A Geelong dynasty or just a dominant team?

Norm Smith Medallist, Paul Chapman of Geelong, celebrates after winning the 2009 Toyota AFL Grand Final between the St Kilda Saints and the Geelong Cats at the MCG. The Slattery Media Group

The current debate about whether the current Geelong Cats have been as dominant as the early 2000s Brisbane Lions team that won three Grand Finals in row has sent me to the stats room to draw a comparison.

Is it fair to compare when they played during such different eras. And YES they are different when you consider how the game has evolved and changed through interchange use, contested footy and ratio of handballs.

The Dallas Cowboys of the ’90s were hailed as a dynasty during the Emmitt Smith, Aikman and Irvin era. So it got me thinking, is there a difference to being a dominant team to being a dynasty? I think there is.

Freedictionary.com states that a dynasty is: A family or group that maintains power for several generations.

Okay, sure we’re not talking about generations but surely a dynasty requires a period of more than a year or two of success. Secondly ‘maintains power’, does this mean winning Grand Finals, making the finals or somewhere in between?

The North Melbourne Kangaroos were very dominant during the 90’s so I’ve also compared their achievements:

North Melbourne:
Finals: 5
Prelims: 8
GFs: 7 (in a row)
Premierships: 3
Top 4s: 6

Brisbane:
Finals: 6
Prelims: 5
GFs: 4 (in a row)
Premierships: 3 (in a row)
Top 4s: 5

Geelong:
Finals: 4*
Prelims: 4 (in a row)
GFs: 3 (in a row)**
Premierships: 2
Top 4s: 4

* I have not counted Geelong’s 2004 and 2005 finals campaigns as they dropped out of the eight in 2006 finishing 10th. North also made the finals in 2002 after a year out of the eight.
** Geelong is one win away from adding to their Grand Final and Premiership tally.

The Brisbane Lions won (sic) the wooden spoon in 1998. In 1999 Leigh Mathews took the reigns, leading the team to six consecutive finals campaigns playing in five Preliminary Finals including four in a row. They also made four Grand Finals in a row winning the first three.

They also finished the regular season top three, five out of the six years with a healthy 14 win four loss ratio during the finals.

North Melbourne made the finals for an impressive eight years in a row including seven consecutive preliminary finals between 1994 and 2000. During this halcyon period they made 3 Grand Finals winning two.

Their finals record was 14 wins and seven losses, however they could be excused for thinking 1997 and ’98 were years they should have won the ultimate prize however two huge injuries during the finals killed them in ’97 and abysmal kicking in the second half of the ’98 Grand Final saw them produce two goals 18 behinds and lose to sixth placed Adelaide.

Geelong who are arguably still in the midst of their halcyon era have made six finals appearances in seven years and finished the regular season top two on the ladder four years in row.

Geelong has also made four Preliminary Finals in a row and after Friday could make four Grand Finals in a row.

I guess it comes down ‘what is success?’ Is it only the ultimate success of a grand final win? I think all three teams could lay claim to having a dominant period at the top but it is still unclear who was the most dominant.

The Kangaroos were at the top for longer however the Lions managed to win three premierships, one more than North and Geelong (although the Cats are still in the running to win their third next Saturday).

Arguably neither team was as dominant as the current Geelong outfit.

If Geelong do in fact win their third cup in four years next Saturday they can probably claim to be the most dominant team of the last 20 years.