Rate the best performing clubs of the AFL era (1990-). Looking beyond number of premierships and at overall performance

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May 2, 2006
28,073
42,054
Brisbane
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
East Fremantle
1. Geelong
2. West Coast
2. St Kilda
3. Collingwood
4. Hawthorn
5. Brisbane
6. Sydney
7. Adelaide

9. North
10. Richmond

11. Essendon
Should be

1. Hawthorn
2. West Coast
3. Geelong
4. Brisbane
5. North
6.Sydney
7. Collingwood
8. Adelaide
9. Richmond

The rest in no particular order and ranking is based on premiership success with time spent towards the top a small influence.
 

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1. Geelong
2. West Coast
2. St Kilda
3. Collingwood
4. Hawthorn
5. Brisbane
6. Sydney
7. Adelaide

9. North
10. Richmond

11. Essendon

Geelong on top. Two second places. Hawthorn (the most premierships since 1990) somehow behind Geelong, West Coast, St Kilda and Collingwood.

Jeez.

Count the premierships, count the grand final appearances. That's pretty much all you need.
 
  1. Hawthorn
  2. WCE
  3. Geelong
  4. Brisbane
  5. NM
  6. Essendon
  7. Sydney
  8. Collingwood
  9. Adelaide
  10. Richmond
  11. Western Bulldogs
  12. Port
  13. Carlton
  14. St Kilda
  15. GWS
  16. Fremantle
  17. Melbourne
  18. Gold Coast

This is the correct one. Ranked in terms of flags, with the tie breaker being GF appearances, and the last tie breaker being finals appearances I assume?
 

marty36

Brownlow Medallist
Aug 17, 2009
26,372
9,223
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Hawthorn is the best performed club of the AFL era and it is only up for discussion when someone joins them on 5 flags in the period.

It would definetly have to be between Hawks and West Coast for 1st , both super impressive teams and clubs

As for the poster who rates the Saints WTF, if you were a saints supporter you would be fuming at Zero Premierships and rate yourself very low because of the lack of ability to finish the job, like I was in 2017
 

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Danger2Jenkins

Knight of the Teutonic Order
Oct 17, 2019
486
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Moe Heights
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Moe Bushrangers
But St Kilda, Collingwood and Geelong all built better lists than Hawthorn.

Hawthorn being the best (derived from facing 3 interstate sides and Geelong choking) doesn't seem logical to me. They didn't once achieve a great percentage during the season. This isn't a flag tally thread. There are 22 other matches in the season and the clubs performance should be judged in those also. Others achieved 160%+ and thus better performed.
 
May 5, 2006
62,726
70,017
AFL Club
West Coast
Has to be Haw-WC 1-2.

Flags > GF appearances > finals appearances > H&A wins.

Haw: 5 flags, 6 GFs, 18 finals series, 39 finals, 22 finals wins, 371 H&A wins.

WC: 4 flags, 7 GFs, 23 finals series, 53 finals, 26 finals wins, 384 H&A wins.

Geel: 3 flags, 7 GFs, 21 finals series, 53 finals, 26 finals wins, 419 H&A wins.

BL/BB: 3 flags, 4 GFs, 11 finals series, 27 finals, 17 finals wins, 276 H&A wins.

Interestingly Hawthorn aren't #1 for anything except GF wins. But they do have the highest conversion rate of GFs to flags, and a better finals win percentage than WC and Geelong. Brisbane have the highest finals winning percentage of all of them including 2009 and 2019 when they were 1 from 4. They really were around for a good time and not a long time. 1999-2004 was 18 finals for 14 wins, 4 GFs and 3 flags. Not much since and best not to focus on the before.

Sydney pretty good from 1996 onward but weighed down by the early 90s.
 

Sirlemsip

Club Legend
May 5, 2014
1,040
1,840
AFL Club
Hawthorn
But St Kilda, Collingwood and Geelong all built better lists than Hawthorn.

Wait, is this thread about 'who built the best list in the AFL era' or the actual thread title?

It is pretty clear who is the best performing club of the AFL era in regards to Premierships.
Premierships are invariably the best metric for 'performance' or 'success' in sport.
I would also be pretty confident that if you asked anybody else - they would prefer to win 1 premiership in 30 years than to have the 'best list' for 30 years straight but have 0 premierships.

Nice attempted troll.
 
Feb 13, 2011
10,764
13,543
AFL Club
Richmond
Has to be Haw-WC 1-2.

Flags > GF appearances > finals appearances > H&A wins.

Haw: 5 flags, 6 GFs, 18 finals series, 39 finals, 22 finals wins, 371 H&A wins.

WC: 4 flags, 7 GFs, 23 finals series, 53 finals, 26 finals wins, 384 H&A wins.

Geel: 3 flags, 7 GFs, 21 finals series, 53 finals, 26 finals wins, 419 H&A wins.

BL/BB: 3 flags, 4 GFs, 11 finals series, 27 finals, 17 finals wins, 276 H&A wins.

Interestingly Hawthorn aren't #1 for anything except GF wins. But they do have the highest conversion rate of GFs to flags, and a better finals win percentage than WC and Geelong. Brisbane have the highest finals winning percentage of all of them including 2009 and 2019 when they were 1 from 4. They really were around for a good time and not a long time. 1999-2004 was 18 finals for 14 wins, 4 GFs and 3 flags. Not much since and best not to focus on the before.

Sydney pretty good from 1996 onward but weighed down by the early 90s.
I think basing it solely on Premierships is too rigid. Sydney overwhelms Brisbane's record in All other categories.
 
May 5, 2006
62,726
70,017
AFL Club
West Coast
I think basing it solely on Premierships is too rigid. Sydney overwhelms Brisbane's record in All other categories.

It's not based solely on premierships, though. Brisbane and Geelong have 3 each but no one thinks Brisbane had the better period. But I'm not taking Geelong's H&A wins over an extra flag and more finals series.
 
Feb 13, 2011
10,764
13,543
AFL Club
Richmond
It's not based solely on premierships, though. Brisbane and Geelong have 3 each but no one thinks Brisbane had the better period. But I'm not taking Geelong's H&A wins over an extra flag and more finals series.
At some point more wins, more Minor Premierships, more Finals series and more Grand Finals have to outweigh the extra premiership though right?

Fwiw, my list would be:

Hawthorn
West Coast
Geelong
Sydney
Brisbane
Collingwood
North
Adelaide
Richmond
Port Adelaide
Bulldogs
Carlton
St Kilda
Fremantle
Melbourne
Giants
Gold Coast
 
May 5, 2006
62,726
70,017
AFL Club
West Coast
At some point more wins, more Minor Premierships, more Finals series and more Grand Finals have to outweigh the extra premiership though right?

At what point?

Is a club that plays finals 23 times in 30 seasons and wins 4 flags better than one that plays finals 15 times and wins 10 flags and 10 spoons? Richmond were a joke for most of 1990-2019 and won 2 of the last 3 flags. I'd still rather be them than St Kilda.

H&A wins and minor premierships in the AFL don't really mean anything. They are just a stepping stone to September. If you won 5 McLelland trophies in a row and no flags you'd be crucified. Tough gig. It's not like England where winning the EPL over 38 games is much more prestigious than winning the FA Cup over 7 or 8. Derm is "5 time day and 5 time night premiership player" at every sports night into ever. Tom Brady is 6 time Super Bowl champion, 4 time Super Bowl MVP. Michael Jordan is 6 time NBA champion, 6 time NBA finals MVP. No one really cares that Jordan isn't top 20 all time for total wins, and no one really cares what James Harden does in regular season games against Atlanta when it's Toronto vs Golden State in the finals.
 

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