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Shaun Burgoyne was already the only player to have 200 games with one club and 150 with another. After his final game today he now is the only player with 250 games at one club (250 with Hawthorn) and 150 with another (157 at Port Adelaide).
 
To this day I am still amazed at the 1998 Richmond side

11-0 at home
1-10 away - Their 1 win. Against the premiers.

Though, I do have a question
Are the 1998 Tigers the only side to win all their home games and miss finals?
 
The first week of finals this year will see some interesting match-ups.

The Bulldogs and Essendon will play in their first final since the 1953 First Semi Final, won by the Bulldogs over the Bombers by 8-points, and Ted Whitten in the Footscray team, John Coleman in the Essendon line-up. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place that year, while Sir Edmund Hillary became the first recorded man to ascend to the summit of Mt Everest and Dwight Eisenhower is inaugurated as United States President.

Melbourne and Brisbane as either the Bears or Lions have never met in a finals match. They were in the same finals series a number of times in 2000, 2002 and 2004 when the Brisbane Lions were at the height of their powers and the Demons were doing their even year make the finals, odd years miss the finals thing, but never played a final. Taking Fitzroy into account, Melbourne and Fitzroy last met in a finals match in the 1960 Second Semi Final, the Demons and Lions coached by brothers Norm and Len Smith respectively. These teams never played in the same finals series again thereafter, Fitzroy having to wait until 1979 to see finals action again, and Melbourne missing the finals for a remarkable 22 years from 1965-1986. Melbourne returned to the finals in 1987 and made a number of September appearances in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but Fitzroy didn't make the finals again after 1986.

At the other end of the scale, Port Adelaide and Geelong have met in a number of finals over the years, and the Sydney Swans and the GWS Giants will remarkably play their third final in 7 years. Derby finals meetings between other interstate teams are very rare, in fact there is only one other example, a 2005 SA Showdown semi final in which the Adelaide Crows crushed Port Adelaide by 86-points. The West Coast Eagles have never played the Fremantle Dockers in a Western Derby finals match, and the Gold Coast has never made the finals so obviously no Q Clash final against the Brisbane Lions.
 
Though, I do have a question
Are the 1998 Tigers the only side to win all their home games and miss finals?

Technically no, though they're the only one of 15 teams to miss finals after going 11-0 at home.

Carlton was 9-0 in the 18-round season of 1926
Collingwood and Geelong were 8-0 in the 17-round season (including 'sectional rounds') of 1900 and did not play a final. 1900 used an unusual finals system that was not repeated.
 

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2021 will be the first season since 2004 that:

- Brisbane and Sydney will appear in the same finals series (remarkably, one but not both appeared in every finals series from 2005-2020)
- Melbourne and Brisbane will appear in the same finals series
- Melbourne and Essendon will appear in the same finals series
- Essendon will appear in a finals series, while Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond miss (all 4 missed the finals in 2016)

2004 was the last year that:

- Port Adelaide won the premiership
- Brisbane made the Grand Final
- Essendon won a finals match
 
In their last 4 QFs, Geelong have kicked the following:

2017 - 5.10 (15 scoring shots)
2019 - 7.9 (16 scoring shots)
2020 - 5.12 (17 scoring shots)
2021 - 5.13 (18 scoring shots

It's a shame they kicked slightly too accurately in 2019 to upset the pattern. (No, I didn't go all the way back to 2016, because that spoils the joke).
 
The NRL are at present in the process of bringing in a 17th team for 2023. The contenders are all a second team from Brisbane, but the Adelaide Crows might be hoping the NRL resurrect the Adelaide Rams for the 17th NRL team? Why is that? The Adelaide Rams were in existence only two years in 1997 and 1998, and in both years the Crows won the premiership. They never won a premiership before the brief tenure of the Rams, and have not won another one in 23 years since then.
 
Players with highest percentage of voting games in AFLCA award (since 2004, min 50 games)

PlayerH&A gamesVoting gamesTotal votes
% Voting games
Fyfe, Nat191106628
55.50​
Ablett junior, Gary2981641010
55.03​
Judd, Chris219114689
52.05​
Goodwin, Simon13067359
51.54​
Oliver, Clayton11860339
50.85​
Walsh, Sam6131156
50.82​
Mitchell, Sam273137740
50.18​
Dangerfield, Patrick262131784
50.00​
Pendlebury, Scott309153820
49.51​
Martin, Dustin245116682
47.35​
Bontempelli, Marcus16075511
46.88​
West, Scott9041254
45.56​
Ricciuto, Mark6931166
44.93​
Mitchell, Tom14062325
44.29​
Selwood, Joel297130783
43.77​
Cripps, Patrick13860332
43.48​
Hall, Barry14563357
43.45​
Macrae, Jack17475371
43.10​
Merrett, Zach16168382
42.24​
Franklin, Lance293123675
41.98​
Riewoldt, Nick269112619
41.64​
Swan, Dane23597555
41.28​
Kelly, Tim8033210
41.25​
Beams, Dayne16568383
41.21​
Cotchin, Trent253104565
41.11​

Lowest percentage...

PlayerH&A matchesVoting gamesTotal votes
% Voting games
Sutcliffe, Cam106
0.00​
Gleeson, Martin94
0.00​
Taylor, Simon A.83
0.00​
Batchelor, Jake82
0.00​
Laidler, Jeremy80
0.00​
Hughes, Ethan75
0.00​
Russell, Luke73
0.00​
Johnson, Paul A.69
0.00​
Kersten, Shane66
0.00​
Pattison, Adam66
0.00​
West, Trent66
0.00​
Joyce, Jesse64
0.00​
Delaney, Luke63
0.00​
Jones, Matt61
0.00​
Lloyd, Daniel61
0.00​
Mathieson, Rhys61
0.00​
Richards, Ed61
0.00​
Lonergan, Jesse60
0.00​
Murphy, Lachlan59
0.00​
Knight, Riley50
0.00​
Waterman, Jake50
0.00​
Schofield, Will18112
0.55​
Lemmens, Sean11412
0.88​
Kelly, Jake10711
0.93​
Murphy, Thomas10613
0.94​
 
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When Port Adelaide commenced in 1997 and the new Brisbane Lions began following the merger of the Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy at the end of 1996, the AFL had a number of seasons in the following years in which teams from all five competing states qualified for the finals.

This was first seen in 1997, again in 1999, and in both 2003 and 2004. However since then it has not happened once, despite the addition of Gold Coast and GWS in 2011 & 2012. After their great run, the Brisbane Lions missed the finals from 2005-2008. They returned to finals action in 2009, but this would prove short lived, and the Lions would not play in September again for another decade when they qualified for the 2019 finals. The Gold Coast have never made a single finals series in their history adding to the Queensland finals drought of the 2010s, and while the Swans have made the finals most years missed in 2009 when the Lions made a brief return to the finals, and were again missing in 2019 and 2020. The Adelaide Crows and Port Adelaide looked good in the mid 2000s, but fell down the ladder in 2018 and 2019, leaving South Australia without a finals presence. GWS has made the finals in every year from 2016 onwards, but not 2020 when the absence of the Swans prevented any NSW teams in the finals. The lowly Fremantle Dockers have been absent from the finals since 2015, but the West Coast Eagles have been pretty reliable in their finals series in recent years. However, this year the enigmatic Eagles never really got going, and ended up stumbling and missing the finals, leaving no WA teams in the 2021 finals series.
 
I am surprised how few players with 300 or more games have become senior coaches. And there are even fewer that have had long and successful coaching careers.

There are currently 97 players who have played 300 or more games. Twelve of them played during 2021.

Of the 85 retired 300-gamers, only 14 have been appointed senior coaches. Sam Mitchell will become the 15th when he takes the reins at Hawthorn in 2022.

Five had coaching experience during their playing days, taking on the role of captain-coach. Dick Reynolds (4 premierships), Jack Dyer (1 premiership) and John Nicholls (1 premiership) enjoyed success while Ted Whitten and Kevin Murray didn't with only one finals series between them.

Six had short, unsuccessful coaching stints after their playing careers were over - Kevin Bartlett (4 seasons, 0 finals), Tony Shaw (4 seasons, 0 finals), Wayne Schimmelbusch (3 seasons, 0 finals), Tim Watson (2 seasons, 0 finals), Francis Bourke (2 seasons, 1 Grand Final) and Bernie Quinlan (1 (incomplete) season, 0 finals).

The remaining three had (or are having) long and successful coaching careers after their playing careers - Leigh Matthews (20 seasons, 4 premierships), Paul Roos (12 seasons, 1 premiership) and Adam Simpson (8 seasons, 1 premiership).
 
On that, my guess would be Leigh Matthews vs Kevin Bartlett may be the matchup with the most games played by respective coaches? (And possibly most flags won by coaches as players?).
Kevin Bartlett (403 games) and Leigh Matthews (332 games) would be the matchup of the most games played by rival coaches.

For most flags won by rival coaches as players, there are 5 instances of 11 combined premierships. Ron Barassi features in all 5 instances.

Ron Barrasi (6 flags) v John Beckwith (5 flags) in 5 Carl v Melb games in 1968-70.
Ron Barassi (6 flags) v Brian Dixon (5 flags) in 2 Carl v NM games in 1971.
Ron Barassi (6 flags) v Ian Ridley (5 flags) in 4 games in 1971 and 1973 (2 Carl v Melb, 2 NM v Melb).

These three were all teammates of Barassi during Melbourne's premiership wins between 1955 - 1964.

Ron Barassi (6 flags) v Francis Bourke (5 flags) in 4 Melb v Rich games in 1982-83.
Ron Barassi (6 flags) v Gary Ayres (5 flags) in 2 Syd v Gee games in 1995.

Barassi and Kevin Bartlett did win a combined 11 flags but never coached against each other. Bartlett's coaching career at Richmond from 1988 - 1991 occurred after Barassi finished coaching Melbourne in 1985 and before he took on the Sydney coaching role in 1993.
 

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Much was said on the weekend about Essendon's amazing finals drought of 17 years dating back to September 4 2004, with babies born around this time now teenagers getting their driver's licenses.

However, the Werribee Tigers from the VFL went an amazing 26 years from their admission in 1965 all the way until 1991 without winning a finals match, either in First or Second Division. The team did struggle in the 1970s and didn't make the finals during this decade which adds to the drought, but the odd finals appearance in a First Semi Final always ended in defeat. Particularly galling were 1987 and 1988, where the Tigers finished Division 2 minor premiers and both years crashed out of the finals in straight sets. In 1990, and with the VFA back to one division, the Tigers made and lost an Elimination Final, then the next year finally ended the finals drought beating Dandenong in the Second Semi Final. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Redlegs reversed the result in the Grand Final and took home the 1991 VFA premiership.

Since then, the Tigers have had a hoodoo not so much with finals in general but Grand Finals. The only flag that went to Werribee was the 1993 premiership, this ironically when rank outsiders to Port Melbourne in a match that finished in a total debacle when the crowd thought the final siren had gone and surged onto the field at Princes Park, but they have not won any of their other Grand Finals in 28 year since then.

Still, at least the Tigers are still around. Many of their fellow teams from the long gone days of the VFA have gone out of existence, or are playing at a lower level league.
 
Bulldogs have won their past five Semi Finals.

What are the all time greatest winning streaks for each week of the finals?
North Melbourne won five consecutive Preliminary Finals from 1974 - 1978, before losing the 1979 Preliminary Final.

Richmond has won its past five Semi Finals (in various forms) - 1980, 1982, 1995, 2001 and 2020.

Geelong are also on a Semi Final winning streak - winning their past four Semi Finals in 2017 and 2019 - 2021.
 
North Melbourne won five consecutive Preliminary Finals from 1974 - 1978, before losing the 1979 Preliminary Final.

Richmond has won its past five Semi Finals (in various forms) - 1980, 1982, 1995, 2001 and 2020.

Geelong are also on a Semi Final winning streak - winning their past four Semi Finals in 2017 and 2019 - 2021.
Melbourne played in, and won, the last four Elimination Finals under the Final Five system from 1987 - 1990. It then defeated Essendon in the 5v6 Elimination Final in 1991 under the new Final Six system, so five Elimination Final wins in a row. In 1994, 7th placed Melbourne defeated 2nd placed Carlton in the first week of the new Final Eight system (a loss would have seen Melbourne eliminated) while in 1998 4th placed Melbourne defeated 5th placed Adelaide (a loss could have seen Melbourne eliminated).

So Melbourne played in six Finals series with a first-up cut throat game, winning all six. This was followed by a seventh Finals series where a first game loss could have resulted in Melbourne being eliminated (although very unlikely).

Between 1963 and 2002, Melbourne played in 11 Finals series and won its first finals game every time - a truly remarkable record. The streak was broken in 2004 when Melbourne lost the Elimination Final to Essendon by 5 points. Of course, that game is now best remembered as Essendon's last Finals win.
 
if geelong play bulldogs in the grand final it will be only the 4th time teams that finished either 1st or 2nd have not made the grand final.

other occasions being:
1980 3rd v 5th rich v coll
2019 3rd v 6th rich v gws
2020 3rd v 4th rich v geel
 

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Bulldogs have won their past five Semi Finals.

What are the all time greatest winning streaks for each week of the finals?
This is what the Footy Works program has for winning streaks in the various finals:
Elimination Final:
1630826143789.png

Qualifying Final:
1630826330041.png

Semi Final:
1630826441707.png

Preliminary Final:
1630826277103.png

Grand Final:
1630826230465.png

Included just to be thorough!:
Round Robin Final:
1630826646875.png
 
And losing streaks in the various finals:
Elimination Final:
1630831766817.png

Qualifying Final:
1630831936511.png

Semi Final:
1630832202267.png

Preliminary Final:
1630831879694.png

Grand Final:
1630831816975.png

Included just to be thorough!:
Round Robin Final:
1630832140133.png
 
How are you able to use FootyWorks, Daics?

I've tried to download it last week and nothing.

I was able to previously but not now.
You should be able to download a working copy from this page: Downloads (sorensen.com.au)
1630833536973.png
I've used the program since it was first released many years ago, and have always been happy with it. If you mean you can't actually download the file that's a bit odd, as I just checked and was able to d/l both versions of it. If you are simply having a problem with getting it to run then the answer may be found in the tips shown in red.
 
Tom Hawkins has had 488 hit-outs according to AFL tables, and he's recognised now as one of the most effective 'forward ruck' types in that role.

Perhaps partially due to the back injury he suffered in 2013/14, and perhaps also the 3rd man up rule, but from 2013 to 2017 Tom had just a mere dozen hit-outs over those 5 seasons, encompassing 110 games. He had just one in 2014, one in 2015, and none at all in 2016. By contrast this season he's had 88 so far.

Just surprising that for such a tall bloke, he almost had none for a 5 year period.

On the subject of hitouts, Gary Ablett Jr didn't record a single one in his 357 games. Since that stat has been counted, has anyone else played more for never troubling that stat? I see that Brent Harvey had two, and Robert Harvey had several mid-career.
 
Brent Harvey also finished his final (and 21st season) with the career high tally of 36 goals for the year. Think i said this before but his record of 20 successive seasons of 10+ goals a year is pretty special. Ands he probably could have played on a couple more, he was an astonishingly durable athlete.
 

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