On 4/28/2020 at 2:52 PM, Demonland said:

We beat top of the table Essendon twice that year.

And beat west coast and hawthorn twice too

8 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Very disappointing that Geelong blew that lead against West Coast in rd 22 as we would've got the double chance.

But as others have mentioned, we only had ourselves to blame as we lost to a bunch of ordinary (Geelong, St Kilda,) or downright horrible (Sydney) sides that year.

We also only beat woeful sides by 2-3 goals at home against Brisbane and Fitzroy when we would've gone in as raging favorites.

Sounds like we had a problem with complacency that year which was summed up perfectly by blowing it all against West Coast in the semi final in front of our fans.

We were leading Brisbane by about 8 goals at half time at Waverley and won by 2. Stkilda seemed to be our bogey side through that era we lost to them in 88, 89, 90 and 91 (round 3) before finally getting over them later in 91 by 1 point at Moorabbin thanks to some Jakovich magic

On 4/28/2020 at 2:48 PM, Demonland said:

I seem to recall that through the late 80s and early 90s we would always have a mid season slump before coming home strong. Probably cost us a flag.

1989 we were 2nd after beating the Cats in round 16 then lost 5 of the last 6 games. We still finished 4th I think but again the double chance was gone. Garry Lyon didn't play after that Cats game but I'm not sure what his injury was? The beginning of his back problems? He also missed one of the semis against the Eagles (90 or 91?) which hurt us.

"Despite having been given an unexpected week off by virtue of the West Coast/Collingwood draw, the Demons entered the match against the Eagles with troubles. Garry Lyon missed the match after being collected heavily by Steve O'Dwyer in a Thursday night training mishap."

http://demonwiki.org/Semi+Final+1990

Oh Strawbs ? 

 

The 1990 team definitely was good enough to win it. Pies stole it.  The Bombers & Hawks had dominated the prior 7 years. We were able to BEAT both of them in 1990. We lost to lower teams. We were capable. 

2004  sitting on top & we lost the last 4 inc the elimination final against Essendon. 

2018 missed out on top 4 losing to teams outside of the 8. 
 

12 hours ago, BillyBeane said:

"Despite having been given an unexpected week off by virtue of the West Coast/Collingwood draw, the Demons entered the match against the Eagles with troubles. Garry Lyon missed the match after being collected heavily by Steve O'Dwyer in a Thursday night training mishap."

http://demonwiki.org/Semi+Final+1990

Oh Strawbs ? 

 

Geez O'Dwyer had a bit to answer for during that era.

First he snots a Carlton bloke in the 1988 prelim and we lose our number 1 ruck for the grand final.

Secondly he knocks out our best player 2 days before a semi final that we should've won.

10 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

The 1990 team definitely was good enough to win it. Pies stole it.  

Collingwood were going nowhere around round 8 of that season.

They lost key tests to Essendon and Hawthorn in consecutive weeks to go 4-3. The following week they were trailing lowly Fitzroy at 3 qtr time only run them over in the last qtr.

They then went on a long run of wins mostly beating poor to mediocre side before again failing last season tests to Essendon and Hawthorn.

I subscribe to the theory that Collingwood and us were at about the same level and we could've beaten them in week 1 of the finals had Geelong hung to WC in rd 22.

Collingwood lost plenty of games to the top sides while we couldn't get the job done consistently against the poor to average sides.

There is a reason we lost finals campaigns under Northey. Waverley.

^^^

Interesting theory. Was Waverley a bit of a bogey ground for us in the late 80's and early 90's? Did we not play as well there as we did at the G?

Edited April 30, 20205 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

15 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

^^^

Interesting theory. Was Waverley a bit of a bogey ground for us in the late 80's and early 90's? Did we not play as well there as we did at the G?

my memory of those days is that in finals at least we did okay at Waverley. It had very wide wings where you could get lost if you didn't stick to the more central parts of the ground.

As much as I thought Waverley to be a soulless, windswept paddock in the [censored] end of nowhere (and I lived within walking distance of the place) I don't think it played much of a part in the finals we lost there. Didn't Geelong thump us by ten goals at the 'G one year (1989?). 

1 hour ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

As much as I thought Waverley to be a soulless, windswept paddock in the [censored] end of nowhere (and I lived within walking distance of the place) I don't think it played much of a part in the finals we lost there. Didn't Geelong thump us by ten goals at the 'G one year (1989?). 

At Waverley:

87 - lost to Hawks after the siren

88 - beat WCE by 2, 

89 - beat Collingwood

90 - lost to WCE by 5 goals

91 - lost to WCE again, but beat Essendon the week before (all finals at Waverley that year)

At the G we got hammered in the 88 GF, and the 89 semi v Geelong.  Our record at Waverley was no worse than at the G, and we did win the 87 and 89 Night flags at the old VFL Park!!

1 hour ago, Swooper1987 said:

At Waverley:

87 - lost to Hawks after the siren

88 - beat WCE by 2, 

89 - beat Collingwood

90 - lost to WCE by 5 goals

91 - lost to WCE again, but beat Essendon the week before (all finals at Waverley that year)

At the G we got hammered in the 88 GF, and the 89 semi v Geelong.  Our record at Waverley was no worse than at the G, and we did win the 87 and 89 Night flags at the old VFL Park!!

Also beat reigning premiers Collingwood by 6 goals in 91

I don't care what our record was we played better footy at the G than Waverley. I suppose losing to the eagles twice there with the wider wing inflates my opinion of it.

17 hours ago, Hogan2014 said:

2004  sitting on top & we lost the last 4 inc the elimination final against Essendon. 

2018 missed out on top 4 losing to teams outside of the 8. 
 

Geelong games and Swans should also have been wins !

6 hours ago, dl4e said:

There is a reason we lost finals campaigns under Northey. Waverley.

No not good enough !!!

9 hours ago, Swooper1987 said:

At Waverley:

87 - lost to Hawks after the siren

88 - beat WCE by 2, 

89 - beat Collingwood

90 - lost to WCE by 5 goals

91 - lost to WCE again, but beat Essendon the week before (all finals at Waverley that year)

At the G we got hammered in the 88 GF, and the 89 semi v Geelong.  Our record at Waverley was no worse than at the G, and we did win the 87 and 89 Night flags at the old VFL Park!!

We also won the 88 prelim vs Carlton there.

I don't think it had anything to do with waverley, it was the games we dropped mid-late season costing us the double chance through the Northey era that cost us.

11 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

^^^

Interesting theory. Was Waverley a bit of a bogey ground for us in the late 80's and early 90's? Did we not play as well there as we did at the G?

Large ground;  hard on legs.

 

6 hours ago, dl4e said:

I don't care what our record was we played better footy at the G than Waverley. I suppose losing to the eagles twice there with the wider wing inflates my opinion of it.

We had much better crowd support, at the 'G'. It helped to make us more positive about our chances.

If i remember we started really flat in that game, which surely must be preparation....