Infamous Chokes or Mishaps Forgotten Because the Team Still Ended Up Winning

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Sep 7, 2009
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One that springs to mind is Darling's 2018 dropped mark. The Pies were down by 4 points following Dom Sheed's goal. Darling had a chance to seal the game only for him to drop a contested mark in the goal square. We had plenty of time to run the ball up to the other end and kicked a goal with Bucks being a premiership coach. The Darling dropped mark would've been the Herschelle Gibbs moment in Grand Final history.

Up there with the Milne bounce in the 2010 Grand Final (draw)
 
Totally agree with the first one. It actually was uncontested. He was alone in the goal square and completely muffed it. It’s a moment that has been forgotten by most people.

The Milne one unfortunately will be replayed forever until this game no longer exists. A 1 in a 100 bounce that prevented St Kilda from winning the flag. Possibly the no 1 what if of all time.
 
Feel like I saw this thread recently but Luke Abletts kick across goal in the 2005 grand final that a WCE player intercepted and scored from. If WCE had won that match, that would be "the moment". Instead the what if from people is "how come a free kick for Sampi wasn't paid for a hold when Barry took that mark".
 

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Feel like I saw this thread recently but Luke Abletts kick across goal in the 2005 grand final that a WCE player intercepted and scored from. If WCE had won that match, that would be "the moment". Instead the what if from people is "how come a free kick for Sampi wasn't paid for a hold when Barry took that mark".
Was on Reddit
 
Round 14, 2013.

11 minutes remaining:
Melbourne 102 - Bulldogs 58

Screenshot_20240429_043254_YouTube.jpg

Final score:
Melbourne 103 - Bulldogs 100

8 years later Melbourne realised if you come back halfway though the 3rd quarter you still have another quarter to kill them off.
 
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Rowan Jones missing from 5m out in the 2006 Prelim against Adelaide.



The Crowbots ended up coming back - getting to within 4 points - and could well have won the game.

Needless to say, they didn't, and Rojo played a role in winning the Premiership the next week. But he might not have survived if he'd turned up to where I watched the Prelim.
 
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Essendon vs WCE in Sheedy and Hird’s last ever game at Subiaco in 2007.

Eagles were on cruise control all day, Sheeds must have given them an absolute rev up at 3QT because they came out and wiped 8 goals off the margin with Scott Lucas kicking 7 goals in a quarter.

Eagles still won by a goal or so - it would have been more fun to send out those 2 with a thrashing but I guess it added to the drama (and we still got the win).
 
Essendon vs WCE in Sheedy and Hird’s last ever game at Subiaco in 2007.

Eagles were on cruise control all day, Sheeds must have given them an absolute rev up at 3QT because they came out and wiped 8 goals off the margin with Scott Lucas kicking 7 goals in a quarter.

Eagles still won by a goal or so - it would have been more fun to send out those 2 with a thrashing but I guess it added to the drama (and we still got the win).
that narrow margin cost your team top 2.

Had west coast won by 8 goals, the Eagles vs Port game would of been in WA not in Adelaide.
 
2005 grand final... The swans are up by 2 points in the last quarter and Luke Ablett misplaces a kick across goal in defence. The kick goes straight to Ben Cousins who puts the eagles in front.

That mistake nearly extended a 72 year premiership drought.
 
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Darling one I screamed in utter horror, but also felt very sorry for him as he clearly wasn’t smiling as much as his teammates on a very special day in a season where his best football was immaculate. I.e. classic Darling

Ablett one is just one of those things that happens a few times a game, he was a solid best-22 regular, in hindsight there was a fair bit of time left and who knows, that mistake could’ve been a motivation that made the difference in the end. Just at the time with the Eagles momentum and given the hoodoo, oh lord. On that note, Mickey O had a terribly wasteful goal kicking performance, he’d be super relieved they won (and he personally made up for it in the 2006 QF and GF).

The Lucas last quarter bag always haunted me. Classic foil Bombers, they know where to stick the knife in. Meant it felt like a loss and that window side never won again. Couple that with the second half comeback win midseason on Friday night and they were a thorn in that campaign (and hats off to them given the prior 2006 chasm between the sides, laudable).
 
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Billy Frampton dropped an absolute siitter of a chest mark right in front of goal in last year's GF. Luckily for him pies won by less than a goal.
 

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Gary Rohan dropping that easy chest mark in the dying moments of the 2022 QF.

If Max Holmes wasn't there we were screwed
 
Luke Breust missing an easy set shot late to put Hawthorn up in the 2013 PF. 30 seconds later Burgoyne puts Hawthorn in front
 
2005 grand final... The swans are up by 2 points in the last quarter and Luke Ablett misplaces a kick across goal in defence. The kick goes straight to Ben Cousins who puts the eagles in front.

That mistake nearly extended a 72 year premiership draught.
I thought the swans was founded in 1982 as a brand new club? That’s not 72 years
 
Essendon vs WCE in Sheedy and Hird’s last ever game at Subiaco in 2007.

Eagles were on cruise control all day, Sheeds must have given them an absolute rev up at 3QT because they came out and wiped 8 goals off the margin with Scott Lucas kicking 7 goals in a quarter.

Eagles still won by a goal or so - it would have been more fun to send out those 2 with a thrashing but I guess it added to the drama (and we still got the win).
WC were sent to Footy Park the following week and the rest was history
 
Feel like I saw this thread recently but Luke Abletts kick across goal in the 2005 grand final that a WCE player intercepted and scored from. If WCE had won that match, that would be "the moment". Instead the what if from people is "how come a free kick for Sampi wasn't paid for a hold when Barry took that mark".
Annoys me when people say how Barry shouldn't have been paid the mark because Sampi/other Eagles players were being held. If you go back one contest, Dean Cox shoves Jolly in the back and takes a mark. It's an incredibly blatant shove that somehow the umpires missed. Cox's kick is marked by Barry. If West Coast had won it would've been a travesty.
 
Totally agree with the first one. It actually was uncontested. He was alone in the goal square and completely muffed it. It’s a moment that has been forgotten by most people.
We would've won similar to R19 2022 vs Essendon. Run the ball up to the other end. Eagles won and we lost that match and therefore the Darling dropped mark is forgotten with the Sheed goal replayed giving me flashbacks.
 

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