Analysis The Premierships that could have been.

[DarwinRoo]

Well considering that this photo is one of the most iconic photos in VFL/AFL history I think it’s fair to point out that someone was incorrect.

 

[Jimmy's Hot Dogs]

Thanks for that. Not enough pedantry in the world.

Decides not to mention the 1993 final v West Coast was at Waverley

 

[Forever North]

To this day the emotional impact of losing the 98 grand final in is greater the the 96 and 99 wins. I think it was 1.18 at the city end of the ground or something stupid like that. Simply insane. We simply threw away a premiership and it still ******* shits me. I probably go over that game more than our GF wins. I still seeth and curse at those Crows pricks every time we play them.

 

[WesternRoo]

This is a bit left field , but I reckon 2016 we were a real chance.
Prelim 2014/15, Hawthorn done and we beat the Bulldogs during the year as well as winning the first 10 straight.
It was there for the taking and we were well placed until injuries ruined it.

 

[Junk yard]

Could've.

 

[Hojuman]

Well considering that this photo is one of the most iconic photos in VFL/AFL history I think it’s fair to point out that someone was incorrect.
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Bloody hard as nails too Crimmins. Small bloke but just kept getting back up.

If you've never watched the 1971 g.f. do.
Hardest game l have ever seen.

 

[big_e]

This is a bit left field , but I reckon 2016 we were a real chance.
Prelim 2014/15, Hawthorn done and we beat the Bulldogs during the year as well as winning the first 10 straight.
It was there for the taking and we were well placed until injuries ruined it.

Rather than the injuries themselves, I reckon we managed players really badly that year. That was Scott's famous "get to 12 wins" year, and we had some key players play with niggles and injuries when they probably shouldn't have. We belted Richmond in Hobart on a Friday night - Goldy was a late out but hadn't been right for a few weeks, yet despite Majak being OK in the ruck, Goldy came straight back in and still wasn't at his best. Do you take a 70% Goldy over a 100% Majak? Normally yes, but when there are 12 games to go and you'll definitely be playing finals, there's not much to lose in giving one of your key players an extra week.

There were others who clearly would have benefited from a week off but the world's most stubborn coach couldn't see the forest for the trees. And by the end of the year, we were stuffed.

 

[Colbys Boots]

Personally, I don't think it matters how bad the umpiring or how arsey Leigh Tudor's kick was, you don't count a lost prelim as a missed opportunity for a premiership. Reach the grand final or STFU. Otherwise, you're acting like an entitled * supporter.

 

[Luke72]

Rather than the injuries themselves, I reckon we managed players really badly that year. That was Scott's famous "get to 12 wins" year, and we had some key players play with niggles and injuries when they probably shouldn't have. We belted Richmond in Hobart on a Friday night - Goldy was a late out but hadn't been right for a few weeks, yet despite Majak being OK in the ruck, Goldy came straight back in and still wasn't at his best. Do you take a 70% Goldy over a 100% Majak? Normally yes, but when there are 12 games to go and you'll definitely be playing finals, there's not much to lose in giving one of your key players an extra week.

There were others who clearly would have benefited from a week off but the world's most stubborn coach couldn't see the forest for the trees. And by the end of the year, we were stuffed.

Scotty not rotating players! I find that hard to believe

 

[shinboner magic]

Scotty not rotating players! I find that hard to believe

was really risk averse was bloated bard.
Think in 93 if we player anyone bar wce - we would of given it a real shake. Matched up with bluws:* very well.

 

[DarwinRoo]

They had a bye week at round 15 of the season and then there is a weeks rest before the finals.

It wasn’t niggles that ****ed us in 2016

 

[hellas_johnny]

This is a bit left field , but I reckon 2016 we were a real chance.
Prelim 2014/15, Hawthorn done and we beat the Bulldogs during the year as well as winning the first 10 straight.
It was there for the taking and we were well placed until injuries ruined it.

you beat me to this one. our injuries were crazy that year. have always said we would've won it that year if not for injuries. doggies came good at the right time but our best 22 was better then theres. unfortunately we got that best 22 on the park for maybe 9 games at most that year

 

[Kimbo]

you beat me to this one. our injuries were crazy that year. have always said we would've won it that year if not for injuries. doggies came good at the right time but our best 22 was better then theres. unfortunately we got that best 22 on the park for maybe 9 games at most that year

No more so than Ben Jacobs (played Rds 2-8 - all wins) and none thereafter, and Jarrad Waite, played Rds 1-12, then only two games thereafter (Rds 17, 19) for an 11-3 w/l record.

 

[Colbys Boots]

Let's be honest, the club gave up in 2016 with about 6 weeks to go.

 

[tazaa]

Let's be honest, the club gave up in 2016 with about 6 weeks to go.

The 11th and 12th wins against Collingwood and St Kilda to get us finals were false dawns.
I reckon we were cooked by the bye when Adelaide touched us up on a Thurday night. Then West Coast a few weeks later.

We lost too many soidiers, too quickly and we cooked the healthy players by ordering no break.

 

[Marstermind]

Let's be honest, the club gave up in 2016 with about 6 weeks to go.

Planning and announcing the 'retirements' of senior players during this time, with a finals series still ahead, is proof of this. Whether the decisions were right or wrong, the timing (a few days before the final H&A game with a finals spot assured) was deplorable.

 

[ferball]

Let's be honest, the club gave up in 2016 with about 6 weeks to go.

I wonder if there were rumours about the sackings floating around cos players seemed to have no heart a few times.

 

[Marstermind]

I wonder if there were rumours about the sackings floating around cos players seemed to have no heart a few times.

Maybe. I think the back-end of 2016 was one massive cluster-fudge of bad decisions, bad thinking, bad form and bad luck. However, the first half of the year was a bit of a false economy. Whilst the club did really well to keep on winning, and some of the wins were fantastic, some were less so. The twelve wins for the season came against teams who would eventually finish the H&A season 5th, 7th*, 9thx2, 11th, 12th,13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th (* - 7th ended up winning the flag). The 11 losses were 1stx2, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5thx2, 6th, 7thx2 and 10th.

What happened all around June that year was we lost good players who were flying through injury (Higgins, Waite, Jacobs), the difficulty of the draw started to resemble a COVID-19 graph, Brad set the bar ridiculously low (Just get to 12 wins when we're sitting 10-1), no doubt the talks with Boomer et al began, form fell away badly and belief went with it, the club began to believe that a rebuild was necessary before the year had even ended. They also believed that free agents would just come tumbling after the money. All to the point that we kind of 'gave up on the season' by the end.

I actually believe that the right call was made on Drew, Dal and Spud but done at totally the wrong time and in the wrong way. The strong stand on Wells was excellent. But the handling of Boomer was terrible and even if he didn't deserve another year (IMO he did), he deserved to be treated better. The worst mistake came from the board, who despite such a shambolic end to the year, doubled down on the belief in Brad and cost us 2.5 years scratching our arses until the inevitable happened.

 

[DarwinRoo]

The players wanted to know. It’s their fault.

 

[Marstermind]

The players wanted to know. It’s their fault.

And fair enough. All clubs would be having such conversations through the back half of every season with uncontracted, older players. But it was the club who announced it through a media release three days after securing a finals spot and three days before the last H&A game of the season. If that's how and when the players wanted it to be done, the club should have said no. It lacked poise on the eve of a finals campaign. They should have kept it in-house at least until the bye week, or have the players announce it or be present at an announcement. It was a PR and management mess, totally demonstrating the muddled thinking at several levels at the time, and sucked the life out of whatever was left of the season for the team, club and supporters.

 

[DuckYeah]

Too many too mention, 2015 was the one that got away. We had Hawthorns measure that year.. if we had of held against west coast, we would have knocked those campaigners for 6 in the GF.. they were gifted with a waltz in the GF, still haunts me to this day. At half time vs West Coast I had corporate seats organised.. at 3/4 time I regurgitated everything in my guts

 

[WesternRoo]

Too many too mention, 2015 was the one that got away. We had Hawthorns measure that year.. if we had of held against west coast, we would have knocked those campaigners for 6 in the GF.. they were gifted with a waltz in the GF, still haunts me to this day. At half time vs West Coast I had corporate seats organised.. at 3/4 time I regurgitated everything in my guts

That 2015 prelim was a masterclass in no plan B.
The defensive tactics employed early that saw us gain a near 5 goal lead were exposed by mid way through the second quarter.
We had 3 tags deployed (Jacobs-Shuey, Gibson - Gaff, MacMillan - Masten) plus a loose man in defence who gave us nothing (Hansen).
Thompson got absolutely taken to the cleaners by Kennedy and Tarrant needed to be switched at that point.
The plus 1 for West Coast around the ball destroyed us , particularly in the 3rd. Combine that with the multiple defensive roles , Swallow and Cunnington were just overwhelmed.
I could have lived with a narrow loss, but a 5 goal loss after having a 5 goal lead and only scoring 20 odd points after quarter time , is a poor result and one that got away.

Scott should have went after the 2013 finals miss and shambolic losses in Unloseable games that year and replaced with Simpson.

 

[Supreme_Chancellor]

Too many too mention, 2015 was the one that got away. We had Hawthorns measure that year.. if we had of held against west coast, we would have knocked those campaigners for 6 in the GF.. they were gifted with a waltz in the GF, still haunts me to this day. At half time vs West Coast I had corporate seats organised.. at 3/4 time I regurgitated everything in my guts

Don’t know about having “Hawthorn’s Measure” that year. They were clearly the best team in the competition, who pantsed us by 10 goals earlier in the year. As great as it would have been to make the granny, we would have been humiliated badly. We were s***house during the season (getting smashed by the aforementioned Hawks, Freo, Crows and even the god damn Suns). We got lucky in the second half of the year with our fixture, and won 7 of our last 9, enough to scrape into the 8. We did quite well to get the prelim, but we shot ourselves in the foot by starting off the year so poorly. We should have won 16-17 games that year, that could have given us a better chance, but I still think Hawthorn would have beaten us regardless.

2016...now that’s one of the biggest missed opportunities ever. The fact that a 7th placed Dogs team won it all, shows you how everyone else dropped the ball. Hawthorn at this time were showing decay, yet nearly assed their way to a minor premiership (with the help of the umpires). The Cats fell to s*** in the prelim final. The Giants choked big time when the ball was in their court. The Eagles came into the finals as the dark horse team (Coming off convincing wins against Hawthorn then Adelaide away) yet they played horribly in that elimination final. All we had to do was finish in the top 4 and we could have had a pretty high chance of winning it. Reminds me of how Leicester City won the easiest premier league title ever the same year.

 

[ferball]

From about halfway thru 2015 to halfway thru 2016 we won something like 22 games out of 25. It was a dominant period of footy. Just typical of Bard that he couldn't have done it during one season.

 

[showusyacunningt]

From about halfway thru 2015 to halfway thru 2016 we won something like 22 games out of 25. It was a dominant period of footy. Just typical of Bard that he couldn't have done it during one season.

We walked a fine line in terms of injuries, as soon as Waite and Higgins went down the whole balance of the side was disrupted.

Fully fit the side from that era was a pretty cohesive unit. Maybe a premiership side, albeit a weak one, in some place or time.