Best individual finals performance in AFL/VFL history

[Mr Meow]

It’s not a straw man. You objected to Richmond fans saying Dusty kicking 4 out of 19 goals in a tightly contested GF was impressive, on the basis that all it showed was that:

• opposition was weak
• Richmond defence was dominant
• Hardwick out-strategised oppo coaches
• Martin was the slingshot final target (ie finished off others’ good work)
• Dusty’s opponents were exhausted
• Dusty’s opponents were not doing the basics well

You literally listed all of those things as the reasons why Dusty kicking > 20% of the goals in the 2020 GF was not particularly impressive.

Surely, if those are all the real reasons why he kicked 4, and thus the reason why it’s not that impressive an effort, then an implication of your argument is that lots of other players could have done the same thing?

Nope, I never said the performance wasn't impressive. I said that the % of total goals scored wasn't something I considered a valid reason to put it over Ablett's grand final in 1989. I'm perfectly fine with you disagreeing on that point, but to then to reformat my argument and suggest rating it very highly but not the highest is because of the Richmond/Geelong connection or some inherent Martin dislike ("desperate rationalisation" absolutely makes that your contention here) - well I take issue with that.

From the bullet points you've highlighted, to some degree I factor those points in, yes. Again, you can have a different stance. It doesn't mean that I think Martin was average in any sense that night. It doesn't mean at all that I think "anybody" could do it. In my personal opinion it wasn't the greatest performance I've seen on a football field. Is that okay?

Note that "not impressive" or "not particularly impressive" are yet to feature in my posts. If I rate Martin's performance 9/10 that night and a handful at 9.5/10 - I am absolutely very impressed by all of these performances.

 

[FootyLad0]

Dumb comment. Goals are scarcer and more precious these days. Dusty kicking 4 as a half forward in a low scoring game had more impact on the result of the 2020 GF than Ablett kicking 9 did on the 89 result. Of course those performances are on the same level as far as best GF performances

WTF did i just read? lol

 

[BERT]

Leon Baker in ‘84 and ‘85.

His 84 prelim final was pretty good. 20 disposals and 6 goals.

 

[RichLeMonde]

Nope, I never said the performance wasn't impressive. I said that the % of total goals scored wasn't something I considered a valid reason to put it over Ablett's grand final in 1989. I'm perfectly fine with you disagreeing on that point, but to then to reformat my argument and suggest rating it very highly but not the highest is because of the Richmond/Geelong connection or some inherent Martin dislike ("desperate rationalisation" absolutely makes that your contention here) - well I take issue with that.

From the bullet points you've highlighted, to some degree I factor those points in, yes. Again, you can have a different stance. It doesn't mean that I think Martin was average in any sense that night. It doesn't mean at all that I think "anybody" could do it. In my personal opinion it wasn't the greatest performance I've seen on a football field. Is that okay?

Note that "not impressive" or "not particularly impressive" are yet to feature in my posts. If I rate Martin's performance 9/10 that night and a handful at 9.5/10 - I am absolutely very impressed by all of these performances.

talk about straw man. I never said Dusty’s 2020 was the best GF performance, or better than Ablett’s. I said it was in the top bracket of great GF performances, a point which only Geelong supporters have disagreed with lol.

 

[Mr Meow]

talk about straw man. I never said Dusty’s 2020 was the best GF performance, or better than Ablett’s. I said it was in the top bracket of great GF performances, a point which only Geelong supporters have disagreed with lol.

Which ones are better? And we're talking all finals here - not just GFs. The bolded is just more off topic needling. Do better. Many posters of all different clubs have failed to mention Martin's 2020 GF in their "best ever" over the 155 posts so far. It isn't because of a conspiracy.

 

[RichLeMonde]

Which ones are better? And we're talking all finals here - not just GFs. The bolded is just more off topic needling. Do better. Many posters of all different clubs have failed to mention Martin's 2020 GF in their "best ever". It isn't because of a conspiracy.

There have been lots of great finals performances, so of course not all posters mention Martin in 2020 GF. But it’s only been geelonn supporters who’ve chimed in to actively say - no, his wasn’t a great performance lol. It’s honestly pathetic.

This is supposed to be a thread about celebrating great performances- I was praising Selwood before this s**t fight started. In this whole thread, it’s only Geelong supporters who have derailed this into an extended effort to minimise or diminish a finals performance (which, funnily enough, happened to cost them a GF they otherwise would have won). Way to celebrate footy boys!

 

[Mr Meow]

There have been lots of great finals performances, so of course not all posters mention Martin in 2020 GF. But it’s only been geelonn supporters who’ve chimed in to actively say - no, his wasn’t a great performance lol.

It was a great performance. If you mention any you do think are better we can discuss that. Or else I assume it's your number one and as a Richmond fan, I understand why. It's not other people's number one and that should be okay too.

If you name just one finals performance you think is better it'd be an interesting talking point, though.

 

[FootyLad0]

There have been lots of great finals performances, so of course not all posters mention Martin in 2020 GF. But it’s only been geelonn supporters who’ve chimed in to actively say - no, his wasn’t a great performance lol.

Who said it wasn't great? It was an all time great performance no doubt that's why he was named Norm Smith.

You were the one who made claim's Dusty's 2020 GF was better than Ablett in 89, i'm sorry but they are not on the same tier lol

 

[RichLeMonde]

It was a great performance. If you mention any you do think are better we can discuss that. Or else I assume it's your number one and as a Richmond fan, I understand why. It's not other people's number one and that should be okay too.

If you name just one finals performance you think is better it'd be an interesting talking point, though.

Depends on the criteria - I’m most impressed by finals performances that greatly impacted their team’s chance of winning. Simon Black couldn’t have played any better in 2003, (ditto Stevie J in 07) but Brisbane and Geelong would have won even if they didn’t play, so I wouldn’t put them in a list of most influential finals performances.

Also don’t think you can necessarily rank them in a precise order, as there’s too many other factors.

So if we’re talking about finals performances that had massive impacts, I would put together a top bracket - don’t necessarily have an opinion on which of these are ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than Martin’s 2020 GF. But for GFs I’d include in the same bracket:

• Jarman 98
• Ablett 89
• Matera 92
• Dusty 20
• Hodge 08

Then I’d have another bracket with:

• Buckley 02
• McLeod 98
• Goddard 10

That’s just from memory - no doubt have forgotten plenty.

Generally you’ll find more impressive individual performances in non-GF finals, like Davis in 05, Carey in 94, etc, so I personally wouldn’t compare them - GFs are a different beast

 

[RichLeMonde]

Who said it wasn't great? It was an all time great performance no doubt that's why he was named Norm Smith.

You were the one who made claim's Dusty's 2020 GF was better than Ablett in 89, i'm sorry but they are not on the same tier lol

Go back and read the thread. This started because Geelongcrazy said that Martin played well in 2020 but it wasn’t a great finals performance.

Show me where I said Dusty’s 2020 was better than Ablett’s 89. I just pointed out that Dusty kicked the same % of total goals as Ablett, in response to Geelongcrazy’s comment that it wasn’t a great performance.

 

[FootyLad0]

Depends on the criteria - I’m most impressed by finals performances that greatly impacted their team’s chance of winning. Simon Black couldn’t have played any better in 2003, (ditto Stevie J in 07) but Brisbane and Geelong would have won even if they didn’t play, so I wouldn’t put them in a list of most influential finals performances.

Also don’t think you can necessarily rank them in a precise order, as there’s too many other factors.

So if we’re talking about finals performances that had massive impacts, I would put together a top bracket - don’t necessarily have an opinion on which of these are ‘better’ or ‘worse’ than Martin’s 2020 GF. But for GFs I’d include in the same bracket:

• Jarman 98
• Ablett 89
• Matera 92
• Dusty 20
• Hodge 08

Then I’d have another bracket with:

• Buckley 02
• McLeod 98
• Goddard 10

That’s just from memory - no doubt have forgotten plenty.

Generally you’ll find more impressive individual performances in non-GF finals, like Davis in 05, Carey in 94, etc, so I personally wouldn’t compare them - GFs are a different beast

Simon Black 2003

39 possessions [25 contested], nine tackles, nine clearances, 7 inside 50's and a goal

Christian Petracca

39 disposals [25 contested], 15 score involvements, nine clearances, 11 inside 50's and two goals

 

[RichLeMonde]

Simon Black 2003

39 possessions [25 contested], nine tackles, nine clearances, 7 inside 50's and a goal

Christian Petracca

39 disposals [25 contested], 15 score involvements, nine clearances, 11 inside 50's and two goals

Yes am aware- in both cases their team would have won even if they didn’t play. 2 absolute floggings. No fault of their own - they couldn’t have played any better. As I made clear, there are different criteria you can use to judge great performances, and my list was based on impact on the game, so I didn’t include any performances from one-sides floggings

 

[FootyLad0]

Yes am aware- in both cases their team would have won even if they didn’t play. 2 absolute floggings. No fault of their own - they couldn’t have played any better. As I made clear, there are different criteria you can use to judge great performances, and my list was based on impact on the game, so I didn’t include any performances from one-sides floggings

Just posting what the stats were for clarification so people understood what was getting excluded by those qualifiers.

 

[RichLeMonde]

Just posting what the stats were for clarification so people understood what was getting excluded by those qualifiers.

If you’re going to include party time grand final performances, please mention Greg Williams kicking 5 to go with 31 in a 10 goal victory in 95, and Stevie J kicking 4 with 23 in an 80 point flogging in 07

 

[cliffdrabble]

Forgotten in Fitzroys' (somewhat controversial) loss in the 1983 QF was the epic performance of Bernie Quinlan.

Quinlan had kicked five goals in the last quarter (from a total of 8 for the game) , and had a game high 12 marks and 18 disposals and almost single handedly got the Lions over the line in that game.

Quinlan should have been CHF in the team of the century. Much better player than Royce Hart.

 

[Vassp]

wanted to get others thoughts on who they believe performed the best ever in a finals match and what game it was??

I will add a poll soon once i get a valid sample of games people throw up hopefully representative of different generations.

A few obvious ones spring to mind for me such as

• ablett snr 9 goals in the GF to almost steal the win
• carey kicking 7/11 goals in a wet elimination final to drag north over the line in 97
• franklins 7 goals including after the siren to sink adelaide in the 07 final.
• kevin bartlett kicking 7 in the grand final in 80.

That is four gems to get the ball rolling

I nominate DUSTYs 2017 AND 2020.
not just the stats, it's how he got his goals and what he did on the pitch.

 

[HalloweenJack]

If you’re going to include party time grand final performances, please mention Greg Williams kicking 5 to go with 31 in a 10 goal victory in 95, and Stevie J kicking 4 with 23 in an 80 point flogging in 07

You are correct and IMO Kouta was BOG in the 1995 GF.

 

[Captain_Bender]

Quinlan should have been CHF in the team of the century. Much better player than Royce Hart.

Longevity wise yeah, however if we are talking about a pre knee injuries Royce Hart, no he isn't

 

[RichLeMonde]

You are correct and IMO Kouta was BOG in the 1995 GF.

That was an early taste of things to come, from Kouta!

 

[Back One Out]

2023 Preliminary Final

Collingwood 8.10 (58) def Greater Western Sydney 8.9 (57)

Jordan de Goey

2

Jordan De Goey

Age

28

Ht

188cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.7

4star

K

10.0

4star

HB

6.7

4star

M

3.9

4star

T

3.1

5star

CL

2.3

4star

D

15.8

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

6.2

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

1.7

3star

CL

2.3

4star

D

11.6

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

1.4

2star

T

4.8

5star

CL

2.6

5star

... 34 disposals @ 73.5% efficiency

17 contested, 17 uncontested... 13 clearances

He probably broke about 20 tackles.

Talk about a big game player standing up when his team needed him

 

[adammania9]

2023 Preliminary Final

Collingwood 8.10 (58) def Greater Western Sydney 8.9 (57)

Jordan de Goey... 34 disposals @ 73.5% efficiency

17 contested, 17 uncontested... 13 clearances

He probably broke about 20 tackles.

Talk about a big game player standing up when his team needed him

One of the toughest, grittiest inside midfield performances you'll ever see on a big stage

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Simon Black 2003

39 possessions [25 contested], nine tackles, nine clearances, 7 inside 50's and a goal

Christian Petracca

39 disposals [25 contested], 15 score involvements, nine clearances, 11 inside 50's and two goals

Fritsch should have got the NSM.

 

[mcfazza28]

I reckon this is the more interesting question.

Without which individual performance would your team have not won a premiership?

Nick Davis...check.

Darren Jarman?

Stewart Dew?

Leo Barry...hehehe?

Leo Barry’s mark is amazing, courageous and vital but Tad Keneally never gets the credit he deserves for facilitating it by grounding Ashley Sampi by grabbing a big handful of guernsey and pulling him down.

 

[SBYM]

Leo Barry’s mark is amazing, courageous and vital but Tad Keneally never gets the credit he deserves for facilitating it by grounding Ashley Sampi by grabbing a big handful of guernsey and pulling him down.

Yawn.

 

[Daka]

The reason Richmond didn't win 4 flags in a row.... 5 year anniversary addition.

Yep 100% it's why we didn't win 4, also you guys loss the next week