Upsets: 5 biggest upsets in AFL history

Underdog stories are a huge part of sports, especially the AFL. Many times fans and commentators make statements like “even fiction can't write a script like this” but a look at history will show how nothing is promised and upsets can happen at any time.

In this article, we take a look at five of the biggest upsets in V/AFL history.

#5 Carlton's back-to-back thumping defeats against Sydney Swans and St Kilda in 1995

Danny Frawley of the Saints celebrates with coach Stan Alves after a AFL match between the St Kilda Saints and the Carlton Blues

The 1995 season was Carlton's 99th season competing in the V/AFL as it was a founding member and had competed in every season. They won the grand final that season against Geelong. This was their sixteen premiership which put them joint top with Essendon and rivals Collingwood.

Carlton started strongly and won their first seven games to go top. However, back-to-back losses in the eighth round and ninth round against Sydney and St Kilda from the bottom half of the ladder was really surprising to say the least.

Sydney who had won just two of their first seven matches - Fitzroy and Adelaide - and sat 11th on the table were fired up to help then-coach Ron Barrasi celebrate his 500th game in charge. Carlton were unable to control quick ball movements by the Swans and couldn't restrict the flow of chances to their forwards who took their chances. The Blues lost the match with a 72 point margin in a 132 - 60 scoreline.

The following week, Carlton took on bottom-placed St Kilda. Rod Keogh's ‘infliction of bone-rattling bumps’ on Mil Hanna and Adrian Whitehead stunned the Carlton team who remained goalless for almost three quarters and scored only 24. St Kilda won the match by a 56-point margin.

Carlton did recover from those losses, but those two results were certainly unexpected.

#4 1982 Richmond v Carlton

Mike Fitzpatrick of the Carlton Blues is tackled during a VFL match between Carlton Blues and Richmond Tigers

The 86th grand final of the VFL season saw Richmond being huge favorites to take the crown. They won their first eleven games of the season nad looked almost unbeatable. While they did suffer a blip in the middle due to injuries, they finished first on the ladder with 18 wins and 4 losses.

Carlton however, had an up-and-down season throughout and finished third behind Hawthorn with 16 wins, 5 losses and a draw. Carlton did manage to beat Hawthorn twice though on their way to the grand final.

The two coaches took different approaches to the pre-match routine. Francis Bourke of Richmond told his players to treat it like just another game. This could partly be attributed to the fact that Tigers went straight to the Grand Final on the back of their Second Semi-Final victory against Carlton.

In Carlton's room, coach David Parkin encouraged his side to work harder and never stop trying as that was the key to the victory.

Parkin's adaptable lineup on that day was responsible for Richmond’s downfall. Players like Peter McConville, Wayne Johnston and others received instructions to carry out different roles which they did successfully. The Blues won 103 -85.

No player on the Carlton team was awarded the Norm Smith medal. It was given to Maurice Rioli. This marked the first time a player on the losing team would receive it. Many believed that Rioli kept Richmond in the game and also that individually no Carlton played stood out.

This match perhaps best showed why some teams are 'more than just a sum of their parts.'

#3 1998 North Melbourne v Adelaide

The Adelaide Crows celebrate after winning the 1998 AFL Grand Final between the Adelaide Crows and the North Melbourne Kangaroos

North Melbourne set their sights on the premiership in 1998. They had finished first on the AFL ladder with 16 wins and 6 losses. They also won the McClelland trophy.

Adelaide finished fifth with 13 wins and 9 losses. They lost the qualifying final against Melbourne by a 48-point margin but still played a semifinal against Sydney which they won by 27 points. They met the Western Bulldogs and won by a 68 point margin in a 161- 93 scoreline.

North Melbourne won their home preliminary final against Melbourne by 30 points. They were favorites to win the grand final.

Adelaide capitalized on North Melbourne not taking their chances. They won with a scoreline of 105- 70. Damien Jarman scored 5. Andrew Macleod was awarded the Norm Smith medal. This made him the second player to win it twice and the first player to do it in successive years.

#2 1970 Collingwood v Carlton

In the 73rd edition of the VFL, Carlton won their 10th premiership with a margin of 10 points with a 111-101 score.

Collingwood finished top of the ladder with 18 wins while Carlton came second. During the home and away season, they played each other twice with Collingwood winning both games and even winning the round 19 match by a 77-point margin. They faced off again in the second semifinal that Collingwood won again with a 118- 108 score.

They met in the grand final after Carlton's comfortable win over St Kilda. This was the fourth grand final between the rivals. Many predicted an easy Collingwood win.

The Blues didn't score until the second quarter while Collingwood had gone up since the 13th minute, scored two more and had a host of chances. In the third quarter, Carlton's Coach Ron Barrasi made tactical and personnel changes to nullify Collingwood's long-kick strategy. Bert Thornley was substituted for Ted Hopkins. This changed the game as the Blues scored seven goals in 11 minutes to bring the margin down to just 3.

A high tackle from Tuddenham on Crosswell gave the blue a free kick at an angle 35 meters away.

Crosswell recalled 50 years later in an interview for the AFL Record that

“The wind was going slightly right to left and I remember thinking I needed to kick it towards the right goalpost. The kick was slightly right of the goalpost and the wind just took it through, thankfully.”

In a post-match interview, coach Ron Barrassi said:

“One thing we said we must do is handball, and we handball, and we handball and we handball. It was the only possible way to get back into the game. I reminded them of the game out at Hawthorn, where prior to this game our handball was down. So that game we had to handball. And today was the same. I reminded them of it. At half time I think our handball was 13, which was just shocking. And we did something about it and it won us the match."

The 44-point half-time deficit overcome by Carlton was at the time the second-largest half-time deficit ever overcome in VFL history.

#1 2008 Geelong v Hawthorn

Shane Crawford of the Hawks holds up the 2008 AFL Premiership Cup

Although Hawthorn star Lance Franklin only got two goals due to All-Australian Matthew Scarlett breathing down his neck, team-mate Mark Williams stepped up to help his team.

Sewell who was a vital part of the Hawks midfield said to ABC Grandstand;

“They got hold of us early, but we managed to fight back after half time,"

"We knew we just had to wear them down, obviously they are a very, very good side, they got on top of us, we just had to work ourself into the game again."

In the final quarter, the margin reduced to 15 points due to some electric play from the cats. It was however impossible for them to shut down the Hawks who won the match by 115-89.

At end of the match, Hawthorn’s Campbell Brown said;

“It's fantastic, that's what you play for, we have put a lot of hours in for this, it's fantastic," .

"We didn't control it at any stage and that's what made it so good.It was a real arm wrestle there, it could have gone either way and we were just lucky that we persisted long enough.”

Edited by Ashwin