Your club's GF loss justifications?

[joe444]

My team has turned this into an art form, but I'm trying to keep these out of la la land:

1989: (true) Geelong had as many serious injuries (including more surgeries) as Hawthorn that day.

92,94,95 ... nah, we copped our whack there.

2008: we'd been running out of gas and Hawks played against the spirit of the game to win it.

2020: not a real Grand Final, just an exhibition tournament.

2024: fricking injuries, court cases, you name it. Plus ours is the only finals system which allows one team a do-over and not the other. (Carlton '86 and '93, WCE '91, '05 & '06 ... but kudos to WCE in '18).

 

[kane249]

1991 - Overawed by the situation, beaten by an experienced and hardened Hawthorn side.
2005 - Injuries and poor form leading into the game as we limped to the grand final. Barry Hall belting someone 50 metres off the ball in the prelim being ruled as being "In Play" and not getting suspended. Sampi molested by Tadgh Kennelly on Leo Barry

Leo Barry

Age

48

Ht

184cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.8

3star

K

7.2

3star

HB

5.6

4star

M

5.0

5star

T

1.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

4.4

1star

K

2.6

1star

HB

1.8

2star

M

0.8

1star

T

1.2

3star

's mark.
2015 - Repeat of 1991

 

[TomEmilioDavies]

1991 - Overawed by the situation, beaten by an experienced and hardened Hawthorn side.
2005 - Injuries and poor form leading into the game as we limped to the grand final. Barry Hall belting someone 50 metres off the ball in the prelim being ruled as being "In Play" and not getting suspended. Sampi molested by Tadgh Kennelly on Leo Barry's mark.
2015 - Repeat of 1991

2015 is Freo's fault fluffing their lines in the prelim.

 

[NetworkNerd]

2012 - Hawks playing a Saturday prelim despite finishing on top.

 

[The Dodger]

My team has turned this into an art form, but I'm trying to keep these out of la la land:

1989: (true) Geelong had as many serious injuries (including more surgeries) as Hawthorn that day.

92,94,95 ... nah, we copped our whack there.

2008: we'd been running out of gas and Hawks played against the spirit of the game to win it.

2020: not a real Grand Final, just an exhibition tournament.

2024: fricking injuries, court cases, you name it. Plus ours is the only finals system which allows one team a do-over and not the other. (Carlton '86 and '93, WCE '91, '05 & '06 ... but kudos to WCE in '18).

Eagles didnt have a do-over in 05 did they? Won our qualifying and prelim to get in to the grandy.

 

[The Dodger]

1991 - Overawed by the situation, beaten by an experienced and hardened Hawthorn side.
2005 - Injuries and poor form leading into the game as we limped to the grand final. Barry Hall belting someone 50 metres off the ball in the prelim being ruled as being "In Play" and not getting suspended. Sampi molested by Tadgh Kennelly on Leo Barry's mark.
2015 - Repeat of 1991

2005 - Coaching staff and match selection committee were overawed. That 2005 had some truly confusing things thrown up.
Gardiner on 1 leg at FF despite not selecting Phil Matera & Lynch due to injuries.
And Travis Gaspar's meteoric rise that post season selected for his first game the season in the prelim (his 27th career game) and subsequent GF to then never play again for the Eagles after that game. Sure injuries plagued him but to push him through for the GF to then have no patience after that seems odd.
Kasey Green being selected for his 3rd game of the year for the GF. Selected in the GF plays his best game against an on fire Ryan O'Keefe who was arguable Sydney's BOG in the prelim to never represent the Eagles again and get traded away.

Glad they seemed to get it sorted for 2006.

 

[Peters_Nuts]

2018 - We got the most out of that team that we could've. The fact that a backline with Goldsack (coming off a short ACL recovery time) and Langdon as our defensive pillars came so close against that West Coast forward line is a bloody good effort. West Coast should've beaten us by more if they took their opportunities in the 4th quarter. Watching those last 10 mins were death by 1000 cuts.

Also, Maynard was blocked.

 

[Bald Headed Flog]

2021 - Josh Bruce

17

Josh Bruce

Age

33

Ht

198cm

Wt

97kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.2

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

4.6

3star

M

4.5

4star

T

2.1

4star

MG

90.4

1star

D

8.9

2star

K

3.5

1star

HB

5.4

3star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.3

2star

MG

90.4

2star

D

11.2

3star

K

5.6

3star

HB

5.6

4star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.8

3star

doing his ACL cost the Dogs the flag

Dogs hectic travel schedule absolutely cooked the players. It was made worse by the lack of diversity of players running through CBAs

Dogs went Tas - QLD - SA - WA

Demons went SA - bye - WA - WA

Choking the top 4 finish may not have happened if Bruce didnt do his ACL. Those last 2 games of the season were winnable with him in the side, which would have locked in top 4 and made for an easier finals schedule

 

[Colonial]

2019- Leon afraid to make changes with a really banged up side and instead brought in broken players from a brutal finals series.

 

[Jatz]

2019- Leon afraid to make changes with a really banged up side and instead brought in broken players from a brutal finals series.

I always thought you'd won your GF the week before. Very similar to the Blues in '99 when we beat Essendon in the prelim.

Neither could really get 'up' again after the heroics of the week before.

 

[Colonial]

I always thought you'd won your GF the week before. Very similar to the Blues in '99 when we beat Essendon in the prelim.

Neither could really get 'up' again after the heroics of the week before.

We were the walking wounded for the GF, Once the Tigers, in the second quarter, worked out Davis & Whitfield Whitfield couldn’t move we were done.

Will never forget the week though. The lead up, pubs, the 1st quarter and pregame. The after match celebrations with Giants fans. Amazing.

 

[JZTIME!]

1998 goal kicking cost us a 70 point win. Absolutely monstered them in the first half

 

[The Terrible Thinker]

2007, PED's

 

[Del239335]

It's only fair to note Preliminary Final losses too, especially when you can argue if the side won they would have won the Grand Final.

2013 - missing Enright and Chapman plus Hawthorn were the beneficiaries of a week's rest.
2016 - lacking match fitness due to playing one game of footy in a month, while Sydney were match fit and it allowed them to get the jump on us.
2017 - fair play to Adelaide they were far too good for us at Adelaide Oval, we copped our whack here and the team simply wasn't good enough.
2019 - missing Hawkins, Rohan and Duncan which meant we had a complete lack of structure and system moving the ball into the forward 50.
2021 - half the team were sick with a virus, it was so bad we asked if the AFL could postpone the match.
2024 - Holmes was BOG until he pinged his hamstring and it arguably changed the course of the match, as we were beating Brisbane comfortably right up until Holmes got injured.

 

[RUNVS]

2006 - Better team won, though it was close.

2014 - Midfield shat itself

2016 - Buddy doing his ankle in the first 2 minutes, and the umpires

2022 - Midfield stat itself

2024 - Midfield shat itself

Our midfield has a long history of completely falling apart in the big games, giving no supply to the forward line and putting our defence under huge strain.

 

[Bay53]

I sort of have two teams these days being a lifelong Essendon supporter but living down the road from the Gabba and going to all the Brisbane home games.

in my lifetime:

1983 - overawed by the occasion, probably not yet good enough - will learn from it - won back to back 1984/85.
1990 - played a team that wanted it desperately, probably a few Essendon champions past their best, extra week off didn't help.
2001 - came into the game with injuries - didn't know at the time they were playing a club that was about to do a 3 peat and be one of the best sides of all time.

Brisbane:

2004 - couldn't quite do it one more time.
2023 - great game, just couldn't quite get it done, out of the box game from a small forward - learn from it - win back to back 2024/25.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

2012 - Hawks playing a Saturday prelim despite finishing on top.

Not just that, playing an opponent who had an 8 day break in the prelim, whilst Sydney played an opponent coming off a 6 day break

 

[Bay53]

1998 goal kicking cost us a 70 point win. Absolutely monstered them in the first half

not sure about 70 points but North were clearly the better side and didn't put it on the scoreboard.

 

[M Malice]

2004- Reamed with an earnt Prelim having to be played away at the G, and banged up injury wise against a very good Port side.

2023- Under a goal loss in one of the GOAT GFs, bounce of the ball at the end and we could have jagged it, particularly with the play on/advantage call very late when IIRC Neale was legged.

FWIW not sure if we go back2back 2024-25 without the heartbreak and resulting motivation of the 2023 loss.

 

[GoldenMagpie16]

Can't have a GF loss justification if you have never been in one as a Tasmania Devil

 

[paulige]

2004- Reamed with an earnt Prelim having to be played away at the G, and banged up injury wise against a very good Port side.

2023- Under a goal loss in one of the GOAT GFs, bounce of the ball at the end and we could have jagged it, particularly with the play on/advantage call very late when IIRC Neale was legged.

FWIW not sure if we go back2back 2024-25 without the heartbreak and resulting motivation of the 2023 loss.

2004 - I’d add that that “home prelim” also took place on Saturday night, further screwing us. If they were going to make us travel, we could’ve at the very least been Saturday arvo - or better yet, Friday night.

100% believe that 24/25 don’t happen without 23.

 

[kane249]

Can't have a GF loss justification if you have never been in one as a Tasmania Devil

 

[joe444]

Eagles didnt have a do-over in 05 did they? Won our qualifying and prelim to get in to the grandy.

Indeed - Sydney had the do-over.

My attitude to that quirk of the system is starting to harden into an opinion. Fagan's message in '25: "Don't be beaten by what you know." How nice of the AFL Finals system to let them know it.

 

[shaqsuns]

What is this grand final you speak of?

 

[shaqsuns]

My team has turned this into an art form, but I'm trying to keep these out of la la land:

1989: (true) Geelong had as many serious injuries (including more surgeries) as Hawthorn that day.

92,94,95 ... nah, we copped our whack there.

2008: we'd been running out of gas and Hawks played against the spirit of the game to win it.

2020: not a real Grand Final, just an exhibition tournament.

2024: fricking injuries, court cases, you name it. Plus ours is the only finals system which allows one team a do-over and not the other. (Carlton '86 and '93, WCE '91, '05 & '06 ... but kudos to WCE in '18).

In 92, the cats were favourites and were by 3 and bit goals at half time.