Matthew Lloyd has detailed his familiarity with Port Adelaide’s tough position, outlining how his Dons were able to turn the tables on Carlton after a disastrous 1999 Preliminary final.
Port Adelaide was blown off the park by a rampaging Western Bulldogs outfit by 71-points on Saturday night despite being keen favourites, far below the Dogs in terms of energy and intensity early on.
It reminded the Essendon great of a similar time during his playing career.
The Bombers entered the 2000 Preliminary Final as raging favourites against Carlton after finishing minor premiers but ended up going down by a point, the final score 104-103.
Lloyd said the club had to wonder how they got it “so wrong” after being the best team all year.
“If I think back to my experiences with what happened to Port Adelaide, in 1999 when we lost to Carlton, the same thing (to Port Adelaide), we had to go back and think ‘okay, how did we get this so wrong we beat this team by 10 goals, 13 goals in the two times previous,’” Lloyd told Sportsday.
The three-time Coleman medallist said his team didn’t make the same mistake twice.
“Once we got to 2000 and we were in the same position, it was the old bring your mouthguards, we need to train a lot harder than we did the previous year,” Lloyd said.
“So you’d love to know what Port are thinking for why they couldn’t get their players ready for this.”
Essendon went on to beat Carlton in the 2000 Preliminary Final by 45-points, before pumping Melbourne in the Grand Final 135-65 that year.