Best premiership side out of Bulldogs 2016, Richmond 2017 and West Coast 2018

[Byron_Clanger]

It's Richmond, hands down. For the way they backed up the year after winning the flag and just smashed opponents. Yeah, they lost in the prelim, but they dominated the season.

 

[Do the Dew]

Richmond in '17 were irrepressible, and a bit like the Pies Runball tackle pressure and forward press of 2010 and most of 2011, was the most sustainable footy. But i do feel that the type of footy that won the flag, being manic pressure, high tackling counts and intense 2-way running is only sustainable for perhaps 1 1/2 seasons at the most. The Pies lost two and drew 2 from mid 2010 until Rd 22 2011 before Geelong's massive H & A win and GF success, and the Tigers went from 11-7 after the late loss at KP to Geelong in 2017 before a brilliant 30 weeks of footy which ended abruptly in the PF 0f 2018.

The Dogs won with a brilliant September in 2016, the Eagles had a great September in 2018, but once a little intensity drops from a side that relies on total pressure and tackling....it's a fairly quick drop to being a standard level side. The Hawks of the '12-15 era and Geelong '07-11 won a lot of games with sheer talent and skill, and perhaps lasted longer as total intensity wasn't always their method to get wins. It takes a lot out of a group of players having to be super intense and run so hard when on actual talent level one is fairly close to many competitors.

Short answer though, the Tigers were the best of the three.

Huge (and common) misconception about the Hawks 2012-15 was that they were elite by foot and carved teams up with their kicking ability etc. Don't get me wrong, they were extremely good by foot and talented, but their main attribute was pressure, allowing them to hurt teams by foot on rebound and turnover.

Ever wonder why 2 Clarko apprentices (Beveridge, Hardwick) implemented a pressure style? Maybe cause that's what they learnt under Clarko..


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[PieNSauce]

Given the lack of any clear guidelines or definition of "best", it's easily Bulldogs for me. I enjoyed seeing them win far more than either of the other two.

 

[Freomaniac]

Huge (and common) misconception about the Hawks 2012-15 was that they were elite by foot and carved teams up with their kicking ability etc. Don't get me wrong, they were extremely good by foot and talented, but their main attribute was pressure, allowing them to hurt teams by foot on rebound and turnover.

Ever wonder why 2 Clarko apprentices (Beveridge, Hardwick) implemented a pressure style? Maybe cause that's what they learnt under Clarko..


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bulldogs were not an attacking side in 2016

 

[BIRDBRAIN]

What's with all the Eagles, Tigers and bulldogs fans all arguing with each other? We all won flags, so who givesashit? Let the neutrals argue this rubbish out.

 

[ManOfClay]

What's with all the Eagles, Tigers and bulldogs fans all arguing with each other? We all won flags, so who givesashit? Let the neutrals argue this rubbish out.

Not too many bulldogs fans actually in this thread from what I see

 

[Its not the coach]

Dockers having a great year and could very well make finals. That crows poster is a strange one.

I dont think freo will play finals. And most of you richmond suporters are strange.

 

[Black Saab]

Only one of those teams has to travel across the country every other week and played the grand final at the home ground of their opponent.

If traveling is an issue for you personally write to the club and ask them to relocate to Melbourne.

Tell me, where have all these mystical, magical home ground advantages been for Richmond during the period between 1983 and 2016???

 

[Black Saab]

Pfft two of your finals games were played against teams that finished higher than you yet were played at your home ground

Richmonds h and a record confirms without a shred of doubt that you would gave lost both games if played at the other teams home venue.

We on the other hand didnt lose a game in victoria all season - including the gf.

Winning away from home is a lot harder than winning at home - have a look at your away record for 2016,17,18,19 if you need more convincing

The bottom five and port in four seasons tells the story of the tape.....

Have a look at our home ground record between 1983 to 2016. Yeah...playing home games did not save us from being an ordinary to terrible side through that period.

2013-2015 3 finals, 2 played at the MCG one in the road and zero wins in any of them. 2017 the team was much much better and hit incredible form at the right time. No one was beating the Tigers that year.

Adelaide were a great side in 2017 and most of their supporters (throw in Geelong supporters too in the first final) were so arrogant about their chances of playing the Tigers in a final they mocked the location of where the game was being played prior to the first bounce and it was very common to hear amongst them "we will easily beat Richmond any time any where". Any adelaide fan will attest that before the GF began they felt like it was absolutely theirs for the taking and that drawing richmond as an opponent was an incredible gift by the footy gods. Only after the Tigers held aloft the cup did this ridiculous bleating about unfair home ground advantages crop up.

 

[Freshwater]

West Coast having to fly so far each week is definitely a hurdle. But it slightly comes back the other way when they are at home. In some way now the travel factor for Melbourne teams is getting to training and games in a now mega city of 5,000,000+. It’s madness to go anywhere now, many hours a bloody traffic. The teams st Marvel Stadium are probably disadvantaged especially the ones that don’t top up games at the G like Essendon and Carlton get to do.

 

[kranky al]

Have a look at our home ground record between 1983 to 2016. Yeah...playing home games did not save us from being an ordinary to terrible side through that period.

2013-2015 3 finals, 2 played at the MCG one in the road and zero wins in any of them. 2017 the team was much much better and hit incredible form at the right time. No one was beating the Tigers that year.

Adelaide were a great side in 2017 and most of their supporters (throw in Geelong supporters too in the first final) were so arrogant about their chances of playing the Tigers in a final they mocked the location of where the game was being played prior to the first bounce and it was very common to hear amongst them "we will easily beat Richmond any time any where". Any adelaide fan will attest that before the GF began they felt like it was absolutely theirs for the taking and that drawing richmond as an opponent was an incredible gift by the footy gods. Only after the Tigers held aloft the cup did this ridiculous bleating about unfair home ground advantages crop up.

Adelaide werent beating you on your home ground - look at their away record for the year and you will see they were as deluded as you lot thinking you would have won on their home ground.

 

[Freomaniac]

Dockers having a great year and could very well make finals. That crows poster is a strange one.

No disrespect to your mob as your team wanted to win the 2017 flag. But that Grand final result turned Adelaide in a more Horrible s**t hole than it was. You gave Port Fans ammunition.

After 10 years of crows fans ramming down 119 and the cats beating of port in 2007, Your mob gave Port fans more ammo to hurl abuse at the crows. As the crows are no longer undefeated in grand finals.


The crime rate of bay 13 spiked up after your win, you can thank your humble South Australian friends for that.

 

[Brick Loosener]

No disrespect to your mob as your team wanted to win the 2017 flag. But that Grand final result turned Adelaide in a more Horrible **** hole than it was. You gave Port Fans ammunition.

After 10 years of crows fans ramming down 119 and the cats beating of port in 2007, Your mob gave Port fans more ammo to hurl abuse at the crows. As the crows are no longer undefeated in grand finals.


The crime rate of bay 13 spiked up after your win, you can thank your humble South Australian friends for that.

Funny isn't it.
Doggies win and everyone's pretty much happy.
Tiges win and its total meltdown.
West Coast win and no one cares.

 

[ManOfClay]

Doggies win and everyone's pretty much happy.
T.

In the outside world, yes. But there’s a fair bit of hate on bigfooty from a few sections.

And on Facebook if you follow the afl news , trade rumours and results page

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

Against the grain, but I have no doubt that the Bulldogs were the best of the three

 

[Brick Loosener]

In the outside world, yes. But there’s a fair bit of hate on bigfooty from a few sections.

And on Facebook if you follow the afl news , trade rumours and results page

I'd rather shoot myself than follow anything AFL related on Facebook.

 

[BEaston]

The question is which was the best premiership side so I'm not sure why people are being previous or subsequent seasons into it. Totally irrelevant.

 

[HTT]

In the outside world, yes. But there’s a fair bit of hate on bigfooty from a few sections.

And on Facebook if you follow the afl news , trade rumours and results page

Isn’t that the page run by a heavily biased saints supporter? Would explain it if so.

 

[ManOfClay]

Isn’t that the page run by a heavily biased saints supporter? Would explain it if so.

Yep haha. It’s brilliant.

Bont until the weekend was leading the coaches votes. Hasn’t been in one of their teams of the week. They are big on Billings>Bont.

When the dogs lost the other week it was “dogs back to normal”. Whenever they win it’s questionable umpiring. Saints always undermanned

 

[Do the Dew]

bulldogs were not an attacking side in 2016

They were a high pressure side. Richmond 2017/18 was an upgrade on Dogs 16


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[arfadunger]

What's with all the Eagles, Tigers and bulldogs fans all arguing with each other? We all won flags, so who givesashit? Let the neutrals argue this rubbish out.

Couldn't agree more with this. Eagles won the flag last year (and did it in style too) and I couldn't have been happier. I'm sure sure that the same applies to Tigers and Bulldogs fans the previous two years. I really couldn't give a stuff whether anyone else rated that side as better or worse than other premiership teams.

 

[Talking sense]

Sydney were robbed by the umpires in 2016. It was amazing how badly they got shafted.

Adelaide were stooged by the umpires in 2017. It was arguably worse than the year before.

The umpiring for the 2018 GF was fair, West Coast earned their win, so I give them the nod as the best of the three.

Adelaide were stooged by umpires... THEY LOST BY 46 POINTS? LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They scored no more than 3 goals from half way through the 1st qtr to half way through the 3rd...

This is gold standard stuff

 

[Zarrix]

Richmond. That team dictated the trend for 15 months and looked odds on to go back to back. Just had a bad night at the wrong time.

 

[CD Xbow]

Against the grain, but I have no doubt that the Bulldogs were the best of the three

I didn't like the way they threw their way to a premiership, seemingly with the blessing of the umps with a huge positive freekick differential. Subsequent lack of success suggests they were not a strong squad. I think WC and the Tiges will be challenging with their squads for a number of years.

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

I didn't like the way they threw their way to a premiership, seemingly with the blessing of the umps with a huge positive freekick differential. Subsequent lack of success suggests they were not a strong squad. I think WC and the Tiges will be challenging with their squads for a number of years.

I do understand all of your points, but I'm purely judging them off what they did in those four weeks. They were consistently challenged and found a way to win. And played a mighty good brand of football with a lot if lesser names. In retrospect, maybe they weren't the best of the three, but they're the one I admire most.