Match of the Century? It’s happened before

 
The Crowd Roar Pro

By Savvas Tzionis, 1 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

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This week sees the situation where the top two teams in the AFL – Geelong and St Kilda – meet each other without having lost any of their previous games.

This has happened before (as a Carlton supporter I recall it happening in 1979 against North Melbourne in Round 6 – this was one of the greatest games in history – and again two years later against Collingwood in Round 7).

However, it has never happened so late in the season.

But a similiar situation has occured before and it may provide some food for thought for both teams as they proceed beyond this week’s game.

Back in 1975, Hawhorn and Carlton were first and second respectively leading into their Round 17 clash at the home ground they shared at Princes Park.

Similiar to the current situation, both teams were five games clear of their nearest rival. They had played each other earlier in the season, when Carlton had defeated them.

However, Carlton had lost two other games throughout the year: to Essendon at VFL park in front of a then record crowd of 75,000 and just recently (and ominously) to North Melbourne.

Hawthorn and Carlton were STREETS ahead of everyone and the ensuing game proved beyond doubt to everyone that the premiership for 1975 would be in the hands of one of these teams.

In a see sawing affair, Hawthorn kicked the winning goal in time on to win 15.15.105 to 15.11.101.

But, as you can guess, neither team was able to win the premiership.

North Melbourne, who had started the season with four straight losses, ended the season in third spot, which earned them the double chance (under the then Final Five system).

They eventually made it to the Grand Final against Hawthorn and thrashed them by ten goals.

The key factor here is that it was North’s FIRST EVER PREMIERSHIP!

They were the last team to win their first premiership (prior to AFL expansion) and it was a magic day for the whole VFL (apart from Hawthorn).

So why did Hawthorn and Carlton fall away so dramatically?

It appears that the result in the Round 17 match may have had some effect.

Hawthorn went a game clear of Carlton (plus a hefty percentage advantage) and the final five rounds had no real meaning for either team as they were well and truly entrenched in their positions.

As a result BOTH teams lost more games than they won over the next five weeks and carried that form into the finals, where they fell away.

Such a dramatic collapse in form would have been talked about more often had it not been for North Melbourne winning their first ever Premiership.

Whether or not St Kilda or Geelong will similarly collapse, we do not know (yet!)

No doubt Aussie Rules has changed a lot over the last 35 years and the factors that were at play back then may have no relevance to this week’s game.

But the ensuing weeks may tell us more.

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