Fox Footy Jury: Has Brisbane or Hawthorn been the best team of the modern era?

Both enjoyed three-peats amid golden eras for their clubs and debate has since raged over which was better. The Fox Footy Jury has its say over the Hawthorn and Brisbane dynasties. VOTE

They have both scored premiership three-peats since the turn of the century and both boasted stellar line ups.

Brisbane (2001-03) and Hawthorn (2013-15) have long been lauded as the best sides of the modern era.

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But debate still rages over which one was better.

We went to three Fox Footy experts to canvas their views by asking: Which has been the best team of the modern era – Brisbane (2001-2003) or Hawthorn (2013-2015)?

Hawthorn scored a 46-point win over West Coast to make for a premiership three-peat in 2015.

NICK DAL SANTO: I say the Brisbane Lions, but take into account that when I was playing against them I had just gone into the AFL. I was just a kid who had just turned 18 when I started playing against them and I weighed 75kg. The Lions were men. They were fathers, real adults. I just thought, ‘Look how old these guys are and how big they are’. Simon Black was one of my favourite players ever and Michael Voss was who he was so I had that mixed in as well. And their backline were all massive men, their forward line was (Alastair) Lynch and (Jonathan) Brown. You just looked at them and thought, ‘How are we ever going to be able to compete against this sort of team’. But at least when I played against the Hawks later I was the same size as them and I grew up with a few of them.

BRAD JOHNSON: I’m going to go with Brisbane Lions, just. Their midfield – their Fab Five – were nearly unstoppable. You had Jason Akermanis, Nigel Lappin, Michael Voss, Simon Black and Luke Power so they just batted a little bit deeper than what Hawthorn did in their midfield, even though the Hawks had a super midfield too. Brisbane’s back-six was seriously tough as well and then you also had the power forwards of Alastair Lynch and Jonathan Brown and flow-on around the outskirts of those guys was just super strong. When I played them, everywhere you looked you just thought, ‘Where are we going to win a position today?’ It was tough and uncompromising football and you had to be on your game for 120 minutes. One lapse and they would capitalise.

Brisbane beat Collingwood by 50 points to score a third successive premiership in 2003. Picture: David Geraghty

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ALASTAIR LYNCH: I look at that Hawthorn team and think they were an incredible team. But if I was going to take one team, I’d be taking ours. The game had changed an enormous amount in that time. Both teams could have adapted to the styles of the day, no doubt. What we did was mostly one-one-one and Hawthorn were probably the ultimate system-orientated team. Maybe if we played our game of one-on-ones, we’d win. But if we played a system, they’d spin our heads off because they’d kick it around us and through us. They were both vastly different teams but great at what they did and were dominant in that era.

BRISBANE’S 2003 PREMIERSHIP TEAM

B: Chris Johnson, Mal Michael, Darryl White

HB: Luke Power, Justin Leppitsch, Nigel Lappin

C: Jason Akermanis, Michael Voss (c), Martin Pike

HF: Ashley McGrath, Jonathan Brown, Robert Copeland

F: Craig McRae, Alastair Lynch, Daniel Bradshaw

Foll: Clark Keating, Simon Black, Shaun Hart

Int: Jamie Charman, Blake Caracella, Marcus Ashcroft, Richard Hadley

HAWTHORN’S 2015 PREMIERSHIP TEAM

B: Ben Stratton, Brian Lake, James Frawley

HB: Grant Birchall, Josh Gibson, Shaun Burgoyne

C: Bradley Hill, Sam Mitchell, Liam Shiels

HF: Cyril Rioli, Ryan Schoenmakers, Isaac Smith

F: Luke Breust, Jarryd Roughead, Paul Puopolo

Foll: Ben McEvoy, Luke Hodge (c), Jordan Lewis

Int: Matt Suckling, Taylor Duryea, David Hale, Jack Gunston

Originally published as Fox Footy Jury: Has Brisbane or Hawthorn been the best team of the modern era?