no rules out of sight of the one umpire.
It has been way cleaner in eras I been watching as they got more umpires to see what is going on and a lot more cameras that can be used as evidence since the 1980's.

found this beauty in a story about the 1945 gf

'ON THE SATURDAY morning before the 1945 VFL grand final, known in football folklore as the Bloodbath, South Melbourne wingman Ted Whitfield kept to his normal routine. He had six beers. This book is worth it for that one detail. Whitfield would be one of nine players reported in the match, although with this distinction. He had run up the ground with his jumper up around his head so the goal umpire couldn't take his number. Whitfield, who didn't bother attending the tribunal, got a year's suspension'.

 

[Smithdogmaddog]

2009

 

[hawkman]

Hananebarry would have a pained face after 35 seconds of footy

To be fair to Hannebery he got smashed in the 2012 GF and still went on and played a great game. He almost got smashed 3 times in the 1st quarter of the 2014 GF

 

[Pessimistic]

found this beauty in a story about the 1945 gf

'ON THE SATURDAY morning before the 1945 VFL grand final, known in football folklore as the Bloodbath, South Melbourne wingman Ted Whitfield kept to his normal routine. He had six beers. This book is worth it for that one detail. Whitfield would be one of nine players reported in the match, although with this distinction. He had run up the ground with his jumper up around his head so the goal umpire couldn't take his number. Whitfield, who didn't bother attending the tribunal, got a year's suspension'.

I guess after the world events in the 3 decades prior, the filter would be off for most people

 

[Tzatziki_Man]

2014 grand final

The defending champions going into the grand final as the underdog. Media and neutral supporters on the Sydney Swans bandwagon. The focus being on Buddy and his "superstar" teammates about to embark on premiership glory.

Nobody expected to see the Hawthorn unit that turned up, tough as nails, executed their game plan with perfection AND ultimately stopped the Swans from executing theirs.

The best game in the history of the AFL happened on grand final day 2014.

How about the 'Orange Ferrari' - gifted 100 draft picks, poaching more experienced top draft picks on top of it all. Finally fulfilling their potential playing against a bunch of rookie and pre season rejects, oh and Dustin Martin.

What happened next was a massacre, people learnt emphatically that talent and draft picks doesn't determine destiny and success. An 89 point demolition, the team of champions destroyed by a champion team.

Never to recover since. The orange Ferrari was vandalised and decimated!

 

[telsor]

There's never anything heroic about the biggest guy on the paddock poleaxing the smallest bloke when he's in the air. You can do it anytime you get the opportunity, but you just dont. Only Hawthorn fans described it as tough.
"Tough" was Hannebery getting up.

Tough tackling is the other way around.

Like when a ruckman noted for his toughness, in his last game, and rumoured to be out for blood gets tackled hard into the ground by the midfielder/captain of the opposition, setting the tone for the game.



*Of course, that doesn't apply when it's Cotchin doing it to Mumford early in the 2019 GF, because BF...