Seasons 6 to 9 paint an interesting picture. In the big 8, the same 4 teams made the playoffs in the 3 out of the 4 seasons, and it would have been 4 out of 4 if Dire hadn't decided that he'd rather face Bell Park in round 1 of the playoffs, and went hard against Avalon in the final game of the season. In the great 8, WA and Coolcats made the semis every season. I made the semis every season during this period to, meaning that 3 out of the 4 semi finalists were the same.
Most seasons Bell Park "Richmond" Supercats were in 5th position to during this era. They would have comfortably been the 3rd best team in the great 8, but their bad luck in landing behind the big 4 meant that they perenially finished one spot out of the playoffs.
In season 6, WA was bundled out of the cup in the first round, which lead to him being a massive force in the league, and took out the great 8 title. The battle for the big 8 lead was a tight battle, but a one point loss to Dire late in the season saw me give up first spot to the Eagles, who were probably still the biggest force in the big 8, but only marginally so. This season possibly marks the most lopsided conferences in ABBL history. WA and Coolcats were class teams, but behind them, 9-13 was good enough for 3rd spot. On the other hand, 8-14 in the big 8 meant auto relegation. Tough gig.
Fred Davidson won the scoring title with probably his first truely dominant season (though he'd been a good player for a while, the depth on the Eagles probably limited his scoring a bit in previous seasons). Gafa was up there to, as was Will Thorton from Hadders Heros (Thorton probably not a name many would remember, but he was a scoring gun for a few seasons). Season 6 also marked the arrival of hte assist king, Kristian Kasper, who took out the assist title with 11.5apg. In the playoffs, the Fred and Dime combo of the Eagles accounted for Avalon then me, but HCA proved to much for the Eagles and Coolcats to overcome, with WA taking out his first title.
Season 7 was a pretty similar story, except this time it was Coolcats who took advantage of HCA and beat the Eagles in the finals.
Season 8 was probably the start of a subtle changing of the guard in the big 8. After dominating for so long, the Eagles would never make the semi finals again. That said, they probably were still the best big 8 team this season, but this was probably the last season they could claim to be so. This season also marked the Pancakes first reign in the ABBL, but it was short lived, with them being relegated straight away.
In the great 8, WA and Coolcats again battled it out. This time, despite being against HCA, Coolcats overcame WA to reach the finals. In the big 8, the Eagles again took top spot in the conference. As I mentioned earlier, the Eagles had a habit of taking it too easy in the playoffs, however. The Eagles faced the Wombats in the first round, with their star player, Grigg, out injured. The Eagles playoff normalled, rested Davidson, and paid the price (interestingly, only 4 times in ABBL history has a #4 seed knocked off a #1 seed, and on two of those occassions the #1 seed tanked it. The other time was Aussies win over me last season). In the semis Grigg was back, but was out of shape, and Dire didn't make the mistake of taking me lightly, making it through to his first ABBL finals. HCA was too much however, as Coolcats took it out again.
Season 9 probably marked the true beginning of the Wombats v BLS rivalry, as Avalon and the Eagles dropped off the pace slightly. Season 9 also saw a young bloke by the name of Rudolph Radford stuck his head up, though he wasn't enough to save his team from being relegated.
In the big 8, the Wombats and BLS made it to the semi finals. This time the Wombats were able to overcome HCA, and make it to their first playoff appearance. However, and injury to their best big man in the opening minutes of the finals series meant that they never really challenged Coolcats.