The best SANFL team of all

[nickname]

No rig, I concede we had a good run with injury, but I don't see that that diminishes the team's rating, or is relevant. Would we somehow have been a better team if we'd been more injury-ravaged but achieved the same results? It might have meant we were a stronger club, but we're not debating that.

[nickname]

...it was always a great mystery to me how a team with so much pace and firepower fell away so dramatically in less than 12 months.

Did they have quite a few injuries in '84?

IIRC, Linder, who with many of his teammates was sensational in '83, only played about four games that year.

Bernie Conlen disappeared pretty quick after being runner-up in the '83 Magarey...

We lost de Jong and Meuret to retirement, Roger Winter (who'd played 20 games in 83 and had a great year) only played 3 games and Lindner only played 4, and Borchard and Watson both missed a third of the season. But I think there was a bit of a drop-off in hunger too. It's not like we became useless though, the season was peppered with some very good wins and we did finish third in 85. Conlen's best year was certainly 83 and he struggled with injury after that, his next 3 seasons reaping 17, 12 and 5 games respectively.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Ive always said that 1983 Westies side was the most devastating Ive seen, was nothing for them to kick 10 goals in a quarter .. The touch-up they gave us in the 83 2nd Semi was the biggest shellacking I'd seen us cop in my short Norwood following career, and was just amazing considering we were a reasonable team that won flags the season before and after.

Yes, I think that is why I rate the West Adelaide 1983 team as the best I've seen in the SANFL. I'd seen Norwood beaten by large margins before, but as CP says, Norwood were no mug team in 1983, and Westies so comprehensively thrashed us to the point of embarrassment. Not often I use the term "awesome", but it applied to West Adelaide that afternoon.

[spell_check]

Reakon this is one of those threads that has to split into different eras.

Something like...

1877-1906
1907-1944
1945-1990
1991-

Like just about everyone else, I loved Westies '83 side.

So exciting to watch.

Post-1990, I reakon the best of Port's premiership sides were '92 and '95...

I'm not making cases for any side myself, but a mate of Dad (who is a Norwood fan) suggests the Eagles and Port sides around 1993-94 were the best post 1990.

[FlyingHigh]

CENTRAL'S 2004 PREMIERSHIP SIDE:

FF - Richard Cochrane, Luke Cowan, Marco Bello
HF - Chris Gowans, Daniel Schell, Daniel Healy
C - Simon Arnott, James Gowans, Nathan Steinberner
HB - Paul Thomas, Yves Sibenaler, Stuart Cochrane
FB - Brad Currie, Jeremy Aufderheide, Tyson Hay
Ruck - Paul Scoullar, Heath Hopwood, Matthew Slade
Interchange - Jason MacKenzie, Shannon Hurn, Elijah Ware

Reakon this is one of those threads that has to split into different eras.

Something like...

1877-1906
1907-1944
1945-1990
1991-

Like just about everyone else, I loved Westies '83 side.

So exciting to watch.

Post-1990, I reakon the best of Port's premiership sides were '92 and '95...

I'm not making cases for any side myself, but a mate of Dad (who is a Norwood fan) suggests the Eagles and Port sides around 1993-94 were the best post 1990.

Port's 92 side with Buckley were nigh on unbeatable, and that 2004 side BigPhil posted, well no wonder we copped a shellacking. At the time I don't think I realised how good it was.

Eagles in 93 and North in 91 probably just behind the above two but ahead of most others. Both had a lot of very good, perhaps not great, footballers who had the experience and peak physical strength. For us players such as Schwarz, Payze, Taylor, Schache, Prymke, Nicol, Neave.

[JK]

In the post 90' category i reckon the Norwood 97' team stacks up fairly well, although naturally im biased and there's never a bad premiership team. I thnk your mate makes a fair claim Spelly, the Eagles were awesome in 93 and of similar standard in 94 but it took an excellent Port team to get over them.

[baggy8]

I'll go for the team that no-one's mentioned on this thread, but which has been highly prominent in discussion on the next thread. The best team I've seen is the Sturt one of 1978 - it just didn't go top. I've never seen a team so dominate every match bar one day off at Richmond and half an hour at Footy Park. It was the closest team to unbeatable since the Port side of 1914.

Of those that did win the flag the best I've seen were the West Adelaide of 1983 and the Sturt of 1966. I find it very hard to judge the worth of sides wearing black and white, but I guess the Port side of 1980 would have to be next on the list.

Anecdotally, of the great sides that none of us have seen, I reckon the South Adelaide of 1935 would have been quite something.

[JK]

I kid you not Baggy I was going to ask today whether that 78 Sturt team was worth mentioning in this topic

[Magpiespower]

I'm not making cases for any side myself, but a mate of Dad (who is a Norwood fan) suggests the Eagles and Port sides around 1993-94 were the best post 1990.

Eagles were outstanding in those two years. If anything, they were even better in '94 than their premiership year. Clearly the best team in the minor round at least.

Port was always a little sus in '93. Some big retirements at the end of '92 plus the huge loss of Buckley who was so dominant the year before forced a mini-rebuild. Lots of debutants that year. Still finished 2nd on the ladder at the end of the minor round. But certainly didn't have an air of invincibility like '92, which had a near-perfect blend of youth and experience.

Reakon Port's '94 team was one of the weaker premiership teams of the decade.

Really struggled for the first half of the season and at one point looked like we might miss the finals. There was even conjecture over Jack Cahill's job, especially after he missed the game mid-season against Central at Elizabeth with illness. Greg Phillips coached that day and we got flogged.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, turned it on, winning the last nine minor round games and 12 of our last 13 games. Only blip was the shellacking at the hands of the Eagles in the 2SF.

Last quarter of the '94 GF is just one big adrenalin rush...

[FlyingHigh]

In the post 90' category i reckon the Norwood 97' team stacks up fairly well, although naturally im biased and there's never a bad premiership team. I thnk your mate makes a fair claim Spelly, the Eagles were awesome in 93 and of similar standard in 94 but it took an excellent Port team to get over them.

Agree about the Legs in 97 CP, I inadvertantly overlooked them. Reckon on a par with Dogs of 2004, but behind Port of 92, who are easily the best team since the inception of the AFL in SA.

[X Runna]

As a group, one would credit Sturt with being the best side over a few years during the 60's. North in 1971 & 72 was fantastic. Port's side of 1976 was great, yet beaten in a big upset by Sturt on GF day, then Port's side in 1977 was one of the best of all.

Westies in 1983 actually had the look and style about it of a VFL side (irrespective of how many ex VFL players there were), it was like an aura.

[Leaping Lindner]

West in 83 were certainly one of the best I've seen. North were a finals side for the first time in ages in 83 and West beat us comfortably late in the season (at Prospect) without barely raising a sweat. Simply awesome to watch.
North in 72 were the best North side I've seen (big surprise!)
Port of the late 80s were a machine, and coached to perfection.
Glenelg in 85 were also a truly great side.

Post Crows the North 91 side were a very good team. But to fair if the Crows had formed 10 years earlier, and the draft was more encompassing at least half those players wouldn't have been playing SANFL at the time IMO.

[Adelaide Hawk]

North in 72 were the best North side I've seen (big surprise!)

Please define the difference between the 1971 & 1972 North teams.

[Adelaide Hawk]

As a group, one would credit Sturt with being the best side over a few years during the 60's.

The interesting thing from my point of view is we all remember the Sturt teams of 1966-70 as being dominant, and in terms of premierships they were. No doubt about that, Jack Oatey had the ability to have Sturt playing at their top in September.

However, I wonder how many people recall that in those 5 seasons, that they won the minor premiership only twice, 1966 & 1968? North won the minor premiership in 1967, Glenelg in 1969, and Port in 1970. In 1969, Glenelg were far and away the dominant team in the minor round but couldn't handle Sturt when it mattered most.

[robranisgod]

North in 72 were the best North side I've seen (big surprise!)

Please define the difference between the 1971 & 1972 North teams.

There was quite a difference in teams between the 1971 and 1972 premiership teams. Out from the 1971 team were Anderson (Glenelg), Lehmann (injured), Collins (injured), Burns (injured), Patterson (injured) N Sachse (injured) Wilkey (injured) K Francou (overseas)

In : D Sachse (never played a game in 1971 - mainly through injury), R Robran (injured in 1971), Barr (injured in 1971),Strang (from Richmond), Spry (from Claremont), Schubert (from Reserves), Marsh (from Reserves), Plummer (injured in 1971)

I think the addition of big Dennis at full forward just sways me towards 1972 but I wouldn't argue with anyone who thought differently. We had a large number of players unavailable through injury in both years which is testament to how strong a squad we had for those two years. Of course I am reminded of Murray Weideman's comment that his West side came 6th or 7th in 1971, if he just added one player to the squad, B Robran, he maintains that he would have won the flag. Barrie certainly was fantastic in both of those Grand Finals.

[Sturt_Forever]

This is a flow-on from Mal's thread about the 1978 season, and some of the coaches listed in it, and the debate shifted gradually to great players and great teams. I have looked back for a thread on this but couldn't see one in the last couple of years.

What team in which year do posters view as the best they have SEEN, and anecdotally, which team in which year do posters view as the best they have HEARD of (particularly for younger posters who may not have seen some of the great teams of the early eras)?

I touched on West Adelaide in 1983 briefly in Mal's thread. That team stands out to me as one of the best I saw. They were superb that season and weren't seriously challenged for long periods that year. Looking back on the lineup that day, as below, the talent among it was brilliant:

F: Peter Meuret, Roger Luders, Leon Grosser
HF: Mike Smith, Bruce Lindner, Geoff Morris (vc)
C: Robin McKinnon, Richard Hamilton, Randall Bennett
HB: Larry Watson, Mark Dreher, Greg Summerton
B: John Kantilaftas, Tony Burgess, Peter Winter
Ruck: Craig Williams, Ian Borchard (c), Bernie Conlen
Res: Dirk De Jong, Grantley Fielke

Could also make a case for some of the Port teams of the 1990's that I saw, as well as the Centrals teams of the 2000's.

Anecdotally, some of the Sturt teams of the 1960's had some sublime talent, and certainly some of Port's teams of that era were sensational.

Yes a good team on Grand final day of 1983, no argument but they did get a 76 point hiding earlier in the season to Sturt, where the Jumbo prince kicked 15.

[MagareyLegend]

...it was always a great mystery to me how a team with so much pace and firepower fell away so dramatically in less than 12 months.

Did they have quite a few injuries in '84?

IIRC, Linder, who with many of his teammates was sensational in '83, only played about four games that year.

Bernie Conlen disappeared pretty quick after being runner-up in the '83 Magarey...

I know this will upset nickname, but I maintain that they had a freak year with lack of injuries in 1983.

On the other hand, I know for a fact that Barrie Robran thinks that the 1983 Westies side is the best that he has ever seen.

Barrie would have only said that because he wasn't in it

[whufc]

As someone who was born in 1983 i dont fully understand why the Westies 83' team has such a massive reputation.

Just from a very very very outside point of view it seems as if the premiership was a bit of a flash in the pan type similar to Sturt in 2002.

Would love to here what made them so great, were they a very attacking side?

[Adelaide Hawk]

My mob in 1971 and 1972 was a very, very strong side. They should have been Champions of Australia in 1971.

How do you work that out? Hawthorn had a sensational season in 1971 and won everything that season, including the Rothmans Championship in Perth, easily. All up, Peter Hudson kicked 172 goals for the year!! Hawthorn 1971 were one of the great sides in VFL history. North did very well to get within 4 goals in the match at Adelaide Oval.

[robranisgod]

My mob in 1971 and 1972 was a very, very strong side. They should have been Champions of Australia in 1971.

How do you work that out? Hawthorn had a sensational season in 1971 and won everything that season, including the Rothmans Championship in Perth, easily. All up, Peter Hudson kicked 172 goals for the year!! Hawthorn 1971 were one of the great sides in VFL history. North did very well to get within 4 goals in the match at Adelaide Oval.

North hit the front at the 18 minute mark of the last quarter and then a player didn't attack the ball as hard as he should have. Hawthorn goaled and you could see the whole North team deflate at that moment. Robran probably played an even better game than he did in 1972 against Carlton. Bob Hammond kept Hudson to two goals and Hudson said that he had never had a full back play him so close. We didn't beat Hawthorn and that was that. The player who pulled out didn't play in the next premiership nor the Champions of Australia win the next year.