Great grand final matchups we were robbed of

[kane249]

2015 Freo vs West Coast. A derby grand final would be amazing but Freo we’re cooked by the end of the year. If rounds 1-8 Freo showed up it could’ve been a great game.

Fyfe broke his leg early in the prelim and Pavlich tore his calf. If Freo had made it through they were both unlikely to play the next week.

 

[timokane]

Collingwood really should have won the flag in 2018 was another gf choke for the Pies.

 

[O_Grinners17]

Richmond vs Collingwood 19. Still would have won by 89 but the build-up would of been great

 

[RichLeMonde]

In my humble opinion, Darren Jarman's achievements eclipse those of Stewey Dew in all the most important metrics:

1. Finals impact during his career; and
2. Pie-eating impact post-career

View attachment 1231241View attachment 1231242

And 3. Doing the limbo, evidently

 

[Leviathan Pie]

Some off the top of my head:

• 2007: West Coast vs. Geelong

Really felt we were robbed of this one. The best team of the 2005/2006 period vs. the one for 2007-2011. WCE imploded with the scandals. Both teams had similar styles: a low kick-to-handball ratio. Lots of handballs and overlap running through the middle of the ground, making for entertaining football. They played once in round 7 or 8; it was at Skilled; WCE was undefeated, while Geelong was demolishing teams. The Cats won by 5 goals or so; it got down to 20 points with 8 minutes left.

A healthy, firing WCE was the best foil to Geelong in 2007. It's a shame we never saw them square off, both 100%, at the MCG.

• 1994: West Coast vs. North Melbourne

Two best teams of the '90s. Would've been awesome to have seen Jackovich vs. Carey on the grandest stage of them all.

• 1999: North Melbourne vs. Essendon

The last hurrah of North, up against Essendon, the next one up.

• 2018: Richmond vs. West Coast

The two best teams all year. Was a shame we never saw this matchup.

Lol, delete this.

 

[timokane]

2019 not too sure both richmond and collingwood played in the gf both had a point to prove collingwood from the gf choke of 2018 and richmond and their choke in the prelim.

Not too sure if it was a sure thing richmond would win either.
I do feel Collingwood had more of a point to prove as more on thier shoulders then richmond besides the tigers won in 2017.
Collingwood would be up for it.
Thought the prelim v gws we were in the gf but the second half was a shocker and only ended up a goal short at the end.
Collingwood would have made it tough for richmond too in the gf.
Had richmond did not choke in 2018 they would not have won 2019 and 2020.
They had a point to prove.

 

[Purple Suit]

Fyfe broke his leg early in the prelim and Pavlich tore his calf. If Freo had made it through they were both unlikely to play the next week.

Yep, although the way WC played. I wonder if Freo would have had the edge even without the stars. We had the wood over you at that stage. 2013 was our first GF for the group stage fright game.

 

[JackFlash]

Freo vs Geelong 2013

Cats easily..

 

[Guardian Hawk]

An NRL one - in the early-mid 1990s a Grand Final between superpowers and big time rivals the Brisbane Broncos and Canberra Raiders seemed inevitable. Yet the finals series results of this era never fell the right way to allow a Brisbane/Canberra Grand Final, and when first the Raiders and then the Broncos faded away as powerhouses, there still has never been a premiership decider between these two teams.

A V/AFL equivalent was the 60's and 70's Hawthorn and Richmond sides. Between 1967-80, Richmond won 5 flags and Hawthorn won 3. Across those 14 seasons, Hawthorn made 5 Grand Finals and Richmond 6, but never once against each other. In fact, they never met in a final whatsoever throughout that whole period, with their only ever finals meeting coming in 2018. Remarkable really, with both sides ending up on the other side of the draw and both unexpectedly losing Prelims that prevented them from facing the other. Probably could have been a great rivalry but never eventuated.

(Stretching it out further, in the 30 years between 1961 and 1991, one of Hawthorn or Richmond featured in 21 Grand Finals yet never even played each other in any final once!!)

 

[Purple Suit]

Cats easily..

Nah, as for you to get into the game you would have played overtime in the Saturday night prelim. Lost by 5 points in a slogfest.

That Varcoe miss cost us a flag.

 

[CakeEater]

Cats easily..

How did you go in that qualifying final at Skilled stadium again in 2013?

 

[kane249]

Yep, although the way WC played. I wonder if Freo would have had the edge even without the stars. We had the wood over you at that stage. 2013 was our first GF for the group stage fright game.

We won the last derby of 2015, so we had changed the momentum in the head to head record

 

[Bollox]

Port v Saints 2004
They were a seriously good matchup.
We were all sick of Brissy by then and they were ageing on the decline.
The PF at Footy Pk was an all time classic, and have a feeling both mobs would have beaten Brissy in the GF.

 

[BuddyHawk]

Nah, as for you to get into the game you would have played overtime in the Saturday night prelim. Lost by 5 points in a slogfest.

That Varcoe miss cost us a flag.

The Hawks-Cats prelim was on the Friday night, so Cats would have had an extra day to recover.

Still, I think Freo would have won - they matched up well against the Cats in the early Lyon years. I've always felt Freo's nervousness in the GF had as much to do with their poor record against Hawthorn (the 2010 EF a notable exception) as the occasion itself; I suspect they would have played with a lot more confidence against the Cats.

 

[JackFlash]

How did you go in that qualifying final at Skilled stadium again in 2013?

It's all pointless, the two best teams played off in 2013 and how did Freo go? Lots of "IFs" in football, this is an absurd post. The two best teams have played off in every year, we haven't missed a thing.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Collingwood really should have won the flag in 2018 was another gf choke for the Pies.

You won 1 game for the year vs a team in the top 4.
If anything, beating Richmond alone showed you over-achieved.

 

[Barry_Badrinath]

Fyfe broke his leg early in the prelim and Pavlich tore his calf. If Freo had made it through they were both unlikely to play the next week.

Yes. That was my point. They weren’t the same team by the end of the year

 

[BigVic]

Also, what hasn’t been mentioned is a Hawthorn v North GF in either of 14 or 15. I think on both occasions North won from the EF through to the PF. Would have been a nice throwback to the seventies and North would have probably been better than Sydney and West Coast.

North would've put on a fight in 2015.

Yes. That was my point. They weren’t the same team by the end of the year

Big buildup in the West and without Fyfe or Pavlich, the Eagles would've won 2015 easily.

 

[Monkey King]

Do you think you had North’s measure that year? I feel North v WC would have been a huge spectacle. Or even Carlton v North in 1994 if you say Carlton were as good as they were? Very hard to discount WC that year though.

The Blues had beaten North earlier in the year and finished two games clear of them on the ladder. WCE beat North too. Heading into the last round, the Blues were on top of the ladder, having stitched up WCE by 10 goals just two rounds earlier, paying back the favour from earlier in the year. Carlton and WCE were the two best teams that season. One followed it through in finals, the other dropped their bundle, but picked it up in spades the following year.

 

[BigVic]

Swans v Lions in ‘03 would’ve been interesting. An all-interstate affair between two Rugby League cities

 

[Freomaniac]

The Blues had beaten North earlier in the year and finished two games clear of them on the ladder. WCE beat North too. Heading into the last round, the Blues were on top of the ladder, having stitched up WCE by 10 goals just two rounds earlier, paying back the favour from earlier in the year. Carlton and WCE were the two best teams that season. One followed it through in finals, the other dropped their bundle, but picked it up in spades the following year.

That Carlton 1993-95 was solid.

Made a grand final in 1993.

Made top 2 in 1994 yet got out in straight sets.

Went 20-2 in 1995 and won the flag

 

[Hoops]

1900 Fitzroy vs Geelong

Fitzroy was the best team for the season, minor premiers with only 3 losses and going for their first 3-peat.

Geelong finished 2nd.

But for some very bad finals fixture (reminiscent of final 6) third last Melbourne made the Finals and what often happen with underdogs beat the mighty Maroons in the Grand Final.

I'm still seething over that one.

 

[Blackas87]

Port v Saints 2004
They were a seriously good matchup.
We were all sick of Brissy by then and they were ageing on the decline.
The PF at Footy Pk was an all time classic, and have a feeling both mobs would have beaten Brissy in the GF.

Brissy had already beaten St Kilda by 80 points in the qualifying final.

Brisbane were going for their 4th premiership in a row, Port were the minor premiers for the 3rd year in a row. They were the 2 powerhouses of that era. The game wasn’t great but it was a matchup we had to have.

 

[Soggy2112]

The 2013 prelim was a ripper but looking back it would’ve been awesome to see that game as the GF.

Hawthorn trying to break the Kennett curse in the Grand Final, Geelong trying to get redemption from 2008, would’ve been awesome.

 

[Cainozz]

A WC V FREO 2006 Grand Final could've been interesting if they managed to pinch that prelim against Sydney. Freo had the wood over us that year until about 2012. The Carr brothers loved a scrap too and there would be a focus on negating Cousins, Kerr and Judd.