Essendon 2000 has to be the greatest Team of all Time?

[Cleansweep17]

I was a little young at the time but can somebody tell me why they were so good besides their W/L record?

These are generally regarded as the best lines of teams in the 21st century:

Def: Geelong

Mid: Lions

Fwd: Hawks

So what were the bombers strengths?

 

[Soul_Pie]

As much as it pains me I feel like Geelong 2011 should come into discussions tbh, not because of W/L record but because of who they beat which was Collingwood who more than likely would've gone the whole season without a loss themselves and beaten Essendon's record. Literally the only team we lost to was Geelong throughout the year. Honestly that 2011 team we had was insane, and it wasn't as though we were shit in the grand final, Geelong were just unbelievable.

 

[Yoda_]

I was a little young at the time but can somebody tell me why they were so good besides their W/L record?

These are generally regarded as the best lines of teams in the 21st century:

Def: Geelong

Mid: Lions

Fwd: Hawks

So what were the bombers strengths?

Mark Mecuri came second in the Brownlow in 1999, lost his brother and (prematurely) retired at the early age of 30.

James Hird was so under rated by many, as mentioned in this thread he won a B&F off a HBF in his final year and was close to a Brownlow well after 30.

Matthew Lloyd was on another level to any other forward of the time. When looking at the “gap” to second in his Coleman years, there has been no bigger ones this century.

Dustin Fletcher, Scott Lucas, Jason Johnson, Damian Hardwick, Sean Wellman were all close to won AA honours at some point in there careers (so trajectory was on track to just how good they were/ would become).

It was the bottom 6 that always stood up, regularly fitting in Moorcroft, Steven Allesio, Paul Barnard, Dean Wallis as “role players”. They were probably better than that but that goes to show the strength they had.

 

[faible]

I was a little young at the time but can somebody tell me why they were so good besides their W/L record?

These are generally regarded as the best lines of teams in the 21st century:

Def: Geelong

Mid: Lions

Fwd: Hawks

So what were the bombers strengths?

A really strong bottom 6 players, some good physical types at a time when the game needed them, great KPPs on Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher in particular, and an uninjured James Hird.

They were incredibly strong offensively. 8 players went at more than a goal a game.

Lloyd was a superstar, Lucas incredibly underrated. As good a KPF pairing as anyone has had for a long time - Lloyd won the Coleman with 109 and Lucas was 6th with 57.

Hird as a player has been forgotten a bit because of all the coaching stuff, but he was an absolute match winner. Kicked 36 goals (from 20 games) whilst playing as a midfielder.

Mercuri probably not rated outside of Essendon supporters but was absolute class, also kicking 32 (from 20).

Guys like Caracella, Misiti, Johnson, Blumfield and co were genuinely good footballers albeit not out and out stars.

Did I mention James Hird?

 

[Yoda_]

A really strong bottom 6 players, some good physical types at a time when the game needed them, great KPPs on Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher in particular, and an uninjured James Hird.

They were incredibly strong offensively. 8 players went at more than a goal a game.

Lloyd was a superstar, Lucas incredibly underrated. As good a KPF pairing as anyone has had for a long time - Lloyd won the Coleman with 109 and Lucas was 6th with 57.

Hird as a player has been forgotten a bit because of all the coaching stuff, but he was an absolute match winner. Kicked 36 goals (from 20 games) whilst playing as a midfielder.

Mercuri probably not rated outside of Essendon supporters but was absolute class, also kicking 32 (from 20).

Guys like Caracella, Misiti, Johnson, Blumfield and co were genuinely good footballers albeit not out and out stars.

Did I mention James Hird?

You forget one of the toughest back 6’s we’ve seen. Mark Johnson, Damian Hardwick, Sean Wellman, Dean Wallis

 

[The Dougster]

You forget one of the toughest back 6’s we’ve seen. Mark Johnson, Damian Hardwick, Sean Wellman, Dean Wallis

Solomon

 

[HalloweenJack]

You forget one of the toughest back 6’s we’ve seen. Mark Johnson, Damian Hardwick, Sean Wellman, Dean Wallis

Fletcher was hard as teak.

 

[The Dougster]

Fletcher was hard as teak.

Those boney elbows and knees would not have tickled

 

[HalloweenJack]

...

Mercuri probably not rated outside of Essendon supporters but was absolute class, also kicking 32 (from 20).

...

Rated by me. Mercuri was a jet and a smooth mover. I always enjoyed watching him play.

As for the 2000 team it is pretty clear cut that this was the greatest season by any team in the history of the game. Great players on every line, a number of hall of famers, a potential legend (but he blew that) and a selfless bunch of players.

Geelong in 2008 had the potential to at least equal Essendon of 2000 but they stuffed up the final assignment.

 

[Shane Heard]

Average winning margin of 6 goals ..over the entire season played.

Most games were over 10 mins into the 2nd

Total domination

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I was a little young at the time but can somebody tell me why they were so good besides their W/L record?

These are generally regarded as the best lines of teams in the 21st century:

Def: Geelong

Mid: Lions

Fwd: Hawks

So what were the bombers strengths?

2000 Bombers well and truly in the discussion for the backline and forward line there.

2000 Lloyd was the equal of Buddy, Lucas was the equal of Roughead… then throw in Mercuri - who was a bee’s dick from the Brownlow the previous year - and Hird, one of the best players of all time.

Average score of 130+ points for the year. It was insane.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

I was a little young at the time but can somebody tell me why they were so good besides their W/L record?

These are generally regarded as the best lines of teams in the 21st century:

Def: Geelong

Mid: Lions

Fwd: Hawks

So what were the bombers strengths?

Essendon went the entire season avging something like 50 points as a winning margin.

Essendon didn’t just have a the best w/l record basically of all time while winning a flag, They basically annihilated everyone every game

 

[HirdsTheWord]

As much as it pains me I feel like Geelong 2011 should come into discussions tbh, not because of W/L record but because of who they beat which was Collingwood who more than likely would've gone the whole season without a loss themselves and beaten Essendon's record. Literally the only team we lost to was Geelong throughout the year. Honestly that 2011 team we had was insane, and it wasn't as though we were s**t in the grand final, Geelong were just unbelievable.

Isn’t much of a discussion

You don’t win the grand final, you can’t claim to have the best season ever.

Essendon 2000>

Even if geelong tied them for w/l, essendon still beat teams on avg for the entire year by 9 goals. Would still be classed as better for a single season

 

[HirdsTheWord]

Average winning margin of 6 goals ..over the entire season played.

Most games were over 10 mins into the 2nd

Total domination

Was actually closer to 9 goals as an avg winning margin. Was about 51 points

 

[NetworkNerd]

If you rate a champion H&A season side as 19 wins and or percentage of 150+%, in the AFL Era

West Coast 1991
Carlton 1995
Essendon 2000
Geelong 2007
Geelong 2008
St Kilda 2009
Collingwood 2011
Geelong 2011
Hawthorn 2012
Hawthorn 2013
Hawthorn 2015
Sydney 2016

6 didn't even win the flag. That leaves
Carlton 1995
Essendon 2000
Geelong 2007
Geelong 2011
Hawthorn 2013
Hawthorn 2015

Hawks 2015 dropped 6 games and finished 3rd. Hawks 2013 had a lowish percentage of 135. They are out.

Carlton 1995
Essendon 2000
Geelong 2007
Geelong 2011

Essendon 2000 is the best of that 4 imo.

 

[HirdsTheWord]

If you rate a champion H&A season side as 19 wins and or percentage of 150+%, in the AFL Era

West Coast 1991
Carlton 1995
Essendon 2000
Geelong 2007
Geelong 2008
St Kilda 2009
Collingwood 2011
Geelong 2011
Hawthorn 2012
Hawthorn 2013
Hawthorn 2015
Sydney 2016

6 didn't even win the flag. That leaves
Carlton 1995
Essendon 2000
Geelong 2007
Geelong 2011
Hawthorn 2013
Hawthorn 2015

Hawks 2015 dropped 6 games and finished 3rd. Hawks 2013 had a lowish percentage of 135. They are out.

Carlton 1995
Essendon 2000
Geelong 2007
Geelong 2011

Essendon 2000 is the best of that 4 imo.

There's really 3 questions that make the basic metric

What was the W/L
Did they win the Flag
What was their % / Avg winning margin.

Essendon 2000 is just the clear call for best season ever. And it isn't close.

 

[Worm4]

There's really 3 questions that make the basic metric

What was the W/L
Did they win the Flag
What was their % / Avg winning margin.

Essendon 2000 is just the clear call for best season ever. And it isn't close.

I can't believe they lost to the doggies during the season proper . Other than that, they were frigging awesome and unstoppable

 

[the PILL]

A really strong bottom 6 players, some good physical types at a time when the game needed them, great KPPs on Lloyd, Lucas and Fletcher in particular, and an uninjured James Hird.

They were incredibly strong offensively. 8 players went at more than a goal a game.

Lloyd was a superstar, Lucas incredibly underrated. As good a KPF pairing as anyone has had for a long time - Lloyd won the Coleman with 109 and Lucas was 6th with 57.

Hird as a player has been forgotten a bit because of all the coaching stuff, but he was an absolute match winner. Kicked 36 goals (from 20 games) whilst playing as a midfielder.

Mercuri probably not rated outside of Essendon supporters but was absolute class, also kicking 32 (from 20).

Guys like Caracella, Misiti, Johnson, Blumfield and co were genuinely good footballers albeit not out and out stars.

Did I mention James Hird?

Good post... I also think a bit of the icing on the cake was getting John Barnes back... If you watch that season back he was everywhere linking up.

 

[Vindicater]

Should have won the year before but had a surprise loss to Carlton in the prelim.

I know a player from that group quite well and he always talks about how he never saw a group more driven for longer to prove themselves.

He also feels like they should have won in 2001 as well apart from injuries but knows that was their last hurrah.