The what if thread

[Orange crush]

What if the Dogs had beaten Adelaide last week, knock off GWS this Sunday, and Freo beat Port?

Dogs would finish the season 2nd, but instead we're battling to stay in the 8.

That’s crazy …. And same goes for the dockets

 

[Hawksboy72]

What if Sam & Dianne got married on cheers..

On SM-S918B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[terrybull]

I’d make a joke about your Bob Stilton typo but that would be too cheesy…I’ll see myself out.

My thumbs are to big

 

[emuboy]

It would be interesting to see an alternate timeline in which there was no COVID 19 pandemic, and how the AFL and state leagues would have played out over the past five seasons.

 

[Lingsface]

What if Cousins chose to come to the cats under F/S?

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What if Geelong beat Melbourne in the last home and away game of 2021? Gawn goal after the siren meant they finished 1st instead of 3rd where Geelong went. Roles would have been reversed and cats would got home final vs Brisbane and dees on the road vs port.

 

[Vdubs]

What if Geelong beat Melbourne in the last home and away game of 2021? Gawn goal after the siren meant they finished 1st instead of 3rd where Geelong went. Roles would have been reversed and cats would got home final vs Brisbane and dees on the road vs port.

Yep, we rested all our guns for half an hour, but too late to arrest their momentum once the damage was done

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Yep, we rested all our guns for half an hour, but too late to arrest their momentum once the damage was done

You would have been livid. I had no idea that happened. Livid with the lead given up. After the siren goal and the home final and top spot blown.

 

[Vdubs]

You would have been livid. I had no idea that happened. Livid with the lead given up. After the siren goal and the home final and top spot blown.

We were pretty bashed up and run down though, huge lead…it seemed an ok thing to do, but the rest is history. Then in the prelim more than half of them had gastro. Glad that COVID era is over.

 

[mianfei]

What if the more successful club at the time Port Melbourne would have got St.Kilda’s spot in 1897?

Don’t think they would have lost 48 games in a row, in fact Carlton probably had gone[sic] winless in their first season.

Port probably would have snagged a few Premierships as well.

Bob Skilton stays with Port instead of moving to South Melbourne?

Maybe even Port and South merge instead of one going to Sydney. In turn the Lions move there…

And what of St.Kilda? Apply to join later, and instead of someone else? Premierships success in the VFA?

All those are not implausible were it feasible to admit Port Melbourne into the VFL in 1897. However, the issue is very complicated because:

1. there is no certainty St. Kilda would have become a power in a weakened VFA — as Richmond, Footscray and North Melbourne all did — simply because it would never have had access to the same industrial patronage
2. if Port Melbourne were in the league instead of one of the three 1925 clubs, I would conclude:
   1. instead of Hawthorn could mean that:
      1. St. Kilda does become much stronger if it were admitted later
      2. more likely that Richmond — who for a time did live up to the Every Game Ever Played abbreviation “Rich” — would remain a perennial superpower in the postwar era rather than suffer a major decline
      3. more likely also that Melbourne would remain a power after 1928, but less probably than the “superpower Richmond” history
   2. instead of North Melbourne would benefit either Essendon or less likely Footscray, but could also hurt Footscray because after the 1951 immigration programs there would have been more clubs in the core of the “soccer belt”
   3. instead of Footscray would produce fewer differences — indeed I do see Port having a similar League history to Footscray under such a scenario

if Port instead of St. Kilda were in a nine-club VFL after University drops out in 1915, I see the following likely differences:

1. the League would during World War I have been able to maintain a stable six-club competition rather than changing from year to year
   • Geelong dropping out as they lost so many players to war service
   • Melbourne and Essendon dropping out because their middle-class Protestant player and support bases opposed playing
2. the League would have had less incentive to look west or north of the Yarra River for a tenth club, and might have sought simply to admit one club from south or east of Melbourne and South. This could have been St. Kilda or Hawthorn quite easily, and it must be noted that economically ten clubs was still above the market-clearing number

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

If Hawthron beat WCE in 1992 elim final they go on to win thr flag again imo.

They had Geelong measure.

 

[Gordon Farkas]

What if Cousins chose to come to the cats under F/S?

Never would have got in the trouble he did. Because no one does drugs in pure, clean living Geelong, do they.

 

[Lingsface]

Never would have got in the trouble he did. Because no one does drugs in pure, clean living Geelong, do they.

More thinking on the playing field, although him and bomber could of started an empire off the field as well haha.

 

[mianfei]

It would be interesting to see an alternate timeline in which there was no COVID 19 pandemic, and how the AFL and state leagues would have played out over the past five seasons.

I don’t see there as being much difference. No club, at least as far as I have read (which is I will confess very limited) has suffered directly from COVID to an unusual degree.

If Hawthorn beat WCE in 1992 elim final they go on to win thr flag again imo.

They had Geelong[’s] measure.

I think they would have too. 1992 (and 1993) was a strikingly open season as regards the flag — any of the top seven teams were good enough to win it, and many of the clubs involved can point to other results as critical. Asn another example, I have for some years also thought that if Geelong had lost to Essendon in the last round — a result far from unimaginable based upon the two clubs’ Round 23 form — then Collingwood could quite probably have claimed a second flag in three years.

 

[Andyy]

What if Dees drafted Dusty? Would his career have been so amazing?

What if Tigers has drafted one of Scully or Trengove? Would their careers have been so ordinary?

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What If Collingwood got a goal after sheed put them in front. That dropped mark by Darling wpuld have haunted him for the rest of his life.

 

[Hawksboy72]

I don’t see there as being much difference. No club, at least as far as I have read (which is I will confess very limited) has suffered directly from COVID to an unusual degree.

I think they would have too. 1992 (and 1993) was a strikingly open season as regards the flag — any of the top seven teams were good enough to win it, and many of the clubs involved can point to other results as critical. Asn another example, I have for some years also thought that if Geelong had lost to Essendon in the last round — a result far from unimaginable based upon the two clubs’ Round 23 form — then Collingwood could quite probably have claimed a second flag in three years.

The Cheif breaks the 150 goal record in the GF.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What if Crows played finals in 2023 instead of Sydney. Blues still win.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What if lucas neil didnt go to ground in kaiserslateurn? Maybe Aussies won't the game and go on to win the world cup.

Not.

 

[BigVic]

What If Collingwood got a goal after sheed put them in front. That dropped mark by Darling wpuld have haunted him for the rest of his life.

Just kicked the ball to the other end after the Darling dropped mark.

 

[MisterMarcus]

What if every single person and thing in the CFL was not in endless lifelong conspiracy against Richmond?

Imagine how many flags they'd be on now.

 

[mianfei]

After the Brunswick Street football rooms were finally condemned by the local council health officer, which made them unusable, Fitzroy Football Club made a number of approaches to share grounds with Northcote and Preston in the VFA. But these came to nothing.

I vaguely knew of that, but if Fitzroy had managed to share or take over the grounds of Northcote or Preston, it does produce some interesting questions.

Northcote — a power during the Depression years — were decimated as thoroughly as the four “soccer belt” League clubs (South Melbourne, North Melbourne, Footscray and Fitzroy) by the post-1951 immigration programs. This makes me doubt that using Northcote’s ground would have been any improvement for Fitzroy.

Preston lay a bit further from the core of “soccer belt” immigration and their ground have given Fitzroy potential access to more people actually interested in Australian Rules. Preston was less of a power than Moorabbin or Coburg in the 1960s VFA, but were much stronger than Northcote and would certainly have been a more difficult proposition for Fitzroy given the VFA’s rules at the time. However, if Fitzroy could have stayed at Preston it might well have helped in the long term regarding their supporter base at least.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

If Brad Smith didn't get injured for West Coast, Eagles win the 2005 premiership. He would have kicked 60+ that season. 2 successive ACL's ruined what would have been a promising career.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Also what if Ox never did his knee in the 95 preseason?

You would have won the premiership beating Carlton.

 

[mianfei]

If Brad Smith didn't get injured for West Coast, Eagles win the 2005 premiership. He would have kicked 60+ that season. 2 successive ACL's ruined what would have been a promising career.

West Coast might well have established a genuine dynasty with Smith in the team rather than seriously injured. They could certainly have averted the brief but very sharp decline they suffered between 2007 and 2010.

Geelong might have found much more trouble winning in 2007, or dominating most of the 2008 season as they did.