Top 5 finals performances

[Meteoric Rise]

Yeah 1939 finals series Todd kicked 6, 11 and 6 for 23 in 3 games.

He never played for the Pies again, as took the huge cash to go play for Willi in 1940.

Nuts Coventry kicking 9 of teams 13 goals (70%) in the 1928 GF and kicking 100% of teams goal in 1927 GF (even though only 2) surely worthy of a mention.

It took Richmond a long time but they eventually figured Nuts Coventry out in 1936. Tiger defender Joe Murdoch took to punching Coventry on the hideous puss weeping boils that had formed on Coventry’s neck over the years, along with a pretty rugged head of course. Coventry apparently quite rightly took umbrage to being repeatedly belted on his troublesome boils and decided to give Murdoch one to go on with. His schoolboy error was to do it right in front of the umpire and as a result he missed the 1936 finals series altogether. Sadly it didn’t trouble the Magpies and they went on to win the Grand Final with a team coached by Jock McHale of course, and including notables the Collier Bros, Phonse Kyne, Alby Pannam(Lou and Ron Richards’ uncle I think) the Prince of Full Backs Jack Regan, a young Ron Todd and Keith Stackpole Senior, father of test cricketer Keith Stackpole(Jnr).

Would have been a shocking time to be alive with the filth dominating everything.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

Have heard similar about Ron.
His statistical record is impressive to say the least. At 6ft'2 in height, he would have been one of the taller players in the game and he had excellent aerial skills by all accounts. There is some very brief highlights available



You get an idea of his marking prowess and agility when the ball hits the deck.

I believe he is the only player in history to hold a ridiculous 5 goal average from 11 finals games played.

Jeez that is great footage, thanks for posting.

 

[spudmaster]

Gary Rohan 2022 Qualifying final vs Collingwood

 

[lumpinee]

1.2017 QF Rich v Geel - Dustin Martin fend off one on one with Dave Stewart(i think thats his name),anyway ball gets kicked to the outer half bank 50/50 ball and Dusty embareses Stewart with a sublime dont argue,pure strength and domination,ive never seen a more helpless opponent

2. 2020 GF Rich v Geel - Dustin Martin,Richmond FWD pocket ,Dusty perfectly reads Geelongs Stanleys ruck tap to the jaded and helpless Dangerfield & co as he stealthly raids Dangerfields hopes by shrugging of futile attempt to tackle and magically kicks the goal running twd the boundary line,in the process condemning dangerfield to a 3rd rate questionable brownlow winner whilst drawing comparisons from the greatest footballer of all time lethal Leigh declaring
him the best player in finals hes ever seen,his 3rd ,yes 3rd Norm Smith confirms this is no illusion but Fact.

3.2019 GF Rich v GWS - early 2nd qtr the genious of Dustin Martin is in full bloom,balls kicked by Pickett on his left from the inner wing along the ground into the half fwd line,Dusty fakes his attention to move fwd to the ball and doubles back leaving his opponent alone to confront an awkardly moving ball,Dusty
gathers the pill in one clean grab,the cleanest pick up ive ever witnessed at speed and ruthlessly slots it thru around his body to the the utter disbelief
of everyone watching,BT summed it up succintly and beautifully in the live commentary,some of ,if not the best live commentary described of a play in my
time of watching aussie rules,it went something along the lines of"i dont believe it,Martins avoided the contact,hes deliberately avoided the contact and left his opponent in his wake'.....its pure poetry because the comments are unrehearsed

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

2 players standout above the rest.
KB's 1980 GF
&
Gary Abletts 1989 GF

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Has to be the best two week display in the finals.

3 in the qualifying
7 in the semi
8 in the preliminary
9 in the gf

69 kicks
39 marks
6 handballs
27 goals 16 behinds

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

1980 Second Semi Final there were 25 goals kicked in the game. 33yo Kevin “Hungry Thirsty" Bartlett kicked 8 of them. 8 straight, from a forward flank. Tigers won 14.11 v 11.5.

A week prior as the Tigers won 18.8 to 10.14 v the Blues, the bereft headed maestro slotted 6 from 9 scoring shots as the Tigers won 18.8 v 10.14.

Two weeks after the 2nd Semi Final the Tigers’ opposition supporter annoyer-in-chief turned a finals series birthday party into a delirious goal mardi gras when he slotted another 7 from 11 scoring shots as the Tigers romped to victory against the the hapless Magpies.

His finals series from 3 games in total:

60 disposals(52 kicks 8 handballs )

13 towering marks.

21 goals 7 behinds - almost 25% of all the goals kicked in the 3 matches.

Hair that a wind machine could not have more perfectly made stick out directly backwards as he hit the go button and accelerated away from luckless Blue, Cat and Pie defenders galore. It was glorious.

Footnote: in 1989 in the individual finals series people incorrectly drool over, the 6th most successful footballer in his family scored 27 of the 145 goals kicked in his 4 finals. So he has scored under 19% of all the goals scored across those 4 finals, half of which his team LOST. Had he gone at KB’s rate of 25% of all goals scored, no doubt it ends in a Geelong flag. But he didn’t. Only KB did, ergo, Tiger flag.

Still not worthy of being a foundation club.

 

[Bollox]

Memorable from two good finals.
Roger James... 1st Half 2004 PF Port V Saints. Kept them in it by himself before a team recovery.
Lenny Hayes...1st Qtr 2009 GF Saints v Cats. Crazy destructive thru the midfield...everywhere and unstoppable before qtr time.

 

[BuddyHawk]

I'm not old enough to have seen it, but Leigh Matthews' performance against North in the 1976 qualifying final stands out in a statistical sense - 7.6 and 33 disposals, presumably while rotating between rover and a forward pocket. To put his numbers in context, no other player on the field kicked more than 2 goals (only 26 were kicked in total), and the next highest possession winner had 23.

Of games that I've seen, three prelim performances stand out - Ablett Snr in 89, Carey in 94 and Kouta in 99.

 

[Blackas87]

Nick Davis 4 last quarter goals against Geelong in the 2005 semi and Max Gawn’s 5 goal game in the 2021 prelim would be my two favourite

 

[Goomba1973]

Individually what do you rate as the top 5 final performances.(not grand finals) (not in order)

5.Gary Ablett jnr 2007 pf vs Collingwood
31 possesions 1 goals 3 and 11 clearances then the match winning goal was one of the better I’ve seen.

4. Lance Franklin 2008 vs Western Bulldogs 15 possesions 8 goals 2.
A dominant display that kicked off their finals campaign that led to their first premiership. Franklin would of only been 21 as well. All on Brian lake as well.

3. 2022 EF Lachie Neale vs Richmond
39 possesions 15 clearances.
This is very recent so maybe it’s a bit too fresh but he was so so good this game, just found a way every time to get his team over the line.

2. Wayne Carey QF 1997 vs Geelong
23 possesions 10 marks 7 goals. Dominance I remember being a young boy and seeing this and this admiration and hatred somehow developing that would last till the end of his career.

1. Nick Reiwoldt 2008 PF 20 possesions 15 marks 5 goals.
Always the heart and soul of this era and a great captains performance.

Gary Ablett Snr - 89 hands down the best finals series ever, it is criminal to have anyone above Ablett Snr for what he did in the 89 finals ..... 27 goals in four games including 9 in a losing GF .... was just an absolute monster and his best .....

 

[Lingsface]

Nick Davis 4 last quarter goals against Geelong in the 2005 semi and Max Gawn’s 5 goal game in the 2021 prelim would be my two favourite

Yea great selections there.

 

[Gydafud]

3 in the qualifying
7 in the semi
8 in the preliminary
9 in the gf

69 kicks
39 marks
6 handballs
27 goals 16 behinds

Think he would have won the Gary Ayers medal that season?

 

[Swanks McSwankserton]

Been said a few times already but 2005 Sydney-Geelong Semi, Nick Davis 4 goals in the last quarter, in what was an ultimately 7.14 to 7.11 game was sublime.

 

[Lingsface]

Think he would have won the Gary Ayers medal that season?

Unfortunately I think Gary Ayers took home the medal that year.

 

[Tonga Bob]

Any excuse to post this:

 

[Freddy Swift]

Still not worthy of being a foundation club.

Why weren’t they worthy?

 

[South of the Yarra]

Wrong. It was 17 disposals and 8 majors. Refer to my earlier post for more detail.

Huge effort. Daicos kicked 7.4 and had 20 disposals from a HFF against Carlton in a Semi Final in 1984.

 

[Strange Cat]

Gary Ablett Snr - 89 hands down the best finals series ever, it is criminal to have anyone above Ablett Snr for what he did in the 89 finals ..... 27 goals in four games including 9 in a losing GF .... was just an absolute monster and his best .....

Gets over looked a lot as the tigers flogs crows on about Dusty …recency bias and all that

 

[Falcon3518]

Gets over looked a lot as the tigers flogs crows on about Dusty …recency bias and all that

GAS is the best on a stat level. But since they didn’t win it can you call it the most influential? Not really, the result would’ve been the same if he didn’t even play. To me the most influential/best performances are in comeback from behind wins or close games where the BOG player was the difference.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Strange Cat]

GAS is the best on a stat level. But since they didn’t win it can you call it the most influential? Not really, the result would’ve been the same if he didn’t even play. To me the most influential/best performances are in comeback from behind wins or close games where the BOG player was the difference.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

27 goals and 16 behinds in 4 weeks

Stop being silly we had this discussion before ,one player can’t fix all the issues a team may have to have result in a loss ….GAS did his fair share and then some over those 4 weeks

 

[Falcon3518]

27 goals and 16 behinds in 4 weeks

Stop being silly we had this discussion before ,one player can’t fix all the issues a team may have to have result in a loss ….GAS did his fair share and then some over those 4 weeks

But would you say his best final was a loss? I wouldn’t unless you like saying “in GAS’s best final he helped Geelong lose by less” to people. Each to their own I guess.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

1980 Second Semi Final there were 25 goals kicked in the game. 33yo Kevin “Hungry Thirsty" Bartlett kicked 8 of them. 8 straight, from a forward flank. Tigers won 14.11 v 11.5.

A week prior as the Tigers won 18.8 to 10.14 v the Blues, the bereft headed maestro slotted 6 from 9 scoring shots as the Tigers won 18.8 v 10.14.

Two weeks after the 2nd Semi Final the Tigers’ opposition supporter annoyer-in-chief turned a finals series birthday party into a delirious goal mardi gras when he slotted another 7 from 11 scoring shots as the Tigers romped to victory against the the hapless Magpies.

His finals series from 3 games in total:

60 disposals(52 kicks 8 handballs )

13 towering marks.

21 goals 7 behinds - almost 25% of all the goals kicked in the 3 matches.

Hair that a wind machine could not have more perfectly made stick out directly backwards as he hit the go button and accelerated away from luckless Blue, Cat and Pie defenders galore. It was glorious.

Footnote: in 1989 in the individual finals series people incorrectly drool over, the 6th most successful footballer in his family scored 27 of the 145 goals kicked in his 4 finals. So he has scored under 19% of all the goals scored across those 4 finals, half of which his team LOST. Had he gone at KB’s rate of 25% of all goals scored, no doubt it ends in a Geelong flag. But he didn’t. Only KB did, ergo, Tiger flag.

Classic MR. 21 is actually better than 27.
Cool stuff.

 

[Im New]

Gary Ablett Snr - 89 hands down the best finals series ever, it is criminal to have anyone above Ablett Snr for what he did in the 89 finals ..... 27 goals in four games6 including 9 in a losing GF .... was just an absolute monster and his best .....

What an incredible final series that was. From memory week 1 the bombers flogged Geelong by 12 goals and two weeks later they played again and Geelong snuck home by 15 goals.

 

[My_Username]

Not quite on topic (but given this thread drifts from individual finals to finals series, I'm not so sure...), but clearly related.

AFL finals heroes: Numbers don't lie on Richmond's Kevin Bartlett

Of all the great players to grace the stage in AFL finals over the past 50 years, one man stands clear.

www.theage.com.au

The best finals performers as judged by The Age Real Footy experts (in 2016)

1. Kevin Bartlett (Richmond)
2. Andrew McLeod (Adelaide)
3. Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
4. Jimmy Bartel (Geelong)
5. Gary Ayres (Hawthorn)
6. Darren Jarman (Hawthorn/Adelaide)
7. Gary Ablett Snr (Geelong)
8. Dermott Brereton (Hawthorn)
9. Alex Jesaulenko (Carlton)
10. Leigh Matthews (Hawthorn)
11. Wayne Carey (North Melbourne)
12. Chris Judd (West Coast/Carlton)
13. Ted Hopkins (Carlton)
14. Leon Baker (Essendon)
15. Wayne Schimmelbusch (North Melbourne)
16. Barry Breen (St Kilda)
17. James Hird (Essendon)
18. Leo Barry (Sydney)
19. Michael Voss (Brisbane)
20. Wayne Harmes (Carlton)