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Remember 1998, when we lost in the Preliminary Final

Farmer
Farmer
in Melbourne Demons

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The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third .

in Round 12 we kicked 7 goals 4 to Geelong 22/9, loss by 95 points 

the following week we kicked 5.13 to 18.15 v StK.  , loss by 80 points 

both matches at the MCG, and after round 13 we had won 7 lost 6 

yet, we beat Adelaide in R1 of the Finals and Footscray in R2 with G Lyon kicking 10. We then lost to North in the Prelim. I recall the sense of hopelessness after the above losses. Reminds me of 2024!

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    33 minutes ago, Farmer said:

    The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third .

    in Round 12 we kicked 7 goals 4 to Geelong 22/9, loss by 95 points 

    the following week we kicked 5.13 to 18.15 v StK.  , loss by 80 points 

    both matches at the MCG, and after round 13 we had won 7 lost 6 

    yet, we beat Adelaide in R1 of the Finals and Footscray in R2 with G Lyon kicking 10. We then lost to North in the Prelim. I recall the sense of hopelessness after the above losses. Reminds me of 2024!

    The win against Footscray where Lyon kicked 10 was ‘94 - we beat the saints in the 98 Semi 

    If you want to compare that 98 side to 2024 just look at the forward line we had firing back then Neitz, Farmer , Lyon , Tingay , Robertson ,  Smith

    we also were in a similar position in 2000 mid season - but again our midfield was absolutely firing and scoring goals , Yze, Woey etc and the forwards lead by Farmer were in scintillating form post bye 

    so whilst the record and mid season slump are consistent I think it’s a very different team in 2024 

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    45 minutes ago, Farmer said:

    The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third .

    in Round 12 we kicked 7 goals 4 to Geelong 22/9, loss by 95 points 

    the following week we kicked 5.13 to 18.15 v StK.  , loss by 80 points 

    both matches at the MCG, and after round 13 we had won 7 lost 6 

    yet, we beat Adelaide in R1 of the Finals and Footscray in R2 with G Lyon kicking 10. We then lost to North in the Prelim. I recall the sense of hopelessness after the above losses. Reminds me of 2024!

    I remember those two terrible weeks well in 1998.

    Who would have thought we’d beat the eventual premiers in the semi by 8 goals,then slaughter StKilda in the qual. final.?

    We were then wrongly allocated to play Friday night specialists, North in the Prelim., when by rights we should have played Footscray, who we would have murdered, then played Adelaide again  in the GF.

    We could have been premiers after abject failure in mid-season.

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    2 hours ago, Farmer said:

    The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third .

    in Round 12 we kicked 7 goals 4 to Geelong 22/9, loss by 95 points 

    the following week we kicked 5.13 to 18.15 v StK.  , loss by 80 points 

    both matches at the MCG, and after round 13 we had won 7 lost 6 

    yet, we beat Adelaide in R1 of the Finals and Footscray in R2 with G Lyon kicking 10. We then lost to North in the Prelim. I recall the sense of hopelessness after the above losses. Reminds me of 2024!

    Love ur optimism 98 we come of a disastrous few seasons and Balme was sacked & Daniher 1st season, vs we have climbed the mountain & lost 4 finals @ the G and falling off the cliff 

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    Hmm, we have a 'proud' tradition of mid-season excrement regardless of how the overall season goes.

    2000 - rounds 11-13 culminating in a 98 point loss to Carlton, (who we dealt with handily in the Qualifying final, so watch out Freo!)

    2003 - rounds 9-12 were when we pooped our season.

    2004 -  bizarre 72 point loss to the Saints in the middle of a very strong run. In the end a very strong season was blown in the final four rounds.

    2005 - after an epic top of the table challenge of ladder leaders West Coast in round 13, a clearly mentally exhausted side lost the next two games by more than 10 goals, and didn't gather itself together again until the final few desperate rounds.

     

    Hiatus from competitive football.

     

    2018 - 8 wins, 3 losses at round 11, and on record-breaking run for consecutive quarters won... then all of a sudden we were still 8 wins but with 6 losses at round 15. Got it back together but missed out on top 4 by one game.

    2020 - does it still count as 'mid-season' if the games are in June/July but they are rounds 4 to 9? We went 2w 4l in that period while the rest of the season was 7w 4l. Missed finals by one game. Mm hmm.

    2021 - only four losses for the season, and three of them came in a 3-3 period from round 10 to 16.

    2022 - ten wins in a row, then three consecutive losses round 11 to 13.

    2023 - seven losses total for the season, of which four came in a 2w 4l run from round 10 to 16.

     

    It is definitely a quirk in our history and absolutely a feature of Simon Goodwin's coaching term.

    25 Home & away losses in total for the seasons 2020-2023. 14 of them came in the mid-winter period, leaving just 11 for the remaining two-thirds or more of the seasons.

    Even tighter if your go 2021-23; 10 mid-winter losses of 17 total losses.

    Remarkable stuff.

     

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    7 hours ago, Farmer said:

    The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third.

    We could score, had a better coach and forwards. So not really TBH with you.

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    1998 I’d argue was an even better shot than 2000.

    AFL shafted us by fixturing the Preliminary Final against North as a Night game. We played just one game under lights (Swans) in the whole regular season.

    North by contrast played 8 Night games and 1 in the QF against the Bombers.

    I always wonder if it would have made any difference if we were fixtured a day game? 

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    8 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

    Hmm, we have a 'proud' tradition of mid-season excrement regardless of how the overall season goes.

    2000 - rounds 11-13 culminating in a 98 point loss to Carlton, (who we dealt with handily in the Qualifying final, so watch out Freo!)

    2003 - rounds 9-12 were when we pooped our season.

    2004 -  bizarre 72 point loss to the Saints in the middle of a very strong run. In the end a very strong season was blown in the final four rounds.

    2005 - after an epic top of the table challenge of ladder leaders West Coast in round 13, a clearly mentally exhausted side lost the next two games by more than 10 goals, and didn't gather itself together again until the final few desperate rounds.

     

    Hiatus from competitive football.

     

    2018 - 8 wins, 3 losses at round 11, and on record-breaking run for consecutive quarters won... then all of a sudden we were still 8 wins but with 6 losses at round 15. Got it back together but missed out on top 4 by one game.

    2020 - does it still count as 'mid-season' if the games are in June/July but they are rounds 4 to 9? We went 2w 4l in that period while the rest of the season was 7w 4l. Missed finals by one game. Mm hmm.

    2021 - only four losses for the season, and three of them came in a 3-3 period from round 10 to 16.

    2022 - ten wins in a row, then three consecutive losses round 11 to 13.

    2023 - seven losses total for the season, of which four came in a 2w 4l run from round 10 to 16.

     

    It is definitely a quirk in our history and absolutely a feature of Simon Goodwin's coaching term.

    25 Home & away losses in total for the seasons 2020-2023. 14 of them came in the mid-winter period, leaving just 11 for the remaining two-thirds or more of the seasons.

    Even tighter if your go 2021-23; 10 mid-winter losses of 17 total losses.

    Remarkable stuff.

     

    "Hiatus from competitive football" made me giggle!

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    9 hours ago, Jibroni said:

    We could score, had a better coach and forwards. So not really TBH with you.

    Well at 7/6 after 13 rounds the great forward line was not exactly firing. Overall our side in 2024 is superior to 1998, tho the latest report re Tracc is devastating 

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    6 hours ago, OhMyDees said:

    1998 I’d argue was an even better shot than 2000.

    AFL shafted us by fixturing the Preliminary Final against North as a Night game. We played just one game under lights (Swans) in the whole regular season.

    North by contrast played 8 Night games and 1 in the QF against the Bombers.

    I always wonder if it would have made any difference if we were fixtured a day game? 

    Agree 98 was the year that was our best chance outside 2021.  We got shafted by the finals system , finished 4th but in that year 1st played 8th and so on, so we won 2 finals and then had to play a prelim against the top ranked team, they changed the finals the following year

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    Big blowouts used to be more common in the old free scoring days. Most great sides put in a stinker or two in a season. These days of high professionalism they shouldn’t happen to accomplished sides unless something NQR.

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    On 12/06/2024 at 22:37, Farmer said:

    The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third .

    in Round 12 we kicked 7 goals 4 to Geelong 22/9, loss by 95 points 

    the following week we kicked 5.13 to 18.15 v StK.  , loss by 80 points 

    both matches at the MCG, and after round 13 we had won 7 lost 6 

    yet, we beat Adelaide in R1 of the Finals and Footscray in R2 with G Lyon kicking 10. We then lost to North in the Prelim. I recall the sense of hopelessness after the above losses. Reminds me of 2024!

    Jefferance Farmer took an absolute speccy in front of goals in first minute of game then missed from dead in front. 

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    On 12/06/2024 at 22:37, Farmer said:

    The last few weeks have triggered my memory of 1998 when we had a good team and ended up third .

    in Round 12 we kicked 7 goals 4 to Geelong 22/9, loss by 95 points 

    the following week we kicked 5.13 to 18.15 v StK.  , loss by 80 points 

    both matches at the MCG, and after round 13 we had won 7 lost 6 

    yet, we beat Adelaide in R1 of the Finals and Footscray in R2 with G Lyon kicking 10. We then lost to North in the Prelim. I recall the sense of hopelessness after the above losses. Reminds me of 2024!

    I recall we were injury depleted in those floggings.

    For example in the Saints loss we were missing Farmer, Schwarz and Neitz which all combined for 110 goals that year.

    I admire your optimism, and there are some clear parallels with respect to mid season slumps, however in 1998 we had a dynamic midfield and potent forward line, and won 8 of our last 9 games prior to the North prelim. It would be hard for history to repeat.

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    On 13/06/2024 at 00:45, Little Goffy said:

    Hmm, we have a 'proud' tradition of mid-season excrement regardless of how the overall season goes.

    2000 - rounds 11-13 culminating in a 98 point loss to Carlton, (who we dealt with handily in the Qualifying final, so watch out Freo!)

    2003 - rounds 9-12 were when we pooped our season.

    2004 -  bizarre 72 point loss to the Saints in the middle of a very strong run. In the end a very strong season was blown in the final four rounds.

    2005 - after an epic top of the table challenge of ladder leaders West Coast in round 13, a clearly mentally exhausted side lost the next two games by more than 10 goals, and didn't gather itself together again until the final few desperate rounds.

     

    Hiatus from competitive football.

     

    2018 - 8 wins, 3 losses at round 11, and on record-breaking run for consecutive quarters won... then all of a sudden we were still 8 wins but with 6 losses at round 15. Got it back together but missed out on top 4 by one game.

    2020 - does it still count as 'mid-season' if the games are in June/July but they are rounds 4 to 9? We went 2w 4l in that period while the rest of the season was 7w 4l. Missed finals by one game. Mm hmm.

    2021 - only four losses for the season, and three of them came in a 3-3 period from round 10 to 16.

    2022 - ten wins in a row, then three consecutive losses round 11 to 13.

    2023 - seven losses total for the season, of which four came in a 2w 4l run from round 10 to 16.

     

    It is definitely a quirk in our history and absolutely a feature of Simon Goodwin's coaching term.

    25 Home & away losses in total for the seasons 2020-2023. 14 of them came in the mid-winter period, leaving just 11 for the remaining two-thirds or more of the seasons.

    Even tighter if your go 2021-23; 10 mid-winter losses of 17 total losses.

    Remarkable stuff.

     

    Look at this record - no wonder all the rusted-on supporters are so jaded 🤪

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