Most Overrated Grand Finals

[PerthBoy86]

What are some of the most overrated grand finals, in your opinion?

My memory only extends to the early 90s, but I have watched a few replays from before that. The 1989 VFL Grand Final is widely considered the greatest ever, but as a game, I wouldn't even put it in the top 5, to be honest. Maybe top 10. It did have great moments, a lot of carnage, 10 goals from Ablett, but it never really felt like the game was in the balance. Hawthorn looked like winning all game. Still a great final, and has the nostalgic value of being the last VFL granny.

2005 Grand Final: not just sour grapes because we lost, but despite being close it was a pretty dour affair. Still a great gf, but not one of the best.

2023 Grand Final: another great one, but not possibly the best as some were saying. Collingwood were inaccurate and shouldve put the game to bed. As far as close grannies I think the 09, 10, 12 and 18 gfs were better.

 

[ABSOLUTE MADMAN]

I actually agree with you on 1989 GF being overrated.

It seems silly to say so.
High scoring. 6 point final margin. Gary Ablett SNR 9 goals. Dermott getting his ribs crushed at the start then kicking a goal after. Dipper with a collapsed lung among many wounded Hawks holding on to the lead.

But the game never really felt in the balance for the majority of it. Alot of the people that talk it up as the greatest game seemingly have not watched it and just know a bunch of the facts outlined above.

2002, 2005 (drought break and close finish), 2006, 2009, 2010 draw (first half pretty ordinary, but the second half iconic), 2012, 2016(drought break and close until the last few minutes), 2018, and 2023 all better games IMO. Some of those may be controversial.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

I actually agree with you on 1989 GF being overrated.

It seems silly to say so.
High scoring. 6 point final margin. Gary Ablett SNR 9 goals. Dermott getting his ribs crushed at the start then kicking a goal after. Dipper with a collapsed lung among many wounded Hawks holding on to the lead.

But the game never really felt in the balance for the majority of it. Alot of the people that talk it up as the greatest game seemingly have not watched it and just know a bunch of the facts outlined above.

2002, 2005 (drought break and close finish), 2006, 2009, 2010 draw (first half pretty ordinary, but the second half iconic), 2012, 2016(drought break and close until the last few minutes), 2018, and 2023 all better games IMO. Some of those may be controversi

In terms of high quality footy you won't see many better. Geelong were a potent team that era and so were we. Blight thought being physical and knocking us off our game early on would benefit his team later on and it would have worked had we not counter punched with goals against the flow. I felt after half time they were the better team. Not many teams that era put 8 goals on us in a quarter like they did in the last. He backed in their offensive power to overrun us. If you look at the game as a sheer offensive spectacle it's why it's rated the greatest ever

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

I actually agree with you on 1989 GF being overrated.

It seems silly to say so.
High scoring. 6 point final margin. Gary Ablett SNR 9 goals. Dermott getting his ribs crushed at the start then kicking a goal after. Dipper with a collapsed lung among many wounded Hawks holding on to the lead.

But the game never really felt in the balance for the majority of it. Alot of the people that talk it up as the greatest game seemingly have not watched it and just know a bunch of the facts outlined above.

2002, 2005 (drought break and close finish), 2006, 2009, 2010 draw (first half pretty ordinary, but the second half iconic), 2012, 2016(drought break and close until the last few minutes), 2018, and 2023 all better games IMO. Some of those may be controversial.

2009-2012 is the best 4 year Patch of Grand Finals in history. Every game was epic, 2011 was an all timer till 3 qtr time forget what happened in the last.

 

[AlwaysHawks15]

2009-2012 is the best 4 year Patch of Grand Finals in history. Every game was epic, 2011 was an all timer till 3 qtr time forget what happened in the last.

Potentially adds our in 08 because of the result. The ultimate boilover.

 

[sherb]

I actually agree with you on 1989 GF being overrated.

As do I.

 

[Blackhawk42]

Potentially adds our in 08 because of the result. The ultimate boilover.

Actually, if you take out 07, the period from 05 through to '12 were all epics.

 

[ABSOLUTE MADMAN]

Actually, if you take out 07, the period from 05 through to '12 were all epics.

For 75%-80% of South Australian football fans 2007 was an epic as well.

 

[Partridge]

In terms of high quality footy you won't see many better. Geelong were a potent team that era and so were we. Blight thought being physical and knocking us off our game early on would benefit his team later on and it would have worked had we not counter punched with goals against the flow. I felt after half time they were the better team. Not many teams that era put 8 goals on us in a quarter like they did in the last. He backed in their offensive power to overrun us. If you look at the game as a sheer offensive spectacle it's why it's rated the greatest ever

Not to mention the small detail that a highly skilled, high scoring game is the best thing you can possibly get. As much as everyone obsesses about tactics and details, the game is still ultimately about marks and goals. And 1989 has more great ones of either than any other Grand final I can think of - and all stand the test of time perfectly well.

 

[Libbaaaa]

What is so good about 2018 apart from the final passage of play by the Eagles leading to the Dom Sheed goal?

 

[iameviljez]

It seems silly to say so.
High scoring. 6 point final margin. Gary Ablett SNR 9 goals. Dermott getting his ribs crushed at the start then kicking a goal after. Dipper with a collapsed lung among many wounded Hawks holding on to the lead.

But the game never really felt in the balance for the majority of it. Alot of the people that talk it up as the greatest game seemingly have not watched it and just know a bunch of the facts outlined above.

I do think that when it comes to the 1989 GF, it's easier to say that it wasn't really close when you watch it in full knowledge of what the end result actually is. The mindset of 2020s footy also doesn't help.

The 1980s was a lot more free-scoring than the game is today - and so a six-goal lead was worth much less in the 1980s than it is now, especially when you have the kind of firepower that both Geelong and Hawthorn had at their disposal at the time. Don't forget that quarters were also five minutes longer than today.

The game didn't start to 'feel' close, admittedly, till Geelong started to really come back halfway through the third quarter. But it was very much alive through that last quarter, and I think that's easy to miss when you know that Geelong runs out of time. There's a shot about ten minutes into the last, with Hawthorn still three to four goals up, of a Hawks supporter in tears watching the game, and it seems a bit ridiculous when you know that they do win. But that's hindsight.

 

[iameviljez]

2005, I think, is the really overrated one. Wonderful heartwarming result, great mark by Leo Barry

Leo Barry

Age

48

Ht

184cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.8

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

5.6

4star

M

5.0

5star

T

1.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

4.4

1star

K

2.6

1star

HB

1.8

2star

M

0.8

1star

T

1.2

3star

, nail-bitingly close - but a crap game to watch. The whole thing was just one big slog from end to end and if it had been a four-goal margin rather than two points, it would have been regarded as one of the worst GFs.

The 2006 game was far better to watch.

 

[iameviljez]

2009-2012 is the best 4 year Patch of Grand Finals in history. Every game was epic, 2011 was an all timer till 3 qtr time forget what happened in the last.

2011 is a better GF than 2009 IMO - it's just that the result blew out at the end.

2009 was also a case of a side having more than enough chances but throwing it away - StKilda really should have been out of sight about halfway through the third quarter.

 

[windyhill]

2005.
A close game doesn’t make a great game. Absolutely horrific.

 

[timokane]

Any grand final cats and hawks won they were crap all of them

 

[iameviljez]

What is so good about 2018 apart from the final passage of play by the Eagles leading to the Dom Sheed goal?

Collingwood losing.

But apart from that, yeah, I agree. It's not a standout game compared to, say, 2012.

 

[bzparkes]

What is so good about 2018 apart from the final passage of play by the Eagles leading to the Dom Sheed goal?

Aside from the majority of the first quarter, the game was on a knife edge the entire time. Plenty of great moments.

 

[HairyO]

What are some of the most overrated grand finals, in your opinion?

My memory only extends to the early 90s, but I have watched a few replays from before that. The 1989 VFL Grand Final is widely considered the greatest ever, but as a game, I wouldn't even put it in the top 5, to be honest. Maybe top 10. It did have great moments, a lot of carnage, 10 goals from Ablett, but it never really felt like the game was in the balance. Hawthorn looked like winning all game. Still a great final, and has the nostalgic value of being the last VFL granny.

2005 Grand Final: not just sour grapes because we lost, but despite being close it was a pretty dour affair. Still a great gf, but not one of the best.

2023 Grand Final: another great one, but not possibly the best as some were saying. Collingwood were inaccurate and shouldve put the game to bed. As far as close grannies I think the 09, 10, 12 and 18 gfs were better.

2005 was the worst grand final I have ever seen. And Ive been watching them since 1978 and have also watched recordings of previous grand finals.

The only reason people hype it is because the score was close. But the actual game was ****ing awful. Paul Roos came up with the very worst game plan out of any coach ever:
Sit on the ball and do nothing and kill it at every opportunity and wait for the opposition to make a mistake and then do something.

2005 was the lowest scoring grand final in history and was played in literally perfect weather.

2006 was going to be more of the same but WCE had worked out how to beat Roos and at least won a not very memorable game.

 

[Wolfgang West]

2013

 

[timokane]

1989 is just a goal shoot out but never had any pressure at all

goals kicked at each end thats all

who cares about that

 

[timokane]

As soon as Collingwood won the 2023 premiership 2018 grand final was erased indefinatley.

Also west coast were spooners as well in 2023.

dom sheed most over rated moment ever hack of a player

still had time to kick another goal pies and only had the ball in pies f50 at the siren

2018 was a flog grand final and never ever seen such an umpire effected debacle

one of the worst gf.

eagles had no right to be there limped over the line v melbourne week before

tigers top team at the time

pies had the 2018 grand final really a must win this one

thanks to 2023 we shut up all the eagles fans for good

hawks 2013-2015 were a snore fest

cats 07 09 11 likewise

no real gf grabs me apart from 2023 2010 and 1990 to be honest

happy lions won this year tho

start of the end of the rorting cats

 

[kane249]

What is so good about 2018 apart from the final passage of play by the Eagles leading to the Dom Sheed goal?

Pies 5 goals up in the first, Eagles fight back to level it by 3/4 time.
Pies jump out again start of the last with 3 of the first 4 goals, Eagles just keep coming back.

Game was an arm wrestle for a lot of the day outside of the Pies 2 bursts, was a great contest.

 

[Tandy]

2019, 2023

 

[iameviljez]

2019, 2023

2019 is pretty universally regarded as one of the worst GFs in history.

 

[Dazzler9]

What is so good about 2018 apart from the final passage of play by the Eagles leading to the Dom Sheed goal?

You might wanna watch a replay, it was a titanic struggle the whole game. The ebb and flow alone was enough to make it a classic, let alone the close margin and THAT passage. Plenty of decent clunks as well.