Hirds game against FC in rd 1 1997 is a hidden gem.
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1997/030519970331.html
Mercs with the sealer.
Berba with 4 as well.
Inb4 comeback game
93âŚa lucky out of the blue flag won by the least successful win/loss season of the modern era.
do we give that back in exchange for a flag in 99 when we thoroughly deserved it?
swings and roundabouts folks
2001 is the flag that would have put us firmly ahead of the ledger. Agree with the point on 93 balancing out 99. 2000 was ours and 2001 was a 50-50 we lost.
Our 93 group would have become triple premiership players, the Lions guys wouldnât have, the Lloyd Lucas group would have gone down in folklore as Back to Back premiers, three in eight years puts us ahead of north and the eagles for that era - etc etc.
When you watch 2001 over again itâs hard to believe we were competitive on the day - Hird and Mercuri on one leg, Lloyd and Lucas kicked 9 of our 12 goals, Brisbane just far more even.
Fark carlton.
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The â93 season was one of the most even seasons I can remember. At the end of the H & A there was 10 pts separating 1-9 on the ladder, and we actually moved up to top spot after R 22 in which we had a bye. The finals race that year was pretty open and we were in the hunt, no doubt.
There is a degree of luck involved in winning every flag. In â93 we were lucky that:
- The competition clearly underestimated our young playing group, as supporters did to an extent. They were an unknown quantity.
- Mark Bickley (as legend has it) dropped his guts in the rooms at half time in the PF.
Had the latter not happened, we wouldnât have made the GF.
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We shouldâve won another flag between 1993 and 2000. â99 is the obvious one, but I still think â95-â96 were wasted years. Iâm not saying we were the best team across those years, but look at the list in and it was stacked full of talent. You still had the nucleus of the â93 team, and then you can add to that (players who joined the club subsequent to â93 and guys that didnât play in the â93 GF but were on the list) Alessio, Symons, Prior, Cummings, Lloyd, Lucas, Cockatoo-Collins, Wellman, Barnard, Hardwick, Blumfield. Some of the veterans of the â93 side were in the decline and/or had left the club by the end of â96, such as Watson, Thompson, Harvey, Salmon, and also Wanganeen heading home 
, so maybe there was a bit of a leadership vacuum. Bewick also did his knee in â95 and along for the 2nd time in â96, ironically in the game that Boris made his comeback and kicked 9 against the Cats. The talent though across those years shouldâve done more. The one weakness in the team at that time was CHB. We got Tim Darcy for a year, Wellmanâs first year with us was a bit of an adjustment for him but he was excellent from them onâŚ
Sill maintain my post from earlier in the thread about 95-96. Had we go there weâd have lost a GF to fark carlton no â â â â â â â thank you. 96 we were so cooked after that prelim and North wouldâve rinsed us.
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Iâm saying we shouldâve done better across those years. Itâs very simplistic to say that if we get across the line against Sydney in that prelim final weâd have got thumped by North in the GF given the injuries we had. And that wouldâve happened. But Iâm saying we shouldnât have finished in 6th on the ladder before the finals. That team shouldâve been top 4. And â95 we lost games that we shouldâve won right throughout that year. 2 draws as well. We underperformed for the talent we had IMOâŚ
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I still thought weâd win at half time in the â93 Prelim.
For a moment I thought weâd thrown the Prelim in â96, but that was a silly thing to think. But as much as I want to believe anything can happen in a GF, I agree that we were no chance due to injury.
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That I agree with