The '90s

[Deathray]

Never really understood why people lust over and pine for one on one contests in such a large team sport, but that's just me.

I imagine people pine for it because it's just that- a contest. Personally I'd rather see a superior full forward kick ten goals one on one than be stifled by two and three defenders at a time, but that's just me.

 

[Damon_3388]

I imagine people pine for it because it's just that- a contest. Personally I'd rather see a superior full forward kick ten goals one on one than be stifled by two and three defenders at a time, but that's just me.

Personally, I prefer the team to work well together and win. One player doesn't have to kick all the goals for it to be more enjoyable or "the right way". It's not netball where there's a Goal Shooter and Goal Attack, after all.

 

[Deathray]

Personally, I prefer the team to work well together and win. One player doesn't have to kick all the goals for it to be more enjoyable or "the right way". It's not netball where there's a Goal Shooter and Goal Attack, after all.

Your missing the point, a contest is player A's skills and abilities versus player B's skills and abilities. I guess it could be argued team versus team is also a contest but personally I'd rather see the true stars of the game shine than the coaches.

 

[Scotland]

If you don't want to know the score, please look away now.

'Riiiiigggghhht on the tip of my tongue....'

 

[Cudi_420]

great post OP

these are special time in your life u will never forget...u will always look back

The 90's were great..the game was still brutal, night footy and Wayne Carey.

Grand Finals seemed way more special/a bigger event than now...watching the channel 7 marathon the night before etc. getting up early watching every minute. I dont know maybe it was my age but Grand Finals/Grand Final day just seemed bigger.

Yep the night before marathon was the best. I remember staying up until 3-4 in the morning with my dad watching that. It was also when "That Was The season That was..." would air. Then you'd have the under-18s GF at 9am, then the reserves GF at 11, and then the GF at 2:10. One thing I loved as well was getting to games at 10am and watching the reserves, and seeing the stadium slowly fill up. If the reserves was a close game it was awesome bevause by the end, most people would have arrived for the "seniors" and so everyone was cheering for the reserves. Good times. Also, a pie, chips and drink cost like $6. And the chips were massive and filled to the brim, covered in normal salt and then drenched in vinegar from the self-serve kiosks. I'd pump sauce directly into my pie, and the sauce bottle would have crumbs all over the top. These days that would be a food safety issue lol

 

[Elite Master]

If you don't want to know the score, please look away now.

'Riiiiigggghhht on the tip of my tongue....'

They were doing that in the early to mid 2000's as well to be fair.

 

[Macpotata]

I was just watching a documentary called "The '90s: The Decade That Delivered", which is basically like the "That Was The Season That Was ..." annual documentaries that ran until the mid-90s, but instead covered the whole decade instead of a single season

I loved this decade because it was more of an "introductory" phase for me, I'd been following and supporting since maybe 1991 but it wasn't until 1994 that I started really remembering and "barracking". Between 1994 and 1999 I was 8-13 years old, so a lot of the things that happened in that period really stick with me because it was part of "growing up".

It would be great to hear some stories and memories from "90s kids" that grew up during this era and started following AFL then. I was born in '86 so the 90s and early 2000s were my schooling years, and I was obviously very influenced and inspired by this time in my life.

Looking back over the years and thinking of AFL in the 2000s and 2010s, the 90s really stand out for me, but again I can't quite tell if it's because I'm biased or because it genuinely was a fantastic decade.

Part of the reason why I think the 90s stands out is because it was when the league made the transition from amateur to pro league. The addition of interstate teams here was obviously very important. You could tell that the quality of talent and everything about the sport was growing.

On that point, I loved the interstate rivalry that existed in the 90s, and I wish that passion returned. It arguably died with Teddy Whitten. These days it's kind of "My club is better than yours" or "My city is better than yours" and it's very bitter and petty in comparison.

The obvious standout from this decade was the "pure" full forward. Lockett, Dunstall, Ablett, Modra,. You'd often see guys like Salmon, Lyon, Kernahan, Longmire kick massive bags of 6+. And of course, Carey. I try to explain to friends and my girlfriend what it was like going to football in the 90s. The best modern day example is probably Buddy, but he wasn't a rarity in the 90s, there was so much pure, perfect talent running around then, guys that could do no wrong and always hit a target, brush off tackles, kick it post high from 60 out. To me Buddy Franklin is the closest thing we get to a 90s forward. That kind of player that puts bums on seats.

The 90s was an okay decade for me Demons, I don't remember much of the 1990 and 1991 finals, but I fondly remembering the ANZAC Day game vs Essendon in 1992, when we led by 8 goals at 3 1/4 time and still lost, and when Sydney won its one and only game of the year against us in 1993. The merger game was massive but I remember not quite understanding the severity of it. I was just thinking of the potential of a Melbourne-Hawks merger and what the team would look like, but I also remember my dead having a "NO MERGEr" banner, which I think is still at home. I was at the merger game -- it's on YouTube here -- and I remember Dunstall kicking his 100th for the year.

I saw Lockett, Ablett and Dunstall kick their 100th goal. I saw Carey go on tears and kick 11 goals against us. I remember a game against Geelong in 1993, Melbourne won by 14 points, but Ablett kicked 11.0 lol

Anyway, enough of my memories. What did you love about the 90s? Your fondest memories?

I just came.

 

[Cudi_420]

I just came.

Saturday night viewing sorted?

 

[PerthBoy87]

They were doing that in the early to mid 2000's as well to be fair.

And i remember the song "Do you see what I see" So it went like this:

If you don't want to know the scores.....look away now...

(Scores go on TV screen with song)

"Do you see what I see"

Lol classic

 

[Rabman]

I imagine people pine for it because it's just that- a contest. Personally I'd rather see a superior full forward kick ten goals one on one than be stifled by two and three defenders at a time, but that's just me.

Would you be happy if a bloke kicked 12 goals against your team and you lost the game.

 

[brucetiki]

great post OP

these are special time in your life u will never forget...u will always look back

The 90's were great..the game was still brutal, night footy and Wayne Carey.

Grand Finals seemed way more special/a bigger event than now...watching the channel 7 marathon the night before etc. getting up early watching every minute. I dont know maybe it was my age but Grand Finals/Grand Final day just seemed bigger.

I think it was a combination of the day being a whole day of footy (as mentioned earlier) with the TAC Cup and Reserves GF, and the pre-match being a bit more grander, with the motorcade of retiring players being given a bit more prestige and having legit singing talent like The Seekers, John Farnham (in his prime), Marina Prior etc instead of awful has-beens like Meatloaf and irrelevant X Factor finalists.

These days all we get in the lead-in is 4-5 hours of drivel and plus for Channel 7's 4th quarter (ratings wise) shows.

While I don't think it would be appropriate for the VFL Grand Final to be the curtain raiser these days, I can't see why the TAC Cup GF can be reinstated as the curtain raiser, or have the top 2 u/16 states (from the national championships) play first, then the top 2 u/18 states and make it a full day of footy once again.

 

[James Colorado]

$2 entry to Waverley.

 

[earlsta]

Have great memories of the 90s. Lived very close to Moorabbin ground as a child and always use to kick the footy there on the ground.

Used to walk around the ground like I owned the joint, remember walking into the change rooms from the dugout during the week and saw the hall of famer Peter Hudson talking to Ken Sheldon, lol.

Was at the game when Lockett kicked 15 against Sydney iirc?
Also remember a cop on the fence got in pluggers way during a match, so Lockett grabbed him around the body and swung him like 5 metres, it was so ****ing funny.

Also broke my toe kicking the footy in the stands, I missed the ball and kicked my foot into the brick step.

Remember those dunking machines at school fetes? Plugger was sitting in one at a st kilda family day, I got to dunk him in lol. After Lockett left for Sydney I started barracking for my second favourite team because of Modra.

They talk about Rance being best full back of the century.. pft Silvagni was a god. Lockett, modra, Ablett and Carey would kick about 10 on Rance. The 90s were awesome!

 

[Minka Beaver]

I grew up on 1990s footy.

The game at the highest level changed more between 1987 and 1997 than in any other decade during the 20th Century.

The thing to me that always gets underplayed with the '90s is just how uncertain everyone was of the game's future. Up until Fitzroy got merged off and the Melbourne Hawks hit the skids, the predominant story was which Victorian club(s) would die off. It was a horrible narrative and some of the solutions (Allan McAlister wanted to merge all the Victorian clubs into each other) would have set the game back decades if they'd happened.

The second story was ground rationalisation. Once the Great Southern Stand opened and once TV insisted on games being spread across the weekend, Waverley Park lost its real purpose. Some parts of the suburban grounds were outdated, but they certainly had a romance and uniqueness (size, playing conditions) that made them memorable.

Professionalism (improved bargaining agreements in the late 1990s made players and coaches full time) and rule changes (such as increased benches) meant the game became more defensive and possession-focused. The Neil Busse-led tribunal cleaned up the game, while keeping some of the danger involved.

Like all eras, some changes were good; some not.

Things I miss include stay-at-home forwards kicking bags, Fitzroy, Saturday afternoon being the key time slot, not selling games interstate, needing to have good skills on both sides of the body and great one-on-one duels.

I don't miss the constant worry as to whether my club would still exist in six months' time, State of Origin (it died with Ted Whitten), sketchy match coverage and dreadful Finals systems.

Oh - and I miss proper footballing mavericks like Allen Jakovich and Adrian McAdam. They're extinct.

 

[Scotland]

The 90s (and to a degree 70s and 80s) was a once in a lifetime era for professionalism coming in and the competition becoming national.

Tony Modra was playing country footy at 21 and sort of fell into AFL footy, then in his second season at 24 kicked 129 goals. Adrian McAdam landed from the NT, had an awesome debut season at 22, an ordinary second season at 23 then was never seen again. Even Russell Robertson got a crack because he sent a video of himself in to Almost Football Legends. There are still mature age draftees these days but you don't get the same sort of stories. If you're 21+ and playing in a state league your chances of making it to the AFL are tiny.

 

[Macpotata]

This thread shall stay alive.


What a ****ing decade.

 

[Macpotata]

WAverly, Moorabin, the Western Oval, Victoria park, Princess Park, the WACA, Carrara, Windy Hill

Loved those days!

 

[Macpotata]

If you don't want to know the score, please look away now.

'Riiiiigggghhht on the tip of my tongue....'

****ing lol!!!!!!!

 

[Macpotata]

 

[andrew coombs]

Horrendous era in which to be a key defender, especially a fullback. Blokes like Plugger,Dunstall,GAS and Modra were able to compete one on one with their opponents most of the time with predictable results. Used to watch Dunstall working with the wide pockets at Waverley and feel sorry for the poor bastard trailing in behind. It was as if the opposition coaches were prepared to give the great spearheads at least eight set shots for goal a match and hope like hell their radar was off.

 

[Macpotata]

Horrendous era in which to be a key defender, especially a fullback. Blokes like Plugger,Dunstall,GAS and Modra were able to compete one on one with their opponents most of the time with predictable results. Used to watch Dunstall working with the wide pockets at Waverley and feel sorry for the poor bastard trailing in behind. It was as if the opposition coaches were prepared to give the great spearheads at least eight set shots for goal a match and hope like hell their radar was off.

Dunstall kicked 29 goals vs the tigers in two games season 92 lmao.

Had you guys got past wce in 92 elimination final the premiership was yours. Poor kicking in the 1st qtr as was the case in the first meeting with wce that year cost you. 4.6 both times to 1.0 and 1.3.

 

[andrew coombs]

Dunstall kicked 29 goals vs the tigers in two games season 92 lmao.

Had you guys got past wce in 92 elimination final the premiership was yours. Poor kicking in the 1st qtr as was the case in the first meeting with wce that year cost you. 4.6 both times to 1.0 and 1.3.

Yeah I remember Sheedy saying exactly this. There were a few bad losses at home home that year which cost them dearly in the end and sent them to Subiaco for a cutthroat final. When they turned it on that year they were unbeatable but that didn't happen often enough. Dunstall kicked 139 goals ( 6.3 ave ) and polled 18 votes to run second in the Brownlow.

 

[Macpotata]

Yeah I remember Sheedy saying exactly this. There were a few bad losses at home home that year which cost them dearly in the end and sent them to Subiaco for a cutthroat final. When they turned it on that year they were unbeatable but that didn't happen often enough. Dunstall kicked 139 goals ( 6.3 ave ) and polled 18 votes to run second in the Brownlow.

Champion he was. He actually snagged 145, I think maybe 6 came vs wce in that elimination final.

Best full forward ever in my book.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Yes, I admit to missing the days when key forwards booted goals, and plenty of them. I remember going to Football Park to watch the Hawks defeat Adelaide in 1993. That evening, Dunstall booted 9 and Modra 7 and I felt privileged to watch the shootout. The next day, Essendon defeated Geelong. That was the day Salmon kicked 10 but Ablett topped him with 14. There was something magical about those days.

 

[smasha]

Great music scene,Christbait or Magic Dirt down the local pub,people with blundestones,recycled 501s and flannelette shirts.

Best band I saw,Scarymother at the P.O.W. St Kilda.

Mind blown.

They were scary good,drummer played side on to to the crowd,incredible he was.

Watching Richmond come out of the doldrums,saw us beat North in 1994 and it signalled the rise of a too long sleeping giant of the game.

1995,I lost the plot at games especially the one against West Coast at Princes Park,when he had not beaten the Eagles in ten years,the media just loved bullying Richmond those days when we were struggling,that West Coast game only 17k were there but it sounded like 70k,amazing day,Richmond for life!

Norf ,of course played their grand final in 1995 in the first final,played their leggies off to beat us but the following week,when the Bombers were playing their little leggies off and the umps were blowing the nuts from their whistles for the Bombers,the Tiger Army sat at half time and thought that the season doesn't come to this,Richmond came out and Daffy kicked a ripper goal then goals came quick from the likes of Turner and Naish,the Tiger roar that day I will never forget in my lifetime.

Richmond Rule!!