A lot of rewriting of history on this page (implied Collingwood as 2007's 2nd best team, Cousins in the 2006 GF), and this poster probably forgets the drubbing the Eagles gave Hawthorn in the Qualifying Final, 50pts up and game over at 3/4 time. "Super heavy favorites" is ridiculous, although most would agree that it was the most forgettable Grand Final since 1999.
Agreed, from a Geelong perspective, 1992 despite the larger final margin is certainly the one that got away. That said, 1989 has a hell of a lot going for it from a neutral perspective.
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The more I think of 2012, it is the best I have seen. If you were introducing someone to the sport, then it doesn't get much better. More swings than a playground, underdog getting up - massive.
2013 Hawks v Freo is the worst GF of modern times
BS1989
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...9-grand-final-had-it-all-20151001-gjz0wc.html
Best grand finals, No.1: Tough, tight, terrific, the 1989 grand final had it all
- Rohan Connolly
Just where do you start with the 1989 grand final? So much incident. So many stories. So hectic and high scoring. Such a dramatic finish. As the curtain closed on the VFL era of football, it certainly did so in style.
Greatest Grand Finals - 1989
Brereton's KO, Ablett's nine goals, the Hawks hanging on desperately for the win - was this the greatest grand final of all time?
Hawthorn were the old pros, playing in their seventh successive grand final and aiming for back-to-back premierships for the first time in the club's history. Geelong were the precocious up-and-comers, sweeping their way through September with the freakish Gary Ablett on fire. It was a great script. And it delivered.
From the very first bounce, in fact, when in the one passage of play, Ablett got the Cats off to the perfect start as, simultaneously, Hawk heartbeat Dermott Brereton hit the deck, lined up and shirtfronted by Geelong's Mark Yeates in retribution for an incident earlier that season.
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That became an ongoing narrative for this epic grand final. Champion Hawthorn rover John Platten was knocked out. Hawthorn strongman Robert DiPierdomenico beat off three Geelong opponents, Neville Bruns, Andrew Bews and Garry Hocking, as all tried to take him down.
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Premiership coach Allan Jeans holds up the cup. Photo: Ray Kennedy
Then, camped under a ball waiting to mark, "Dipper" was smashed by a charging Ablett. More broken ribs. And a slowly deflating lung that would see the Brownlow medallist rushed to hospital before he'd even had time to accept his premiership medal.
But among the carnage, Hawthorn played some sensational football as the Cats became too caught up in the physical battle. The Hawks slammed on eight goals in that frantic opening term to open up a 40-point lead by quarter-time
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Dermott Brereton kicks for goal. Photo: Getty Images
Geelong, though, had Ablett. He'd already kicked 18 goals in the Cats' previous three finals. This would be his masterpiece. In the second quarter alone, he marked one handed and threaded a checkside goal from the boundary line. Then, soaring above a pack at a ball-in, he snatched the ball and in one movement snapped another unbelievable major.
It was still 36 points the difference at the final change despite Ablett's six goals. But a brutal game had left too many Hawks barely standing, skipper Michael Tuck and Gary Ayres two more casualties, Hawthorn with no fit interchange players left.
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Chris Langford celebrates, while Gary Ablett laments Geelong's defeat. Photo: Supplied
Geelong would give it one last shot. After trading more goals, Ablett's eighth goal, a superb left-foot snap after fending off Chris Langford, then a snap from Shane Hamilton, got the margin back to just 11 points. Again the Hawks replied through Dean Anderson.
Still the Cats kept coming. There were four minutes left when Ablett marked and converted, incredibly, his ninth goal in a Norm Smith Medal-winning performance.
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With just 59 seconds left and 12 points the difference, Geelong's David Cameron marked 45 metres out. His goal was the 42nd of this amazing game. The ball returned to the middle with 29 seconds left on the clock.
Out on their feet, the Hawks forced a ball-up, DiPierdomenico, somehow still breathing, forcing a second. And as a score of weary bodies picked themselves up from that stoppage, the siren rang.
History for Hawthorn. And for Ablett, whose nine goals equalled a grand final record set by Gordon Coventry in 1928. It was the second-highest aggregate score for a grand final. And one of the most brutal. It had everything. Hence its permanent place in the hearts and memories of the football world.
Geelong coach Malcolm Blight would sum it up nicely in The Final Story.
"That fact that the '89 grand final is held in such esteem by most people that love the game of football … it was a joy to be involved, for all the good and bad of it. It's just that every time we talk about it now, we still can't win the bloody thing."
That was a super goal he kicked ...looks like it went through post high...not bad from 55
2011 was a better grand final than all of them except 2002 in my view.But the 2014 Swans were the best assembled team of all time.
I don't think 2007 was any better than 1988. Two champion teams demolished mediocre opposition.
Particularly the 2008 Power (13th); and to a lesser extent the 1989 Demons (4th) couldn't fight back to that same level reached the previous year after those demolitions.
Alternatively, Hawthorn's demolition of a fledgling Essendon in 1983 is considerable in comparison to 1988/2007, given that Essendon were good enough to return the favour with interest in the following two years. It still hurts to this day but 1984 was a cracking game.
I've been to the last 20 GF and taking the Hawthorn glasses off, the best GFs in that time were 98, 02, 05, 06, 08, 09, 10, 12, 13 and 16.
I enjoyed 01, 05, 07, 08 and 16 mainly due to clubs winning for the first time of breaking significant premiership droughts. I particularly enjoyed 2008, 2014 and 1986 because they fell on my birthday.
I reckon he'd be implying the team you couldn't shake the week before but I'd go one step further and say West Coast too.
Collingwood was one of the most inconsistent teams that year but our best football was as good as any, as we proved through that finals series.
The 2013 prelims however were both rather amazing. Freo played one of the most dominant quarters of football history that night, and Hawthorn/Cats was an absolute classic.
