2011's Top Three Hits And Misses | Thebigtip

The home and away season has drawn to a close and with it, so have the hopes of nine teams. On the other end of the spectrum, eight teams have their eyes on the ultimate prize going into finals, all with convincing reasons as to why they should claim a flag.

In celebration of a great season full of plenty of highs and some hilarious lows, we look back on the top three hits (team success stories) and misses (well, team failures) from 2011.


Hits

3. St. Kilda
This may come as a surprise after the Saints went from making two consecutive Grand Finals (three if you count the replay) but St. Kilda have put themselves back in the premiership mix despite multiple setbacks. With their champion midfielder Lenny Hayes ruled out early in the season and the Kim Duthie scandal rattling a few key stars, the Saints were stuck in the bottom half of the ladder before reverting to the playing style we have come to know from St. Kilda. As a result, the Saints stormed home, winning eight of their last ten games of the season to claim sixth position.

2. Geelong
The Cats were expected to drop down the ladder dramatically after their aging group of players declined and Gary Ablett made the well-publicised move to Gold Coastin 2010. In dropping just the three games in the home and away season, Geelong achieved second place behind only the Magpies who, strangely enough, only lost to Geelong this season. They have established themselves as a serious chance to win their third premiership in five years.

1. West Coast
When the Eagles took out the wooden spoon in 2010, nobody expected them to even by vying for finals. Shocking the competition by finishing in fourth, West Coast have shot to glory through the resurgence of key premiership players in Daniel Kerr, Darren Glass, Andrew Embley, Quinten Lynch and Dean Cox, accented by tantalising youngsters such as Nick Naitanui and Jack Darling. When you throw in the hard-working Matt Priddis, Mark LeCras and Josh Kennedy, the Eagles are looking like a serious premiership threat.


Misses

3. Fremantle
It's harsh considering the incredible injury list Fremantle accumulated over the course of the season, but the Dockers failed to produce when they had chances to win games of footy. A number of big names (that somehow went uninjured) underperformed too, which certainly didn't help the situation. Footy can be a funny game sometimes.

2. Richmond
Another year, another finals miss. The Richmond faithful have accustomed to the yearly routine of the club beating themselves up as a serious threat early in the year only to seriously underwhelm. Every year since 2007, the inner sanctum at Richmond have said they will play finals - not since 2001 have the Tigers seen action in September. For the sake of the game (and the old Tigers heads that have lost plenty of sleep and hair), hopefully Richmond finish in the top eight next season.

1. Melbourne
After finding themselves in contention for a top eight spot, Melbourne's season was turned on its head after a close win by 21 points over Port Adelaide in Round 17. From then on, the Demons would only win one game for the remainder of the season (an unconvincing 20-point win over Gold Coast). In the next four rounds, they would be thumped by 42 points, 146 points, 76 points and 48 points by Hawthorn, Geelong, Carlton and West Coast respectively, seeing now ex-coach Dean Bailey sacked after the Geelong disgrace. Not only did Melbourne not end up making finals, they embarrassed themselves for all to see.