Top 10 moments for your club

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The Hitman

Premiership Player
Jun 4, 2002
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The Age recently completed their 50 biggest moments in football history, and over at Hawk Headquarters, we're doing our greatest ten moments in our club history.

So what is the top ten moments in your clubs history. Was it a premiership? A recruitment of a player? A major controversy? A death? A fight for survival? You tell us.

Here's my top ten moments in the history of the Hawthorn Football Club:

10. 1991 Grand Final vs. West Coast
"Too old. Too slow. Too good." So said the slogan on the Hawthorn premiership shirts after the 1991 Grand Final victory over West Coast. The first Grand Final at Waverley was the signal of many things: the first interstate Grand Finallist; the first Grand Final outside of the MCG since WWII; and the end of the Hawthorn golden era. It was also the last game for Michael Tuck and we'd never see Dermie, Dunstall, and Mew on the victory podium again.

9. 1988 Grand Final vs. Melbourne
It remains the greatest winning margin in a Grand Final, even though we haven't had a close Grand Final since '89. Hawthorn murdered Melbourne by 96 points, eclipsing the record margin Hawthorn set in 1983 against Essendon. It was Hawthorn at the peak of their powers, and it avenged the loss to Carlton in 1987.

8. Rd. 22 1999 vs. Sydney - Last Game at Waverley
After the long fight by Ian Dicker, the Casey and Monash councils, and many Hawthorn and football supporters, Waverley finally hosted it's last home and away game in round 22 of 1999 against Sydney, where people with all manner of football gear on filled the seats and aisles of the eastern suburbs ground. Hawthorn raced away to a huge win, and in a show of people power, thousands of supporters defied AFL wishes and invaded the arena to celebrate the passing of Hawthorn's home.

7. 1971 Grand Final vs. St. Kilda
In what would be a very physical clash, Hawthorn ran out seven point winners over the rugged Saints. The match is best remembered for Peter Hudson's chase for Bob Pratt's 150 goal record in a season, and Hudson kicked four to equal it. However, in one of the most famous pieces of vision, Hudson kicked into the man on the mark from point blank range in an attempt to kick his fifth and break Pratt's long standing record.

6. Tuck Breaks Bartlett's Games Record
The moment when the record that wouldn't be broken, was broken. After running through one of the biggest banners ever seen, Tuck broke Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett's games record of 403 games, and went on to play 426 senior games for Hawthorn, finishing off as captain in 1991 with a premiership in his last game.

5. Jason Dunstall Retires
The retirement of Hawthorn's greatest goalkicker and perhaps greatest ever player brought almost every diehard supporter a tear in their eye. Jason Duntall played his final match against Fremantle in 1998 against Fremantle at Waverley, fighting back after numerous knee injuries to give the Glenferrie faithful one last goodbye as Hawthorn won in ordinary conditions. many say Dunstall could have gone on to break Gordon Coventry's VFL-AFL goalkicking record, but Dunstall made way to youth and injury to give the honour to Tony Lockett.

4. 1989 Grand Final vs. Geelong
Many say this is the greatest Grand Final of the modern era, and it is certainly the last classic Grand Final. Hawthorn won a physical encounter by 6 points after Gary Ablett booted nine to take the Norm Smith Medal, as he sparked a massive comeback for the Cats. Dermott Brereton was run through but recovered in the opening minutes, while DiPierdomenico played through a punctured lung and Platten came off in the second quarter with injury.

3. 1976: Hawthorn Do It For Crimmins
Just days before his death, Peter Crimmins was visited by Peter Knights and a few other teammates with the 1976 premiership cup. Prostate cancer had eroded the ex-captain to skin and bones, and one of the most famous photos has a deteriorated Crimmins on an armchair with the cup surrounded by his smiling teammates. The Hawks defeated the Kangaroos by 30 points in front 0f 110,000 perople to win the 1976 premiership in one of the most emotional victories ever, following a speech by coach John Kennedy Snr urging the Hawks to "do it for Crimmo".

2. 1961 Grand Final vs. Footscray
Coach John Kennedy Snr and captain Graham Arthur lifted Hawthorn's first premiership cup in 1961 after the Hawks defeated Footscray by seven goals with Brendan Edwards, Ian Law, and John Peck starring. It took ten more years for another premiership to come to Glenferrie, but the seed was sown for what would be a dominant era for the Hawthorn Football Club.

1. Hawthorn Members Vote No
After months of passionate campaigns which tore both Hawthorn and Melbourne apart, it came down to the Hawthorn members vote to decide whether Hawthorn and Melbourne would merge to become the Melbourne Hawks. After the Melbourne members voted yes, Hawthorn members voted no and Ian Dicker became President of the club after Don Scott led the fight for survival. Operation Payback wiped out the clubs debt, and Hawthorn now has Victoria's second best membership base and has made a profit for the past five years.

The Hitman
 
1. Handy carlton footballer John Lloyd plays 29 games for the blues and then produces The Chosen One as ian "collo" collins, changes the father son rule from stuff all games to 50 games and the Dons go bang, the very next season, ripping freo and hawfforn the very next year. Is it any reason why I worship the great man, ex blue boy, Ian Collins.
2. Any win over carlton.
 
Heres the eagles top ten

10) 1992 Premiership

9) The day Jakovich was recruited to the club

8) The day Malthouse signed on as Eagles coach

7) 1994 premiership

6)The day we were allowed into the AFL

5) The day Woosha became coach of the club

4) the day Ken Judge was sacked

3) The first derby when we cained the dockers

2)Peter Matera's brownlow medal near miss in 1994

1)The day ben cousins signed with the eagles
 

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From number 1 - 10

1 - 1954 - Premiership
2 - 1953 - First finals win
3 - 1938 - First finals appearance
4 - 1946 - started the season 9-0
5 - 1985 - 16-6 (2nd) leading goalkicker, Brownlow Medal
6 - 2000 - Bulldogs 92 - 81 Essendon
7 - Ted Whitten known as Mr Football
8 - 1986 - X_box_X is born
9 - 1989 - Bulldogs merger? no thanks!
10 - 1998 - 22 weeks in the top 2. I wonder how many teams have achieved this?

I would like to point out at this moment that the Bulldogs haven't lost a Round 9 game since 1995.

1996 - Defeated - Adelaide
1997 - Defeated - North Melbourne
1998 - Defeated - Richmond
1999 - Defeated - Collingwood
2000 - Defeated - St Kilda
2001 - Defeated - Westcoast
2002 - Defeated - Geelong

Cheers! :cool: :cool:
 
This will be hard and some will disagree with me but here goes, probably more moments that changed the club and made us what we are.

10. 1999 Premiership - 4th Flag against Carlton

9. 1977 Premiership - Beating Collingwood in the replay for our second flag.

8. 1993 - Denis Pagan Appointed Senior Coach

7. 2002 Round 1 - The amazing win over Port, had we lost this game who knows what might have happened this year

6. 1996 Premiership - The Gold Premiership Cup. Signalled the new era.

5. The day Greg Miller bought John Longmire and Wayne Carey from the Swans for $10,000

4. The ten year rule recruits - Changed the league and Club forever

3. 1973 - Ron Barassi apointed Coach of the club

2. 1975 - First Flag

1. 2002 Wayne Carey Quits the Kangaroos
 
Originally posted by carlyp
Heres the eagles top ten

10) 1992 Premiership

9) The day Jakovich was recruited to the club

8) The day Malthouse signed on as Eagles coach

7) 1994 premiership

6)The day we were allowed into the AFL

5) The day Woosha became coach of the club

4) the day Ken Judge was sacked

3) The first derby when we cained the dockers

2)Peter Matera's brownlow medal near miss in 1994

1)The day ben cousins signed with the eagles

Carly I have to disagree with your order.

1. 1992 Premiership

2. 1994 Premiership

3. Making finals for the first time in 1988

4. Making our first Grand Final in 1991

The next 6 moments are really up to individual opinion.
 
In no particular order and without delving into ancient history (Rohan can do that)

1. Collingwood Premiership 1990
2. Death of Darren Millane 1991. Collingwood lost its soul and its way for years after. The 1992-4 teams may have been good enough to snatch another flag but without Millane (and with no help from the President) they slowly tore apart at the seams
3. King hit of John Greening which ruined one of the great careers - he was as good as Keith Greig and Robbie Flower.
4. 2 week suspension of Phil Carman 1977 - hitting Michael Tuck of all people - missing 2 Grand Finals and costing Collingwood a Premiership
5. Eddie McGuire. Getting the finances and playing list and coaching staff in order. Things got worse before they got better but there was always a medium term plan and a team focus rarely seen before at Collingwood. The sacking of Tony Shaw was orderly and dignified.
6. Ted Hopkins 1970.
7. Collingwood Premiership 1958. Stopping Melbourne's attempt to match Collingwoods record of 4 consecutive Premierships. Melbourne won the next two flags after that so they might have have won 7 on the trot!
8. Four consecutive Premierships 1927-1930
9. Billy Picken (just a personal one here, absolute legend in my mind)
10. 1990. Three big games stick out in my mind - home and away ve Essendon at Waverley where we lost by 5 points in appalling wintry weather - a classic hard fought match. Also drawn Qualifying Final vs West Coast - Chris Lewis played the game of his life and Daicos weaved his magic (and a cameo from BT in his last league game) Also second semi vs Essendon - I knew then that tehflag was our destiny. Worst game I've ever seen from the Bombers
 
Hmmm, a tough 1, I reckon I could name our top 10 worst moments quicker than the best :rolleyes:

10 Best moments

10. Round 22 1997 versus Sydney at the SCG - Still the largest crowd at the SCG. Going into the game equal top and becoming only the second team in almost 2 years to beat the Swans at home and for a night secured top spot.

9. The 2002 VFL premiership - Heralding a new generation of stars. The moment back at the club when the cup was brought in is something that every Geelong supporters that was there will remember forever!

8. 1925 grand final - The first Geelong flag

7. 1937 grand final - The win over Collingwood considered the best grand final of all time at the stage.

6. The appointment of Malcolm Blight - ushered in a new era of excitement and high scores and some massive wins

5. Brian Cook rewriting the clubs finances from $7 mil down to just on $1 within 3 years - A genius!

4. The recruitment of Gary Ablett snr (hopefully jnr) - A pure masterstroke.

3. The recruitment of Polly Farmer. Just shades Ablett because unlike Ablett, Polly won us a flag!

2. 37.17 (239) - The all time record score in VFl/AFL history. The greatest goal scoring side in history in the 1992 season - more than 3000 points. The era brought 4 grand final in 7 years. So much for your money, except for that last day.

1. The 23 game winning streak (26 without a loss) 1952-53. No matter how good a team is today, no-one has been able to match or better it. Included in that era is back to back flags in 1951-52

10 worst moments

10. 1994 Grand final loss to West Coast - were never even in any sort of contention during the game after 3 magnifficent finals in the lead-up.

9. 1953 Grand Final loss to Collingwood - Going for 3 in a row, only to see Lou Richards side snatch the cup.

8. The loss of Greg Williams to Sydney in at the end of 1985. Williams won the brownlow in 1986. it was later revealed Williams left because Geelong would only pay him $45,000 when he wanted $50,000.

7. 1992 Grand Final loss to West Coast - although we never really gave ourselves a chance to win it, to see the cup go interstate for the first time was a tragedy

6. Milburn's hit on Silvagni - cowardly act and probably the blackest day in terms of giving in during a game in the clubs history.

5. 1995 Grand Final - Carlton again! - Going into the match as equal favorite only to play like a bunch of dogs. Really, the club has never really recovered. Hopefully the VFL flag will change things with the next generation coming through.

4. 1967 Grand Final - Robbed by a white maggot of winning a premiership. Has become folklore that THAT mark was over the line!

3. 1997 semi final - Leigh Colbert's mark disallowed when we are getting on top of crows in Adelaide. Premiership favorites going into the game, only to be bundled out and basically hand the Crows the flag.

2. Gary Ablett doing his knee in the reserves in the first round of 1997 and never playing again - An absolute tragedy!

1. Seeing Garry Ayres as coach and Leigh Colbert as captain abandon a sinking ship at the end of 1999 - They did the best they could to bring the club to its knees and almost succeeded. Hence the hate towards both now.
 
Originally posted by gocatsgo
Hmmm, a tough 1, I reckon I could name our top 10 worst moments quicker than the best :rolleyes:

Doesn't have to be the best 10 moments. It's the 10 most important, influential moments of your club. Moments that have defined your club.

It's interesting that most of the ones people have mentioned have been in the last 10 years. Most of Hawthorn's were before the last ten years.

The Hitman
 
Originally posted by X_box_X
From number 1 - 10

1 - 1954 - Premiership
2 - 1953 - First finals win
3 - 1938 - First finals appearance
4 - 1946 - started the season 9-0
5 - 1985 - 16-6 (2nd) leading goalkicker, Brownlow Medal
6 - 2000 - Bulldogs 92 - 81 Essendon
7 - Ted Whitten known as Mr Football
8 - 1986 - X_box_X is born
9 - 1989 - Bulldogs merger? no thanks!
10 - 1998 - 22 weeks in the top 2. I wonder how many teams have achieved this?


U rate a home and away season win in 2000 above the club saving itself from certain extinction in 1989???? That would have to be at worste, 2nd.
 
Originally posted by gocatsgo


5. 1995 Grand Final - Carlton again! - Going into the match as equal favorite only to play like a bunch of dogs. Really, the club has never really recovered. Hopefully the VFL flag will change things with the next generation coming through.

As good as Geelong were in '95, they were no way comparable to that Carlton team. I think Carlton was favourite, with a record of 22-2 going into the Grand Final.
 
Originally posted by X_box_X
From number 1 - 10

10 - 1998 - 22 weeks in the top 2. I wonder how many teams have achieved this?


Doesn't say much for your club if this is one of their Top 10 moments in your club's history. The "achievement" is meaningless when put into context that their season ended with a demoralising loss to the Crows in the Prelim. Port finishing on top of the Home & Away ladder has been rendered irrelevant by their dismal finals series.

Any Bulldogs finals win would be a more significant achievement then finishing in the Top 2 for an entire Home & Away season.
 

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Originally posted by The Hitman
many say Dunstall could have gone on to break Gordon Coventry's VFL-AFL goalkicking record, but Dunstall made way to youth and injury to give the honour to Tony Lockett.

The Hitman

Not quite sure he "gave" the honour to Tony Lockett. Lockett missed something like 96 games himself through injury and suspensions.

Good post though.
 
1998 was clearly one of the Bulldogs finest seasons. Remember, this is a club that has only ever made 2 Grand Finals. Their 1998 side was probably better than their 1954 flag side which only won 11 H&A games, and was one of the weaker flag sides in the game's history.
 
Originally posted by Dan26
1998 was clearly one of the Bulldogs finest seasons. Remember, this is a club that has only ever made 2 Grand Finals. Their 1998 side was probably better than their 1954 flag side which only won 11 H&A games, and was one of the weaker flag sides in the game's history.

An unsurprising response from someone who thinks finals matches have far too much significance compared to H & A.

The Bulldogs side of 1954 won 11.5 matches from 18, while the 1998 version won 15 matches from 22. Not as much a difference between the two teams' records as you imply.

In anycase, I'm still not convinced that the Bulldogs' achievment in 1998 H & A is that significant. They didn't finish on top and their H & A record in 1992 and 1999 (to cite two recent examples) was better anyway.
 
1998 was The Bulldogs second best season IMO. We spent 15 rounds at the top of the table, with the other 7 in 2nd position. We were the best team for the year, and were very stiff to miss out on a Grand Final. If it weren’t for Westcoast’s freak come back in Round 10, the Bulldogs would’ve started the season with an 11-1 record. We managed to beat 13 of the 15 other teams that season. We didn’t finish the season that well, but we still managed to finish 2nd.

What else would you have above this, Wagstaff?
 
Originally posted by wagstaff

In anycase, I'm still not convinced that the Bulldogs' achievment in 1998 H & A is that significant. They didn't finish on top and their H & A record in 1992 and 1999 (to cite two recent examples) was better anyway.

Yes, in 1999 we had our best record apart from 85 and 92. In 85 and 92 we went 16-6, in 1999 we managed to go 15-6-1. Even though we only lost 2 of our last 16 games in the 99 Home and away season, we weren't a team who deserved the premiership as there were 3 other teams in: Essendon, Kangaroos and Brisbane who all had fantastic seasons aswell.

But I'm talking about our dominance Over the whole course of the 98 season. Almost every game we entered that season we were the favourites. We were just a dominant side in 1998, especially the first 12 rounds.
 
We are a young club so the top ten is fairly easy but no doubt many Crows will disagree with these.
No particular order after first two.

1) 1997 Grand Final
2) 1998 Grand Final
3) Jarman,McGuiness and McDermott's sacking.NO ONE was safe anymore!
4) Blight getting the coaches gig
5) First finals win (v Hawks in 93)
6) First win over Collingwood in last round of 93(got us into finals)
7) 2001 win over Carlton at Optus(Gary Ayres arrived!!!)
8) 97 Preliminary Final(these boys wouldn't lay down and die)
9) The deal that got Andrew McLeod to the club.
10)The deal that got Darren Jarman to the club
 
Originally posted by X_box_X

But I'm talking about our dominance Over the whole course of the 98 season. Almost every game we entered that season we were the favourites. We were just a dominant side in 1998, especially the first 12 rounds.

From that viewpoint, certainly it's true that there were no teams clearly better then the Bulldogs in 1998 when compared to 1999.

Yet the fact that a team could be in the Top 2 for the entire season with a record of 15/7 and a modest percentage for a top side of 116% suggests not that the Bulldogs were way ahead of the rest, but that the competition that year was an even one.

Richmond missed the finals that season with a 12/10 record, just 3 wins behind the Bulldogs. Hardly the evidence that the Bulldogs were a 'dominant' side in 1998.
 
Originally posted by wagstaff

Yet the fact that a team could be in the Top 2 for the entire season with a record of 15/7 and a modest percentage for a top side of 116% suggests not that the Bulldogs were way ahead of the rest, but that the competition that year was an even one.

If you think 1998 was an even season, feast your eyes on 97 and 93.

- In 1993 Essendon and Carlton both had a 13-6-1 record. Just 10 points separated the teams 1st from 12th.

- 1997 saw 4 teams slugging it out for a Finals spot in the last Round. Brisbane traveled to Perth to take on the might of the Eagles. (Westcoast won). Carlton had the chance to sneak in the 8, but fell 2 points short to Richmond. Fremantle met wooden spooners Melbourne and were pumped. And Port Adelaide couldn’t take it up to minor premier St Kilda on the Sunday night.

I agree 1998 was a fairly even season, but the Bulldogs were still a dominant force. The whole fact that we haven’t had much success draws me to the question yet again –
What else would you have above our 98 season apart from the 9 I mentioned? 1992 was a similar season, but I just rated 98 ahead of 92.
 
Hmmm...

1 - 1992 Premiership - West Coasts first taste of glory, the greatest moment in club history no doubt. First time the cup has ever left victoria.

2 - 1994 Premiership - We do it again just to make sure :D Nothing beat premierships!

3 - West Coast and Brisbane make the VFL into the AFL - the birth of my great club.

Outside of these comes down to personal opionion...
 
Originally posted by Eagle_Fan


Have I missed something? :confused:

I know....was a rather strange top 10 from Carly, perhaps it was inside out as the 92 premiership win was in 10th???!!!

Others you could add to my list was our first finals win, our first GF appearance, Mick Malthouse's appointment as coach which led to our fantastic run throughout the 90's, the first Western Derby...etc
 

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