Grand Final Squad of 2000 vs Now

[Engorged Onion 10,224]

10 minutes ago, Choke said:

I agree.

2000 was the only GF I've ever been to, and I came in knowing we didn't have much of a chance. I wasn't devastated when we lost, because I knew how good we'd be the next season.

Got to laugh... right?

No?

Yeah maybe not.

Me too Choke, arrived, promptly got blind drunk in the AFLReady box - cursed at Michael Longs hit on Troy and Dean Wallis - jeez they took it to us physically. Expectation was high for the following year right! Right...

[Wrecker45 3,378]

1 hour ago, Choke said:

I agree.

2000 was the only GF I've ever been to, and I came in knowing we didn't have much of a chance. I wasn't devastated when we lost, because I knew how good we'd be the next season.

Got to laugh... right?

No?

Yeah maybe not.

Whelan who most will agree is back pocket of the century, missed with a neck injury before we realised how good he was.

Woey had a hammy.

Brad Green was punched in the throat and taken off the ground in the first quater.

Look back and Essendon were the best but we were unlucky.

 

[Dante 2,739]

1 hour ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

I feel that in 1998 and 2006 we were a genuine chance to pinch a premiership.  In '94 no one could get close to west Coast and same goes for Essendon in 2000- they were both a cut above the nearest competition.

No one could get close to the West Coast because of the widespread drug cheating in place there at the time, they should have been stripped of the flag many years ago.

How many ex players coming out will it take before the AFL has a full enquiry in to the club as it was at that time and since, the latest ex player gone wrong is facing a jail term and there are other examples of players that have complained of the drug culture, or in the case of Mainwaring, died because of drug addiction. We should have beaten them over there if it was a level playing field and in fact probably wouldn't have had to go over there at all if they weren't drug cheats.

Everyone knew at the time they were on the gear, it was obvious just looking at them at the start of the season, but they got away with it because no one in the AFL was prepared to say anything that would upset them. McLean gets up on the TV and accuses us of, maybe not trying too hard to win games, and we get busted for $500k, there have been many that have stated that there was a drug culture at West Coast and nothing happens, Chick said that the place was awash with Prednisolone a form of steroid, but does the AFL call him in to discuss it, certainly not.

What a joke.

[praha 11,253]

2 hours ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

I feel that in 1998 and 2006 we were a genuine chance to pinch a premiership.  In '94 no one could get close to west Coast and same goes for Essendon in 2000- they were both a cut above the nearest competition.

No doubt. What made 94 great was that even with all of our injuries we still managed to slam a second-placed Carlton from 7th and Lyon kicked 10 against the Dogs in front of 80,000 the following week. Up and down season but with Jakovich running rampant for half the season ... just unreal season. Eagles were a sure thing though. 

2002 was probably a better chance for us than 2006, up for debate. We were gifted a game against the Crows at the MCG and really stuffed that one up. Before the game we were second favourite to win the flag behind the Lions. That first quarter against the Crows arguably cost us a flag. Confident we would have beaten the Pies had we played as we did against North in the first week.

End of the day whether it was 94, 2000, 2002 or 2006, we'd have had to beat sides far better to claim the flag. Geelong, Essendon, Brisbane, West Coast. We were never better than a mid-table side, let's be honest.

[Diamond_Jim 12,687]

13 minutes ago, praha said:

End of the day whether it was 94, 2000, 2002 or 2006, we'd have had to beat sides far better to claim the flag. Geelong, Essendon, Brisbane, West Coast. We were never better than a mid-table side, let's be honest.

Just like the Dogs last year but never the chocolates for us

[monoccular 17,642]

21 hours ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

..........

I do have to say that it's a pity the timing wasn't slightly better.  Imagine having both Vineys in the one side. 

 

9 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

It's more about biology than timing. 

No so sure.

Jack at age 6 ½ may have taken it on with a few of the EssenDrug thugs

Edited February 13, 2017 by monoccular

[Adam The God 30,603]

This is slightly laughable this thread. Certainly cringey. 

MFC supporters have always been great at selling themselves hope. 

We now have a legitimately exciting list that has actually shown on multiple occasions that individually they're capable of potentially great things. But I reckon it's a year too early for this thread. Let's play finals first with this team, before comparing them to a team that made it to the big one.

Just on that 2000 team. We certainly had a soft under belly, but I loved Farmer, Yze, Neitz and Schwarz. I agree with you whole-heartedly @Choke that Powell was thoroughly underrated. He was a beauty and a goalscoring midfielder (HF doesn't do him justice - he could win clearances). Wouldn't it be great to have a few of those over the coming years?

[Sir Why You Little 37,307]

16 minutes ago, A F said:

This is slightly laughable this thread. Certainly cringey. 

MFC supporters have always been great at selling themselves hope. 

We now have a legitimately exciting list that has actually shown on multiple occasions that individually they're capable of potentially great things. But I reckon it's a year too early for this thread. Let's play finals first with this team, before comparing them to a team that made it to the big one.

Just on that 2000 team. We certainly had a soft under belly, but I loved Farmer, Yze, Neitz and Schwarz. I agree with you whole-heartedly @Choke that Powell was thoroughly underrated. He was a beauty and a goalscoring midfielder (HF doesn't do him justice - he could win clearances). Wouldn't it be great to have a few of those over the coming years?

I don't think Stephen Powell was under rated at all

he was one of the reasons we made that GF

[Adam The God 30,603]

6 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I don't think Stephen Powell was under rated at all

he was one of the reasons we made that GF

My recollection was that he was rated, but not in the same sentence as Yze, Neitz or Schwarz.

[Diamond_Jim 12,687]

Which was the year where we were on top of the ladder at about the third last round of the season and then we did not win any games (or maybe we won one) after that.

I can vaguely remember our players being interviewed when we hit the top but it was obvious that with the injuries we were going to stagger in the next few weeks.... and stagger we did.

[FarNorthernD 5,861]

1 hour ago, A F said:

My recollection was that he was rated, but not in the same sentence as Yze, Neitz or Schwarz.

That's because he was in the next sentence 

[Adam The God 30,603]

58 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Which was the year where we were on top of the ladder at about the third last round of the season and then we did not win any games (or maybe we won one) after that.

I can vaguely remember our players being interviewed when we hit the top but it was obvious that with the injuries we were going to stagger in the next few weeks.... and stagger we did.

I think that happened twice in 2005 and 2006. Then we fell off a cliff and exacerbated the situation by dumping all our senior players unceremoniously over the next 3 years.

[TeamPlayedFine39 8,525]

3 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I don't think Stephen Powell was under rated at all

he was one of the reasons we made that GF

And was clearly our best player in that grand final- 21 disposals and 3 goals.

[Delusional demon 82 1,197]

8 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Which was the year where we were on top of the ladder at about the third last round of the season and then we did not win any games (or maybe we won one) after that.

I can vaguely remember our players being interviewed when we hit the top but it was obvious that with the injuries we were going to stagger in the next few weeks.... and stagger we did.

2004, I remember the ladder went up on the scoreboard at the G after we beat hawthorn (who were rubbish back then btw) to a big cheer. We got smashed by port Adelaide at footy park the next week and it all came to a crashing halt we limped into the finals nth Melb style and lost to the bombers in the elim final. 

2005/06 slightly different we pulled out a couple of wins and even a draw to get over the line , but still not really a contender, we could never get a consistent team performance 

another thing I'd add is even during the late 90s and early 2000s (the yo yo years) even though we had a talented however inconsistent team , we always had offfield instability... now the club seems very different, I can't recall a time in my living memory where we've have both a talented young team ( on the cusp of finals) but with the club actually in great shape too. 

[La Dee-vina Comedia 17,016]

2 hours ago, Delusional demon 82 said:

2004, I remember the ladder went up on the scoreboard at the G after we beat hawthorn (who were rubbish back then btw) to a big cheer. We got smashed by port Adelaide at footy park the next week and it all came to a crashing halt we limped into the finals nth Melb style and lost to the bombers in the elim final. 

2005/06 slightly different we pulled out a couple of wins and even a draw to get over the line , but still not really a contender, we could never get a consistent team performance 

another thing I'd add is even during the late 90s and early 2000s (the yo yo years) even though we had a talented however inconsistent team , we always had offfield instability... now the club seems very different, I can't recall a time in my living memory where we've have both a talented young team ( on the cusp of finals) but with the club actually in great shape too. 

Ditto. And I've been following the club since 1964.