Best and worst grand finals of all time

[PowerfulPies2023]

2022
2014
2015
2007

Horrible as a spectacle.

 

[JoeHawk]

2005 was a crime against football.

Agree despite the close score it was a terrible game to watch.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

As painful as result is for me, that game was a ripper up until the last quarter.

It's a pity Brisbane was gassed at 3 quarter time, but with our mounting injury count to our spine, it was unlikely we would have triumphed tbh despite the desperate efforts of Bradshaw, Aker, Notting all kicking multiple goals to keep us in the game, Nigel Lappin keeping the midfield afloat, and Big Mal performing an incredible shutdown on Tredrea after giving Leppitsch a bath in the first quarter.

With Voss down, we struggled to deal with the heavy tag of Kane Cornes on Simon Black, completely nullifying his influence and allowing center ball clearances out to Peter Burgoyne & Pickett, were they tore us to ribbons off the wings. Up forward Wanganeen proved too much for Chris Johnson to handle, and Toby Thurstan of all people gave Brisbane massive defensive headaches. When we did get the ball forward of center, we lacked cohesive structure due to Brown hobbling with a hip injury, and Lynch tearing his quad early in the first, resulting in Port's strong half back line of Hardwick, Chad Cornes, and Montgomery to mop us the ball with ease.

Que the second half of the 3rd quarter were the mounting injuries took their toll and Port seized the moment to gain ascendancy after fighting hard all afternoon. Port were awesome that day and hungry to strike after the preceding 3 years of finals failure, in comparison Brisbane were arrogant as the reigning premiers (Jonathan Brown admitted as much), and Port were always going to be extremely difficult to beat, dodgy home prelim or not.

Lynch injured himself in round 22, not sure when Brown injured him, though. Hart broke his jaw in the preliminary final I believe.

 

[jwint43]

Nah it was quality too. We were a powerhouse team and were on the brink of something special and Sydney played out of their skins to beat us. We weren't that far off our best hence why it's rated as high as it is. We finished top in 2012 only did it once again in 2013 in that golden era. We arguably played our most scintillating footy across that season during the whole 2011-2016 period. 2011 was amazing but ours just pips it because it was sustained across the whole game. Perhaps a little bit lower in terms of quality I'll agree with you there.

Late to this post, but 2012 was amazing because Sydney had to play the perfect game to win, much like yourselves in 2008. It was a full circle moment, obviously the 2012 Hawks weren't as dominant as the 2008 Cats but the Hawks were strong favourites going into that game.

 

[King_Steele]

09 best for its intensity & pure grit in the wet

15/19/22 worst just boring for neutrals

07 cats were unstoppable was just in awe of how good they were after round 6

 

[Milux]

2023 will always be remembered for the clear free kick that should have won the game for Brisbane not being given.

No. I wouldn't think so.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Late to this post, but 2012 was amazing because Sydney had to play the perfect game to win, much like yourselves in 2008. It was a full circle moment, obviously the 2012 Hawks weren't as dominant as the 2008 Cats but the Hawks were strong favourites going into that game.

The difference with 08 is we had the firepower to make it a contest if you analysed the match beforehand and the fact we got pretty close the only time we played Geelong that year. ( From memory Hodge made 2 bad errors which cost us 2 goals late in the game). 2012 we weren't as dominant as 2008 Geelong but I rekon the depth of the competition was better that year. You had both Geelong and Collingwood still pretty strong and a few others decent as well. The stats for the 2012 GF were similar to 2008. We dominated inside 50s and territory but Sydney killed us all game with counter attack and rebound. It was the last time we went into a big final carrying injured players too both Roughie and Hodge were nowhere near 100 per cent and were ineffective throughout and it cost us.

 

[WilloTree]

Best - 79, 89 & 92

Worst - any of those s**t ones that were over at quarter time. 07 & 15 were atrocious.

 

[peetoo]

The difference with 08 is we had the firepower to make it a contest if you analysed the match beforehand and the fact we got pretty close the only time we played Geelong that year. ( From memory Hodge made 2 bad errors which cost us 2 goals late in the game). 2012 we weren't as dominant as 2008 Geelong but I rekon the depth of the competition was better that year. You had both Geelong and Collingwood still pretty strong and a few others decent as well. The stats for the 2012 GF were similar to 2008. We dominated inside 50s and territory but Sydney killed us all game with counter attack and rebound. It was the last time we went into a big final carrying injured players too both Roughie and Hodge were nowhere near 100 per cent and were ineffective throughout and it cost us.

Cats 08 grand final fwd line is historically bad. So bad you wonder how they scored heavily in home and away

KPF lonergan and mooney. Mediums Chapman and stokes who were a bit cooked and Johnson and Ablett who stayed as far away as possible. Maybe they were needed up the ground to help cope with hawthorns superior run

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

Cats 08 grand final fwd line is historically bad. So bad you wonder how they scored heavily in home and away

KPF lonergan and mooney. Mediums Chapman and stokes who were a bit cooked and Johnson and Ablett who stayed as far away as possible. Maybe they were needed up the ground to help cope with hawthorns superior run

They scored heavily because they overwhelmed teams with their fast skillful ball movement. Didn't matter who they had in the forward line they got served ball on a silver platter because their opponents would be all over the place trying to keep up with the Cats further up the ground and it broke apart any structures they had in place. Credit where it's due they were a brilliant side at the time and we were awesome on the day because we had to be.

 

[Caligo]

Cats 08 grand final fwd line is historically bad. So bad you wonder how they scored heavily in home and away

KPF lonergan and mooney. Mediums Chapman and stokes who were a bit cooked and Johnson and Ablett who stayed as far away as possible. Maybe they were needed up the ground to help cope with hawthorns superior run

I feel like you are being pretty hard on GAJ, StevieJ and Chapman here. All super creative for their team mates as well as kicking so many themselves. The keys maybe weren't the very best, but they played their role well.

 

[peetoo]

I feel like you are being pretty hard on GAJ, StevieJ and Chapman here. All super creative for their team mates as well as kicking so many themselves. The keys maybe weren't the very best, but they played their role well.

They had bad days though, chappy was a great competitor, triggered me lots. But he wasn’t on that day

 

[Caligo]

They had bad days though, chappy was a great competitor, triggered me lots. But he wasn’t on that day

Ah sorry I misunderstood. They did indeed have a bad day.

 

[mike ross]

2000 was easily one of the worst gf I've seen. Melbourne completely outplayed all day, Bombers inaccurate. Apart from a few performances it was a boring game. Only thing that made it good was that we won!

 

[Pavlovs Cat]

how could anyone not say 2022? The game was over in 15 minutes. I went to that grand final and I'll never forgive Sydney for ruining my day. it was a pathetic effort.

1988

 

[Tandy]

2023 will always be overrated.

 

[Romeoh1]

2022
2014
2015
2007

Horrible as a spectacle.

2022 for neutrals boring yes- 2007 - the cats football was so spectacular I can’t see how you couldn’t have enjoyed watching it. Just beautiful football.

 

[King_Steele]

2022 for neutrals boring yes- 2007 - the cats football was so spectacular I can’t see how you couldn’t have enjoyed watching it. Just beautiful football.

Absolutely. Amazing Port won in round 21 or whatever it was down at KP really

 

[Seeds]

Yep. I watched it at the pub with a Geelong supporting mate and he was barely even focusing on the game throughout the second half. It reached the point where I had to tell him when Geelong kicked a goal.

Suggests to me your mate isnt much of a supporter.

everyone i knew was effing glued to the screen all match.

 

[uranium_death]

Absolutely. Amazing Port won in round 21 or whatever it was down at KP really

Losing that match was the best thing that could have happened

Port released what they had to do to win the game, thereby giving Geelong pointers on where to improve
It also meant that entering that Grand Final, the team knew that Port could legitimately win if The Cats didn't respect the opposition and play with full-blooded intent
The fact that the team was up at 3/4 time and didn't stop in the final quarter is a sign of the respect to the opposition, and to the contest

2007 was brilliant football to watch, in football terms. That game is what footy was all about in that era, and makes the 2005 GF look like a complete bucket of effluent

 

[Farang83150]

92 & 2018

 

[edgie]

Best - 79, 89 & 92

Worst - any of those s**t ones that were over at quarter time. 07 & 15 were atrocious.

there was 3 goals in it at quarter time in 07... The first half wasn't that bad. It was the fact Geelong kept the foot down for the whole second half that stood out. Most teams will ease off and enjoy the moment in a grand final. Not that day.

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using Tapatalk

 

[FootyLad0]

Suggests to me your mate isnt much of a supporter.

everyone i knew was effing glued to the screen all match.

There's no way he is a legit Cats fan if he didn't watch the whole of 2007 start to finish.

Many were still worried we'd SOMEHOW lose even being up by a huge margin.
Got to remember we had lost every GF through the 90's and had Handbagger nickname for a reason.

 

[FootyLad0]

The 2022 grand final was the worst of all time.

Even Geelong supporters found it boring.

Lies....No way were Cats supporters bored through that.

Especially in the last quarter. Multiple elite goals and moments. Especially sending off probably our greatest player ever.
Super emotional.

 

[Romeoh1]

There's no way he is a legit Cats fan if he didn't watch the whole of 2007 start to finish.

Many were still worried we'd SOMEHOW lose even being up by a huge margin.
Got to remember we had lost every GF through the 90's and had Handbagger nickname for a reason.

I’d been at all those losing grand finals. I didn’t relax till about 10 minutes into the last quarter!