Best SANFL team of all time (individual season)

[benji2]

Seeing this being discussed in the 'How did Central Districts become so dominant?' thread has moved me to start a thread on which SANFL sides were totally dominant in an individual SANFL season. Apologies if this has been attempted before.

There was a similar thread in the AFL board (not going to try and rank them though, and at least the 2000 Essendon side can't win ).

Of course the deeds of the Port sides of the 1950s and 1990s, the Sturt sides of the 1960s and the Central sides of the 2000s are well documented, all great sides over time. Be interesting to see which of these teams would be on this list.

IIRC the 2007 Central side was quite dominant, only lost 2 or 3 games en route to a 65 point GF win.

Think the 1997 Norwood team was quite dominant too (despite losing the 2nd semi to Port) - they avenged that in the GF to the tune of 73 points.

My memory only goes back to the early 80s.

Ford Fairlane has put forward an impressive case for the 1980 Port side, and there are the legendary feats of the unbeaten 1914 Port side.
The 1973 Glenelg side also has a very impressive record as mentioned, only losing 1 game.

Is there somewhere this sort of record can be checked for a given season i.e. ladders, finals scores? I haven't had much luck with the SANFL site or the individual team's sites.

Are there any other teams that spring to anyone's mind?

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Port 1914 - Undefeated, only time in SANFL history.
Port 54-59 - 6 in a row.
Port 88-99 - 9 premierships.

Take your pick out of any of those individual years or collectively.

 

[benji2]

Port 1914 - Undefeated, only time in SANFL history.
Port 54-59 - 6 in a row.
Port 88-99 - 9 premierships.

Take your pick out of any of those individual years or collectively.

Great sides no question, as are the Sturt and Central sides mentioned.

Under the criteria I'm thinking of the undefeated 1914 team is pretty hard to top, and I see they thrashed North in the GF too by a huge margin for the time.

Of the other teams what I'd like to know is during those big runs, which year did they finish minor premier, only losing 1-3 games for the season, then winning their finals convincingly (eg the 1980 Port team)

Would also like to know about the teams that put one big dominant season together (eg the 1973 Glenelg team) even if they didn't string it together into a run of flags.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

The other thing to note about the 1914 side is that they beat the VFL Premiers Carlton and then beat a "best of the rest" South Australian side.

That is hard to top.

79-81 Premierships Port only minor premiers in 80.

All those other flags just too blurry...

 

[Ford Fairlane]

The 1977 Port side went 17-4-1, finished top by 3.5 wins and went on to win the premiership in another great grand final decided by 8 points.

That premiership broke the Port drought of 12 years and threw a monkey off the back after half a dozen runner up placings since the 1965 flag including the heartbreaking (for Port fans) 1976 GF loss.

Tim Evans topped the goal kicking and booted 7 in the big one despite being concussed for most of the game.

I remember the 1978 Sturt team being absolutely dominant losing only 1 minor round game. But they blew the grand final losing against Norwood.

The 1990 Port team was another awesome outfit in a tumultuous season. Finished top and Scott Hodges won the Magarey Medal (Simon Tregenza was runner up) and broke the SANFL goal kicking record. Port had a blip losing the second semi against Glenelg, smashed North in the Prelim and went on to win the Grannie against Glenelg in a genuine them against us season.

May as well add in the 1980 Port side stats here too.

Won 19 of 22 games with 1 draw (one of the losses was by 4 points)
Average winning margin of 11 goals
Russell Ebert won his 4th Magarey
Tim Evans broke SANFL season goalkicking record (146)
Polled most votes in Magarey (213)
Amassed the most points (3,421) and had the least scored against it (1,851) - that would equate to 184.8% using AFL calculations.
First team to kick 3,000 points in a minor round
Seven State players

After losing to Sturt by 4 points early in the minor round at Unley Port beat

Glenelg by 51 points
Torrens 90 and 56
North 122 and 93
Centrals 4 and 91 (and a draw)
Norwood 108, 90 and 51
Woodville 161, 51 and 75
South 94 and 72
West 117 and 91
Sturt 63

Port beat Sturt by 77 points in the second semi final and Norwood by 18 points (2.6) in the Grand Final.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Your memory is better than mine Ford.

I wasn't old enough to drink in 81 but by 88 I certainly was, maybe thats why I remember the earlier stuff so well.....

 

[Ford Fairlane]

The 1981 Port side while it wouldn't qualify for the conditions of this list and especially compared to the 1980 side, produced a remarkable season.

Halfway through the year the team was written off as a finals contender and was struggling with long term injuries to a raft of players including Greg Phillips, Darrell Cahill and Brian Cunningham all Port Adelaide greats. Mark Williams and IIRC Milan Faletic had departed from the 1980 side for the VFL. Ross Agius had lost his mojo and had disappeared into the reserves.

On the other hand Russell Johnston had been recruited from Collingwood, while a brilliant young player named Craig Bradley had appeared in the league side along with Danny Hughes.

Anyway after losing to South to slide to 5-6 at the halfway point of the season, Port managed to get Dave Granger into the league side in his favoured CHF position after missing the first half of the year with injury and suspension eek and he turned the team on its head.

Port beat finalist Sturt at Footy Park the next week then upset the highly fancied Glenelg at the Bay Oval the week after. Glenelg were unbeaten at that point and were dominating the competition. Glenelg went on to finish top losing maybe one more game for the year.

Port continued on during the second half of the year manufacturing wins with a makeshift side with first Russell Ebert then Danny Hughes at CHB and part time rovers covering Cunningham and Cahill. Johnston found form over the year too. By the time finals came around, Phillips, Cunningham and Cahill had returned, Granger stayed out of trouble with the umps (he was reported by 4 umpires in the afore-mentioned Sturt game but was cleared by the tribunal) and Port had snuck into second place going 10-1 over the latter part of the year.

Port lost full back Trevor Sorrell for the grand final to suspension in a seemingly innocuous incident involving Ralph Sewer (who was also suspended) in the second semi final. Sorrell's defensive partner, back pocket Ivan Eckermann was also reported but escaped suspension when Ralphie took exception to Sorrell's love tap and football advice ('You moved from one bum club to another Ralph) and started throwing haymakers. Jack Cahill brought back favourite son Lenny Warren to replace Sorrell.

Port destroyed South in the qualifying final, hammered Glenelg in the second semi final and flogged Glenelg again by 51 points in the grand final. Glenelg had 2 goals to 3/4 time of that game and only a few face saving goals in the last made it less of a rout. Russell Ebert finished with 37 possessions and 2 goals to be best afield by the length of the Flemington straight.

Dave Granger managed not to stay out of trouble KO'ing Neville Caldwell during the game and being reported in the first use of trial by video in SA when Glenelg produced the video to bring the matter to the attention of the tribunal with Granger being suspended for 6 matches.

As a post script Ken Cunningham who was one of the most vocal journos writing off Port half way through the year was invited to Pier One at Port Adelaide to take a dip in the Port River as penance but he declined.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

That Ebert goal late in the 2nd quarter when he raised the arms on the way back to the centre still sends chills up my spine. The handball from Granger was a thing of beauty as well.

Have we discussed this somewhere before??? The french guy from Top Secrets name is written all over this??? (Not Chocolate Mousse).

 

[sapaul]

West in 83 was a fair side too.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

West in 83 was a fair side too.

What was their home and away record sapaul?

I do remember they gave Port a few touch ups that year.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

That was a really good West side. Luders, Lindner, Meuret, Borchard, Dreher, Watson ... they had a cavalcade of strong on ballers and star KPPs and smashed it that year. But for Michael Graham in the GF (Rick Davies kicked 150 goals that year but had a quiet GF) they would have won the premiership easily. It was a fairly comfortable GF win for Westies in the end anyway. I recall Dreher hammering Peter Motley into the ground early in the game in a marking contest and that took the wind out of his sails.

I remember Port led Westies by 23 points going into time on in one game in 83 and West kicked 4 goals in the last 5 minutes to win by a point. Heartbreaking.

Westies would have lost around 3 games in 1983, one of those to Sturt by 10 goals when Davies kicked 15.

 

[sapaul]

18 and 4 Westies went at and I think they broke Port's 'for' from 1980 that Ford (I think) mentioned on the other thread. Their losses were to Sturt that Ford mentioned, other 3 were narrow. Norwood and Glenelg and Torrrens got them at Richmond in the last round.

Seem to recall Kerley once saying that West team was the best side he ever coached, that's saying something considering the Glenelg team he had a decade earlier. He'd be the best judge you'd think.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Kerley used to have a column in the old News back then and would usually promote some idea to his advantage. Back when he had Luders, Lindner, Meuret etc up forward he wanted defenders spoiling outlawed so everyone would have to contest the mark. Kerls he was priceless.

In 1974 when the Bays were hammering along on the Sunday Footy Show Kerls, much like Warney many years later at the start of new cricket summers, claimed to have a secret weapon in the way the team played that made them so good. He caused quite a buzz among the commentary team trying to get out of him what it was - there was much guesswork going on. He said he would reveal it after the Bays won the flag.

Of course pride came before the fall and they lost the GF to Sturt. Kerls never revealed the secret weapon and never mentioned it again.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

The only secret Glenelg have ever had is losing Grand Finals.

4 flags from how many GF's?

 

[Ford Fairlane]

That Ebert goal late in the 2nd quarter when he raised the arms on the way back to the centre still sends chills up my spine. The handball from Granger was a thing of beauty as well.

Have we discussed this somewhere before??? The french guy from Top Secrets name is written all over this??? (Not Chocolate Mousse).

I'm sure we have. That's what happens when more chronologically mature Port supporters get together.

The only secret Glenelg have ever had is losing Grand Finals.

4 flags from how many GF's?

Port have won more grand finals against Glenelg than Glenelg have won grand finals.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

I'm sure we have. That's what happens when more chronologically mature Port supporters get together.

You saying I'm old pal?

Port have won more grand finals against Glenelg than Glenelg have won grand finals.

Port won more Grand Finals against Glenelg between 1977 - 1992 (77,81,88,90,92) than Glenelg have ever won...

They really are funny.

IIRC they joined in 1921, beat us for their first flag in 1934 and then beat North in 73, 85 & 86. Not far off 4 flags in 100 years and they appear as far off as ever now.

Good luck to them.

Side note: The SANFL only has Port Adelaide winning 33 Premierships http://www.sanfl.com.au/the_sanfl/grand_finals/ I wonder why that is?

EDIT: Glenelg 4 from 17 in GrandFinals.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Not grandpa old footyhead...

 

[Eddie Dingle]

You'll keep, you'll keep.

 

[mianfei]

The other thing to note about the 1914 side is that they beat the VFL Premiers Carlton and then beat a "best of the rest" South Australian side.

That is hard to top.

In fact, in dry weather Port Adelaide were certainly the best team in Australia during the first half of the 1910s, and their amazing results in 1914 make that argument final. It should not be forgotten that Port’s 1912 minor round was almost as dominant as that of 1914, but then the Magpies lost twice to a West Adelaide team that went 7-5 for the minor round.

Football history books do not tell the reader - at least not explicitly though there exist hints in a description of one of Port’s games - that the 1914 season resembled those of 1982 or 2006 very closely throughout southern Australia (i.e. essentially no winter rainfall systems at all) and it does seem to me that Port Adelaide would never have achieved their extraordinary 1914 record in a “normal” season for the time. In 1915, Port started as they had gone through 1914, but when the weather broke up they were never the same side.

Still, that there has never been so dominant a dry-weather team as the middle 1910s Magpies is in fact hard to deny.

 

[benji2]

In fact, in dry weather Port Adelaide were certainly the best team in Australia during the first half of the 1910s, and their amazing results in 1914 make that argument final. It should not be forgotten that Port’s 1912 minor round was almost as dominant as that of 1914, but then the Magpies lost twice to a West Adelaide team that went 7-5 for the minor round.

Football history books do not tell the reader - at least not explicitly though there exist hints in a description of one of Port’s games - that the 1914 season resembled those of 1982 or 2006 very closely throughout southern Australia (i.e. essentially no winter rainfall systems at all) and it does seem to me that Port Adelaide would never have achieved their extraordinary 1914 record in a “normal” season for the time. In 1915, Port started as they had gone through 1914, but when the weather broke up they were never the same side.

Still, that there has never been so dominant a dry-weather team as the middle 1910s Magpies is in fact hard to deny.

It is hard to go past them. And they won the Grand Final by 79 points - unheard of in those days and still the 5th greatest margin today

 

[mianfei]

It is hard to go past them. And they won the Grand Final by 79 points - unheard of in those days and still the 5th greatest margin today

There’s little doubt about that, Port Adelaide’s 1914 team must be the most dominant in a major Australian Rules league.

Even if a “correction factor” is needed for the extraordinary drought conditions which prevailed during the 1914 football season and which results in 1915 certainly suggest to have helped Port, it would never be sufficiently large to affect the standing of a team that won all its games by at least twenty-one points and was actually headed in only one of them. Such a “correction factor” would certainly affect the standing of some of the best VFL teams (Essendon in 1950 and 2000 for instance) but Port’s 1914 team was so dominant under the uniformly hard grounds that prevailed that it must have some standing for that alone. The fact that every other team in Australia was so powerless to find a way of matching it is further evidence for an exalted status.

 

[Leaping Lindner]

In my time....

North 1972
Glenelg 1973
Port 1980
West 1983
North 1987
Port 1989
(Post Crows)
Port 1992
Eagles 1993

North's 1988 and West's 1984 will forever remain a mystery to me.

1914 Port are still the high water mark for all time. North were considered the best chance to at least make a game of the Grand Final but once Tom Leahy was suspended they had no chance.

 

[mianfei]

1914 Port are still the high water mark for all time. North were considered the best chance to at least make a game of the Grand Final but once Tom Leahy was suspended they had no chance.

I didn’t know Tom Leahy was suspended for the Grand Final, nor do I imagine that it would have made any difference judging by what Port were to do to a combined eleven from the other six South Australian clubs. During 2000 I imagined what Essendon would have done against the best of the other fifteen AFL clubs when I saw them as likely to beat North Melbourne’s old VFA record of 49 straight wins, and was laughed at. Whilst the idea was never though of except as an exhibition even by myself, as of 2000 I never knew a premier club had actually beaten the rest of the league 86 years beforehand.

In Diehards: The History of the Subiaco Football Club 1896-1945, there is a description of what was at the close of 1914 Port Adelaide’s last defeat, at the hands of the Maroons in a soaking downpour in Perth, and the book said that in 1913 Port had not experienced that sort of wet weather for two years. The Magpies were beaten in fact by 3-7 (25) to 8-14 (62); though that Subiaco team under Phil Matson was certainly stronger than any of Port’s SAFL opponents, it is impossible to believe it would have got close to the Magpies in dry weather. Scribes have tended to underestimate the influence of weather even when as with the 1910s Port Adelaide teams its influence on their relative ability is undeniable even without firsthand evidence, and Ken Spillman is if anything more acknowledging of this than most.

The status of these Port Adelaide teams amongst the best dry-weather teams in history, though, is not much discussed in Australian Rules histories, which tend to look at the best teams only from the time Carlton, Richmond and Collingwood acquired sufficient political and business patronage to buy the best players from interstate en masse.

More than that, this history of Port’s 1913 to 1915 winning run is instructive to those studying the long winning runs of the post-Docklands AFL, because it occurred under weather conditions that almost mimic a closed-roof stadium and ended when those broke up.

 

[deltablues]

The best SANFL team of all time - any one of the Double Blues' teams winning 5 in a row from 1966 thru 1970, under the peerless Jack Oatey. Sublime skills which changed the face of footy - not just SANFL footy - forever with its run-on game, hand-passing, laser-accurate kicking, and general awesomeness. The VFL never had any thing like it, at the time.

For those of us who were fortunate to have witnessed, live, the Double Blues in this era - happy days indeed.

 

[SgtSchulz]

1888 - Norwood

• Defeated South Melbourne (VFL Premier)
• Lost one game for the season.

1910 - Port Adelaide

• Defeated East Fremantle (WAFL Premier)
• Defeated WAFL composite side
• Defeated Collingwood (VFL Premier)
• Defeated North Broken Hill (NSW Premier)

1914 - Port Adelaide

• Defeated Carlton (VFL Premier)
• Defeated SAFL composite side
• Undefeated

1972 - North Adelaide

• Defeated Carlton (VFL Premier)