The biggest "What could've been?"

[ep2018]

2006 - Sydney beats West Coast in first final at Subiaco by a couple of points.
If WC had won we would have had a home prelim against them (we had beaten them twice already that year, the last one by 80 odd points from memory), instead of travelling to Sydney to play at Olympic stadium where we had never played before.
Would have been 50/50 game at least, and winner would have played Sydney or Adelaide in GF presumably.

I still think the occasion would have gotten the best of you and we'd have won.

 

[Damon_3388]

Was he under pressure at that point? Back to back prelims isn't a sackable offence.

Wasn't that also when the 'Clarko to West Coast' thing was being floated by Mike Sheehan?

 

[the_big_sav]

BSN.

What comes out of us when we cut ourselves?
What happens to our clothes when there's too much grease and sauce on them?
What does the N in RNB hip hop band NWA stand for?

Holy crap!
No way

 

[ep2018]

Travis Varcoe kicks the goal at the end of the 2013 prelim. I reckon we beat Geelong and all the Ross Lyon threads on big footy aren't created and Chief has one less luxury car.

At the very least extra time would have taxed Hawthorn enough that maybe you'd have won the next week.

 

[ep2018]

Who'd have won the 2013 GF you think? Geelong or Fremantle?

Freo easily. Geelong were cooked at the end of the PF. Hate to see how the GF that year would have gone for the Cats. Grateful that Hawthorn won as we'd never hear the end of a freo flag...

 

[Gavin Excell]

Who'd have won the 2013 GF you think? Geelong or Fremantle?

Freo had wood over cats that year. Having said that were overawed in the GF early

 

[Tigersfan35]

Definitely... multiple list managers over that period though....
Think of what COULD have been.... Ryder, Selwood, R Gray, Wood and Pendlebury added to our team....

There is also a thing called the salary cap which limits the amount of star players you can have

 

[Aramis]

There is also a thing called the salary cap which limits the amount of star players you can have

I think the players would have been sufficiently happy heading into their 5th premiership in a row

2011 and 2012 would have turned into premierships! gotta love hypotheticals!

 

[Gydafud]

Travis Varcoe kicks the goal at the end of the 2013 prelim. I reckon we beat Geelong and all the Ross Lyon threads on big footy aren't created and Chief has one less luxury car.

I think we would have lost in extra time still, had it gone that far. Hawks were still doing plenty of attacking throughout that last quarter and would have done enough. Geelong only had one last chance to save the game and didn't take it.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Waverley would have been a nightmare. You were already a mile from the action, imagine being as high up as you were from the boundary...

Promotion/relegation would have prevented a professional competition from developing. We don't have the population for it to work properly, and it isn't like soccer, where a bunch of ammos could compete with the pros

All Hawthorn's wasted high picks in the mid 2000's....
2005 Draft
Pick 3 - Xavier Ellis... chosen over Scott Pendlebury and Josh Kennedy (WCE)
Pick 6 - Beau Dowler... chosen over Paddy Ryder, Nathan Jones and Shannon Hurn
2006 Draft
Pick 6 - Mitch Thorp... chosen over Joel Selwood, David Armitage and Jack Riewoldt
Pick 24 - Brent Renouf... chosen over Kurt Tippett, Tom Hawkins, Todd Goldstein and Robbie Gray
2007 Draft
Pick 29 - Brendan Whitecross... chosen over Jack Steven and Easton Wood

One final one that hurts is 2010 Draft...
Pick 38 - Mitch Hallahan to Hawthorn
Pick 40 - Luke Parker to Sydney.....

Butterfly effect. If hawthorn picked one (such as Pendlebury or Kennedy), there's no garuntee it'd end the same, not to mention getting the same picks each year

 

[Rotayjay]

There were enormous melts from people like me after the Crows shat the bed in Round 23, 2016. There was a perception that we had taken a genuine shot at a flag and pissed it away before the finals series even started.

It was a very even top 8 last year, underlined by the fact that the premiers finished 7th (with a record that would've gotten top 4 in other years). So I thought about what might have been if my team hadn't collapsed under the weight of expectation in Rd 23, and posted this on the Crows board:


ALTERNATE UNIVERSE - ADELAIDE NOT SHITTING BED AGAINST WEST COAST

Qualifying & elimination finals
Sydney (1st) v Hawthorn (4th) (Hawthorn might have won, but I doubt it)
GWS (5th) v North (8th)
West Coast (6th) v Bulldogs (7th) (Same game as real life)
Geelong (2nd) v Adelaide (3rd) (I can't see any good reason why we'd beat Geelong in the 2016 finals)

Semi-finals
Hawthorn v GWS (Giants had the Hawks' measure, but Hawthorn might have won at the MCG)
Adelaide v Bulldogs (Could we have beaten the '2016 finals series' Bulldogs? Would've been at AO, but we all know how hot their form was in Sep 2016)

Preliminary finals
Sydney v Bulldogs (Swans might've gotten up, but the Bulldogs beat them at the SCG in real life and also in the grand final in real life)
Geelong v GWS (I can't even tip this one)

Grand final
Bulldogs v either Geelong or GWS. Against GWS, the Bulldogs would've won. Against Geelong, who knows? Geelong had the Dogs' measure last year.

So the finals series 12 months ago could have had a very different flavour.

 

[Occidental]

We don't lose 64 GF by 4 points
We don't lose 65 Semi by 1 point
We don't lose 66 GF by 1 point
We don't lose 70 GF after being 44 points up.
We don't lose 73 PF after being 40 points up
We don't tie 77 GF
We don't lose 79 GF by 5 points.

We'd have 20 flags by the end of the 70's !

 

[demondavey]

Purely from a game perspective;

What if;

Adelaide beat Essendon in the 1993 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Adelaide

North beat Geelong in the 1994 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - West Coast

The WB beat Adelaide in the 1997 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - St Kilda

Essendon beat Sydney in the 1996 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - North

Essendon beat Carlton in the 1999 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Essendon

Adelaide beat West Coast in the 2006 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Adelaide

Collingwood beat Geelong in the 07 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Collingwood

Geelong beats Hawthorn in 08? Do they still win in 09?
Me - Yes

Adelaide beat Hawthorn in the 2012 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Adelaide

Geelong beat Hawthorn in 2013? Do they defeat Fremantle?
Me - No

Port beat Hawthorn in the 2014 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Sydney

Fremantle beat Hawthorn in the 2015 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - West Coast

Geelong beat Sydney in the 2016 Preliminary Final? Who wins the flag?
Me - Geelong

 

[Toump Ass]

Lovett 2010.

Could he have been the difference?

Not giving away Luke Ball for nothing might have helped too.

 

[Aramis]

We don't lose 64 GF by 4 points
We don't lose 65 Semi by 1 point
We don't lose 66 GF by 1 point
We don't lose 70 GF after being 44 points up.
We don't lose 73 PF after being 40 points up
We don't tie 77 GF
We don't lose 79 GF by 5 points.

We'd have 20 flags by the end of the 70's !

God damn.... when you say it like that... 1970 GF... just looked up the stats, unreal... 73-29 at half time.. went on to lose...

 

[demondavey]

We don't lose 64 GF by 4 points
We don't lose 65 Semi by 1 point
We don't lose 66 GF by 1 point
We don't lose 70 GF after being 44 points up.
We don't lose 73 PF after being 40 points up
We don't tie 77 GF
We don't lose 79 GF by 5 points.

We'd have 20 flags by the end of the 70's !

Faaaaaark. Did you lose two grand finals in a row by 1 point????

 

[hawker11]

If North had relocated to Gold Coast, would GWS have resulted in the relocation of another Melb based club (e.g. Greater Western Sydney Bulldogs)?

 

[demondavey]

We don't lose 64 GF by 4 points
We don't lose 65 Semi by 1 point
We don't lose 66 GF by 1 point
We don't lose 70 GF after being 44 points up.
We don't lose 73 PF after being 40 points up
We don't tie 77 GF
We don't lose 79 GF by 5 points.

We'd have 20 flags by the end of the 70's !

How did you lose 70 and 73???? Man! You guys have lost a lot of Grand Finals!

 

[OldLion]

Fitzroy beat Hawks 1983 Qual - then beat North and into a gf v bombers.

 

[demondavey]

What if Moore kicked that shot or Hodge wasn't incorrectly awarded holding the ball in the 2014 prelim. No 3 peat, No 2 peat, Hawks discussed very differently and Port win a premiership as the only team outside the top 4 in the current system without a bye week.

Must frustrate you watching that finals series then no finals in 15 and 16, then losing the EF on Saturday. I am actually not being sarcastic either.

 

[demondavey]

Melbourne won in 1954 and 1958. That would be premiers in 54,55,56,57,58,59,60.

 

[demondavey]

And we hadn't have sacked Norm Smith......

 

[JohnZ]

Winning a flag tends to do that.

Yea no s...

Saved Thompsons career at the cats too, just pointing out the fact that after winning in 2008, the board were becoming restless and expecting results. A geelong win in the 2013 PF could have changed Hawthorn's current trajectory quite a bit from what we have now.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Holy crap!
No way

Yes way.

Mind you, this was the '40's or thereabouts.

 

[Marmozet]

- Franklin stayed at Hawthorn
- There wasn't a bye pre-2016 finals
- If drawn Grand Finals went into extra time back in 2010
- Collingwood got past Geelong in the 2007 PF
- Port Adelaide didn't keep choking in the early 2000s