Who would you rate as the weakest runners up of the last 20 years?

Which runners up do you rate as the weakest?


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Port in 2007 are undermined by their pathetic grand final showing.
They beat Geelong down at KP on the eve of the finals and took care of West Coast week one before belting North in the prelim.
Considering their form in knocking over all the top 4 contenders in consecutive weeks, there was genuine optimism they could beat the Cats in the granny. Geelong themselves had received a fright from Collingwood in the prelim and considering Port won a flag just 3 years prior they had experience on the big stage and the Cats history of choking was a real talking point.

Melbourne in 2000 were a good side but happened to come up against a scary rampant Essendon.

The quality of the premier comes into it but never has a grand final been a near certainty as North’s triumph over Carlton in 1999.
Yes the Blues beat the bombers and yes North choked in 98, but the murmurs and perception at the time was all week North by how far.
North’s finals campaign that year in taking care of Port in the wet first up but then the dismantling of Brisbane in the prelim was impressive as any performance that year.
There was a steely resolve around the 99 Kangas and the Carlton team who rocked up on grand final day were nothing but filler.
You could write your own ticket on what odds Carlton were to claim the Cup that year.
 
Sep 16, 2006
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you are probably right had the wind died down, Hawks could of kicked 15 or 16 goals easily rather than 11.
Even with what I wrote that's not to say you guys were weak runners up, you beat Geelong in Geelong that finals series whom finished 2nd that year so it already makes you a better team than most on this poll. Had Geelong hung on against the Hawks in the PF that year, or had you played any other team that hadn't just lost the GF the year before and wanted redemption, you'd be premiers.

I guess there is merit in saying our 2015 team is the worst. We finished 2nd by half a game, Sydney and Port had down years compared to 2014, and Freo ran out of gas a few rounds before finals and barely hung onto top spot. We were trounced in the grand final and had Hawks not taken their foot off our necks in the last quarter we'd have come close to losing by triple digits. Hell even Adam Simpson this past season basically replied "WTF wasnt expecting that" when asked on his opinion as to how we finished 2nd in 2015.
 
Sep 16, 2006
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Port in 2007 are undermined by their pathetic grand final showing.
I hate to be bitter but I do believe that year was one of the rare occasions where the second placed team wasnt the second best side that year. Port won several games by under a goal that year and only finished ahead of us by one or two percentage points. I believe we were the better team, if not for injury. We had them on the ropes in the QF that year too, until Cousins did his hamstring. Mind you Geelong would have probably thrashed us too in the grand final.
 
May 3, 2007
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Even with what I wrote that's not to say you guys were weak runners up, you beat Geelong in Geelong that finals series whom finished 2nd that year so it already makes you a better team than most on this poll. Had Geelong hung on against the Hawks in the PF that year, or had you played any other team that hadn't just lost the GF the year before and wanted redemption, you'd be premiers.

I guess there is merit in saying our 2015 team is the worst. We finished 2nd by half a game, Sydney and Port had down years compared to 2014, and Freo ran out of gas a few rounds before finals and barely hung onto top spot. We were trounced in the grand final and had Hawks not taken their foot off our necks in the last quarter we'd have come close to losing by triple digits. Hell even Adam Simpson this past season basically replied "WTF wasnt expecting that" when asked on his opinion as to how we finished 2nd in 2015.


Well it was obvious how west coast made top 4 in 2015. It was A similar way how the crows would get 15 wins in 2017 which would equal top 4 in most years.

Most Non-vic sides would get top 4 by getting around 15 wins: 10 of those wins would be in the home wins. Then the remaining 5 wins would be away wins in which 2-3 wins would be against bottom 6 teams.

Crows finish top in 2017 with 15 wins and were a crows stance from winning it all. Last season, they dropped. but not dramatically drop. The crows still got 12 wins. Had they converted a couple of close losses to wins, would of easily played finals in 2018.
 
May 3, 2007
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I hate to be bitter but I do believe that year was one of the rare occasions where the second placed team wasnt the second best side that year. Port won several games by under a goal that year and only finished ahead of us by one or two percentage points. I believe we were the better team, if not for injury. We had them on the ropes in the QF that year too, until Cousins did his hamstring. Mind you Geelong would have probably thrashed us too in the grand final.
And I was at that 2007 QF game between west coast and Port at Footy park.

Mind you, I was there the week before At the freo vs Port game, mainly because it was Troy Cooks last AFL game. His 193rd overall, 43 games with the swans, 150 with the dockers.

Saying that, Cousins did his hammy. Judd was sore. Still think had the Eagles beat Port in the QF, that was a 2 week break. Eagles would of had North at Subi in the Prelim. Judd and Kerr would of returned by injury. Don't know about cousins.

Even with cousins out and possibly Kerr out. Judd and the other guys in Braun, Embley, Priddis and stenglein would of had to carry the midfield.
 
Sep 16, 2006
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And I was at that 2007 QF game between west coast and Port at Footy park.

Mind you, I was there the week before At the freo vs Port game, mainly because it was Troy Cooks last AFL game. His 193rd overall, 43 games with the swans, 150 with the dockers.

Saying that, Cousins did his hammy. Judd was sore. Still think had the Eagles beat Port in the QF, that was a 2 week break. Eagles would of had North at Subi in the Prelim. Judd and Kerr would of returned by injury. Don't know about cousins.

Even with cousins out and possibly Kerr out. Judd and the other guys in Braun, Embley, Priddis and stenglein would of had to carry the midfield.
I think we'd have beaten North in the PF at Subi and then lost to Geelong in the GF by ~5 goals had we won that QF. In the end Collingwood beat us in extra time and knocked us out in straight sets with a lingering pain that only dissipated after we beat them in the QF and GF this year.
 

Mcgearzz

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Carlton of 99 wouldn’t ’have even made it in the new finals system.
Port had a good year they were just garbage on the day
 
Carlton went 12W 10L in 1999 and managed to somehow upset Essendon to make the GF.

Port Adelaide had the worst grand final performance obviously, but they weren't as bad of a team.
 

stevie26

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The Hawks were unbeatable on the day but hard to believe Sydney 2014 hasn't got a vote yet. Game over very early.
 

Black Stripe

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The Hawks were unbeatable on the day but hard to believe Sydney 2014 hasn't got a vote yet. Game over very early.

Yet West Coast 2015 have 17 votes which I don't understand.

Yes they were bad on grand final day but Sydney 2014 were just as bad if not worse.

West Coast 2015 are the only team to beat all 17 other teams in a single season since the competition became 18 teams.

In fact, West Coast 2015 were better than West Coast 2018, but history won't remember that because West Coast 2018 won the flag.

West Coast 2018 failed to beat 4 teams at any stage of the year, those teams being Adelaide, Essendon, North Melbourne and Sydney.
 
The Hawks were unbeatable on the day but hard to believe Sydney 2014 hasn't got a vote yet. Game over very early.

Because we were the best team all year for 80% of people I reckon. So we weren't the weakest runner up, we just had a terrible GF.
 
Mar 18, 2013
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Go look at the Collingwood side from 02/03 and tell me that isn’t the weakest. Other than Buckley it’s a godawful side

There were some very average names in those sides but you can’t doubt it’s quality when it put up results against the powerhouses Brisbane and Port, particularly in finals.
 
I can't believe 4 people voted Geelong 2008 the weakest runners up. It can only be that the 4 people who voted Geelong think this poll and thread is bulltish
 

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Bit of Freo 2013 about the Pies 2018 IMO
 
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Bit of Freo 2013 about the Pies 2018 IMO

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dzussy

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Carlton went 12W 10L in 1999 and managed to somehow upset Essendon to make the GF.
Yep Carlton ruined what would have been a great GF in 99 when they rolled Essendon that day, dunno how they managed that. Would have been a cracker.
 
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FWIW Tim Lane confidently tipped Port Adelaide in 2007.

They were the outsiders; but not epically. They were $2.35 H2H IIRC.

IIRC they were $2.45 against Brisbane in 2004.

They were considered better/similar chances of beating Geelong as they were when they beat Brisbane by 40+.

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Speaking of Brisbane in 2004 it’s strange with the other 20th century teams like Geelong and Hawthorn that went 3-1 in GFs in sequence/4 GFs in 5 seasons, the flag they didn’t win is the one they were most expected to: Geelong 2008 and Hawthorn 2012.

It’s also interesting that both Brisbane and Hawthorn performed at their best in the GF they were most expected to lose. Collingwood were pretty strong favourites (Brisbane were $2.45 IIRC) in 2003 and everybody on Fox Footy except Ben Dixon tipped Sydney to win in 2014; David King guaranteed a Swans win.
 
I went with Port 2007 just because of the humilation, but strongly considered 2016 Swans, and Carlton from 1999.

2016 Swans because they lost to the weakest premiership team I can recall.
1999 Carlton because they were just BOG average but stole a famous prelim upset against Essendon. And then got flogged by North in the GF.
 
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