Just watched most of the 1987 finals where the mighty Dees played in their first final series in many years. Elimination final v the Roos, then 1st Semi v Swans. I attended the 1st semi final and can remember it vividly. A few thing stand out to me:

Robert Flower - no, my memory does not make him better than he was. He was simply football perfection. 

The joy of football played mostly one-on-one, or two-on-two.

Warren Dean was way better than I remembered.  Great mark, great kick on both feet. 

David Williams - until I watched these replays I didn't even remember him. Wow. Very quick and a great kick.

Danny Hughes, Sean Wight, Brett Lovett, Earl Spalding, Graeme Yates - that is a backline to remember.

Todd Viney & Jimmy Stynes both really young but already showing their skills.

And boy, were we TOUGH. No compromise if you wanted to play under John Northey as coach.

If poor Jimmy had not run across the mark in the Prelim final, I remain convinced we would have had the measure of the Blues. 

11 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

Just watched most of the 1987 finals where the mighty Dees played in their first final series in many years. Elimination final v the Roos, then 1st Semi v Swans. I attended the 1st semi final and can remember it vividly. A few thing stand out to me:

Robert Flower - no, my memory does not make him better than he was. He was simply football perfection. 

The joy of football played mostly one-on-one, or two-on-two.

Warren Dean was way better than I remembered.  Great mark, great kick on both feet. 

David Williams - until I watched these replays I didn't even remember him. Wow. Very quick and a great kick.

Danny Hughes, Sean Wight, Brett Lovett, Earl Spalding, Graeme Yates - that is a backline to remember.

Todd Viney & Jimmy Stynes both really young but already showing their skills.

And boy, were we TOUGH. No compromise if you wanted to play under John Northey as coach.

If poor Jimmy had not run across the mark in the Prelim final, I remain convinced we would have had the measure of the Blues. 

I agree with all comments apart from your last.  Robbie would not have played. I thought we were ,  well like the crow call.

just needed the ball to bounce our way in that goal square. Had our chances, just NQR.  

12 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

Just watched most of the 1987 finals where the mighty Dees played in their first final series in many years. Elimination final v the Roos, then 1st Semi v Swans. I attended the 1st semi final and can remember it vividly. A few thing stand out to me:

Robert Flower - no, my memory does not make him better than he was. He was simply football perfection. 

The joy of football played mostly one-on-one, or two-on-two.

Warren Dean was way better than I remembered.  Great mark, great kick on both feet. 

David Williams - until I watched these replays I didn't even remember him. Wow. Very quick and a great kick.

Danny Hughes, Sean Wight, Brett Lovett, Earl Spalding, Graeme Yates - that is a backline to remember.

Todd Viney & Jimmy Stynes both really young but already showing their skills.

And boy, were we TOUGH. No compromise if you wanted to play under John Northey as coach.

If poor Jimmy had not run across the mark in the Prelim final, I remain convinced we would have had the measure of the Blues. 

Where can you watch these finals? Thanks in advance.

I think back on that era and teh cost of winning the 88 night grand final against the cats. Both Wight and Hughes did major hamstrings. They both returned after lengthy rehabs but were never the same after. I reckon it cost us a flag. Not in 88 as the hawks were on another level but in 89 , 90 when we were right in the mix.

12 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

Just watched most of the 1987 finals where the mighty Dees played in their first final series in many years. Elimination final v the Roos, then 1st Semi v Swans. I attended the 1st semi final and can remember it vividly. A few thing stand out to me:

Robert Flower - no, my memory does not make him better than he was. He was simply football perfection. 

The joy of football played mostly one-on-one, or two-on-two.

Warren Dean was way better than I remembered.  Great mark, great kick on both feet. 

David Williams - until I watched these replays I didn't even remember him. Wow. Very quick and a great kick.

Danny Hughes, Sean Wight, Brett Lovett, Earl Spalding, Graeme Yates - that is a backline to remember.

Todd Viney & Jimmy Stynes both really young but already showing their skills.

And boy, were we TOUGH. No compromise if you wanted to play under John Northey as coach.

If poor Jimmy had not run across the mark in the Prelim final, I remain convinced we would have had the measure of the Blues. 

The most amazing, exhilarating time as a supporter.  So many memorable moments from '87. The thrilling midweek Night GF win by 4 pts against Essendon. Making the finals in extraordinary circumstances after being (I think)  6 and 10 after round 16. HUGE wins in our first 2 finals before the most heartbreaking game I've ever witnessed.  

You make some great observations.  Those of us that saw him first hand, know that the awe Robbie is held in, is not misplaced. He was unique in the purest sense of the word. We were privileged. 

I'm glad you mentioned Warren Dean. I always believed he was a great talent cruelled by injury. 

I was at the Footscray game and all the finals (inc. night) with my 10yo son. At the Waverley prelim, we were sitting right near the spot where the post siren Buckenara kick landed.

I literally couldn't speak for 24 hours. I was in shock. 

64OMD may be right, but gee, that Melbourne team was full of character and I would loved for them to have had the chance. 

Edited April 21, 2024Apr 21 by Palace Dees

2 minutes ago, Lexinator said:

Where can you watch these finals?

I've still got the VHS tapes!  Can't bear to throw them out just yet.

I was behind our goals ,  just knew what was about to happen from the time they cleared the ball to go down the ground. 
a slow moving train crash. 
not Jimmy going across the mark, that was an exclamation mark, but I did feel that they had the goal coming up. I just felt sick!

They moved the ball so easily at the last we hardly contested .

I can't think of an occasion I've enjoyed more than the last round against the Dogs.
I'll never forget the roar that went up when Dunstall booted the goal against Geelong that meant we would be playing finals.

3 hours ago, 640MD said:

I agree with all comments apart from your last.  Robbie would not have played. I thought we were ,  well like the crow call.

just needed the ball to bounce our way in that goal square. Had our chances, just NQR.  

Agree both Robbie and also Wilson would not have played in the GF. A good mate of mine who was the fitness guru then and unfortunately has passed got myself and son into rooms after game. It was a very sad sight. Both us and hawks were banged up and it was always Carlton's GF.

In the Hawthorn game (who can forget) Dipper and Brereton lined up Robbie (obviously a planned move) and sandwich bumped him from left and right. A horrible look

Completely agree about Warren Dean - he was great but had a crippling knee problem. 
 

I am also a believer that we would have won against Carlton - and certainly would have put up a better showing than Hawthorn.  The character of that team was amazing.
 

If these games are available anywhere I too would love to know about it.

Brian Wilson and Robbie both had Broken Collarbones after that ’87 PF

We were just too banged up to beat Carlton 

That in no way diminishes the pain and shock of losing that game, the way we did. 
I remember it so well 😢😡

17 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

Warren Dean was way better than I remembered.  Great mark, great kick on both feet. Was played out of position in my view, could've been a great on a flank but was played at CHF and got clobbered too much. His back quickly suffered.

David Williams - until I watched these replays I didn't even remember him. Wow. Very quick and a great kick. Excellent kick for goal, too small for FF but was tough and a great mark.

Danny Hughes, Should've been made captain after Robbie in my view.

Sean Wight, Brett Lovett, Earl Spalding, Graeme Yates - that is a backline to remember and tough!.

Todd Viney & Jimmy Stynes both really young but already showing their skills. Both became excellent as they got past 25.

And boy, were we TOUGH. No compromise if you wanted to play under John Northey as coach.

If poor Jimmy had not run across the mark in the Prelim final, I remain convinced we would have had the measure of the Blues. No unfortunately we were out on our feet in my view

 

Edited April 22, 2024Apr 22 by Damo

Buckenara didn't need the 15m - he was a sensational kick

8 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

I think back on that era and teh cost of winning the 88 night grand final against the cats. Both Wight and Hughes did major hamstrings. They both returned after lengthy rehabs but were never the same after. I reckon it cost us a flag. Not in 88 as the hawks were on another level but in 89 , 90 when we were right in the mix.

In 1988 we got knocked out by Fitzroy in our first pre season night fixture.

I think that was in 1989 when we beat Geelong in the pre season Panasonic Cup.  Hughes and Wight missed the first 2 and 6 games respectively that year. We ran out of steam in 1989 losing 5 of our last 6 home and away games, had a nice win over the Pies in the elimination final at Waverley but were badly beaten by Geelong in the semi when we had 10.10 put on us in the last quarter.

Conversely in 1990 we ended the season in a blaze of glory, winning 8 games in a row heading into the semi final Vs West Coast. Not sure what happened that day but as you said we were right in the mix in 1990.

7 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

In 1988 we got knocked out by Fitzroy in our first pre season night fixture.

I think that was in 1989 when we beat Geelong in the pre season Panasonic Cup.  Hughes and Wight missed the first 2 and 6 games respectively that year. We ran out of steam in 1989 losing 5 of our last 6 home and away games, had a nice win over the Pies in the elimination final at Waverley but were badly beaten by Geelong in the semi when we had 10.10 put on us in the last quarter.

Conversely in 1990 we ended the season in a blaze of glory, winning 8 games in a row heading into the semi final Vs West Coast. Not sure what happened that day but as you said we were right in the mix in 1990.

yes  quite right re 89 not 88! We came back from our GF thrashing in 88 to win the pre season night series. Regardless of weeks missed though , I don’t think either player, Wight or Hughes was quite the same post those injuries.

6 hours ago, M_9 said:

I can't think of an occasion I've enjoyed more than the last round against the Dogs.
I'll never forget the roar that went up when Dunstall booted the goal against Geelong that meant we would be playing finals.

You are quite right! That happened after the Dees had won . But a few minutes before our win Dunstall kicked the second last goal at Geelong. We were all grouped around transistors and such a roar went up that the Footscray/ Melbourne players believed that their siren had gone off. Play stopped for a short while . Best football day ever in my memory even though I saw all the 1950s and 60s flags . And it must be said that watching the GF in 21, albeit on TV was pretty damned good 

 

22 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

yes  quite right re 89 not 88! We came back from our GF thrashing in 88 to win the pre season night series. Regardless of weeks missed though , I don’t think either player, Wight or Hughes was quite the same post those injuries.

Didn’t we win the night Grand Final in April 87? Brett Bailey kicked the winning goal

4 hours ago, Ollie fan said:

Completely agree about Warren Dean - he was great but had a crippling knee problem. 
 

I am also a believer that we would have won against Carlton - and certainly would have put up a better showing than Hawthorn.  The character of that team was amazing.
 

If these games are available anywhere I too would love to know about it.

Don’t think we would have beaten Blues with the injuries suffered in the Prelim. Not that it matters much but the 1987 GF was played in extraordinary heat 

45 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

In 1988 we got knocked out by Fitzroy in our first pre season night fixture.

I think that was in 1989 when we beat Geelong in the pre season Panasonic Cup.  Hughes and Wight missed the first 2 and 6 games respectively that year. We ran out of steam in 1989 losing 5 of our last 6 home and away games, had a nice win over the Pies in the elimination final at Waverley but were badly beaten by Geelong in the semi when we had 10.10 put on us in the last quarter.

Conversely in 1990 we ended the season in a blaze of glory, winning 8 games in a row heading into the semi final Vs West Coast. Not sure what happened that day but as you said we were right in the mix in 1990.

In 1990 We either win, or got thrashed. What I mean is, we were either right on our game or right off it. 
 

Because of the draw between Collingwood and West Coast, we had an extra unplanned week off and when we eventually played, you could tell from the warm up that we were off our game - and so it transpired.  I thought that year was the one that got away.

4 hours ago, Damo said:

 

David Williams seemed to always be taking marks on the boundary line where the % chance of a goal was lower. Quick off the mark and good hands. Got delisted due to ACL and after expecting to be re-drafted in pre season draft (1990 I think) and Richmond picked him up, we were not prepared. Photo in HS the next day was Williams looking sad and players, in particular Todd V, around him with huge smiles. An odd situation.

Edited April 22, 2024Apr 22 by Wizard of Koz

3 hours ago, Farmer said:

Didn’t we win the night Grand Final in April 87? Brett Bailey kicked the winning goal

yep… and again in 89. 

1 hour ago, Wells 11 said:

yep… and again in 89. 

87 was the best, unexpected. The VFL park members section was going off. Great night, great time to be a Dee. 

Edited April 22, 2024Apr 22 by Wizard of Koz

On 22/04/2024 at 08:58, Lexinator said:

Where can you watch these finals? Thanks in advance.

On YouTube - the entire games free and without ads. 

Still my favourite footy day - Round 22 1987.  That trip to the Kennel was just an amazing experience. The place was rocking.  The next couple of weeks were like a dream - winning our first two finals by 118 and 76 points.  The prelim against Hawthorn is still my greatest disappointment in sport.  It was a game we had so many opportunities to put to bed but we just kept fluffing our lines. Yeats, Campbell and Eishold, then the free passage Hawthorn got to land the ball with Buckenara who at that time was probably the best shot for goal in the competition. Jim's 15m is in the history books and everyone knows how it finished. Carlton deserved to win the flag, but we made it easier for them.  Hawthorn were badly beaten up in that prelim, as were we. Losing Wilson and Flower to injury would have made for a fairly limp GF performance from the Demons, especially in the heat of that day. 1987 was a triumphant year for the Demons, and Northey was a wonderful coach.  I still feel we should have got at least one cup in that era.  1990 was the one that got away.