1990 - The season that could easily have been ours

[Dr. Gonzo 24,460]

1990 was really the same sort of season as 2004 and 2005: poor mid-year showing that ruined our placing in the finals.

Our record against the other finalists in 1990 indicates it was a better chance than the other years.

[Sir Why You Little 37,342]

Our record against the other finalists in 1990 indicates it was a better chance than the other years.

We had nothing left after playing 8 Quarters of pressure football against Whorethorn in 7 days

Mentally spent even with the extra week off

I asked Dermott about it a couple of years ago, while we were both waiting to use an ATM!!

He remembers those finals being played like GF's

Paticularly week 2

And could tell the Demons were done as they walked off the G. That 1990 Elim final is a hell of a game

We lacked a champion CHF that year

It was close but i wasn't suprised when the Eagles got us on the wide ground.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,460]

The Eagles played at Geelong then 3 weeks in a row at Waverley. Factor in travel by plane then out to the wastelands and back and theres no excuses for us especially with the week off. We would've done the Pies if Sumich kicked that goal though and Lone wouldn't have missed the Semi!

[John Crow Batty 8,887]

The Eagles played at Geelong then 3 weeks in a row at Waverley. Factor in travel by plane then out to the wastelands and back and theres no excuses for us especially with the week off. We would've done the Pies if Sumich kicked that goal though and Lone wouldn't have missed the Semi!

And book ending WC's win against us were 10 goal losses. I have bitter memories from that game. We were asleep at the start and played catch up footy after half time and never got close.

[Demon Dynasty 17,135]

1994 for mine. That side had everything. Best Melbourne team I have had the pleasure to follow. Here are the 32 listed players from that season. It hurts like hell to see this list and know it didn't get us a flag. And in the long run it was only the West Australian state team that could beat us. It hurts even more when I think of the carp being served up over the past 7 years.

2 Stephen Tingay

3 Garry Lyon

4 Chris Sullivan

5 David Schwarz

6 Glenn Lovett

7 Darren Kowal

8 Graeme Yeats

9 David Nietz

10 Martin Pike

11 Jim Stynes

12 Todd Viney

13 Allen Jakovich

14 Rod Grinter

15 Paul Hopgood

16 Andy Lovell

17 Brett Lovett

18 Sean Charles

19 Paul Prymke

20 Matthew Febey

21 Steven Febey

22 Jeff Hilton

23 Kevin Dyson

24 Phil Gilbert

25 Jason Norrish

26 Greg Doyle

27 Sean Wight

28 Glenn Molloy

29 Andrew Obst

34 Dean Irving

35 Bradley Campbell

37 Andrew Lamprill

41 Peter Rohde

I personally think this was our best opp as well with the list above.

And as my bro kindly reminded me last night, the turning point late in the season, was the loss of Jackovich in Rnd 17. One man doesn't make a GF appearance but he sure was a huge out.

The following stats can't be ignored when considering he was there for the bulk of the season, albeit not able to take the park in all matches leading up to Rnd 17.

• 51 Goals in 13 matches to round 17
• 4th in the AFL goal kicking averages, averaging just under 4 goals a match
• Only bettered by 3 other greats that year in Ablett (3rd) with an average of 5.2, Dunstall (2nd) with an average of 5.3 and Lockett (No.1) with an average of 5.60 per game.
• He beat 3 other goal kicking power forwards that year in the goal averages including, Modra, Sticks Kernahan and the King himself, Wayne Carey.
• He was our leading goal kicker on 8 of the 13 matches he played to Rnd 17, kicking 8 goals in the opening round against the Cats which we won by over 10 goals and another 8 goals (to 3/4 time!!) against the Hawks in our win over them at their home ground (Princess Park) in Round 17, before leaving the ground injured never to play another game for the Demons!
• We also had one other player in the top 10 goal kicking averages that year, Gazza, sitting on 10th with 78 goals at 3.3 goals a match over 23 games. The Ox also had a pretty amazing year kicking 60 goals in 25 matches.

There's always many "if & buts" involved in any season but to me this was the season that looked like we could go all the way with a lethal goal kicking forward line up i had never seen before that year. We were capable of beating almost any opponent with the big bull Jacko on the park and firing.

[spirit of norm smith 16,656]

1990 ... go to round 6. We lost to Sydney by only 5 points after kicking 12.21

yes we had won the first 5 games. Swans finished 2nd last.

We finished 4th in 1990 with 16 wins and 6 losses. We may not have won against the Pies but it would have been close (closer than 1988 or 2000).

[Pipefitter 2,225]

1994 talent wise was the one for me.

[MadAsHell 4,217]

While i agree with what many posters have said in here about the talent on our list in 1994, it has to be conceded that we did finish 7th after the home & away season. So considering no one has won the premiership from lower then 5th, it's a stretch to say we could/should have won it.

1990 & 1998 for mine. Arguably 2004 also with a loss to the wooden spoon blues knocking us out of the top 4 after being on top after round 18.

Edit: Loss to blues.

[Tim 3,540]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_AFL_season#Finals_Series

Rnd 20 @ subiaco West Coast v Melbourne

Wasn't this the highly publicised one where Brian Wilson gave the finger to the Eagles crowd as he came off arm-in-arm with several team-mates, arguably giving the Eagles ammo for the return bout a couple of weeks later? Dumb.

[Wilson7 2,689]

1998 we were a big chance, imagine if Peter Matera had not have changed his mind at the last minute, he went as far as having a medical and had been assigned a guernsey number (8), what could have been

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

1998 we were a big chance, imagine if Peter Matera had not have changed his mind at the last minute, he went as far as having a medical and had been assigned a guernsey number (8), what could have been

He could have been as big as Gary Moorcroft, or Chris Heffernan, or Peter Vardy, or Byron Pickett, or Shannon Motlop, or any of the other import stars who brought us September glory.