JK wrote:Magellan wrote:Speaking of North upsets over Port in the 80s. North whipped Port in 1984 in round 17 at Footy Park. I only came on board in1985 (good timing!) so I don't know how that result was viewed at the time. Sounds like it was a significant upset, given their respective spots on the ladder at the end of the minor round.
We also beat Port mid-season by a similar margin in 1982 at Footy Park, although I think that was due to Port's absence of players on state duty.
Over to you, RiG (and others with good memories).
Vague memories of that game in 84 mate, reckon Mark Hofner had his number taken - Would have been viewed as a big upset I would have thought given Port were pretty hot premiership favourites. A few weeks later it might not have been viewed as such a surprise though because North really emerged late in 84' with some great performances to see the season out.
It was certainly an upset but Port were nowhere near hot favourites at that stage to win the flag. Port, Central and Glenelg were just about equal favourites for most of that season with South considered a big chance as well. Port only finished minor premier in front of Glenelg by less than 1%.
North had beaten South the week before by 90 points and later in the season lost to Glenelg by 3 points at Glenelg and to Norwood by 1 point at Norwood. North came 8th and only won 6 games out of 22 yet had a percentage of over 50%. Norwood won 13 games and had a very similar percentage to North.
As I said earlier North were developing into a good side and 1984 was an aberration caused mainly by long term injuries to a number of star players.
Port on the other hand were on the slide as evidenced by 1983 and 1985. With due respect they would have been the poorest side in living memory to win the minor premiership (up until the advent of the Crows). They virtually had no injuries. Hindsight is a marvellous thing but if ever a side was going to win the flag from 5th position it was Norwood in 1984. They were better than the normal 5th side and the general consensus was that the 4 in front of them were worse than the normal top four sides,
There certainly was no outstanding side like West in 1983 or Port in 1980.
The biggest shock of all in 1983 was the disintegration of West. Like North they suffered a number of serious injuries and also it was strongly rumoured that their coach "took his eye off the ball" whilst contemplating taking a role with SA's ill fated Americas Cup challenge. The runner up from 1983, Sturt, also fell in an absolute hole in 1984. I am not aware of what happened to Sturt but John Halbert, who had coached the losing Grand Finallist in each of the previous three years, lost his job at the end of 1984.