Opinion Which club is the most successful in the AFL national league era (1990-)?

[GC2015]

Any non Victorian side that has won 5 flags in this AFL era from 1990 onwards has my respect

Think it's fair to say Brisbane have taken the chocolates (for now) as the most successful club in the modern AFL era (1990-). Hawthorn is the only club that has won as many flags as Brisbane since 1990 and the Lions have made more GFs than the Hawks so I'd say that puts them ahead of Hawthorn on countback. So yeah - I'm happy to declare Brisbane are the most successful club in the AFL era. OP table updated to reflect.

The most travelled clubs are Swans/Giants/GC and Brisbane. Right now Crows/Port (Gather Round) and Eagles/Freo (North in WA) play 13 of the 23 at home...which is close to but not equal to Vic clubs.

Here's the truth when it comes to travel in 2025. The most travelled clubs are from WA and that's followed by the QLD clubs as the second most travelled. Then it's the NSW clubs as the third most trabelled and then it's the bulk of VIC + SA clubs. Fremantle travelled the most this year (80hrs over 10 flights) and the Bulldogs travelled the least (19hrs over 6 flights).

Team	Flights (return)	Time in air
Fremantle Dockers	10	80 hr, 25 min
West Coast Eagles	10	77 hr, 5 min
Gold Coast Suns	12	63 hr, 30 min
Brisbane Lions	11	56hr, 0 min
Sydney Swans	11	48hr, 5 min
GWS Giants	11	42hr, 0 min
Hawthorn Hawks	10	38hr, 30 min
Adelaide Crows	10	38 hr, 25 min
St Kilda Saints	7	38 hr, 0 min
Melbourne Demons	7	36hr, 10 min
Port Adelaide Power	10	35hr, 45 min
Essendon Bombers	6	30hr, 20 min
North Melbourne Kangaroos	9	28hr, 45 min
Carlton Blues	6	26hr, 40 min
Collingwood Magpies	6	25hr, 10 min
Geelong Cats	6	23hr, 40 min
Richmond Tigers	6	23hr, 20 min
Western Bulldogs	6	19hr, 10min

 

[speedpeck23]

Think it's fair to say Brisbane have taken the chocolates (for now) as the most successful club in the modern AFL era (1990-). Hawthorn is the only club that has won as many flags as Brisbane since 1990 and the Lions have made more GFs than the Hawks so I'd say that puts them ahead of Hawthorn on countback. So yeah - I'm happy to declare Brisbane are the most successful club in the AFL era. OP table updated to reflect.


Here's the truth when it comes to travel in 2025. The most travelled clubs are from WA and that's followed by the QLD clubs as the second most travelled. Then it's the NSW clubs as the third most trabelled and then it's the bulk of VIC + SA clubs. Fremantle travelled the most this year (80hrs over 10 flights) and the Bulldogs travelled the least (19hrs over 6 flights).

Team	Flights (return)	Time in air
Fremantle Dockers	10	80 hr, 25 min
West Coast Eagles	10	77 hr, 5 min
Gold Coast Suns	12	63 hr, 30 min
Brisbane Lions	11	56hr, 0 min
Sydney Swans	11	48hr, 5 min
GWS Giants	11	42hr, 0 min
Hawthorn Hawks	10	38hr, 30 min
Adelaide Crows	10	38 hr, 25 min
St Kilda Saints	7	38 hr, 0 min
Melbourne Demons	7	36hr, 10 min
Port Adelaide Power	10	35hr, 45 min
Essendon Bombers	6	30hr, 20 min
North Melbourne Kangaroos	9	28hr, 45 min
Carlton Blues	6	26hr, 40 min
Collingwood Magpies	6	25hr, 10 min
Geelong Cats	6	23hr, 40 min
Richmond Tigers	6	23hr, 20 min
Western Bulldogs	6	19hr, 10min

Your purely looking at time in air. ? Is there that much difference between a 2 , 3 or 4 hour flight given they all require the airport hassle, waiting around etc, There are factors like nights away and which is worse 24 flights (GC) for 63 hours versus 20 flights at 80 hours total ?? Clearly more matches need to be played out of Victoria.

It's just footy banter .. but Brisbane 5 AFL flags.......footnote... Lethal Leigh coached the first 3.

 

[GC2015]

Your purely looking at time in air. ? Is there that much difference between a 2 , 3 or 4 hour flight given they all require the airport hassle, waiting around etc, There are factors like nights away and which is worse 24 flights (GC) for 63 hours versus 20 flights at 80 hours total ?? Clearly more matches need to be played out of Victoria.

Did you even read the table? There's a column there that shows how many return flights each club boarded throughout the year. I applaud Hawthorn for getting on return flights 10 times this year and travelling for close to 40 hours throughout the season because that's the reality every year for the non-Vic teams in SA & NSW. The WA & QLD teams have it worse and every other Victorian team that's not Hawthorn or North clearly have it a lot better.

I agree with you that the majority of Victorian teams should really be travelling interstate more. Introducing Tassie and a 20th team in the near future should help that because teams like Collingwood should go from 6 interstate trips a year to 8, roughly adding an extra 5ish hours to their travel log per year. Each Victorian team being required to travel interstate at least 8 times a year for 30+ hours is a far better outcome than what we currently have.

It's just footy banter .. but Brisbane 5 AFL flags.......footnote... Lethal Leigh coached the first 3.

Yeah? Hawthorn have 5 AFL flags since 1990 and 4 of them were coached by Clarko. What's your point?

 

[LoungeLizard]

Did you even read the table? There's a column there that shows how many return flights each club boarded throughout the year. I applaud Hawthorn for getting on return flights 10 times this year and travelling for close to 40 hours throughout the season because that's the reality every year for the non-Vic teams in SA & NSW. The WA & QLD teams have it worse and every other Victorian team that's not Hawthorn or North clearly have it a lot better.

I agree with you that the majority of Victorian teams should really be travelling interstate more. Introducing Tassie and a 20th team in the near future should help that because teams like Collingwood should go from 6 interstate trips a year to 8, roughly adding an extra 5ish hours to their travel log per year. Each Victorian team being required to travel interstate at least 8 times a year for 30+ hours is a far better outcome than what we currently have.


Yeah? Hawthorn have 5 AFL flags since 1990 and 4 of them were coached by Clarko. What's your point?

So what you are saying is 3 of the teams that travel the most are on top of the tree regarding flags, but we need to sort this travel crap out?
Makes lots of sense.

 

[GC2015]

So what you are saying is 3 of the teams that travel the most are on top of the tree regarding flags, but we need to sort this travel crap out?
Makes lots of sense.

Depends on whether you want a fairer national competition. There's certain things the AFL can control (travel) and other things they can't control (local sports culture) when it comes running a national league.

Just because Brisbane and West Coast have done well, in spite of their obvious travel disadvantages, doesn't mean that's evidence of a fair competition.

Look at Fremantle - been in the league for 30+ years and have only played one GF to date. Then you have my club who have only competed in the finals once in our 15 year existence.

But you're just going to focus on Brisbane and West Coast to push your own narrative that Vic teams aren't benefitting from their lack of required travel.

It's still a fact that 15 of the last 19 (78.9%) premiers are Victorian. That's significantly higher than the 55.5% that it should be when you consider the makeup for the league.

 

[LoungeLizard]

Depends on whether you want a fairer national competition. There's certain things the AFL can control (travel) and other things they can't control (local sports culture) when it comes running a national league.

Just because Brisbane and West Coast have done well, in spite of their obvious travel disadvantages, doesn't mean that's evidence of a fair competition.

Look at Fremantle - been in the league for 30+ years and have only played one GF to date. Then you have my club who have only competed in the finals once in our 15 year existence.

But you're just going to focus on Brisbane and West Coast to push your own narrative that Vic teams aren't benefitting from their lack of required travel.

It's still a fact that 15 of the last 19 (78.9%) premiers are Victorian. That's significantly higher than the 55.5% that it should be when you consider the makeup for the league.

Well if one team from each of those states can top the league in flags, it sure doesn't prove travel is costing Freo or GC flags.
By your reckoning, Carlton Essendon, St.Kilda, North must be traveling too much, because they are crap, at least Freo and now GC can make finals.
If you can find proof then i'll take note, but at the moment all it is sour grapes.

There is surveys done on this and they nearly all say, if you travel under 3 time zones, travel does not effect performance in elite athletes.

 

[GC2015]

Well if one team from each of those states can top the league in flags, it sure doesn't prove travel is costing Freo or GC flags.
By your reckoning, Carlton Essendon, St.Kilda, North must be traveling too much, because they are crap, at least Freo and now GC can make finals.
If you can find proof then i'll take note, but at the moment all it is sour grapes.

There is surveys done on this and they nearly all say, if you travel under 3 time zones, travel does not effect performance in elite athletes.

You were the one suggesting Brisbane and West Coast winning 9 combined premierships in the last four decades proves that the travel inequalities aren't an area that needs to be addressed. I countered it by showing examples of unsuccessful teams from those same states. Neither premise is necessarily true. I was just giving a different perspective that suggests the opposite of what you were pushing. It's a subjective perception that can be argued either way by pointing to select club performances as proof.

The FACT of the matter is the travel table above shows Victorian teams do a lot less travel than most of their interstate counterparts. It shouldn't be too hard for the AFL address this inequality over the next decade with the introduction of two more non-Vic teams. I'm fairly sure that if all Vic teams get on a plane at least 8 times a year in the near future, then you'll hear a lot less complaining about the travel factor. 8 vs 11 interstate trips looks a lot better than 6 vs 11.

Anyway, the whole reason the travel factor was brought up was because one of the posters was suggesting Brisbane's achievements look even more impressive when you factor in the travel requirements. That's why this side discussion has occurred.

 

[speedpeck23]

Yeah? Hawthorn have 5 AFL flags since 1990 and 4 of them were coached by Clarko. What's your point?

My point is you can bring in a multitude of statistics on anything and render any argument futile. You've thrown in time in an aircraft as an influential factor in Premierships , I'm throwing in coaches as being influential and implying that the clubs they came from influenced their coaching ability.

Hence Leigh Matthews coaching expertise was in part garnered by his experience playing for Hawthorn, same for Clarkson at Melbourne and Nth Melb , same for Alan Joyce at Hawthorn .

 

[GC2015]

My point is you can bring in a multitude of statistics on anything and render any argument futile. You've thrown in time in an aircraft as an influential factor in Premierships , I'm throwing in coaches as being influential and implying that the clubs they came from influenced their coaching ability.

Hence Leigh Matthews coaching expertise was in part garnered by his experience playing for Hawthorn, same for Clarkson at Melbourne and Nth Melb , same for Alan Joyce at Hawthorn .

Surely their previous experience as an assistant coach/senior coach is far more relevant than their anything they achieved in their playing career? So for Lethal you can look at his tenure at Collingwood and for Clarko you'd look at his tenure at Port Adelaide under Mark Williams. Both coaching tenures included flags before they headed to the clubs where they experienced the most success. That's how I would look at it in terms of influential factors in developing the majority of their coaching expertise.

Not sure how much it has to do with Brisbane becoming the most successful team in the AFL era, but each to their own.

 

[speedpeck23]

Surely their previous experience as an assistant coach/senior coach is far more relevant than their anything they achieved in their playing career? So for Lethal you can look at his tenure at Collingwood and for Clarko you'd look at his tenure at Port Adelaide under Mark Williams. Both coaching tenures included flags before they headed to the clubs where they experienced the most success. That's how I would look at it in terms of influential factors in developing the majority of their coaching expertise.

Not sure how much it has to do with Brisbane becoming the most successful team in the AFL era, but each to their own.

I'll take the bait. So your saying Collingwood taught Leigh Matthews to coach ???

 

[Altum Volantes]

Hawthorn obviously - they didn't spend nearly 20 years spinning their wheels like Brissie did between flags.

 

[CanuckSuns]

I instinctively voted Brisbane, but should have voted Geelong. 9 GF appearances, winning 4, in 35 years is something else.

 

[GoPies1]

I instinctively voted Brisbane, but should have voted Geelong. 9 GF appearances, winning 4, in 35 years is something else.

That logic wins Collingwood the most successful team of the VFL era, playing in nearly 40 grand finals for 13 flags.
Miles ahead of the rest of the pack.
I will take that as it can never be challenged

 

[The Punter]

Here is my formula:

H&A win: 1 point
Finals first week: 10 points
Semi finals: 20 points
Prelim finals: 40 points
Grand final: 80 points
Premiership: 160 points

So here is my order in the 18 team era:

Hawthorn
Geelong
Sydney
Richmond
Brisbane
Collingwood
West Coast
Western Bulldogs
GWS
Port Adelaide
Melbourne
Fremantle
Adelaide
North Melbourne
Carlton
Essendon
St Kilda
Gold Coast

And for the 1997-2010 golden era

Brisbane
Geelong
Adelaide
Collingwood
Sydney
North Melbourne
St Kilda
Port Adelaide
Essendon
West Coast
Western Bulldogs
Hawthorn
Melbourne
Carlton
Fremantle
Richmond

 

[GC2015]

I instinctively voted Brisbane, but should have voted Geelong. 9 GF appearances, winning 4, in 35 years is something else.

Is there a tipping point in terms of losses in GFs playing against a club? NBA fans often use that to separate LeBron James and Michael Jordan because MJ went 6W 0L in finals vs LeBron's 4W 6L finals record.

Geelong have a 4W 5L GF record (44.4%) since 1990 and Brisbane are 5W 2L (71.4%) in GFs. Clearly, one team is more clutch in GFs than the other. Does that count for anything in your mind?

Personally, I'd put Brisbane ahead of Geelong just purely because they've won more premierships since 1990. I think a flag trumps all other achievements and, in this case, I'm confident in suggesting Brisbane's 1 extra flag is greater than Geelong's 3 extra GF losses.

 

[Dazzler9]

Most flags = most successful. It's the ultimate metric.