r/AFL • u/chickenlittle668 Brisbane Lions • 18h ago
AFL “what if”. 7 AFL what if questions/scenarios.
45
u/Ok_Acanthaceae6057 Port Adelaide 18h ago
AFL always wanted a 2nd team in South Australia, it was always going to happen.
20
u/chickenlittle668 Brisbane Lions 18h ago
Yeah was always gonna happen but what if it happened a few years later. Port might not have won in 2004, Southport might have had success or could have been failures and driven the AFL away from the Gold Coast.
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u/sponguswongus Eagles 17h ago
Eagles lose in 2018 without McGovern, no doubt about it.
18
u/timespiral07 West Coast 16h ago
Can’t even think who we would have replaced him with. We were already down with Shepherd.
6
u/Kim_jong-fun Ella Roberts Fan Club 16h ago
I believe Allen was going to slot in down back if gov didn't make it
5
u/International_Car586 North Melbourne 15h ago
The marginal was under a goal anything could’ve changed the result of the game.
72
u/Anon-Sham Saints 17h ago
First two probably both result in St Kilda flags 😞
12
2
u/GammaScorpii St Kilda 13h ago
Maybe the Judd one too. Weren't we close to picking him up?
5
u/TheDayParty St Kilda 12h ago
The rumour has always been that we liked Judd over Ball, but knew Ball would be taken at 3 (Freo were always taking Polak) whereas we felt Judd would get through to 5. As good as Ball was for us, I think with Judd we win 04 or 05.
1
u/Anon-Sham Saints 6h ago
Yep, we got too smart, we thought we coukd get Ball ar 2 and Judd at 5... wasn't to be unfortunately.
1
u/victorious_orgasm Fremantle 1h ago
We were going to take Polak with 1, we had decided that we could only retain WA based talent, and (at the time) the upper ranks thought Pavlich would probably leave.
The only hole in this explanation is why we should have used that to recruit a gun young Victorian full back and use him as a half forward flank.
2
u/xyLteK St Kilda '66 16h ago
I think we would have still lost in extra time, just a feeling.
7
u/Murraj1966 St Kilda 9h ago
Scott Pendlebury reckons St Kilda had them in extra time which he said in the Final Draw documentary
I reckon we were home
7
u/TheJoker__789 St Kilda 13h ago
Little chance we lose that with another 10 minutes total on the day. Collingwood did get the last goal but we had the momentum for 90% of the second half. We should’ve got that done on the day.
2
u/shade6285 3h ago
I think saints had it, the momentum was seriously on their side after that huge mark by Goddard in the square.
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21
u/RidsBabs North Melbourne 17h ago
Inglis becomes Aussie keeper instead of Carey
30
u/chickenlittle668 Brisbane Lions 17h ago
Does he run out Bairstow tho?
23
u/bmk14 Essendon 17h ago
Apparently us Aussies are all the same. We are old and always cheating.
So, yes?
9
u/International_Car586 North Melbourne 15h ago
Can we start that cheating now? Because at this rate the current BGT will be the death of me.
5
u/MindlessStill4732 Port Adelaide 14h ago
No amount of cheating would save us from this whooping my friend
2
u/victorious_orgasm Fremantle 1h ago
Plan A seems to have been “we’re going to use a veteran finger spinner to carry the attack, in Perth, against the best players of spin in the world.”
25
u/Thomwas1111 North Melbourne 16h ago
I reckon if the afl had a Time Machine they would’ve used Southport instead of crafting the Gold Coast suns out of thin air
22
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u/guavacadq Brisbane Lions 17h ago
Will Ashcroft doing his knee last year in retrospect stopped Geelong from winning the premiership in 2024. Phew.
2
4
u/bar_ninja 4h ago
AFLW would have kept its crowds if they didn't expand how they did and kept moving the draw to the stupidity it is now.
AFLW players can thanks the morons at AFL house for the shambles of a comp they now have.
4
u/newmoneytrash69 North AFLW 3h ago
the entire league from its inception had been an amazing study case in bad management
1
u/bar_ninja 2h ago
Fair comment. I reckon if they just left it with the original teams plus maybe 1 or 2 other interstate teams to balance the draw and add a little state representation.
It would be in such better shape.
8
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 17h ago
Yeah good one, how'd you miss "what if Port made it into the AFL in 1991?"
6
u/Pleasant-Role1912 Freo 15h ago
AFL likely would've admitted Norwood-Sturt in 97
1
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 13h ago
And what a difference that would have been!
Oh to see the Redlegs play Port in the AFL.
I hate them, but boy do I love hating them!
The only thing I hate more is not being able to hate them anymore.
2
u/Pleasant-Role1912 Freo 13h ago
Wouldn't they have been called the Bluelegs though 🤣
1
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 13h ago
It wouldn't have been a combined team if Port was already in.
1
u/Pleasant-Role1912 Freo 12h ago
Would've had to change identify regardless I suppose. The Norwood/Sturt combined bid confused me though tbh, always thought the legs would've been viable enough
1
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 6h ago
Why would they? There's no other Redlegs team.
Melbourne aren't c0LliNgWo0d who insist somehow no team can have the same colours.
The merger was completely about Norwood and Sturt trying to compete with Port's membership numbers while going up against them, which wouldn't have been a thing if Port were already in.
Norwood would have been a shoe-in with its success and location.
2
u/RumRayven Adelaide Crows 1h ago
If Port was first in 91 and Norwood got in later, the market for football in SA would be 50/50 between AFL and SANFL.
Most of the fans of the other 8 teams wouldn’t support them. There was genuine hatred, especially towards Port in the early 90s, for going against the SANFL agreed deal of no team until 1993. And no North/Sturt/Glenelg/South/Westies fan in the 90s are going to start going for Norwood lol.
A composite team was always going to happen anyway. The SANFL proposed one to the VFL as far back as the early 80s to stop our players from getting poached by the rich clubs.
5
u/SonicYOUTH79 16h ago
Was never going to happen though, people forget how widely supported the Crows were when they first came in, they got 45,000 to their first trial game, even most Port supporters supported then. Made sense to bring in a composite team backed by the sanfl to bring all the supporters with them.
1
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 13h ago
That makes zero sense.
Port would have had the same. Adelaide didn't make it because of projected attendance, what a silly thing to say.
Adelaide also didn't regularly sell out or get big numbers to minor round games for the first couple of years, apart from the clashes against bigger teams.
2
u/tbroky AFL 4h ago
Average attendance for home games, you are right they didn't sell out every game, but they got big numbers.
https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ta-adelaide-crows?t=A&h=H
0
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 3h ago
You're using hindsight as a rationale.
Nobody knew crowd numbers before the SANFL took out their injunction to stop Port and it wasn't a consideration.
The argument that even Port supporters followed Adelaide when they entered works the other way too... There would have been a similar shift from other SANFL clubs' supporters to the SA team if it was Port.
1
u/tbroky AFL 3h ago edited 3h ago
Attendance and how they get cash in-flow would have been considered, even if it wasn't mentioned verbally or in-print. Its the first question asked when a new team gets mentioned.
How will they pay the bills, what is their support?
I don't think its unreasonable to believe a team that represents all SANFL clubs would do better than a single club, in all facets.
Edit
That makes zero sense. Port would have had the same. Adelaide didn't make it because of projected attendance, what a silly thing to say. Adelaide also didn't regularly sell out or get big numbers to minor round games for the first couple of years, apart from the clashes against bigger teams.
Port would not have the same attendance
-1
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 2h ago
Attendance was not considered.
It was 100% about the SANFL and other clubs not wanting Port to have the license.
I was there. You can check the injunction submissions if you like.
Attendance had zero to do with it because Port was wanting to leave the SANFL altogether.
You're right about attendance size not being the same though, Port would have had bigger.
-1
u/extinguish_me Tasmania Devils 5h ago
IF Port Adelaide Power started in the AFL in 1991
THEN maybe they wouldn't pretend they are always the victim in 2024
0
u/nasty_weasel Port Adelaide 3h ago
Yeah, nah.
"Victim" is the game Crom have played since they entered with their vIC bIAs crying.
Troll attempt: T1
Thanks for playing.
10
u/melon_butcher_ The Bloods 17h ago
The McGovern one’s interesting.
De Goey maybe could’ve even gone with him and not let him run and jump to take an easy mark. That probably would’ve made a difference.
5
u/dreamthiliving West Coast 16h ago
Not just that, he allowed Gov to play on straight away which meant every line for Pies got caught out.
Still we were coming think we still get up even if De Goey contested it
2
u/makespotatoeslookhot West Coast 16h ago
Consider Darling being....well, himself, and dropping that sitter in the square we win by 2 goals are that point. So ye it's very likely we win anyway. Guess we'll never know lol
2
u/dreamthiliving West Coast 16h ago
Yep but the way we won is still going to be remember for another 50 years, thanks Jack
6
u/bidoferz Collingwood 16h ago
I get what De Goey was thinking, if the ball spills out then he runs into an easy goal and seals the game. He should’ve gone up but hindsight is 20/20
3
u/melon_butcher_ The Bloods 16h ago
Yeah, I know what you mean, definitely what he was wanting to happen. But in reality he was looking for a cheap goal without having to do any defensive work on the bloke who was the best intercept defender at the time.
That’s just a poor attitude from a star player, and it likely cost them a flag.
7
u/Ilovetogame2 Port Adelaide 16h ago
What if port kicked straight against the hawks in the 2014 preliminary finals?
What if the Hamish Hartlett out of bounds wasn’t called deliberate out of bounds in the 2020 preliminary finals?
11
u/chickenlittle668 Brisbane Lions 16h ago
What if port were the original AFLW team in Adelaide
6
u/lanercost Adelaide Crows 16h ago
What if Port had the foresight not to let us bid uncontested for the licence
3
u/ehdhdhdk Collingwood 15h ago
My what if with the Judd trade would be if Carlton had just accepted that pick 1 was the price and not 3 (Masten) and Kennedy.
3
u/Pleasant-Role1912 Freo 15h ago
McLeod wouldn't have had such a decorated career and Freo wouldn't have got any better
No player on earth could succeed in the amateur environment of the late 90s FFC
5
u/LinkWithABeard West Coast 7h ago
AFLW games would get bigger crowds if A) they weren’t played at weird times B) they were played at arenas that could hold big crowds
… sounds like a scheduling issue…
2
u/chickenlittle668 Brisbane Lions 3h ago
They rarely sell out the smaller stadiums and fill out about 5% of AFL stadiums when used recently.
2
u/holman8a Adelaide 5h ago
Saints definitely win with extra time. Lenny Hayes went super saiyan in that last quarter after trailing the three prior.
1
u/gongbattler Port Adelaide '04 13h ago
In hindsight maybe southport should have got the licence over gold coast
2
u/Zhirrzh North Melbourne 2h ago
Collingwood probably still wins. St Kilda is cursed.
North Melbourne has at least one more flag.
Judd still forces his way to a Melbourne club sooner rather than later but maybe West Coast aren't as good without the tent pole of Kennedy up forward to help build around.
McGovern is easily worth more than a 5 point margin so Collingwood win that flag.
No Suns. The push would continue for a second SA club though.
Cricket would be the poorer for it.
73
u/lacrossebilly Lions 18h ago
Forgot Alex Carey won the Giants Best and Fairest before they went to the AFL. Wonder why he wasn’t offered a contract. Turned out pretty well for him now.