What are some of the biggest pieces of revisionist history in the AFL?

[Butters and Pepper]

That Mark Bickley was in any way, at all, whatsoever, a Hall of Fame level player.

I don’t hate Bickley, I don’t even really hate the Crows, but that guy was questionably in the best 10 players Adelaide had in the 90s.

Absolutely mind blowing he’s in the HoF.

Agreed, that was ridiculous.

I think it was an effort to appease South Australian football followers - "oh, we'll induct an SA born dual premiership winning captain of the Crows, that will make them happy".

 

[Magpie Since 1986]

The idea Malthouse pioneered the "forward press" gameplan is another case of revisionist history.
Ross Lyon had the Saints playing a forward press in 2009 to great success. The following year Malthouse and Collingwood implemented it to great success.

I never said Malthouse pioneered it. I said he changed his gameplan and we (Collingwood) had never seen us play like that before - in reference to his previous stale gameplan.

Lyon did it 2009 but that was just an evolution of Clarkos cluster in 2008 which was essentially zoning segments of the ground. Which is just borrowed from other professional sports. If we want to be precise.

 

[Blue1980]

Dude.
The phrase "14 from the wing" means he was playing on the wing, not kicking them from there.

Yes, seems it’s been taken a bit too literally. I don’t think people were suggesting he kicked 40 from 70+ metres out of had running bounces from the wing for every goal.

 

[E Shed]

The idea Malthouse pioneered the "forward press" gameplan is another case of revisionist history.
Ross Lyon had the Saints playing a forward press in 2009 to great success. The following year Malthouse and Collingwood implemented it to great success.

Didn't Terry Wallace have the Dogs play a flooded forward half before any of that. I have a vague memory of listening to it on the radio and the commentators being up in arms about this strange ugly style the Dogs were playing.

 

[Hysteria]

I never said Malthouse pioneered it. I said he changed his gameplan and we (Collingwood) had never seen us play like that before - in reference to his previous stale gameplan.

Lyon did it 2009 but that was just an evolution of Clarkos cluster in 2008 which was essentially zoning segments of the ground. Which is just borrowed from other professional sports. If we want to be precise.

Not saying you said that, Malthouse has said as much on multiple occasions however.
If memory serves I can recall him mentioning some nonsense about coming up with it after watching soccer or something to that effect.

 

[The_Eagles]

Fyfe cost freo the 2013 flag
@21 he was the best midfielder on the ground by a country mile.
It was freos fwds not kicking goals that cost the flag

The classic Fyfe from 2015 that everyone remembers was already running around in 2013, he was bustling through packs and clenching the footy at will that day and was all season in 2013 (robbed of an All Australian)

Ballantyne / Pearce and the forwards fumbled the bag

 

[Del165198]

That Hinkley and Kochie saved Port from folding, which was just inches away from happening.

We were bad in 2011 and 2012, no question. Copped a few hidings. But we aren't the only teams to have a poor season or two. Gold Coast, Melbourne, Essendon, North, and West Coast have all been pretty much as terrible at times, or much worse. We also weren't the first or last team to be in debt. Our crowds during the "tarp" era are still better than several clubs today.

But for 2 bad years, did that mean the club was going to fold? **** no. One of the oldest clubs in the land, the most successful in the SANFL, less than a decade removed from a flag. The financial situation wasnt good because of the SANFL bleeding us dry.

Most of what happened to turn the club around was put in motion BEFORE kockhead and "last man standing" ken arrived. The critical move to Adelaide oval. Reuniting with the port magpies.

Ken deserves some credit for on field performance for season 2013 and 2014, sure. But a lot of those building blocks were in place already. Chad Wingard

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Chad Wingard

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was picked up in the 2011 draft, wines the year after. Robbie Gray

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Robbie Gray

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37

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19.9

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1.4

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13.3

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6.0

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7.3

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2.4

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0.6

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10.4

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6.6

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3.8

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3.6

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recovered from injury to become one of the best players in the comp. Geelong tried to raid Travis Boak

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Travis Boak

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36

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4.4

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4.6

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22.0

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11.0

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11.0

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2.4

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4.4

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CL

4.9

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16.4

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7.4

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9.0

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5.4

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2.4

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in 2012, but he stayed loyal.

We actually had a fully funded footy department with competent assistant coaches instead of Dani laidley over Skype. We got Darren burgess.

One could argue than season 2013 would have seen a natural improvement with any coach.

But I digress. The narrative forced on the club, particularly by the media, is that we as supporters must "remember 2011?", as if no other club has ever had a shit year. And the ken and kockface are geniuses who single handedly saved the club, so deserve to rule unquestionably for all eternity.

It's absolute horseshit and has lead to nearing a decade of mediocrity with no hope for meaningful success.

 

[Blue1980]

Didn't Terry Wallace have the Dogs play a flooded forward half before any of that. I have a vague memory of listening to it on the radio and the commentators being up in arms about this strange ugly style the Dogs were playing.

Even then the dogs weren’t the first side to do flooding. It began with the swans in 96, by 97-98 everyone was doing it to some degree and certainly by 2000 it was nothing new.

That dogs game v Essendon in 2000 saw it to maybe a more extreme degree but it’s complete revisionist history to claim it invented flooding.

 

[darcytiger]

Every kick inside 50 is not “the wing” mate.

The one outside 50 is directly in front. Case closed 0 out of 14 were from the wing.

Do we say Henderson’s (Def) 2017 QF goal from the goal square was a great goal “from the backline”. No

And those goals from the bench, sub and emergency are insane they aren’t even on the ground yet!!!

Ahh yes, you have to kick the goal from 100m out, physically on the wing for it to count.

 

[Jables]

Footy was better 10-15 years ago, or in the 80s. It wasn't. It was very good comparatively in the 90s though.

Literally every single 90's GF was an uncompetitive blowout and the acquisition of indigenous talent was still very limited. The average team had the mental fortitude of a pea, and a lot of the star goalkickers people so fondly talk about happened to be on dogshit teams no one wanted to watch, if that's not revisionism I don't know what is. 90's just became the new starting point for a lot of people as we aged up and everyone overlooks what sucked about it, everyone has a different golden era.

Besides the 80's I think the opposite, people are way more likely to wank about 90's footy compared to 80's footy where there are some pretty obvious flaws, it was mid and so were the early 00's that were basically the same. I totally get the argument because the rules enabled individual cases of more pleasing footy, it was the era before rule changes were normalised and it epitomised what we think of when it comes to football, but the overall talent pool went to another level by the time the Cats exploded, Bulldogs and St Kilda in 2008 could've won GF's in the 90's on pure talent, easily. People point to a few of our own uncompetitive GF's, but we were an absolute monster team and without such a strong competition we would've strolled to success before 2013 despite lacking elite options at FB and Ruck, not a problem for many modern teams.

 

[Hoops]

That's because you weren't favourites however some Hawks fans seemed to want to peddle the myth they went in against it and triumphed against the odds etc

I was so sure Hawthorn were going to win that I went hiking up Mt Bogong for the weekend. This is the only GF I have not watched in 35 years

 

[Cleansweep17]

Ahh yes, you have to kick the goal from 100m out, physically on the wing for it to count.

You can kick it 51m on the boundary. It’s been done plenty of times. That is the wing.

For some reason GAS dribbling goals essentially in the goal square and set shots 15m out is “from the wing” this is an exaggeration that I’ve never seen apply to another player.

I get he was entertaining but geez this is a little extreme.

 

[boncer34]

You can kick it 51m on the boundary. It’s been done plenty of times. That is the wing.

For some reason GAS dribbling goals essentially in the goal square and set shots 15m out is “from the wing” this is an exaggeration that I’ve never seen apply to another player.

I get he was entertaining but geez this is a little extreme.

That's the half forward flank.

 

[SuperSub17]

That Hawks were underdogs v Freo in the 2013 GF

They were quite a pronounced favourite

Yeah, people tend to confuse adjacent years with these things. Hawks were underdogs in 14, definitely warm favourites for 13.

Similarly:
People claim Brisbane was always going to smash Collingwood in 03, when in actuality the Pies entered slight favourites.

The 05/06 GFs were not both scrappy, low-scoring affairs - only 05 was. 06 was actually a pretty decent skill level.

Nathan Buckley did not inherit “the youngest premiership team ever” - aside from the fact it was only the youngest in 30 years, not all time - Collingwood won in 2010, not 2011. Had they won the 2011 GF, their age would have been almost smack bang average for a premiership team.

 

[rapidfire7]

That 1897 is the year when Premierships started to he counted for the VFL/AFL.

In reality, Premierships back until the 1870s used to be included in club's official tallies.

That was until some time in the 1930s/40s, when the historical revisionists came along and changed the start date to what it is today.

View attachment CATS PRESIDENT COLIN CARTER INTERVIEW - Footyology with Rohan Connolly & Mark Fine 2.mp4

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

Not saying you said that, Malthouse has said as much on multiple occasions however.
If memory serves I can recall him mentioning some nonsense about coming up with it after watching soccer or something to that effect.

On this, my memory has me thinking Neil Craig was well ahead of these guys anyway and from memory it was parts of hockey zones he was using.

 

[HairyO]

You can kick it 51m on the boundary. It’s been done plenty of times. That is the wing.

For some reason GAS dribbling goals essentially in the goal square and set shots 15m out is “from the wing” this is an exaggeration that I’ve never seen apply to another player.

I get he was entertaining but geez this is a little extreme.

Its a fair point. If youre leading from the goalsquare you probably arent on the Wing.

Similar to Richo. One of his best years he spent a lot of time on the Wing, but he also spent a lot of time forward.

Neither of these guys played a defensive role. They were very attacking. Unlike what Wings are expected to do these days.

 

[HTPunter]

Not saying we would have won necessarily but we would have provided a much better contest than what Carlton did. And teams have lost 2 grand finals in a row before (e.g. Collingwood 02-03, St. Kilda 09-10.

St Kilda didn’t lose 2 grand finals in a row is a technical one

 

[GWT6]

2) That Alex Jesaulenko's nickname was "Jezza" when it wasn't.
View attachment 2008280View attachment 2008281View attachment 2008282View attachment 2008283View attachment 2008284View attachment 2008285

Iconic post.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

So like my question where was Hendersons (Def) 2017 QF goal in the goal square from?

What it A: from the Backline

Or B: from the fwd line

The answer should be common sense

Seeing as he didn't kick a goal in the 2017 QF, it seems you're not even using common sense yourself.

He kicked a goal in the 2019 PF, playing as a key forward in replacement of the suspended Hawkins.

 

[Cleansweep17]

That's the half forward flank.

What is, the Goal square?

If it’s inside 50m on the boundary that’s the forward pocket if its outside the 50m on the boundary it’s the wing.

This would be a goal from the wing (if it was a tiny bit further out) none of GAS 14 goals were like this.

 

[HavUEvaSeenTheRain]

What is, the Goal square?

If it’s inside 50m on the boundary that’s the forward pocket if its outside the 50m on the boundary it’s the wing.

This would be a goal from the wing (if it was a tiny bit further out) none of GAS 14 goals were like this.

I’ve literally never heard this interpretation. So if for instance a ruckman takes a mark inside 50 and kicks a goal are you saying they aren’t kicking the goal as a ruckman but a forward?

 

[Cleansweep17]

Seeing as he didn't kick a goal in the 2017 QF, it seems you're not even using common sense yourself.

He kicked a goal in the 2019 PF, playing as a key forward in replacement of the suspended Hawkins.

Look, this is the wing…

Did Gary kick any from there? I can’t believe how difficult people are making this. The storytelling is quite unreal, to the point people don’t even know the sections of the ground anymore.

 

[Chadwiko]

That Jobe Watson earned his Brownlow, and he deserves to have it returned.

Absolutely not.

I feel like history has forgotten that the most common knock against Watson for years was that he was talented but couldn't run out full games. That he was always gassed in the 4th quarters and looked like he was gasping for air. That lack of fitness was such a common complaint that it basically became a meme.

Then in the offseason before the 2012 season, the Essendon supplements program started, and all of a sudden Jobe Watson was fitter than he had ever been. It seemingly changed overnight. He doubled his career-high Brownlow votes in 2012, and earned his first All Australian nod. What a coincidence!

No, I'm sorry but the Essendon saga punishments were deserved, including Watson losing the Brownlow. History should never undo that.

 

[Pocket Terrace]

That Bailey Dale

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Bailey Dale

Age

28

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188cm

Wt

85kg

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Def

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13.2

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7.6

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5.6

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3.1

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1.6

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117.4

2star

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9.0

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5.1

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3.9

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2.3

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1.7

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117.4

2star

D

8.0

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5.0

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3.0

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1.4

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2.0

4star

was dropped to the 2s earlier this season.

Despite it being bandied around as fact by several pundits and opposition fans, it never happened. He has played every game in the AFL this season (1 as the sub).