Who is the worst premiership side of the modern era?

At his best Calthorpe was a body good little player and to say he wouldn’t make it 24 years later hardly seems relevant.

That said, 93 was a huge surprise and we weren’t overflowing with recognised top shelf talent. We were probably even bigger outsiders then the tigers at the start of the year.

I’d agree that they weren’t recognised talent at the time, but in hindsight it was a ■■■■■■ talented team!

Hird, Mercuri, Misiti, Fletch and Wangeneen were the unfulfilled talent! The senior players were guns at that time.

Yes, the 93 side snuck an early flag, but that team was chock full of talented players and was a great team.

5 Likes

We could be saying the same about Richmond one day (hopefully not).

Agreed but Tigers and Bulldogs fans would be saying the same thing about their premiership players twenty years from now.

Disagree on '93.
Prior to '93, sure.
No-one could have predicted that in the preseason, but as soon as the season started it was like, “Woah.
This team is pretty damn special.”
If you saw them playing during the year, you wouldn’t be saying they stole anything.

3 Likes

I was sceptical of our 93 season. Wasn’t sure if the Geelong game was a one off or not as before that day, we were towards the bottom of the ladder.
The night game against the Pies made a believer of me and then the Eagles game at the G solidified it.

Don’t think many saw a premiership early that year hut by mid year, we were as good as anyone else in the comp.

1 Like

Spot on. The popular picks for “worst flag team” invariably arise in very even seasons - Bulldogs (2016), Richmond (2017) and even Essendon (1993) all got hot at the right time of year and won the flag in very even seasons when the top 6-7 teams were separated by two wins or less at the end of the H&A season. Doesn’t make any of them any less worthy than premiers from other years in my mind.

If this question was asked of non-Essendon supporters, i’d guess 1993 would get plenty of votes - there were 3 hopeless teams that year (Brisbane, Richmond, and Sydney), and then very little separating the remaining 12 teams - 3.5 wins between 1st and 12th. We were lucky to even make the GF after Adelaide inexplicably choked a 7-goal lead in the PF, and we missed the finals each year either side of 1993.

1 Like

1993 was very unexpected given the expectations going into the season, sure, but those expectations grew as the season went on. For me, it was the never say die mindset we had. It didn’t matter how diabolical the situation, we were never dead & I loved that about our 1993 team. There was a game mid year that season where we were down & out against Fitzroy, yet we somehow won the game by about 4pts after Joe Misiti kicked a very late goal. Lynch & Wheildon had kicked about 8-10 between them & they were 4-5 goals up for much of the first half but we got back into the game & made the most of our opportunities when we got them. I thought we were a chance that year from that moment on, I dared to dream.

I had a similar feeling one night at the G in 1999 when we were already down Hird, Lucas & Jason Johnson for the season but we lost Fletcher & Lloyd during the game. Barnard moved forward & kicked 4 or 5 goals and we rose from the ashes that night after all looked lost. Obviously we all know how 1999 turned out but expectations weren’t overly high pre season given we’d scraped into the finals the year before & were comfortably beaten by North in the “Marshmallow Final”. I think had we not won the flag in 1993 it would’ve been horribly disappointing given we were minor premiers, most people neglect to recall that fact.

2 Likes

Its almost a meme that the 1993 side was out of the box.

History shows the opposite, from 1989 to 1996 we played in 2 grand finals, 2 prelims and another top 4 finish. So out of 8 years we finished at the pointy end 5 times. I get that 1993 had a lot of kids, but it also had 10 players that had played in the 1990 grand final only 3 years earlier.

3 Likes

Sure, but the minor premiers have won only 6 of the last 20 premierships, so the reality is that the minor premiers don’t win more frequently than they do. Of course it would have been disappointing had we not won in 1993, but it certainly wouldn’t have been an abnormal outcome particularly given how even that particular season was.

Hard to go past the Bulldogs. I though their season was on the brink vs Hawthorn in the semi. If Bruest kicks a goal, Hawks go up 5 goals. He missed and the Bullies went coast to coast and goaled. If Bruest’s kick is a goal I reckon a few Bulldogs drop their heads

1 Like

Back in those days though, the minor premier had a very high percentage of converting the minor premiership into a grand final berth. The stats you quote above, is exactly why the AFL introduced a draft & salary cap as an equalisation measure, both of which had only been in operation 6-7 years at that time. What the AFL has had the past two decades is exactly why they made those changes.

That’s correct, but the average minor premier wins more than 67.5% of games. There’s quite a difference between failing to win a flag after being minor premier and dominating the season, and failing to win a flag after being a minor premier in a season when there’s a proverbial blanket over half a dozen teams.

I went back 40 years and Essendon’s 13.5/20 wins in 1993 - 67.5% winning percentage - is the lowest of any minor premier, so it was a statistically “weak” minor premiership indicative of a very even season.

1 Like

WC 06- awesome midfield and not much else

Richmond last year

Just thought I’d revisit this thread and see if people still think Richmond?

1 Like

Richmond the worst back to back premiers ever!

1 Like

Not Essendon!
Amirite?!

1 Like

Today’s winner might be a candidate. Either way.

4 Likes

Bulldogs hands down

I rate the Bulldogs over both these teams.
I reckon they’d be eight goals up at half time.

2 Likes