The rankings (from best to worst) of the 121 VFL/AFL premiership sides.

[kirky]

Have never questioned Essendon of 2000 being no 1 but a lot of the rest is very subjective.

Richmond at 80 - all games played on home ground, soft 2017 draw.

All subjective.

 

[Royce Hafey]

The carey led North side of 1999 would of destroyed this years tigers , no question at all...seriously...

You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel good. Your faith in the undimmed glorious nature of that era is the only thing keeping you going as a North Melbourne supporter. As my old mate Karl said about a different sort of faith: "is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the [Roos supporters]".

 

[SterlingArcher]

Why Adelaide 97 below Adelaide 98? Adelaide 98 finished one spot lower, lost a final, and were only in their grand final at half time because the other side wasted shots.

Adelaide 97 were pretty damn good I thought. They won minus both Ricciuto and Modra.

 

[SterlingArcher]

Dan has gone to a lot of trouble to do his list and people need to understand that it is his list and nothing more than his list.
He has done his list purely statistically based and based on that he has his order how he sees them, we could all do one and come up with something different for sure.
I would have interstate premiers much higher for example as they have a larger mountain to climb than Victorian clubs do but that is just my opinion and if I did the list it would show that.
Take the list for what it is, it is Dans personal list, it is not backed up by any AFL or league authority it his just his personal take on things.
Great work Dan for sharing your thoughts again this year.

Agreed. I think if you're going to dispute a ranking it should have some argument - maybe Dan missed something, or has an alternative reason. I think threads like these are great contributions to Bigfooty, it's a solidly researched, effort-filled OPINION post, the least we can do is at least provide reasons for questioning it.

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

Great thread. The only problem that I can see is that Western Bulldogs should have been lower last year. I would've placed them 120th.

 

[Engimal v3]

You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel good. Your faith in the undimmed glorious nature of that era is the only thing keeping you going as a North Melbourne supporter. As my old mate Karl said about a different sort of faith: "is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the [Roos supporters]".

Nah, the other bloke is right.

 

[Walter H White]

Geelong 2011? Can't believe Brisbane is so far down. That is an absolute joke. Brisbane 01 and 03 are categorically superior. At a minimum, top 20.

??? What is your (?) for? You need to take into account that we beat possibly the best losing GF of all-time (aside from maybe Hawthorn 2008). Collingwood were a very good side in 2010, and arguably even better in 2011 (perhaps just starting to show some signs of weakness late in the season - 96 point loss in last rd to Geelong, tight finals wins against WC and Hawthorn (who were on the up themselves), and then the GF loss - which was close for the first 3 quarters). They had a % of something like 165-170% before that last round loss to us. Brisbane didn't finish first in any of their premiership years. Get a grip.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Opening poster has put a fair bit of time into it - and its a decent read - so i give it the thumbs up

If i had to limit it to top 3 ( of which ive seen ) id go the following

Essendon 1985

Richmond 1969

West Coast 1994

I think those 3 sides were feared - had an aura about them - were loaded with champion players on every line - and didnt mind demoloshing opposition teams .

 

[adammania9]

Collingwood 2010 were pretty awesome - fast, exciting and well spread for talent; they picked the perfect time to hit their straps in the second half of the season. Aside from the draw, they completely mopped the floor with the finals series.

 

[fumbler]

Current Premiers says we're first.

 

[ThaiTiger]

The carey led North side of 1999 would of destroyed this years tigers , no question at all...seriously...

Nah, they are all over forty now surely and they don't even like each other anymore. Seriously

 

[krisholio14]

Why Adelaide 97 below Adelaide 98? Adelaide 98 finished one spot lower, lost a final, and were only in their grand final at half time because the other side wasted shots.

Adelaide 97 were pretty damn good I thought. They won minus both Ricciuto and Modra.

That's a fair comment. The '98 side was better on paper, but didn't perform as well as '97. Not to mention that North really should have had the GF wrapped up at half time and left the door open.

 

[roosmad]

You keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel good. Your faith in the undimmed glorious nature of that era is the only thing keeping you going as a North Melbourne supporter. As my old mate Karl said about a different sort of faith: "is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the [Roos supporters]".

mate stay off the drugs...

 

[Tiger2709]

The carey led North side of 1999 would of destroyed this years tigers , no question at all...seriously...

You cant be sure and its almost impossible to judge teams of a different era against each other, Richmond would have run the legs off most of the players from 99 so if we managed to hold Carey then our 2017 team would likely have won.

Rule changes style of play, fitness etc would all have a major impact.

 

[fumbler]

You cant be sure and its almost impossible to judge teams of a different era against each other, Richmond would have run the legs off most of the players from 99 so if we managed to hold Carey then our 2017 team would likely have won.

Rule changes style of play, fitness etc would all have a major impact.

Carey up against Floss or Astbury would have little to no affect. He would of been toweled up by the Machine McIntosh

 

[Tyler Hodges]

Dan you can thank us for keeping your Don's in the top spot after the 08 GF.

That Cats team was 23-1 with a 162% going into that GF.

 

[Matthew2708]

Dan you can thank us for keeping your Don's in the top spot after the 08 GF.

That Cats team was 23-1 with a 162% going into that GF.

Either 1 or 2. If they had won.

Probably number 2 due to the 86 point loss, but a hugely dominant GF win, may have seen them at number one.

Their percentage at the end of the H&A season actually was better than Essendon of 2000.

 

[Tyler Hodges]

He seems to put massive weight on % when it comes to his list based on how I've seen his grading, especially with teams who have the same w/l record, so 3-4% should absolutely override the one loss.

 

[Gysberts2Bate]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the Richmond 2017 flag. Dimma's game plan is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of high pressure footy most of the contest will go over a typical opposition's head. There's also Rancey's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Jehovah's Witness literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of the list, to realize that they're not just list fodder - they say something deep about the importance of your bottom SIX. As a consequence people who dislike Cotch and Dusty truly ARE idiots - of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Cotch's existential catchphrase "I reckon if we won a premiership in the next three years I'd pretty much be done" which itself is a cryptic reference to Matthew Richardson's epic Richo. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated Adelaide Crows scratching their heads in confusion as Peggy O'Neal's genius unfolds itself on the competition. What fools... how I pity them.

And yes by the way, I DO have a 2017 Premiers tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for Lids' eyes only - and even then he has to demonstrate that he's within 5 premiership points of third place (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid

 

[threesixpio]

Essendon in 1901 was an ordinary side, only good player was Dustin Fletcher.

POTY

 

[ThaiTiger]

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand the Richmond 2017 flag. Dimma's game plan is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of high pressure footy most of the contest will go over a typical opposition's head. There's also Rancey's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Jehovah's Witness literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of the list, to realize that they're not just list fodder - they say something deep about the importance of your bottom SIX. As a consequence people who dislike Cotch and Dusty truly ARE idiots - of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Cotch's existential catchphrase "I reckon if we won a premiership in the next three years I'd pretty much be done" which itself is a cryptic reference to Matthew Richardson's epic Richo. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated Adelaide Crows scratching their heads in confusion as Peggy O'Neal's genius unfolds itself on the competition. What fools... how I pity them.

And yes by the way, I DO have a 2017 Premiers tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for Lids' eyes only - and even then he has to demonstrate that he's within 5 premiership points of third place (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid

What he said!

 

[bombersfan4000]

Lol brisbane 2001 who shat all over essendon who were basically the 2000 side and soo wonderful and they rank in the 60s


Just a shitty thread to crap on about the overrated 2000 side

Essendon were depleted through injuries

 

[Fire]

For perspective, the OPs analytical skills are so astute that he predicted Australia would learn to love Tony Abbott.

 

[X_box_X]

so 117th of 121 after finishing 2nd and only one game behind the pending greatest premiership team of all time, whose destiny was thwarted only by Dean Wallis' dreams of glory?

this Essendon 2000 greatest of all time notion has though never reconciled with actually watching them that year, so maybe that's whats wrong with this list.

they had an incredibly easy draw in 2000 for a team that had finished top with an 18-4 record in 1999 and entered the 2000 season as natural premiership favourites.

in 2000 they played only 3 of the other 7 1999 finalists twice and one of those was the Bulldogs, who they lost to when the pressure was on. in the finals series they thrashed a disinterested North team on its last legs, beat a mediocre Carlton and thrashed one of the worst losing grand finallists in memory.

the notion that the Essendon 2000 team was better than any of Brisbane, Geelong or Hawthorn premiership teams already this century is laughable. comparing them to the likes or Hawthorn, Carlton, Richmond and Essendon glory eras in the 70's and 80's equally so.

they were a middling to good premiership team that had a good win-loss record helped by an easy draw in a mediocre year

I suggest you read the entire thread. You seem to be misunderstanding the concept.

Statistically speaking, Essendon in 2000 is the greatest team of all time. Statistically, this cannot be proven to be incorrect. Why are you derailing this thread? What Essendon did in 1959 and how good Hawthorn was from 2013-2015 has absolutely nothing to do with Essendon's pure domination in 2000, a domination that has never been matched in the VFL/AFL competition by any team in a single season.

 

[X_box_X]

The carey led North side of 1999 would of destroyed this years tigers , no question at all...seriously...

North in 1999 were the third best team all year. I'm not saying they didn't deserve the premiership, but if we're analysing the season over 26 weeks, and not giving extra importance to the final four weeks of the season, then they were third best.