The biggest surprise of the season?

[Sydneyfan]

Sorry if this topic has been done before, but I was wondering what everyone thinks was the biggest surprise of the season?
I've got a few ones here:
* St. Kilda's form in the 2000 season, many at the start of the season thought the Saints would make the 8
* Essendon's form in the 2000 season, everyone thought Essendon would go well, but that well? 21-2 in the Home and Away matches and a Premiership!
* Adam Heuskes's shock retirement weeks before the Lions' finals campaign
*But the biggest surprise for me would have to be Paul Kelly's suprise appearance in the match against the Dockers! Not many saw that one coming

I thought it was a master plan by the Swans coaching staff and management to secretly include him in the side after not including him in the named side on the previous Thursday, and was well worth the fine!

 

[sandie]

sydneyfan
I don't want to seem pedantic, but it was actually 21-1, only 22 h & a games.

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mantis

 

[GoEagles]

Unfortunately Sydney lost that game too

 

[Sydneyfan]

Sorry about sandie, typo.

 

[Bee]

As a Carlton supporter, the biggest surprise of the season was discovering how hard it is to put a cork back in a champagne bottle!

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The Blues. The Best in the business.

 

[walshy1993]

round 21

 

[dees01]

For me it was Melbourne making the Grand Final. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even think Melbourne would make the finals.

[This message has been edited by dees01 (edited 30 November 2000).]

 

[DEES RULE!]

i would defently have to say melbourne getting so far.
i mean i knew they could do it but i mean they finished 3rd and made it to the grand final after being 14th last year.. now u can't get much better than that when it comes to improvment so i completely agree with you dees01 i think the dees were very underated and they surprised us all!
GO DEES!

 

[Pessimistic]

Ken Judge saying the players at West coast aren't good enough.

And before you coasters get on my case just remember - his first year at hawthorn (1996 came 8th above richmond) was his best - and we were 5 years on from our last premiership, like WCE last year.

 

[Spidergirl~RiCkChiCk]

yeh i would have to say Melbourne they manage to pull a shock on us every year one minute its rock bottom then come the next season they've skyrocketed back up as a finals side...weird!

Saints was another shock. Real shock.

As for Essendon well from the first day i went to their pre-season at the start of the year i could tell they were gonna be the kings of the competition this year however it never crossed me that they would go almost undefeated like that.

sPiDeR eVeRiTt and RiCkY oLaReNsHaW
~kewlest players round!!!



[This message has been edited by Spidergirl~RiCkChiCk (edited 30 November 2000).]

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

yeah Sydneyfan

I fell off my chair when Paul Kelly ran out in that Freo game - totally gobsmacked, but we didn't win and whats more I don't think we deserved to either. In a typical Freo v Sydney game they thrashed us - and barely raised a sweat while doing so as well. grrrrrr !

 

[JUBJUB]

Biggest suprise of the season.

Geelong making the finals and Essendon losing a game.

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"He is a loathsome offensive brute,yet I can't look away".

 

[Olmy]

Originally posted by dees01:
For me it was Melbourne making the Grand Final. I couldn't believe it. I didn't even think Melbourne would make the finals.

[This message has been edited by dees01 (edited 30 November 2000).]

Yeah, spot on. At the end of '99, I thought Melbourne would struggle to make a decent go of it in 2000. You had the retirement of Lyon, Viney etc., along with the drafting restrictions.

But then came the pre-season, and they looked pretty good in the Ansett Comp. Luckily for them, they were able to piece it together throughout the season - winning enough games on a "here and there" basis, to make the top 4, and win through to the GF.

A huge surprise in my opinion.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Apart from Melbourne's vast improvement (I tipped 'em for the spoon

); for mine, it's how good a side Carlton were. I didn't rate 'em at all going into 2000 even after they finished runners-up in 1999. I reckon they would have been a very serious challenger for the Dons had the injuries not hit at the wrong time.

 

[Aussie_Roo]

That a large organisation - like the AFL mis-managed everything to do with Colonial Stadium. I expected a few minor hiccups, but everything that could go wrong did.. Totally unacceptable..

 

[Freo_For_The_Flag]

I would probably have to agree with a couple already said. The fact that Essendon made it through the season losing only one game was a big suprise whilst Melbourne making it all the way to that one day in September was pretty huge. A another couple though would be Woewodin winning the Brownlow and Haselby performing so well in his first season, being tagged from his 4th game.