The most disappointing AFL season for PAFC is ...

[SgtSchulz]

1990 - we should have been in the AFL in prisonbars with Buckley etc playing for us

1991. Can you imagine how powerful the club would've been if it got in first. The second team by default would've been Norwood and if there is one thing for sure, if you are middle class or working class, you are going to go for Port over Norwood.

In general over our 145 year history.

Worst

1. 2007 (Nightmare)
2. 1991 (Birth of Crows, didn't win any finals, Wangannen to Essendon, birth of Crows.)
3. 1912 (Unbeaten for the season with a percentage of over 200, kick 32 points against Westies in GF.)
4. 1896 (Port players who split two years earlier to form West Torrens consign us to the spoon.)
5. 1976 (Choked in front of 80,000 at Football Park)
6. 2003 (More Nightmares)
7. 2002 (Even More Nightmares)
8. 2011 (Diabolical but not worst, last game of season was brilliant and Butcher was "The Future".)
9. 1889 (Have the best offence for the year and lose to Norwood in the nations first Grand Final.)
10. 1900 (Lowest win and percentage total from any season.)

Best

1. 1914 (Unbeaten and 4th Championship of Australia creates our fabled aura.)
2. 1910 (2nd Championship of Australia defeating SA, VIC, WA and NSW premiers.)
3. 2004 (Presentism says this should be number one but It was more relief than anything.)
4. 1959 (6th straight premiership.)
5. 1890 (1st Championship of Australia for the club with a percentage of 388%.)
6. 1980 (Record breaking year on many levels with many of our modern legends in their prime.)
7. 1977 (Sheer relief and the beginning of another dynasty.)
8. 2014 (Adelaide Oval, Prison Bars in a Final, confidence in the club and unification complete.)
9. 1965 (Fos Williams 9th premiership, Last Grand Final at Adelaide Oval in front of record crowd.)
10. 1913 (3rd Championship of Australia.)

 

[Scholz Supremacy]

From what I can remember, 2010 is up there as I believe we should have made finals that year. It was great that we started the year 5-2 but that 9 match losing streak was horrible and it was the end of Chocco. Winning 5 out of the last 7 under Primus wasn't ideal either. If anything it cost us a draft pick better than Ben Jacobs and gave us false belief in Primus.

I'm a bit young to remember all of 2002 & 2003 but I do remember both of the QF losses. 2002 against Collingwood my old man was going ape shit at the game all night and in 2003 against Sydney my eldest brother was the same when it was just me and him at home watching. After the game Anthony Hudson said "What do you think....of Port Adelaide!?" and my brother punched the couch and yelled "CHOKES!".

2007 was a good year, up until that very last Saturday in September we had a good season. But what happened that day scarred the club for years. Careers were ruined and us supporters will always be reminded of it forever, no matter what we do. 2008 was horrible as we fell so badly from grace and won just 7 games and inconsistency plagued us in 2009 when finals were within the question that year.

Barring a dramatic turnaround, this season will be remembered for the wrong reasons too.

 

[pafc88]

That's right. One of those diabolical moments in our short afl history. We have had more of those bad record setting moments in our short history then what we accumulated in 125 years prior to it. For me it overwhelms our one flag. I think it set us back for as long as it takes us to win a premiership. We're still in the wilderness given that a highly rated team loses to two bottom ranked teams because ... they've lost confidence?! This weight of expectation stuff exemplifies it too.

We arnt in the wilderness from 2007. Everything has changed since then.. We are setting records off the field. On field will follow we are just having a shite season.. Gees even im not that pessimistic

 

[tribey]

02, 03, 05, 07

To not get a single flag out of those years is ridiculous.

 

[SgtSchulz]

07
To not get a single flag out of those years is ridiculous.

All the other teams best players against Geelong in 07 wouldn't have beaten Geelong in the Grand Final.

 

[tribey]

All the other teams best players against Geelong in 07 wouldn't have beaten Geelong in the Grand Final.

Between us,

- not turning up,
- missing Michael Wilson,
- having a good portion of the team rock up carrying injuries that in any other week probably would've seen them omitted,
- having Geelong fuelled by the wildly overhyped goal celebrations and Williams' bizarre hubris during the week,
- and Phil Walsh telling Williams not to flood back when Geelong had a run-on because "it's a Grand Final",

You're right. Still, if Brett had got us off to a good start, causing Geelong to take a breath, we might have won that game 1 time out of 100.

 

[SgtSchulz]

Between us,

- not turning up,
- missing Michael Wilson,
- having a good portion of the team rock up carrying injuries that in any other week probably would've seen them omitted,
- having Geelong fuelled by the wildly overhyped goal celebrations and Williams' bizarre hubris during the week,
- and Phil Walsh telling Williams not to flood back when Geelong had a run-on because "it's a Grand Final",

You're right. Still, if Brett had got us off to a good start, causing Geelong to take a breath, we might have won that game 1 time out of 100.

Siren one minute in and we win.

 

[tribey]

Siren one minute in and we win.

In all seriousness, it was just our luck that in a year when everyone was eminently beatable, instead of the flag being wide-open a la 1993, 1997, 1998 and 2005, we happen to run into a Carlton '95/Essendon '00 juggernaut.

Had Geelong collapsed into another disappointing mess a la '06 after their 2-3 start we probably jag our second in what would've been the softest year in many a decade.

Talk about sliding doors. What if after losing to a thoroughly mediocre North at Kardinia Park they had to go to Perth or Sydney. Instead they get Wallace's Richmond at the Dome and trigger stellar ignition.

 

[SgtSchulz]

In all seriousness, it was just our luck that in a year when everyone was eminently beatable, instead of the flag being wide-open a la 1993, 1997, 1998 and 2005, we happen to run into a Carlton '95/Essendon '00 juggernaut.

Had Geelong collapsed into another disappointing mess a la '06 after their 2-3 start we probably jag our second in what would've been the softest year in many a decade.

Talk about sliding doors. What if after losing to a thoroughly mediocre North at Kardinia Park they had to go to Perth or Sydney. Instead they get Wallace's Richmond at the Dome and trigger stellar ignition.

Imagine if we won in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007...Imagine indeed.

 

[70sDinosaur]

If we're going back to pre-AFL days, another year I'd nominate that hasn't been mentioned thus far is 1974.

It was John Cahill's first year as coach and, after a slow start, we were 2-3 after 5 games.

From that point on, everything clicked and we went on an 18 game unbeaten run (17 wins and a draw) that carried us into the 2SF against Sturt, where we lost a bizarre game by 5 points after kicking to a 6 goal lead in the first quarter.

I eagerly awaited the rematch in the GF against Sturt a fortnight later, feeling confident that we'd turn the tables and take the flag.

But we never got there.

We inexplicably played a shocker in the PF against Glenelg (a team we'd dominated in three previous meetings that year) and lost by 8 goals.

That was a terribly disappointing end to a season that had looked so good for so long and promised so much more.

I think the 18 game unbeaten run we had that year is the longest we've had in the 45 years that I've followed the game. I think 8 is the most we've had in the AFL.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

If we're going back to pre-AFL days, another year I'd nominate that hasn't been mentioned thus far is 1974.

No we are not, and I dont know why we did, because werner made it cyrstal clear in the thread title ....
The most disappointing AFL season for PAFC is ...

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Every bloody one except 2004 because I expect to win premierships.

 

[SgtSchulz]

Every bloody one except 2004 because I expect to win premierships.

To me 2014 was as good a year one can have without winning a premiership. I'd always rather lose a prelim than a Grand Final.

 

[Rexie J]

On reflection, this thread is like trying to pick which ex you detest the most

 

[PA88]

We arnt in the wilderness from 2007. Everything has changed since then.. We are setting records off the field. On field will follow we are just having a shite season.. Gees even im not that pessimistic

I wouldn't go as far as saying that re pessimism.

Yep, on-field good, off-field has reverted to the bad times.

 

[Power Raid]

1990 - we should have been in the AFL in prisonbars with Buckley etc playing for us

oh what could have been

we would be the number one SA team in the AFL and Norwood as deserving number 2

 

[raptalia]

2015 (so far)

 

[SgtSchulz]

2015 (so far)

Presentism.

 

[Waspy79]

2003, 2002, 2007, 2005, 2014 in that order.

The ends to all of these seasons burn in my gut the most, and will burn deep with me forever. A season of lost opportunity and regret is a bad season - the worst kind IMO. A season of mediocrity begins hurting far earlier but is far easier to come to terms with.

 

[Scholz Supremacy]

Between us,

- not turning up,
- missing Michael Wilson,
- having a good portion of the team rock up carrying injuries that in any other week probably would've seen them omitted,
- having Geelong fuelled by the wildly overhyped goal celebrations and Williams' bizarre hubris during the week,
- and Phil Walsh telling Williams not to flood back when Geelong had a run-on because "it's a Grand Final",

You're right. Still, if Brett had got us off to a good start, causing Geelong to take a breath, we might have won that game 1 time out of 100.

Also, beating them with the last kick of the day in Round 21 down at Kardina didn't do ourselves any favours.

 

[Andre]

Taking how I felt at the end of the season then 2007, but not by a huge degree over 2003 and 2002.

Looking back now 2007 by a long shot for almost destroying the club on and off field. 2003 QF's tactics of starting Stevens in the pocket is probably the angriest I've been though.

I don't expect a flag every year, but we've had a heap of disappointing years, all things considered.

2000 for being so bad.

2001 - 2003 for the finals choking. 2004 I couldn't enjoy during the year thanks to the previous three years finals. Even the GF it wasn't until it was impossible to lose I could relax.

2005 - shit in all the ways described.

2007 - 2012.

2015 to date.

I always have and will love Port and get something from almost all our games, but in the AFL I'd say there are only two seasons that I've really enjoyed the whole seasons during and after the seasons. Those are 97 for our first year in the big league and last year (by daylight) for getting out of the swamp to AO. The club finally starting to be recognised as not a minnow off-field as the artificial (SNAFL) restraints are loosened and we played a style of football that was a joy to watch, in a way Choco's teams never were even when they won.

 

[SgtSchulz]

Taking how I felt at the end of the season then 2007, but not by a huge degree over 2003 and 2002.

Looking back now 2007 by a long shot for almost destroying the club
on and off field. 2003 QF's tactics of starting Stevens in the pocket is probably the angriest I've been though.

Yeah when a season almost destroys your club you know its pretty bad.

 

[SgtSchulz]

2003, 2002, 2007, 2005, 2014 in that order.

The ends to all of these seasons burn in my gut the most, and will burn deep with me forever. A season of lost opportunity and regret is a bad season - the worst kind IMO. A season of mediocrity begins hurting far earlier but is far easier to come to terms with.

If you think 2014 was a disappointment...

 

[El Zorro]

2008, 2011, 2015

 

[Waspy79]

If you think 2014 was a disappointment...
View attachment 147498

Absolute waste of a season. Should have finished top 2.. choked that away... then choked away a grand final spot by kicking point after point in the prelim. Infuriating, especially so in light of season 2015.