A brief history of our finals matches

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Touche TD. Very poor by me.

Do you mean threw/through!? I didn't notice until you pointed it out.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

OUR 3RD EVER VFL/AFL FINAL (CURRENTLY 0-2)

So we move to 1944. After narrowly missing finals in '43, '44 was a wild ride of a home and away season. It was an 18 round season and after 15 rounds we were top of the table. 2 losses in rounds 16 and 17 saw us drop to 5th and likely to just miss again.

The last round match must go down as one of our greatest ever. We met 4th placed Carlton at Princes Park, with the winner to take 4th and a finals spot. A huge crowd by wartime standards watched to see Carlton lead at the first 2 breaks, but the Dogs surge back to prevail by the sweetest of margins; 12.17.89 to 13.10.88.

Reports say that scores were level on the siren, but that champion rover Harry Hickey had just marked and had a shot from 45 yards. Not a long kick, he went for an unusual torp (he normally drop kicked) which scraped in for a glorious point. Hickey is quoted as saying that it was one of the poorest games he ever played, but the only time he was chaired from the field.

Reports of the match are quite hilarious, with the game reaching a fever pitch in the final moments and Carlton fans going beserk after the Hickey point. Apparently the field umpire needed 4 policemen to escort him home and the tram he caught was rocked and had windows smashed.

By 1944, Ware was overseas on war duty. His role had been taken by Arthur Olliver (who was now captain, coach and 1st Ruck). Olliver was a gangly 190 cm (6ft3) and 83 kg (11 stone) but played all positions and basically fulfilled whatever role the club most required. He carried the club through the war years, an electrician by trade, he had applied to join the air force but thankfully for us his role at the munitions plant was deemed more valuable to the war effort.

So we finish 4th - 18 games; 12 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses (106.9%).

We play Essendon in an Elimination Final in front of 24,542 at the Junction Oval.

The game is a shocker. 1st qtr is tight, Ess 1.3 to Dogs 1.1, but reports say the Dogs looked spent after the previous weeks heroics and Reynolds and Hutchison ran amok in the 2nd qtr. Half time: Ess 7.6 to Dogs 1.1. Game over.

Final Score: Ess 14.17.101 to Foots 8.4.52.

Best players were listed as A.McTaggart, Hickey, Olliver and Miller, whilst CHF W.McTaggart kicked 3 goals.

The Carlton game was the game where Bob Chittey claimed to have punched Hickey's kick clear of the goals but the umpire said it had cleared the line first.

Doesn't matter. We won the game.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

OUR 4TH VFL/AFL FINAL

After narrowly missing finals in 1945 despite a solid home and away year (12-8, 109%), we recovered a full team in 1946 and put in a very solid home and away season. We finished 3rd (13-6, 118%).

In the Elimination Final we met Melbourne at the MCG in front of 61,277.

The game reads as a great display of footy. There had been a lot of pre-match talk of Dogs finals failures and they apparently started the game with great intensity, although Melbourne were very strong and counter attacked in a game of great offensive flair.

Melbourne led at 1/2 time 10.13 to 7.7, but a great 3rd qtr got the Dogs noses in front - they led 13.10.88 to 12.15.87.

Dogs had the better of the early play in Q4 and got 15 points ahead, until Captain Coach Arthur Olliver was sensationally knocked down during the early stages of the qtr. A few minutes later, he took a pack mark 10 metres out and had a set shot from 15 metres to put us 20 points up. Still dazed, he missed badly.

This turned the match and a late Demons flurry saw them win 17.18.120 to 15.12.102.

For the Dogs, full forward Norm Ware kicked 4 goals and Ruckman/CHF Olliver kicked 3. Best players were listed as Olliver, Rees, McLaren and Sutton.

Looking back, this match was the end of the Dogs first era as a consistent finals team, making 4 appearances in 1938-1946 and narrowly missing a couple of other years.

The 3 towering figures of the era were Norm Ware and Arthur Olliver (who both had several seasons as Captain Coach; Ware 41-42, Olliver 43-50) and versatile key position stalwart Alby Morrison.

By '46, Ware was 35, had played 200 games despite missing plenty through the war years, and retired at the end of the year, as did Morrison who was 37 and had played 224 games (369 goals) in a magnificent 19 season career also interrupted by 4 years served in the army. Olliver too played his 200th game in the '46 Elimination Final, he had a few years left in him as a 30 year old.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

So we must have went into the wilderness for a while after this finals appearance. We didn't finish in the four again until 1953? That's six seasons. In that time Whitten, Collins, Box, Henderson, Ross, Stevens and the rest of the Premiership team are added to Sutton and Donald.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Surprisingly not TD. The period 42-56 was remarkably consistent for making finals, the only time we ever missed finals series back to back was in 49-50. As it happens, we had a poor year in '47 after losing key, great players at the end of '46, but did well to bounce straight back into the 4 in '48.

OUR 5TH VFL/AFL FINAL
Olliver did an amazing job to reassemble the team in 47/48. The only 3 players in the team that had over 100 games experience were himself, centremen/rovers Harry Hickey and Joe Ryan. One of his shrewdest moves was to take Charlie Sutton, a young forward with great tenacity and toughness, and move him to the back pocket to strengthen and lead the young defence.

The team was mid-table for a lot of the year, but won late games to be sitting 5th coming into the last round. We beat perennial cellar dwellars North Melbourne (through the 20s-40s they usually finished in the bottom 2 or 3, along with Hawthorn) whilst Carlton did us a solid (!!) and knocked out Richmond by 5 points for us to sneak into 4th.

Once again it was the Elimination Final for us, this time vs Collingwood, at the MCG in front of 71,514.

The game is depressingly familiar, we start with great ferocity and lead at 1/2 time 8.9.57 to 6.11.47. At half time, Collingwood swung injured centreman Bill Twomey forward, he ended up kicking 8 goals and Collingwood slowly stamped their authority in the last half, ultimately winning 17.17.119 to 12.12.84.

For us, Joe Ryan kicked 4 goals and was listed as our best player, other better players were listed as Sutton, Webb and Bryden.

The Olliver era tailed off after '48. In 49 and 50 we finished 9th then 10th, a sad end and our worst years since the 30s. After 1950, Olliver (a Seddon boy) retired after 16 years playing and 7 years captain/coaching; 272 games and 354 goals.

Good times were coming though, Olliver's successor for the 1951 season was named as another local, in Spotswood's Charlie Sutton.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Surprisingly not TD. The period 42-56 was remarkably consistent for making finals, the only time we ever missed finals series back to back was in 49-50. As it happens, we had a poor year in '47 after losing key, great players at the end of '46, but did well to bounce straight back into the 4 in '48.

OUR 5TH VFL/AFL FINAL
Olliver did an amazing job to reassemble the team in 47/48. The only 3 players in the team that had over 100 games experience were himself, centremen/rovers Harry Hickey and Joe Ryan. One of his shrewdest moves was to take Charlie Sutton, a young forward with great tenacity and toughness, and move him to the back pocket to strengthen and lead the young defence.

The team was mid-table for a lot of the year, but won late games to be sitting 5th coming into the last round. We beat perennial cellar dwellars North Melbourne (through the 20s-40s they usually finished in the bottom 2 or 3, along with Hawthorn) whilst Carlton did us a solid (!!) and knocked out Richmond by 5 points for us to sneak into 4th.

Once again it was the Elimination Final for us, this time vs Collingwood, at the MCG in front of 71,514.

The game is depressingly familiar, we start with great ferocity and lead at 1/2 time 8.9.57 to 6.11.47. At half time, Collingwood swung injured centreman Bill Twomey forward, he ended up kicking 8 goals and Collingwood slowly stamped their authority in the last half, ultimately winning 17.17.119 to 12.12.84.

For us, Joe Ryan kicked 4 goals and was listed as our best player, other better players were listed as Sutton, Webb and Bryden.

The Olliver era tailed off after '48. In 49 and 50 we finished 9th then 10th, a sad end and our worst years since the 30s. After 1950, Olliver (a Seddon boy) retired after 16 years playing and 7 years captain/coaching; 272 games and 354 goals.

Good times were coming though, Olliver's successor for the 1951 season was named as another local, in Spotswood's Charlie Sutton.

Bloody Twomey! he was walking off thew ground about to be replaced when McHale decided to send him to the forward line instead.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Bloody Twomey! he was walking off thew ground about to be replaced when McHale decided to send him to the forward line instead.

Correct. Your knowledge is astonishing TD. I am paraphrasing a lot of info in these summaries, but you always seem to know the key details of the incidents. I knew barely any of it until I started this thread.

The more you delve into the history, the more fascinating it becomes.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Correct. Your knowledge is astonishing TD. I am paraphrasing a lot of info in these summaries, but you always seem to know the key details of the incidents. I knew barely any of it until I started this thread.

The more you delve into the history, the more fascinating it becomes.

Ive been fascinated and obsessed with this football club and its history for a long long time. It's like a sickness, I cant stop even if I want to.

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Fascinating but depressing. I'm starting to appreciate the weight of history.

[Bornadog]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Correct. Your knowledge is astonishing TD. I am paraphrasing a lot of info in these summaries, but you always seem to know the key details of the incidents. I knew barely any of it until I started this thread.

The more you delve into the history, the more fascinating it becomes.

Really enjoying these PP, keep up the good work

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Fascinating but depressing. I'm starting to appreciate the weight of history.

There is certainly a depressing element to it ML, but I've actually found looking through the 20s-40s quite uplifting.

In some ways we have been a prouder, stronger club through a big chunk of our history than commentators and modern fans realise.

Besides dominating the VFA, a then very strong competition, through the late 19th and early 20th century, our thorough defeat of VFL champions Essendon for the one-off Victorian championship in 1924 got us Hawthorn and North into the premier comp. Over the first 30 years or so of our VFL history, we were widely competitive and by far the most advanced of the new clubs.

I was quite shocked at how much Hawthorn and North struggled early, compared to us.

As an example, over the first 30 VFL years:

We finished in the top half 14 times, the bottom 3 10 times and were never last.
Hawthorn finished in the top half once, the bottom 3 24 times and were 9 times last.
North finished in the top half 4 times, the bottom 3 14 times and were 9 times last.

What happened from the 60s through to the 80s was very sad and we have blown some great chances in recent decades. We do desperately need some finals wins and flags to shake this collective, untrue sense that we are perennial losers.

[Twodogs]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

I've talked to old players who said it was like a competition between the clubs back in the 30s and 40s to see how far they would let Hawthorn get in front at quarter time before they would start to reel them in. Teams basically didn't bother until the second quarter because they knew that no matter how far behind they got as soon as they started trying Hawthorn would just go to water.

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Yeah, they were shocking. In 1927-28 they won 1 game in the 35 they played over the 2 years.

In 15 of their first 30 seasons, they won 3 games or less. We've only been that bad 4 times in 91 seasons.

[Murphy'sLore]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Was that when they were called the Mayblooms? That's got to mess with your head, surely!

[LostDoggy]

Re: A brief history of our finals matches

Was that when they were called the Mayblooms? That's got to mess with your head, surely!

Not sure about Hawthorn, but we did okay for a while as the Prince Imperials!!