Autopsy Are finals and grand final footy, not given the weight they should be by the footy community?

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Marcel Proust

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And what would be the ‘overall analysis’ of players who barely played in finals? Is their legacy diminished?
Are Richo, Flower, Skilton etc lesser players as all their great games were H & A?

Essentially yes. Legendary players but not winning a flag takes some gloss off.
 

Marcel Proust

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It is a remarkable thing winning a grand final given the number of teams in the comp.

Being a premiership player is overrated however. Given 50% of the list gets a premiership medal, it’s really not that impressive. Plenty of average footballers have won premiership medals, and adding *premiership player* before the players name doesn’t inflate the players value.

You strongly contradict yourself here

That being said, outside of the supporters of the winning team, no ones really going to ponder the importance of it.

When Carey, Voss, Hodge were winning flags, many peoples were pondering the importance of it. Quite wrong to say otherwise.
 

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You strongly contradict yourself here.

When Carey, Voss, Hodge were winning flags, many peoples were pondering the importance of it. Quite wrong to say otherwise.

Not at all, and I’m surprised you can’t see the difference between the unlikelihood of winning the GF v the caliber of player winning one due to the number of players running around in a team. Always going to be some average players in a winning Grand final team.
 

kid_a

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I actually think sometimes too much weight is given to a one off finals, performance.
 

Absolut Tigers

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I think finals and grand finals are valued incredibly highly, but supporters don't want to diminish the legacy of players who aren't lucky enough to be playing come September.

There's no doubt Martin is one of those rare beasts who plays better the bigger the stage. In years to come when we look back at Martin's career it will be his performance in finals that will lift him to legend status.
 
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Given that people remember Grand Final winners but not Minor Premiers (arguably tougher; given the level of consistency required) I'd say they're given plenty of weight. I can see Richmond's most dominant season 2018 being entirely forgotten being sandwiched between Premiership years.
Since 2000:
Minor PremierPremier
Essendon2000, 20012000
Brisbane2001, 2002, 2003
Port Adelaide2002, 2003, 20042004
Adelaide2005, 2017
Sydney2014, 20162005, 2012
West Coast20062006, 2018
Geelong2007, 2008, 20192007, 2009, 2011
Hawthorn2012, 20132008, 2013, 2014, 2015
St Kilda2009
Collingwood2010, 20112010
Fremantle2015
Western Bulldogs2016
Richmond20182017, 2019
 
Last edited:
May 8, 2007
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I actually think sometimes too much weight is given to a one off finals, performance.

Agree 100%. Yes, it's important to play well in finals (winning those is the main point after all), but so is winning enough to get there in the first place.

There's lots of different reasons spoken about as to why people do not perform well in finals - the catch-all cliche seems to be 'pressure'. I think there is a lot more than that - different opposition tactics, players tired and injured at the end of the season, whatever. The 'finals pressure' seems to be held up as this great bogey, when plenty of extremely average players have seemingly managed it OK (Shane Ellen, Paul Dear, the usuals etc), and plenty have not - including some greats. I don't think necessarily that playing well in a final is a greater feat than playing well in a H&A game - it's just another game. Shane Ellen also played in the 1998 GF (which Adelaide also won) and barely got a touch - do we now rate him as a 'poor finals player who couldn't get a touch when it mattered most'? His finals record (except for his one magic game) is significantly worse than his overall record.

Martin's 2 Norm Smiths were not particularly his best games - there were plenty of players in the mix each time - there may have been a bit of celebrity star-stuck voting involved. I don't think his Norm Smiths add much to his overall legacy - he's certainly played better many times.
 

Topkent

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Agree 100%. Yes, it's important to play well in finals (winning those is the main point after all), but so is winning enough to get there in the first place.

There's lots of different reasons spoken about as to why people do not perform well in finals - the catch-all cliche seems to be 'pressure'. I think there is a lot more than that - different opposition tactics, players tired and injured at the end of the season, whatever. The 'finals pressure' seems to be held up as this great bogey, when plenty of extremely average players have seemingly managed it OK (Shane Ellen, Paul Dear, the usuals etc), and plenty have not - including some greats. I don't think necessarily that playing well in a final is a greater feat than playing well in a H&A game - it's just another game. Shane Ellen also played in the 1998 GF (which Adelaide also won) and barely got a touch - do we now rate him as a 'poor finals player who couldn't get a touch when it mattered most'? His finals record (except for his one magic game) is significantly worse than his overall record.

Martin's 2 Norm Smiths were not particularly his best games - there were plenty of players in the mix each time - there may have been a bit of celebrity star-stuck voting involved. I don't think his Norm Smiths add much to his overall legacy - he's certainly played better many times.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. Although I would say whilst you don't have too dominate, you don't wanna play poorly in finals either.
 

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