Best Pie side in the last 50 years?

[thompsoc]

Interesting argument over on the Goodwin thread.
One part was which Collingwood side was the best in 50 odd years?
KM said 2010 to 2011.
Mooretreloar said rubbish.
So lets look at the evidence.
You would reasonably expect an appearence in the GF to be a defining point.
Probably would want to look at a 2 or 3 year period.
So we have the 1963 to 1965 side.
The 1969 to 1971 side
The 1979 to 1981 side
The 1989 to 1991 side
The 2001 to 2003 side
The 2009 to 2011 side.
I saw every side and to me the 2009 to 2011 side stood out followed by the 1969 to 1971 side as the best.

[HAL]

Who else would expect an appearence in the GF to be a defining point ?

[Krakouer Magic]

Well you know where I stand. Consistent as always. 7 years ago was pure bliss. To all the partiers, scallywags and just outright winners in that playing list, coaching and fitness staff I will always acknowledge your greatness. I recall Dermie even said that the 2010/11 side at its peak were like nothing he had seen before. Just completely dismantling teams at will

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

The problem with exercises like this is that players don't all peak at the same time, so there really isn't one GF side in the last 50 years that stands out against all the others.

For instance take the 2010 GF side. Beams and Cloke weren't at their best. Leon Davis wasn't great as a small forward, but was outstanding as a small defender the following year.

Our 1990 GF side was lacking tall forwards. Manson was an average player and so much depended on Dacois to kick the goals. Our 1990 side probably had the best defence of all our GF teams.

Our 2002 GF side had our best forwards setup with Tarrant, A. Rocca and Didak, but only Rocca was at his peak. Of all our GF teams our 2002 team had the weakest mids, with only Buckley outstanding and Burns playing more as a defensive mid.

Our 1970 GF side had Thompson forced to play CHF because Jenkins was playing in the ruck. Colin Tully, who should have retired because of his loss of pace, was played in the back pocket for his long kicking, but was poor defensively.

[Mugwump]

I think the side from late 2010 to mid 2012 was probably the best I have seen, including 1970 .... BUT I think it was starting to dip by the end of 2011 because it had been in a sweet spot with Jolly and Ball and Thomas and Leigh Brown and Davis, and they all hit the wall toward the end of 2011 and 2012. We had nothing coming on behind them because we had been "up" since 2007 and had no draft quality maturing. A look at the late 2012 sides shows names Ugle, Young, Sinclair, Wood Rounds and Blair as the next generation. Of these, I suspect only Sinclair might have been high grade talent if injury had permitted.

[Pies4shaw]

[Presti35]

09-11 is easily the best side Collingwood has ever had.

We could have come out of that era with more than one flag, but I'll just be thankful we got one.

[5 from the wing on debut]

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[5 from the wing on debut]

[Mugwump]

[Krakouer Magic]

[MatthewBoydFanClub]

[The Boy Who Cried Wolf]