Who would you rate as the strongest premiership side in the AFL era?

[st_trav_ofWA]

Hahahaha Saint Kilda. It was a complete aberration when you beat us. We proved it by slapping you five weeks later and doing it again this season.

yes the top of the table team beat the bottom 3 team ... obviously the greatest team ever ....

the fact you so called most domiant team could be caught out by a 11th placed team highlights that they are in fact only the best team of the year not the best of the last 25 years ... Geelong in 07 - 11 didnt have aberration games against lowly opponents ... the Lions from 01-03 didnt have aberration games against lowly opponents ... Saints of 09 lost 2 games in the season one by 2 points and one by 5 ... Richmond in 2017 lost two games by over 10 goals !! one to the team they flogged in the finals and the other against a rebuilding St Kilda ...

richmond sit well outside the best teams of the last 25 years

 

[Tarkyn_24]

I remember that Freo/Sydney game. That’s actually not a bad shout at all. Freo were immense that day. Still a prelim though and they couldn’t back it up.

Our 2017 pressure is far superior to Collingwood’s in 2010 largely due to the fact our pressure was all over the ground plus we were a quicker side that played with greater intensity. Richmond copied the Dogs of 2016 but made some tweaks here and there. The following season Collingwood, Essendon, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Hawthorn and Gold Coast replicated Richmond 2017 to some extent. West Coast were two steps ahead of the game and figured out how to beat it. It will be interesting to see what trend is successful in 2019.

Won’t disagree with the quicker side argument but there really wasn’t all that much different between the defensive game styles. Collingwood probably choked up at the ball a little bit more than Richmond whereas Richmond balanced their defence all over the ground. The major difference between the two for mine was in their offensive style, with Richmond moving the ball forward with whatever means available to them while Collingwood played their stupid chipping along the boundaries and kicking 12.23 every week.

 

[Nobu]

yes the top of the table team beat the bottom 3 team ... obviously the greatest team ever ....

the fact you so called most domiant team could be caught out by a 11th placed team highlights that they are in fact only the best team of the year not the best of the last 25 years ... Geelong in 07 - 11 didnt have aberration games against lowly opponents ... the Lions from 01-03 didnt have aberration games against lowly opponents ... Saints of 09 lost 2 games in the season one by 2 points and one by 5 ... Richmond in 2017 lost two games by over 10 goals !! one to the team they flogged in the finals and the other against a rebuilding St Kilda ...

richmond sit well outside the best teams of the last 25 years

Why do you keep bringing up St Kilda? Your club should not be anywhere near this thread haha. The fact that we won a flag and you couldn’t instantly makes us a better team than you.

Anyway, the poll has us 4th, so I’m not too far off the mark. People let their hatred for Richmond get in the way of honest voting. Our pressure would trouble every side on this list. We are the strongest MCG tenant of all time. You’re deluded if you think we wouldn’t pants the majority of this list.

 

[maroon and blue]

A moment in time, the Lions rampant. A legend is born.

 

[ManOfClay]

Essendon 2000.

In my opinion:

You can’t downgrade a flag purely for not backing it up the next year. Nor is it applicable to suddenly rate a single flag better because they won again.

Each flag is an isolated case in my opinion.

 

[Jtree]

Late 2000s Cats were unbelievable ... 09 and 11 they beat some of the hardest opposition ever to grace the stage too.

 

[NonPhixion]

That Geelong 07-09 team was so damn good. Playing there best footy they were as close to unbeatable as you can get. 7 all Australians in 2008 is absolutely crazy. I don’t think we will see that again.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Carlton 2087

Which by then will be composed entirely of number one picks

 

[bungalow_bill]

Except Collingwood 2011 were more dominant than tha St Kilda side on basically every single measure?

Geelong 2011 the most impressive premier of the last ten years, because they got over the line in a competition with dominant Collingwood and Hawthorn teams. Rate Essendon 2000 slightly ahead because that is probably the most sublime season you’ll ever see. They made all other comers look second rate.

Perhaps 2000 was a weak year and Essendon were the AFL version of Lleyton Hewitt. Previously dominant teams were on the wane while future power houses Lions and Port were yet to peak. See 2001 and the Bombers weren't quite so dominant now that the Lions were roaring

 

[adammania9]

How does Hawthorn playing non-Vic teams in their three peat lessen the Hawks’ achievement? Hawthorn were the underdogs of 2/3 of those grand finals, and convincly won three grand finals in a row against the competition’s best challenger of those years.

Would it look better if Hawthorn played a weaker, but Victorian, side in those grand finals?

Hawthorn’s dominance rustled so many‘s sanity that they continuously try to put them down on any way shape or form. “Compromised drafts” is the saddest excuse, as if second and third year spuds being sent to different clubs caused the league to capsize into easy dominance for Hawthorn.

I’d take that Hawthorn three peat over Brisbane’s without batting an eye.

 

[bungalow_bill]

Hawks 08 were dominant and beat a much better team in the grand final.

Lions 01 were on a 16 game winning streak and defeated the mighty Bombers in the grand final

 

[scotty13]

Brisbane by the flemington straight.

Changed the way teams play finals

 

[bungalow_bill]

Brisbane by the flemington straight.

Changed the way teams play finals

I'm perplexed that not one person has voted for Port. Minor premiers 02-04. A great team that with some luck could have two or three flags

 

[carnaroys08]

It's forgotten the Lions were very stiff not to have picked up the 1999 Flag! Finished the H&A 3rd with 16 wins, regularly annihilated their opponents (nearly 20% points clear of the next highest % after the H&A). Were getting scary good in the run up to the Finals. The Cubs smashed eventual runners up Carlton by 73 pts in the Qualifying Final (M.Voss injured for the remainder of the year in that game) & thumped the Bulldogs by 53 pts the next week in the semi. Had lost to eventual Premiers North earlier in the year at the MCG by 2 pts. Just had to get over them in the Prelim & the Flag was ours. Mick Martin gave Simon Black a depressed fracture of the eye socket early in that game (the mongrel). Still, the Lion Cubs were up by a few points at half time but the writing was on the wall. We fought bravely & went into 3/4 time 14 pts down a spent force, then fell away in the last qtr. The young Lions missed that Flag due to old fashioned thuggery! North didn't deserve that Flag.
2004 we were robbed by having to travel for the Prelim & didn't help ourselves by playing an unfit Lynch. What were they thinking???? Plenty of injuries can disappear with a few "jabs", but you don't play a bloke with a hamstring strain! F&%ken stupidity.
Genuinely unlucky not to have won 5 flags in 6 years; anyway 3 in a row was pretty good. That team would have torn Hawthorn & Geelong a new one
Bombers in 2000 were superb, but for only one season. The Lions broke their aura of invincibility during the H&A season 2001.

edit. Felt especially sad for Matthew Kennedy missing out on that flag in 1999.

 

[The GOAT]

Lions 01 were on a 16 game winning streak and defeated the mighty Bombers in the grand final

Yeah that’s a good nomination as well. Both played ‘better’ finals series than the Dogs in 2016.

 

[Turboman1994]

If we are going for singular seasons then bombers 2000 side takes the cake unreal domination that year

 

[winty]

Why do you keep bringing up St Kilda? Your club should not be anywhere near this thread haha. The fact that we won a flag and you couldn’t instantly makes us a better team than you.

Or it could just mean the competition in 2008-2010 was stronger than the competition in 2017...

 

[Nobu]

Or it could just mean the competition in 2008-2010 was stronger than the competition in 2017...

It wasn’t though. Adelaide 2017 would destroy any of those slow Geelong sides. The game has changed for the better.

 

[winty]

It wasn’t though. Adelaide 2017 would destroy any of those slow Geelong sides. The game has changed for the better.

If you seriously think the Geelong sides of 2007-2011 were slow, you are just showing how little you know about football. You don't beat sides by 100 points in finals by chipping the ball around.

 

[Nobu]

If you seriously think the Geelong sides of 2007-2011 were slow, you are just showing how little you know about football. You don't beat sides by 100 points in finals by chipping the ball around.

Definitely slow.

 

[Wojcinski]

Definitely slow.

lol

 

[HairyO]

Geelong - broke almost every record there is to break.

Says it all.

Except couldnt even win 2 in a row. Shows just how amazingly hard it is to go back-to-back, wouldnt you say?

So how hard must it be for the 2 teams which managed to go back-to-back-to-back ???

Im not sure how you differentiate between Hawthorn and Brisbane.

Brisbane had COLA but travel. Hawthorn had home ground. That said, Hawthorn travelled all over the country during the end of 2015 and through the finals.

 

[Engimal v3]

Geelong 07-11 were much better than Richmond of 2017. Let's establish that and move on.

 

[Macpotata]

Brisbane was a better team.
The Hawks got lucky playing WCE & Freo
Dont get me wrong. They were still a very good team

no luck at all. Freo were brilliant in 2013, just not on Grand Final day. Tremendous in their first two finals. Took their foot off the gas in the last qtr of the prelim.

2015 WCE were all class. Smashed the Hawks in Perth week 1 of the finals, dealt a harsh call in their narrow loss in the home and away encounter when the game was up for grabs, and finished the season as the most in form side. To do what the Hawks did in this day and age when you're up against all the enhanced fitness regime's, champion data and sports science etc is phenomenal. Going back to back is incredible in itself.

 

[Wojcinski]

OP should check the option so we can see which nuffies voted for any of the last 3 premiers.