Biggest finals upsets of modern AFL era

chris, the term "bloods" goes back to the beginning of the South Melbourne Football Club: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Swans I don't think you will need any luck against the Hawks, another day for the showman Franklin to shine on the big stage? Watch out for his former partner in Roughead.

No it was at etihad... this swans team is the stuff of legends.. they will have underachieved if they don't win the next 3 premierships 2014-2016... c'mon the swannies ... or to anyone on here that remembers the 26 game losing streak "hmmpfffhhh".... The familar sarcastic cry that originated back in those dark years and to Paul Kelly... The man or created the spirit we all call the "bloods"... Thank you... You epitomized and produced an enduring legacy that has led to this... the toughest team that is also the most talented.. i for 1 will be chanting your name each time we win the premiership in the next three years.. c'mon the swannies..

Pyke won the ruck battle last night in a fantastic effort. He played very well.

Pyke 30 hit outs Goldstein 29.....interesting

and North, who finished the H&A 2nd, beat Brisbane, who finished the H&A 3rd, in the Preliminary final before going on to be premiers

i was at that preliminary final. I caught the train from Bendigo to meet my brother in the City. North were not underdogs, they finished the H&A second, were playing in Melbourne and had Carey and Corey. North ended up winning comfortably. I remember an incident early in the match where a North trainer put on a brilliant shepherd in the middle of the ground

North? Underdogs? Turn it up. That match was in Melbourne, Chris Scott had been suspended for belting a Bulldogs player the previous week (probably Tony "Stigmata" Liberatore) and Michael Voss was out injured. MIck Martyn tagged Simon Black out of the game early three times in the face with right hooks and Jason McCartney elbowed Clarke Keating later in the game as the Lions rallied.

that must have been a different day. 12-13 to 8-8.

Milz - How the F..k is it my fault Bill asked if I went to the game with Hunt?

I'm pretty sure that in the 2005 preliminary final between St Kilda and Sydney played in Sydney, it was expected that all the Saints had to do was turn up on that night to win. Am I mistaken?

Macca you muppet. Every post you have written on this site has involved Hunt. Kinda creepy. Just thought you would try to squeeze it into a completely irrelevant article.

yep, better than Sandi

With the Swans Port 2003 game, Goodes was also instrumental. He was up against Brogan and Lade and he not only jumped over them in the ruck but also ran them rugged all day.

This is true Ronan but Pyke has a habit of hanging in there doing enough and sometime more. Usually I don't mind him, unless he is playing North. Goldy probably does need to flog him.

That is true, Essendon fans didn't complain that year! You are right though - just like Carlton in 1999, Essendon didn't deserve to be in the PF that year, and it was only fitting that Plugger's point ensured they wouldn't advance to the GF. In fact, that night I very quietly hoped Plugger did register a score with THAT kick, as the Bombers didn't deserve to go all the way to the Granny. Actually I don't think too many Bombers fans complained about the result that year. The 1999 Final Series mirrored that of the 1996 series in a lot of ways. Essendon ('96) and Carlton ('99) both lost in Week 1 to Brisbane at the Gabba. West Coast were denied home finals in Week 2 due to an iron-clad agreement signed off by the-then VFL and MCC in the 80's, and ultimately lost both times. Essendon lost their PF's by a point. And North Melbourne took out the flag!

Everything you say is true except that I didn't hear any Essendon fans complain in 1996 when they SHOULD have travelled to Perth to play West Coast but instead unfairly got a home semi-final. They then lost to Plugger's point in the Prelim and some to this day feel were robbed of a GF even though Essendon shouldn't have been in that Preliminary to begin with.

I remember that Essendon-Carlton came well too - not very fondly though! In fact I seem to recall that game better than just about any other (1993 and 2000 included). If we're honest (Blue fans included), Carlton didn't even deserve to be in the Preliminary Final that year. They finished the H&A season in 6th, and then got THUMPED by the Lions at the Gabba in the 1st week of the finals. But due to the old finals system in place 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5), because teams 7 and 8 also lost, the Blues got another chance in week 2 against West Coast. That game SHOULD have been held in Perth, but because of the agreement the VFL signed with the MCC back in the 80's that at least 1 game would be played at the MCG in each week of the finals - the game was played at the 'G. History tells us Carlton bounced back from their week 1 shellacking, and beat the Eagles in the semi final. As a passionate Bombers fan at the time it was hard to admit it, but Carlton deserved to win that PF. I do feel Koutoufides was a little over-rated and NOT amongst the elite category of Hird, Voss, Carey and Buckley at the time, but It's true: that day he did play (arguably) the greatest quarter of football ever seen. It was certainly his best ever quarter - and one of the finest games of his career. The other things that stood out that clearly that day include Peter Somerville's poor ruck work in the last quarter - he was more interested in watching what his opponent was doing than ACTUALLY CONTESTING the ruck knocks, and allowed Matthew Allan to run rampant. Lance "Captain Death-Threat" Whitnall - their inconsistent, overweight underachiever - actually stood up in that game. Those extra few steps Dean Wallis took. The Fraser Brown tackle. The scenes of a jubilant Justin Murphy and his teammates celebrating a win in a game they didn't deserve to be playing in. Deep down though, even though the Bombers were in very hot form, even if they had beat the Blues that day, I still felt that their run would have come to an end against North Melbourne in the GF. I think a few Bombers - including James Hird in one of his books - admitted this in the years after, too. It was Carlton's finals run that year - and West Coast's bad luck in being denied a rightful home final for the 2nd time in 4 years - that prompted the AFL to change the Finals system to the one currently in place today. It also forced them to negotiate harder with the MCC/MCG and come up with a solution that would suit all parties so that a non-Victorian team did not miss out on a home final.