AFL greatest team of the decade: You decide the best team since 2010
Only eight teams remain in the greatest team of the decade bracket, and Richmond’s 2018 side could pull off an upset against a premiership winning Collingwood team. Voting ends soon, so get in quick!
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The search for the greatest team of the decade continues – and now we have arrived at the business end of the competition.
Only eight teams remain which means we have four huge match-ups.
What happens when two of the most dominant teams of the decade square off?
And how will a Collingwood v Richmond battle play out?
There’s only one way to make sure your favourite team goes through. Read Mick McGuane’s predictions and get voting.
HAWTHORN 2014 V HAWTHORN 2015
NO. 1 HAWTHORN 2014
Coach: Alastair Clarkson (Brendon Bolton acting)
Captain: Luke Hodge
Won: 20. Lost: 5.
Premiers.
CHAMPION DATA:
– Ranked No. 1 for points scored, points from turnovers, points from stoppages and goals per inside 50.
– Ranked No. 1 for disposal differential and uncontested possession differential.
– Ranked No. 2 for kicking efficiency differential and No. 3 for disposal efficiency differential.
WEAKNESS
None of their own making. Clarkson had been planning for life without Franklin, but few clubs could have endured such a wretched run of luck on top of the loss of their superstar player and still brought home the bacon. Such was their impenetrable system, Brendon Bolton registered wins in all five matches he filled in for Clarkson.
NO. 8 HAWTHORN 2015
Coach: Alastair Clarkson
Captain: Luke Hodge
Won: 19. Lost: 7.
Premiers
CHAMPION DATA:
– Ranked No. 1 for both points scored and points against.
– Ranked No. 1 for points scored from turnovers, points against from turnovers and points differential from turnovers.
– Ranked No. 1 for turnovers created in the forward half and points scored from these turnovers.
WEAKNESS
Old father time was knocking and it proved the end of another golden era at Hawthorn. Mitchell, Lewis and Bradley Hill would be out the door 12 months later and Hodge a year after that as a ruthless Clarkson got started on another rebuild.
MCGUANE’S VERDICT
Talk about splitting hairs. There were just two changes to the Grand Final sides Hawthorn rolled out in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, the Hawks had Will Langoford and Matt Spangher. In 2015, the pair were replaced by James Frawley and Ryan Schoenmakers. Who’s better severed? The Hawks had great balance to their game both years. They ranked 1st in points in both years and their game defensively, through pressure and a good defensive structure, held them in good stead. However, they faced more adversity in 2014, including injuries to key personnel and also having coach Alastair Clarkson miss six weeks with an illness. That, plus their stunning 21-goal haul against Sydney in the Grand Final, gives the 2014 team a slight edge for mine.
WINNER: Hawthorn 2014
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GEELONG 2011 V HAWTHORN 2013
NO. 3 GEELONG 2011
Coach: Chris Scott
Captain: Cameron Ling
Won: 22. Lost: 3.
Premiers.
CHAMPION DATA:
– Ranked No. 1 for points scored, points from turnovers and goals per inside 50.
– Ranked No. 2 for points against, No. 1 points against from stoppages and No. 3 for conceding a score from an opposition inside 50.
– Ranked No. 3 for both contested and uncontested possession differential and No. 1 for inside 50 differential.
WEAKNESS
Hard to pinpoint weaknesses or low points, except the end of the club’s record streak of wins down the highway. The Cats’ 29-game streak at Kardinia Park came to an end in Round 20 when the Swans produced a stunning 13-point upset. All three of Geelong’s losses came by 13 points or less. The loss of Daniel Menzel — to his first knee injury — hurt the club in the first final. The Cats trailed the Magpies in the Grand Final by three goals early in the second term and lost James Podsiadly during the course of the game, but 23-year-old Tom Hawkins came of age and Scott’s team pulled away in style in the final term.
NO. 10 HAWTHORN, 2013
Coach: Alastair Clarkson
Captain: Luke Hodge
Won: 22. Lost: 3.
Premiers.
CHAMPION DATA
– Ranked No. 1 for points scored and points from stoppages, and No. 2 for goals per inside 50.
– Ranked No. 3 for points scored from turnovers and No. 2 for points differential from turnovers.
– Ranked No. 2 for disposal differential, uncontested possession differential and inside 50 differential.
WEAKNESS
The spectre of Geelong hung over Hawthorn in the years after the 2008 premiership, thanks to the “Kennett Curse”. Break it and the Hawks might unlock the chains that bound them. A seven-point loss and a 10-point loss to their nemesis in the 2011 regular season only added to the pain. Then a loss to Richmond by 41 points in Round 19 made the Hawks look vulnerable. As it turned out, those would be the only losses the Hawks had in a season that started the flag three-peat. A nail-bitter ensued in the preliminary final. A late miss from Geelong’s Travis Varcoe helped send the Hawks into the Grand Final and ultimately a trophy-clinching win over Fremantle.
MCGUANE’S VERDICT
I see the ruck battle as being a decisive factor in this match up. It’s Brad Ottens and Trent West for the Cats up against David Hale and Max Bailey for the Hawks. There is a clear winner in that battle and it is Geelong. The Cats in 2011 had a mighty midfield that would punish opposition sides if they got good supply, with the likes of Jimmy Bartel, Joel Selwood, James Kelly, Cameron Ling, Joel Corey and a bit of Steve Johnson and Paul Chapman. Both the Cats and Hawks were very good scoring teams from turnovers and they both recorded high tackle numbers. But Geelong’s territory game was prominent in 2011 and, under pressure, that team simply knew how to find a way.
WINNER: Geelong 2011
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RICHMOND 2018 V COLLINGWOOD 2010
NO. 24 RICHMOND 2018
Coach: Damien Hardwick
Captain: Trent Cotchin
Won: 19. Lost: 5.
CHAMPION DATA
– Ranked No. 2 for both points scored and points against.
– Ranked No. 1 for points scored from turnovers and points differential from turnovers.
– Ranked No. 1 for time spent in forward half, forward half turnovers and points from forward half turnovers.
WEAKNESS
Dustin Martin was nowhere near as dominant as he had been in 2017, as the team well and truly struggled on the road. They won just one of five games interstate and would have counted themselves lucky that they didn’t have to leave 3121 after Round 21. Their famed “swarm” tactic that had worked so well in their premiership year looked to have been analysed studiously by many sides over the off-season, with many trying to unpick it meticulously. But it all came down to that boilover preliminary final – and in particular THAT performance by American Pie Mason Cox – that all Tigers would love to be banished from their memories. Whether Dustin Martin should have played given his knee troubles was a huge talking point.
NO. 4 COLLINGWOOD 2010
Coach: Mick Malthouse
Captain: Scott Pendlebury
Won: 20. Lost: 4. Draws: 2.
Premiers in GF replay against St Kilda, winning by 56 points.
CHAMPION DATA:
– Ranked No. 2 for both points scored and points against.
– Ranked No. 1 for points from turnovers, points against from turnovers and points differential from turnovers.
– Recorded a time in forward half differential of +15min 58 sec per game — the highest ever recorded.
WEAKNESS
How do you find a weakness in a team that lost just four games? If anything, inaccuracy was a shortfall for Collingwood and plagued the team for most of the year. It almost cost it the drawn Grand Final — Collingwood kicked 9.14 to St Kilda’s 10.8. Malthouse stayed the course and maintained that he was unfazed by the statistic, but conceded he didn’t “want it to bite us”. The Pies relied heavily on midfield and forward pressure — which was a particular strength — but was often difficult to maintain.
MCGUANE’S VERDICT
These were two of the better intercept teams we have seen the last decade – both ranking No.1 for scoring from intercepts in their respective seasons. They also both ranked second in offence and defence in those years. However, the Tigers were arguably a little more one-dimensional in attack with Jack Riewoldt (70 goals) leading the charge. The Magpies had a much more even spread of goalkickers through Alan Didak, Travis Cloke, Chris Dawes, Dayne Beams, Steele Sidebottom and Leigh Brown – the six combining for 180 goals in 2010. Collingwood was also a far better contested ball-winning team and had a midfield group that could bat a little deeper than the Richmond. In the middle, Beams, Scott Pendlebury, Sidebottom and Dane Swan were all stars of the competition and their influence would help stifle the Tigers’ supply forward.
WINNER: Collingwood 2010
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WEST COAST 2018 V RICHMOND 2019
NO. 7 WEST COAST 2018
Coach: Adam Simpson
Captain: Shannon Hurn
Won: 19. Lost: 6.
Premiers.
CHAMPION DATA:
– Ranked No. 3 for points scored, No. 4 for points against and No. 1 for goal per inside 50.
– Ranked No. 3 for points scored from turnovers and points differential from turnovers.
– Recorded the highest kick-to-handball ratio of any side and took the most marks in the competition.
WEAKNESS
The Eagles trailed Collingwood 0.2 (2) to 5.0 (30) just 22 minutes into the Grand Final and were without three stars — Andrew Gaff (suspended), Nic Naitanui (knee) and the underrated Brad Sheppard (hamstring). The resilience to fight back both on Grand Final day and from those key outs highlighted the new-found resilience. Former Cat Nathan Vardy stepped up to replace Nic Nat, Will Schofield took Sheppard’s place and Sheed assumed more midfield responsibility in place of Gaff. Speculation that Gaff — who clocked Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw in an out-of-character brain explosion that cost him an eight-match suspension — would join North Melbourne also lingered, but he put pen to paper after the Grand Final. McGovern also turned down a godfather offer from Fremantle to re-sign.
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NO. 2 RICHMOND 2019
Coach: Damien Hardwick
Captain: Trent Cotchin
Won: 19. Lost: 6.
Premiers.
CHAMPION DATA:
– Ranked No. 2 for points scored and No. 3 for points against.
– Ranked No. 1 for points scored from turnovers, No. 3 points against from turnovers and No. 1 points differential from turnovers.
– Ranked No. 2 for inside 50 differential and No. 3 for time in forward half differential.
WEAKNESS
Lost Alex Rance to a season-ending knee injury in Round 1 as the superstars fell like dominoes. Jack Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin, Martin and Grimes also missed early games and the Tigers were 7-6 when they turned after the bye. Those challenges only hastened the development of its next crop as Sydney Stack, Jack Ross and Shai Bolton emerged as serious prospects. They trailed minor premier Geelong by 21 points at halftime in the preliminary final and then kicked eight goals to two in their only really challenge deep in the year.
MCGUANE’S VERDICT
This is a hard one to split, but I’m basing my selection on the pair playing off at the MCG – where Richmond’s record recently has been incredible. Statistically, both teams are incredibly evenly matched. They were both ranked highly for offence and defence in their respective seasons. The efficiency surprised me, with Richmond ranked 12th in the competition for scores per inside-50 while the Eagles were ranked fourth. But the Tigers would have an advantage in this game with their ability to score points from turnovers. The Richmond turnover game was a lot better and more consistent than what West Coast’s was. For that reason, the Tigers come out just on top.
WINNER: Richmond 2019
VOTE FOR YOUR WINNER HERE
Originally published as AFL greatest team of the decade: You decide the best team since 2010
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