AFL-The 90's: The Decade that Delivered

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General		Extras
Category	Sports	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	?
Running Time	138:55 (Case: 140)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Aust. Football Video Visual Entertainment Group	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Secure Clip
RPI	$32.95	Music	None Given

    The final DVD released in the 30 Years of the Very Best Footy 3-disc box set is The 90s The Decade That Delivered. As before, the feature covers all the highlights and lowlights through the 10 seasons of the 1990s. For this feature, hosted enthusiastically by Bruce McAvaney, the time spent outlining each season is quite a bit longer, going into many details of the happenings during the season. This release displays how far the game has come since the 1970s, and really shows the skill and class of the players at this level.

    The highlights of each season include:

    1990: Collingwood wins its first Grand Final in 30 years, and the first under the new AFL banner. Debut of Wayne Carey, arguably the best player ever to play Australian Rules Football.

    1991: Introduction of the Adelaide Crows into the competition. Hawthorn's win in the Grand Final signals the end of the amazing Hawthorn era that saw them reach the Grand Final in eight of the past nine years.

    1992: Debut of Essendon champion James Hird, and the West Coast Eagles becoming the first non-Victorian team to win the Grand Final, marking the competition as truly national.

    1993: Tony Modra's sensational mark of the year in the goal square, and the debut of Shane Crawford. The season also highlighted the racial vilification issue, with the infamous Nicky Winmar incident and the famous photo of him pointing defiantly at his black skin.

    1994: Mick Maguane's classic solo run across the ground to kick a sensational goal, and the West Coast Eagles winning their second flag in three years.

    1995: The touching lap of honour made by Ted Whitten that made the hair stand on end and the tears well in your eyes as he was terminally ill, and his death a few weeks later. The season also marked the introduction of the Fremantle Dockers into the competition.

    1996: The centenary year of the AFL, and the announcement of the Team of the Century. The debut of champions Ben Cousins and Matthew Lloyd. The season also marked the end of the Fitzroy Lions, and the merger with Brisbane.

    1997: Merging of Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Lions to become the Brisbane Lions. Also marked the introduction of Port Power into the competition, and the first premiership for the Adelaide Crows.

    1998: Adelaide defying the odds and becoming the only team in the 90s to win back-to-back premierships, and Robert Harvey winning back-to-back Brownlow medals.

    1999: Tony Lockett breaking the all-time goal scoring record that had been held for 62 years as he kicked his 1300th goal.

    The feature includes interviews with players and coaches describing their own insights into the way the game has changed, and their personal experiences through the decade. For footage of the legendary players such as Lockett, Dunstall, and Carey, and to relive all the heart-stoppers throughout the 90s, this is a must have for AFL fans.

Video

    This program was made in early 2000 before the start of the new season, and so the quality is quite good, and is on par with television broadcasts today. The colours are rendered much more naturally, and are not muted or over-saturated. Sharpness is also greatly improved over the footage in the previous two decades, with less grain. Black levels are not a problem.

    There were no MPEG artefacts that I could detect, and no aliasing or edge enhancement. No subtitles are provided.

    This is a single layered disc and thus there is no layer transition.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

    An English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 Kb/s) soundtrack is provided that is satisfactory.

    The feature is a television program taken from early 2000 with footage from through the 1990s, and so the sound quality is much improved. One would be hard-pressed to tell any difference between the sound provided here and the audio presented for the football matches today. It was interesting to recognise the voices of the Channel 7 commentators through the 1990s. I must say that I prefer these guys over the Channel 9 and 10 commentators of today.

    Unlike the Sensational Seventies and The Electrifying 80s DVDs, there is not a lot of music in the background of this release. It is strictly the footage as broadcast, with no music. The voiceover with this release is much clearer than on the other DVDs, though.

    As before, there is no surround or subwoofer usage throughout the feature.

Audio Ratings Summary

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Menu Animation & Audio

    Some generic rock music and football highlights are shown when viewing the main menu.

Ladders of the 90s

    Provides the ladders at the end of each season. Good for all the trivia buffs out there.

   The 90s The Decade That Delivered is yet another great bit of football history, and should be in every football fan's DVD collection. The introduction of new teams such as the Fremantle Dockers and the Adelaide Crows made the competition truly national, highlighted by West Coast and Adelaide being the first non-Victorian teams to win the flag. So many great players emerged during the 90s, such as Carey, Hird, Harvey, and Michael Voss. So many legendary players also finished their careers in this period such as Lockett and Dunstall. Do I need to say it again? This DVD is a must for footy fans. Go out and get it!

    The video quality is good, and is of television broadcast quality.

    The sound quality is satisfactory.

    The extras are nothing to write home about unless you're into memorising league ladders.

Video
Audio
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