Bruce's commentary at the end of the 2000 grand final would sum it up, I think.
"You can argue forever about who the best teams are, but this is the best season we've seen"
If that's the measure one uses, then it's pretty hard to mount a case against Essendon 2000. That they failed to salute in 1999 and 2001 and then the Sheedy stuff ups that led to the team being dismantled after 2001 ultimately doesn't change how good that 2000 season was.
Closest season I've seen to that would be Geelong 2008. Collingwood up to Round 23 in 2011 (before they got thumped by Geelong in the last round) would also be very close.
And I hate to be one of those "you had to be there" people, but, well, you had to be there.
The stats speak to the results essendon got. But watching them, they were awesome, in the traditional meaning of that word.
If you dared turn the ball over at half back (or anywhere) there just came this ominous wave of bombers ready to punish you. And when you had the ball, their pressure was like nothing we'd seen, surpassed only by the swans later that decade. Matthew Lloyd never dropped a mark.
Mid year I was convinced they'd go through undefeated easily. The one game they lost was arguably the most tactically intriguing in history up until that point. When I got home from the pub my housemate said "geez, you should see what the Bulldogs are doing in this game, they might even end up winning it"