1 hour ago, Redleg said:

There is no way they are letting Elliot go and I haven't seen that Hill wants to go.

It was reported a while ago that Hill wants to go back to WA.

I guess we watch this space.

15 hours ago, picket fence said:

Oh break my bleeding heart?? Seriously its the crew that ended Gus career I hope his team suffer untold woe from this loss AND NEVER RECOVER! harden up, Dont give them or anyone associated any credit for anything.... End of rant

Yeah, sorry. What was I thinking. I temporarily forgot where I was.

Kill them! KILL 'EM ALL!!!!!

2 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Fair enough.

Maybe I should amend that to the last 4 years is what a dynasty looks like.

Would love it to have been us with their record.

I think in context their entire 7 years has been amazing. They just went on with it after 2022, whereas we…didn’t.

Of course, it helps that they had the Ashcrofts and Fletcher as father son picks. Would love a summary of what they had to spend on those three.

To be fair, they’ve also had Coleman, McCarthy and Doedee on the sidelines for almost all of the last two years. If they win it next week, gee how will those three feel, the first two in particular - been at Brisbane for a while but injured when the flags came.

1 hour ago, Return to Glory said:

A little while back, someone on Demonland mentioned that smallish AFL content producers needed to include pro- Collingwood stories. I guess it's akin to needing positive stories for the Indian cricket team.

To my mind, we now have commentators and whole media groups that are now nothing more than disingenuous sycophants.

End of minor rant.

And McCrae pampers to the media as he does to pies fans.

At the end of his press conf yesterday he thanked all the media there and those that attended during the year for their reporting of Coll (paraphrasing).

And producers are wary of non-positive pies news for fear of the avalanche of criticism on the air ways and social media.

It is 🤮inducing !!!

7 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

I think in context their entire 7 years has been amazing. They just went on with it after 2022, whereas we…didn’t.

Of course, it helps that they had the Ashcrofts and Fletcher as father son picks. Would love a summary of what they had to spend on those three.

To be fair, they’ve also had Coleman, McCarthy and Doedee on the sidelines for almost all of the last two years. If they win it next week, gee how will those three feel, the first two in particular - been at Brisbane for a while but injured when the flags came.

You could make the case the winner of the GF had claims to be the best team of the 21st century.

Cats, lions, and hawks have all won 4 flags this century, with the cats and lions, including this year, appearing in an incredible 7 GFs and the Hawks 5.

These three teams have won over 50% of the flags this century.

Edited Sunday at 03:492 days by binman

1 hour ago, rjay said:

It was reported a while ago that Hill wants to go back to WA.

I guess we watch this space.

Ok, I didn’t see that.

3 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Lions record for the last 7 years

• 2025 GF

• 2024 Premiers

• 2023 GF

• 2022 SF

• 2021 SF

• 2020 PF

• 2019 SF

Haven't been out of finals since 2019. They won at least one final each year. Always in contention.

That is what a Dynasty looks like!

I think they were robbed in 23, should be going for a three peat.

Probably already mentioned many times but anyone missing Houston?

3 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Lions record for the last 7 years

• 2025 GF

• 2024 Premiers

• 2023 GF

• 2022 SF

• 2021 SF

• 2020 PF

• 2019 SF

Haven't been out of finals since 2019. They won at least one final each year. Always in contention.

That is what a Dynasty looks like!

Fagan doesn’t talk about learnings after every loss, but after 2021 they were 1-5 in finals and since they are 10-3. Hope it’s 11-3 next week.

Considering they were wooden spooners in his first year and bottom 4 second, it’s been an extraordinary coaching effort.

1 minute ago, Watson11 said:

Fagan doesn’t talk about learnings after every loss, but after 2021 they were 1-5 in finals and since they are 10-3. Hope it’s 11-3 next week.

Considering they were wooden spooners in his first year and bottom 4 second, it’s been an extraordinary coaching effort.

Agree.

But like Geelong the real key has been how solid they are off field and in particular how strong their governance had been.

Edited Sunday at 05:592 days by binman

17 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

I didn't think it was a free.
Eyes on the ball the whole time.

17 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Absolutely a football action

17 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Absolutely a football action

True, eyes were on the ball, but technically it WAS front on. I always taught my charges to turn their back towards opponent when they were attempting to mark or spoil. No free against if you have your back facing opponent.

But since it was a Collingwood player involved I was absolutely delighted with the umpires call! 😆

19 hours ago, DemonOX said:

Not sure that would work to well E as the poor ferals can’t seem to string more than 2 words together at the best of times!!!!!

“Ball! Ball! Ball!” That’s 3.

3 hours ago, rjay said:

It was reported a while ago that Hill wants to go back to WA.

I guess we watch this space.

But McRae said he (Hill)!would probably play in the GF 😮 🤗🤗🤗

4 hours ago, BoBo said:

Ahhhhhh, good morning all!

How good is footy? Haha

This is how people in the rebellion must have felt the morning after Luke blew up the Death Star. This might be better actually, I wasn’t there when the Death Star was blown up, but, I reckon this would’ve been on par at least.

2 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Probably already mentioned many times but anyone missing Houston?

Not at all. The only saving grace of Petraccas drama last season.

2 hours ago, binman said:

Agree.

But like Geelong the real key has been how solid they are off field and in particular how strong their governance had been.

They get no scrutiny in Qld

1 hour ago, Bobby McKenzie 2 said:

True, eyes were on the ball, but technically it WAS front on. I always taught my charges to turn their back towards opponent when they were attempting to mark or spoil. No free against if you have your back facing opponent.

But since it was a Collingwood player involved I was absolutely delighted with the umpires call! 😆

When did this change? It was always 'forceful' front on contact. Nowadays it seems that any contact front on is usually paid

Clearly the rule is designed to stop players charging into a player in a vulnerable position yet like a lot of AFL rules the interpretation changes over time

To wit:

• Contact below the knees - a joke of a rule now. players like ANB dive over a player on the ground to gain a free when it was brought in to stop players like Adam Goodes sliding front on

• Handball with a fist from a "stationary" hand - the Crow throw is now endemic

• Your foot can't be connected to the ball when it crosses the line - this has been consigned to the dustbin

22 hours ago, Stiff Arm said:

How good is Logan Morris after only a handful of games? That kick to Cameron was cm perfect. He's a gun

Great highlight Stiff Arm. For me it was the equal of the Elliott mark. I said to a mate when it happened that I don’t know if the Dees have a player on the list that could make that kick, particularly at the 25 minute mark of the last quarter. He’s an incredible player.

6 minutes ago, goodwindees said:

Great highlight Stiff Arm. For me it was the equal of the Elliott mark. I said to a mate when it happened that I don’t know if the Dees have a player on the list that could make that kick, particularly at the 25 minute mark of the last quarter. He’s an incredible player.

The one handed bounce with his left hand was as good as the kick

13 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Scottish luggage.

Thought it was Human Luggage 🧳

8 hours ago, Kent said:

there were plenty of missed free kicks on both sides

umpiring was below standard for both teams but collingwood were looked after

It was much better to see free kicks missed rather than paid when they were not needed - which is what usually happens.

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

When did this change? It was always 'forceful' front on contact. Nowadays it seems that any contact front on is usually paid

Clearly the rule is designed to stop players charging into a player in a vulnerable position yet like a lot of AFL rules the interpretation changes over time

To wit:

• Contact below the knees - a joke of a rule now. players like ANB dive over a player on the ground to gain a free when it was brought in to stop players like Adam Goodes sliding front on

• Handball with a fist from a "stationary" hand - the Crow throw is now endemic

• Your foot can't be connected to the ball when it crosses the line - this has been consigned to the dustbin

They don’t want anyone protecting themselves with their knees or a straight leg either

This year's Premiership posters look good.

6 hours ago, binman said:

You could make the case the winner of the GF had claims to be the best team of the 21st century.

Cats, lions, and hawks have all won 4 flags this century, with the cats and lions, including this year, appearing in an incredible 7 GFs and the Hawks 5.

These three teams have won over 50% of the flags this century.

Add Richmonds 3

I guess McCrae won't be seeing those pies fans at training this week, when he said to them last week see you next week.

17 hours ago, binman said:

You could make the case the winner of the GF had claims to be the best team of the 21st century.

Cats, lions, and hawks have all won 4 flags this century, with the cats and lions, including this year, appearing in an incredible 7 GFs and the Hawks 5.

These three teams have won over 50% of the flags this century.

I could make a case that it's all BS.

Brisbane: Merger Windfall and Father–Son Gold

The 1996 Fitzroy–Brisbane merger gave the Lions a once-only player infusion. While most of the Fitzroy list drifted away, Chris Johnson became a three-time premiership backman and Martin Pike, an ex-Fitzroy hard nut, was re-drafted to add grunt. More significantly, the father–son rules of the late 1990s and early 2000s handed Brisbane elite talent at minimal cost. Jonathan Brown was secured as a second-round father–son pick, Chris Scott and Brad Scott were recruited cheaply, and Alastair Lynch—brought in earlier under special concessions—rounded out the core. These concessions and bargains allowed Brisbane to stack its list around Michael Voss, Nigel Lappin, Simon Black, and Jason Akermanis, producing a dynasty that won three consecutive premierships (2001–2003) and appeared in four straight grand finals. In short, the AFL’s structures let Brisbane bank a generation of stars with little draft sacrifice.

Geelong: Father–Son Dynasty Builders

Over the same 30-year period, Geelong mastered the father–son rule. They plucked Matthew Scarlett (pick 45), Gary Ablett Jr (pick 40), and Tom Hawkins (pick 41) with late selections that would never yield such talent in a normal draft. Each became a cornerstone of their premiership sides in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2022. Alongside them, Jed Bews, Nathan Ablett, and others added depth. The Cats did not pay in trades or high picks; they simply exploited the AFL’s rules at the time, when rival clubs couldn’t bid up father–sons. By the time the bidding system tightened in 2015, Geelong had already built a dynasty. They later doubled down with bold trades (Dangerfield, Cameron, Smith), but the foundation came free of charge.

Strategic Losing? The Draft Haul That Changed Hawthorn Forever

The incentive existed and Horeforn clearly benefited from priority picks in that window. In the 2004 draft, Hawthorn held a priority pick (No.2) for Jarryd Roughead, then also took Lance Franklin (5) and Jordan Lewis (7)– a haul enabled by finishing 15th in 2004 (4–18) under the old priority-pick rules; in 2005 they again qualified and used a priority selection on Xavier Ellis in the 2005 draft. Public chatter has long alleged deliberate late-season under performance to secure those picks, but it remains speculation, not adjudicated tanking.

Conclusion

Between Brisbane’s merger concessions and father–son coups, Geelong’s exploitation of the old father–son system and Horeforns 'strategic under performance, all three clubs assembled all-time lists at cut-rate prices. The result: four premierships each, built not just on good management but on systemic advantages few other clubs enjoyed.

Call any of them “the best” and you’re ignoring the fact that the 21st century’s been less about three empires and more about three mob bosses taking turns running the joint.