Eagles 2007 = North Adelaide 1988

[am Bays]

This thought occured to me a couple of days agop that there are a lot of similarities between North of 1988 and teh Eagles of this year. Both of tehm are struggling the year after winning a flag that they had desperately wanted to win given their experiences in the previous two GFs.

Winning the flag takes such commitment and work that it is not uncommon for some premiers to suffer a "hangover" of sorts where they are not prepared to work quite as hard the following years as they did the year they saluted the judge.

I know the Eagles are suffering injuries this year which can be used as an excuse, given that in 1988 I was 3000 km away from the SANFL action what was North's injury run in 1988 - did they suffer the loss of key personel?

So what do others think are the Eagles of 2007 the equivelent of North in 1988? Discuss.

BTW this isn't a sledge of the Eagles - for those Eagles fans with skins not as thick some...

[SnappyTom]

This thought occured to me a couple of days agop that there are a lot of similarities between North of 1988 and teh Eagles of this year. Both of tehm are struggling the year after winning a flag that they had desperately wanted to win given their experiences in the previous two GFs.

Winning the flag takes such commitment and work that it is not uncommon for some premiers to suffer a "hangover" of sorts where they are not prepared to work quite as hard the following years as they did the year they saluted the judge.

I know the Eagles are suffering injuriers this year which can be used as an excuse, given that in 1988 i was 3000 km away from the SANFL action what was North's injury run in 1988 - did they suffer the loss of key personel?

So what do others think are the Eagles of 2007 the eqyuiavlent of North in 1988? Discuss.

BTW this isn't a sledge of the Eagles - for those Eagles fans with skins not as thick some...

Where did North finish in 1988?

[am Bays]

6th. (Thats right I forgot you Centrals supporters have forgotten the SANFL existed before 2000 )

I meant to add I'm not suggesting the Eagles season is over by any stretch of the imagination especially as they are still sitting 5th.

[SnappyTom]

6th. (Thats right I forgot you Centrals supporters have forgotten the SANFL existed before 2000 )

I meant to add I'm not suggesting the Eagles season is over by any stretch of the imagination especially as they are still sitting 5th.

Cheers Tassie. I wasn't involved in the Dogs in 1988. LOL.
I think the value of Rick Macgowan has shown up big time - he was Ron's assistant in 2006, and coached their Reserves to an improved year - from how they started out. He is missing, and I just don't think Fuller has the goods. I think he should have stuck to his guns and gone regardless of last years result! He's floundering, and can't lift them.

[Hondo]

I don't recall many major injury troubles for North in 1988 .... my impressions from that year are of a team exactly as Tassie describes ... missing the hunger after finally climbing the mountain in 87. I was at two losses against Centrals - tound 1 at Elizabeth (Derek Kickett's first game) and then the second leg of that memorable double-header at Football Park - first leg was Sturt's 1 point win over Port in front of close to 40,000 people

In 1989 they returned to minor premiers and it all looked good until ....

[spell_check]

This thought occured to me a couple of days agop that there are a lot of similarities between North of 1988 and teh Eagles of this year. Both of tehm are struggling the year after winning a flag that they had desperately wanted to win given their experiences in the previous two GFs.

Winning the flag takes such commitment and work that it is not uncommon for some premiers to suffer a "hangover" of sorts where they are not prepared to work quite as hard the following years as they did the year they saluted the judge.

I know the Eagles are suffering injuries this year which can be used as an excuse, given that in 1988 I was 3000 km away from the SANFL action what was North's injury run in 1988 - did they suffer the loss of key personel?

So what do others think are the Eagles of 2007 the equivelent of North in 1988? Discuss.

BTW this isn't a sledge of the Eagles - for those Eagles fans with skins not as thick some...

I've thought about this myself, too. North finished 6th in 1988 with 11 wins and a draw, after a similar break between flags (15, as opposed to 13); three Grand Finals between flags (as opposed to 5), both clubs lost the GF the year after the premiership before the break (1973 and 1994). As well as beating the club that won the past two GFs over them - Glenelg and Central. I don't know about the injury run that North had though.

[Wedgie]

Tassie, Good post, Ive thought the same thing myself, but yes North did have a pretty bad injury run in 88, we were expected to get players back in the 2nd half of the year and make a run at the finals but when some came back others got injured.

[BPBRB]

North's history has been littered with years of climbing back up, being a regular finalist, winning a flag then dropping off - either missing the finals or failure to go back to back.

1988 was the perfect example although under Nunan we only missed the finals in 1982, 1984 and 1988. We did make 3 GF's in a row 1985-87 for one flag and then pinched another one in 1991 when no-one was looking (due to the hysteria around the Crows first year!) 2 flags from 5 GF's in that period compared to some other clubs was passable but not what it should have been.