Swans 1996 vs Swans 2006

[Bloody Hell]

Seems to be the in thing at the moment...comparing great teams of different eras within a club....

So who is better? Both teams played in losing GF's, both had a great FF and a great FB, both had good midfields (for different reasons) - Who would win?

And who would shut down Plugger?

[nomae]

good question.
for plugger... b2? dont reckon leo would have the strength to go with him.
and who would win? i wasnt really a fan in 96 so ill have to say the 06 team. it would be a cracker of a match

[punter257]

LRT on luffy would be worth the admission price alone

[DeadlyAkkuret]

Dunks was our best fullback in decades IMO, and Plugger IS the best full foward of all time, those two reasons alone give the 96 side a big edge.

[j s]

I'd have MOL play on MOL - would be an interesting matchup.

[Damien]

Originally posted by j s
I'd have MOL play on MOL - would be an interesting matchup.

Wonder if Roos could find a match up for Roos.

FWIW I think 2006 would beat 1996.

I think 1998 at full strength however could beat 2006 and should have been premiers that year and not those damn Crows!

[cruiser]

Originally posted by Damien
I think 1998 at full strength however could beat 2006 and should have been premiers that year and not those damn Crows!

As much the one that got away as 96.

[Bloody Hell]

Originally posted by Damien
Wonder if Roos could find a match up for Roos.

FWIW I think 2006 would beat 1996.

I think 1998 at full strength however could beat 2006 and should have been premiers that year and not those damn Crows!

I think the Roos/Roos take would be one of the most interesting....I don't think there's anyone who would convincingly be able to shut down Plugger from the 2006 team (but I think Dunkley could).

And Hall on Roos...Hmmmmmmmmm, interesting.

[NMWBloods]

06 has no one who could stop Lockett. Biggest problem is getting the ball to him. 06 would be quite good at stopping supply through the half forward line.

Dunkley would probably be on Hall and force him to get his kicks too far up field.

Midfield would be a tough battle.

Probably more ball ups in this game than in all other games combined.

Low scoring dour contest.

Close win to 96.

[swanhead2005]

Kirk vs. Kelly would be a good battle.

2006 O'Loughlin is probably not as fast as '96 O'Loughlin but has more experience and dice. Craig Bolton would probably do the job on 96 O'Loughlin; not sure who'd take the 2006 model.

Heuskes vs. Kennelly would be another entertaining match-up I'd like to see.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the 2006 side would win, by less than 5 points. They play a good shut-down game and Plugger would be starved, while being double-teamed by Leo Barry and Ted Richards. Also Goodes and O'Keefe are two guns the 96 side would have trouble controlling.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by Damien
I think 1998 at full strength however could beat 2006

Yep. Adding Schwass makes a big difference.

[liz]

I suspect footballers on average are fitter and stronger than they were even ten years ago. So the 2006 outfit has a headstart and it's hard to compensate for that. Overall I think the 2006 team has more strong, match hardened bodies and they have learned what it takes to play pressure football. So long as Lockett's supply was held, I think 2006 would win quite comfortably.

1996 made it to the GF largely on the back of three superstars and lots of youthful enthusiasm. The likes of Heuskes, Seymour, Chapman, O'Loughlin and Grant were very young back then - they had no fear but I doubt they'd be the physical match for their probable opponents.

Lockett would be impossible to match-up on but I suspect 1996 would have similar problems with Hall. I think he'd run Dunks ragged. And who in the 1996 team would have a chance to keep up with Goodes in full-flight? Maybe Roos would get the gig but I suspect Goodesy might be too quick.

[liz]

Originally posted by swanhead2005
Kirk vs. Kelly would be a good battle.

Not sure it would happen. Kelly, at his peak, had explosive speed and Kirk couldn't keep up. I reckon Roos might throw the challenge to McVeigh, with Kirk maybe lining up on Cressa. However, back in 1996 Cressa was pretty much a tagger himself. It wasn't until 1997-8 that he really emerged as a ballwinner. So maybe he'd go to Bolton and leave Kirk for someone like Dyson.

I reckon you'd have Ablett sent to run with Maxfield, and I'd love to see Monty and Chapman line up against each other.

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by liz
I suspect footballers on average are fitter and stronger than they were even ten years ago. So the 2006 outfit has a headstart and it's hard to compensate for that.

I think when comparing across eras you need to take this factor out.

[liz]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
I think when comparing across eras you need to take this factor out.

But how? Do we have to try and guess how much ground the likes of Goodes and O'Keefe would have been able to cover had they played 10 years earlier?