Greatest Season Ever

[Sismis]

Based on Brownlow Votes:
116 - Essendon 2000
110 - Geelong 2008
106 - Geelong 2007
103 - Geelong 1991
102 - Brisbane 2004
101 - Hawthorn 1989
100 - Hawthorn 1988
100 - West Coast 1991
100 - Brisbane 2002

18 players Polled votes for us that year!

[Madden]

means squat if geelong win on saturday.

[Crazyman]

Even if they do win Staggy, they still haven't equalled us for greatest ever season...

I know everyone keeps referring to the 'season proper', but don't forget, we only lost one game all year including all preseason matches...

We had a higher overall percentage, greater average winning margin, etc, etc, etc...

Yes, I am biased, but meh...I will wear my rose (red & black) coloured glasses with pride.

Having said that, our failure to win multiple successive premierships means that I would rate our side of 99 - 02 as being behind both the current Geelong side & the Brisbane Side of 01 - 04...

[Madden]

Even if they do win Staggy, they still haven't equalled us for greatest ever season...

I know everyone keeps referring to the 'season proper', but don't forget, we only lost one game all year including all preseason matches...

We had a higher overall percentage, greater average winning margin, etc, etc, etc...

Yes, I am biased, but meh...I will wear my rose (red & black) coloured glasses with pride.

Having said that, our failure to win multiple successive premierships means that I would rate our side of 99 - 02 as being behind both the current Geelong side & the Brisbane Side of 01 - 04...

I think 'greatest season' is such a vague title. By what do you measure greatness? Is is by the amount of games you win? Or by how much? Or by how you perform relative to pre-season expectations? What about the effect of injuries - or the quality of the opposition.

One thing is for sure though. If the Cats win the flag on Saturday, then they are a better side than the 00 Bombers. Success is only measured by premierships. We won 1. If the Cats win two, they are in front of us. And they are both behind the Lions with 3.

[rockhole]

Even if they do win Staggy, they still haven't equalled us for greatest ever season...

I know everyone keeps referring to the 'season proper', but don't forget, we only lost one game all year including all preseason matches...

We had a higher overall percentage, greater average winning margin, etc, etc, etc...

Yes, I am biased, but meh...I will wear my rose (red & black) coloured glasses with pride.

Having said that, our failure to win multiple successive premierships means that I would rate our side of 99 - 02 as being behind both the current Geelong side & the Brisbane Side of 01 - 04...

One of McAvaney's rare pearls dutring the 2000 GF was along the lines of "This may not be the greatest team ever, but we are witnessing the greatest season ever." Therefore the 2000 season needs to be compared with Geelong 2008 on a number of fronts and only on the respective years.

One key definitive difference is that we did not get thumped by 84 points in our only loss.

Total Brownlow points have already been highlighted

Interetsting to hear any others

[Makaveli]

We would beat Geelong. Look at their key forwards. Lonergan and Mooney lol. Compare them to Lloyd and Lucas at their prime, you get the drift, we'd take em apart.

[Chris]

We would beat Geelong. Look at their key forwards. Lonergan and Mooney lol. Compare them to Lloyd and Lucas at their prime, you get the drift, we'd take em apart.

Not so sure. Look at thier midfield and with the exception of James Hird they have us covered easily. Defence wise, both defences are awesome, completely different in style and ability yet outstanding accross the board. We possibly win in hardness accross this line and they probably win in skill.

I think because of the Lloyd and Lucus factor our team could convert a greater percent of inside 50's (but not significantly higher considering the lower quality of supply compared to geelong), but could we get our share of inside 50's against Geelong's brillient midfield rotation to win? We will never know, but it would surely be a more intreging contest than either of the 2000 or 2007 grand finals thats for sure.

I said it before, I so miss that year 2000.

[CameronClayton]

The 97/98 Crows team achieved more than our 99-01 team. The more people keep hanging their hats on to 2000, the more we sound like Filth supporters wishing for the good old days of 1990. Like I keep saying, even Graeme Teasdale & Kelvin Templeton had ONE good year of footy.

[uptick]

The 97/98 Crows team achieved more than our 99-01 team. The more people keep hanging their hats on to 2000, the more we sound like Filth supporters wishing for the good old days of 1990. Like I keep saying, even Graeme Teasdale & Kelvin Templeton had ONE good year of footy.

That lets a bit of air out of the tyres !!!!!.

[Crazyman]

We would beat Geelong. Look at their key forwards. Lonergan and Mooney lol. Compare them to Lloyd and Lucas at their prime, you get the drift, we'd take em apart.

Not so sure. Look at thier midfield and with the exception of James Hird they have us covered easily. Defence wise, both defences are awesome, completely different in style and ability yet outstanding accross the board. We possibly win in hardness accross this line and they probably win in skill.

I think because of the Lloyd and Lucus factor our team could convert a greater percent of inside 50's (but not significantly higher considering the lower quality of supply compared to geelong), but could we get our share of inside 50's against Geelong's brillient midfield rotation to win? We will never know, but it would surely be a more intreging contest than either of the 2000 or 2007 grand finals thats for sure.

I said it before, I so miss that year 2000.

I disagree Chris...in 2000, we had several hard nuts including JJ, MJ, Solly (before he lost the plot), Hirdy and a whole bunch of others...we also had an excellent balance to our team with the hard nuts well balanced by the outside receivers and for mine, I agree with Maka...I reckon we would have won against today's cats with our 2000 side and it would definately be a corker of a game no matter what

And Uptick, I don't think most of are hanging onto 2000, just sick of other teams being compared. As I said earlier, for a single season, we are the benchmark, however, over a prolonged period, we have a lot of catching up to do because as stated, premierships are what counts and we only got one out of 3 real attempts...

[jimmyc1985]

The 97/98 Crows team achieved more than our 99-01 team. The more people keep hanging their hats on to 2000, the more we sound like Filth supporters wishing for the good old days of 1990. Like I keep saying, even Graeme Teasdale & Kelvin Templeton had ONE good year of footy.

Agree. In 2000, global warming was a little-appreciated concept, Clinton was president, the tech wreck hadn't yet happened, and i was in year 9. Yawn factor: high; care factor: waning.

[tom9779]

I would happily rate geelong 2008 as the best team i've ever seen if they beat hawthorn convincingly on saturday

as hawthorn is a damn tough opposition.

[F111]

One of the reasons for the success in 2000 was that everyone, that's everyone underestimated how good how midfield was.

Robert Walls even tipped the Dees on the back of our weak midfield. Silly boy.

Our midfield was as slick as a swiss watch...harmonious and effective.

Wallis v Mooney would be a delight to watch!

[Crazyman]

That would be nice to see...would be interested to see how long it would take Mooney to lose the plot there

[dom_105]

Robert Walls even tipped the Dees on the back of our weak midfield. Silly boy.

The reasons why Robert Walls tipped against Essendon had nothing to do with the midfield, or even with the on-field itself.

He is simply a bitter old man.

[grassy1]

How about this Angle ? -

ESSENDON 2000
Played 30 Won 29 Lost 1 PREMIERS,NIGHT PREMIERS DOUBLE

GEELONG
Played TBD Won 24/5 Lost 2 1 PREMIERSHIP?

[robrulz5]

Robert Walls even tipped the Dees on the back of our weak midfield. Silly boy.

The reasons why Robert Walls tipped against Essendon had nothing to do with the midfield, or even with the on-field itself.

He is simply a bitter old man.

He tipped against us in every final that year!

[BERT]

Our 2000 side would beat Geelong by 8 goals.

The backline of Fletch, Welly, Dimma, MJ, Wally and Solly was the best backline I've seen. They could play and they were nasty. It would tear the Geelong forward line a new a-hole. The 2000 midfield was under rated. Geelongs is awesome but we would have held our own. JJ, Jimmy, Joey, Blumfield, Heff etc all had cracking seasons.

Our forward line had too many options in 2000. Lloyd, Lucas, Barney, Boris, Longy, Slash and Caracella always chipped in for goals. The Cats backline is good but we had too many options.

It would be a great game to watch though.

[Ossie]

Our 2000 side would beat Geelong by 8 goals.

The backline of Fletch, Welly, Dimma, MJ, Wally and Solly was the best backline I've seen. They could play and they were nasty. It would tear the Geelong forward line a new a-hole. The 2000 midfield was under rated. Geelongs is awesome but we would have held our own. JJ, Jimmy, Joey, Blumfield, Heff etc all had cracking seasons.

Our forward line had too many options in 2000. Lloyd, Lucas, Barney, Boris, Longy, Slash and Caracella always chipped in for goals. The Cats backline is good but we had too many options.

It would be a great game to watch though.

I don't necessarily agree with your assessment of the midfield (I think they'd beat us, as much as our 2000 midfield WAS under-rated).
But we would really stretch them down back. Lloyd, Lucas, Barnard, and Alessio would simply outnumber them in terms of talls, and people like Caracella and Blumfield played above their heights as well.
Would be a ripper match regardless.

[bomberdonnie]

We would win but who cares we were great they are great... In 8 years time people will be comparing someone else with both teams... Hopefully us!!