Bruce Doull. Quiet, purist of a footballer, very effective. A duel between him and Robbie Flower would be a great thing to watch ...

15 minutes ago, Red and Bluebeard said:

Bruce Doull. Quiet, purist of a footballer, very effective. A duel between him and Robbie Flower would be a great thing to watch ...

He looked 66 when he was 36, now that he's 66 he looks 65. Weird.

An episode I really admired I'm pretty sure came from Wayne Campbell.  They'd been giving a hard time to a youngster on the opposing side and the kid got sucked in, forgot all about the game and was just running around like an idiot trying to square up to people.  Campbell did what the kids own captain should have, pulled him aside and had a quite chat to him during a stoppage and got him to settle down and play the game.  I thought that was just pure class. 

Seriously, Rob Murphy and Nick Reiwoldt! 

My all time non-Melbourne favourite is Terry Daniher.  Wonderful captain and a top fella.  Probably the best genuine utility player I've seen with Ross Glendenning and Paul Roos not far behind.  Wayne Carey an absolute star and the most brilliant match winner.  Bruce Doull a fantastic player and had some great duels with Daniher.  Chris Mew, easily underrated amongst the Hawthorn Hall of Fame of the '80's but just as important as Brereton, Dunstall, Ayres etc. Garry Wilson the best little man just ahead of Weightman and Platten. Always enjoyed watching Paul Van der Haar as well. Keith Greig a genuine champion and probably the fairest player I have ever seen along with Flower.  From the modern era, Bob Murphy, Nick Riewoldt, Scott Pendlebury, Luke Hodge.

Great topic!

Anthony Stevens was a player I admired a lot when Nth had their successes back I the late 90's. No fuss footballer with no amazing qualities, just went about it the right way.

Premierships

B&F wins

All Australian

Ruck rover in Norfs team of the century 

Survives after losing two litres of blood

And of course the scandal with Carey played out in public.

 

 

Matty Pavlich always commanded my admiration. Especially in his days as a midfielder. Absolutely unstoppable when the game was there to be taken. 

Big bad Jonno Brown. He is a boisterous character but not an anti social lout (Fev) or head wobbler (Aka). He was as tough as nails though he did go a bit far at times. Plus he was a winner. Three premierships gives you the right to call yourself that.

Been watchingthe game since 1962

Polly Farmer no1 of all time

No one has ever made his teamates look and play better

I don't have a lot of time for shrinking violets in the game and as someone with a minimal amount of talent, love hard players and those who got the absolute best out of themselves or stood up and were prepared to make statements on the field when needed or who were just leaders and culture makers.  Let me also say IMO you can admire players you don't love.  Lets be honest over the years there are plenty we have despised who we would have loved in our side. That's not to say there weren't out and out skilfull players who I just loved watching. The list below is long but as an avid footy lover I'm not a supporter who can't appreciate players just because they don't play for the Dees, without writing all day apologies to some who missed the list Dougie Hawkins, Paul Couch, Scotty West, Simon Black, Brad Johnson, Anthony Stevens & Plugger

80's

Maurice Rioli - magical touch and very tough

Van Der Haar - when I started following the Dees highlights were minimal I loved watching PVH when he was on

Krakouer Brothers - like Maurice they were just great to watch

The Dominator - when the big games were on he rose to the occasion

Derm - as above

Pants Millane - just loved his hardness and no nonsense approach

Ablett Snr - just great to watch and if you were in his way he was going through you

90's & Noughties

Paul Kelly - great leader and hard as nails

Carey - the best I have ever seen

Robert Harvey - hard work and the ultimate professional

Andrew McLeod - oozed class and made things happen

Rucciutto - loved his attack on the ball, good mark for his size and good through the middle or playing forward

Voss - hard at it, classy and when an example needed to be made he was your man

Archer - my favourite non demon player, loved everything about the way he played and how he got the best out of himself

Jono Brown - no regard for his body and just a champion player

Lenny Hayes - as above

Chris Judd - absolute class and made my year when he walked out on Meth Coast

Pavlich - champion 1 club player and a champion bloke 

Jude Bolton - didn't have great ability, was an absolute tackling machine with an appetite for digging deep and always put his body on the line. Like Archer got the absolute best out of himself, I actually named a son after him

Present day players

Nick Riewoldt - just a champion keeps going when he shouldn't and has no barriers

Pendlebury - makes the game look easy, time seems to stand still when he has the ball

Joel Selwood - leader in every sense of the word, no regard for his welfare.

Sammy Mitchell - say what you like about him but I could watch this guy all day, great disposal by hand and foot on both sides of the body and knows how to find the footy in close. Makes something out of nothing with quality skill and utilises awareness and vision to overcome a lack of pace

Matt Priddis - know a bit about his background, slow, poor disposal by foot, not tall and little awareness around goal.  Hard work made him a good junior and really helped him at WAFL level but big question marks about him at the next level. Well he worked his backside off to build a great tank, strong core to stand up in the tackle and never give up.  It's a credit to him that he won the games ultimate prize.

Luke Hodge - god I would love him to have been at our club, smartest player in the AFL and an onfield general.  leads by example has great vision and disposal is a grade.  Hard as nails, no nonsense leader who was a big part in setting the great culture the Hawks had during their dominant period

 

 

Hard not to respect Rory Sloane

Paul Kelly.

Of the current crop I love watching the Bont play, Heeney from Swans and Cripps from the Blues. All 3 will become superstars of the game

For me , to even tolerate opposition players they must be non-flamboyant achievers such as Skilton , Peter Knights , Roos and Pav .

Hard to go past Pavlich.

Robbie Flower

(Only started supporting the MFC in 1999)

Going back as far as the 1950, when red and blue dominated, I admired

Bob Skilton 

Darrel Baldock

Both were clean ball players, had unbelievable skills, and were totally fearless. 

The best I can recall seeing until Gablett Snr

PS Might add Kevin Murray to that list. 

9 hours ago, monoccular said:

Going back as far as the 1950, when red and blue dominated, I admired

Bob Skilton 

Darrel Baldock

Both were clean ball players, had unbelievable skills, and were totally fearless. 

The best I can recall seeing until Gablett Snr

PS Might add Kevin Murray to that list. 

One of my mates is an old Fitzroy supporter and was eating at a restaurant Kevin  Murray was also at. He asked for a photo with him and Kevin Murray pulled his brownlow medal out of his pocket for the photo. He dead set carries it around with him. I'm not old enough to have seem him play but I love him for that alone.

Michael Tuck

On 2/10/2017 at 5:40 PM, Sir Why You Little said:

Are you serious?

Senior was incredible on a footy field, nobody could stop him until his final years...

I didn't worry about him.  Seekamp or even Stretch generally had his measure.

Dunn, Woewodin, Ken Roberts, The Chimp, Royce Hart (more feared than Carey was albeit then more of a marking game), Jezzahh!

royce hart ,ian stewart could watch them allday keith greig for pure balance big carl dietrich made others walk taller