Rare Robbie Flower Highlights

[Demonland 73,161]

I posted this the other week on the Demonland Facebook page and I neglected to post it here.

These highlights have sat in VHS form for years on a dusty shelf and I thought it was time to convert it to digital form lest the quality degrade even more.

Apologies for the quality that it is in as our almost 30 year old VHS copy was already a copy of a copy of a copy.

At least now that it has been converted to digital it will now last as long as YouTube lasts.

Enjoy.

 

[Dee Dee 1,117]

Great memories, such talent.

And you tend to forget what a stick figure he was, but his evasiveness was extraordinary,

[Sir Why You Little 37,134]

Such balance

WTF were the field umpires doing not giving Robbie Brownlow votes!

i mean really, 

loved hearing “Bluey” Adams calling Flower highlights

[Flemo56 409]

Perfection in a Demons jumper, it bought me too tears. His play on at all cost would not b out of place in todays game. Not too many stars of the game have a highlights package like this. Thx for posting Dland. 

[FarNorthernD 5,861]

Put him in the 2018 team and we are complete 

[Deemania since 56 6,718]

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

I posted this the other week on the Demonland Facebook page and I neglected to post it here.

These highlights have sat in VHS form for years on a dusty shelf and I thought it was time to convert it to digital form lest the quality degrade even more.

Apologies for the quality that it is in as our almost 30 year old VHS copy was already a copy of a copy of a copy.

At least now that it has been converted to digital it will now last as long as YouTube lasts.

Enjoy.

 

One cannot ever forget just what a great footballer Robbie Flower was - all over the ground. No-one could move into space like him to make a pathway for the team, or take that critical mark, or find running space to take advantage of a possession, or kick for goal usually on the run from a long way out. In a team of limited strength, Robbie found a way almost every game. I still rate him the best player that I have seen, followed by 2. Malcolm Blight, 3. Leigh Matthews, 4. Wayne Carey/D. Schwartz, 5. Gary Ablett Snr. 

[Sir Why You Little 37,134]

Robbie was almost always leaning forward when he ran. Low centre of Gravity, his balance skills are a joy to watch. 

He could play the same way today and be a star. 

Best player i saw play, Matthews was a street thug

The ablett’s were on a par with tulip

but not one Brownlow

a complete joke that Dippierdethuggero is a Brownlow Medalist and Tulip is not

i don’t rate the award at all for that reason

[daisycutter 29,743]

the guy is so ambidextrous he seems to be able to switch to either hand/foot so naturally

seems to prefer left hand for bouncing and right hand for kicking but no weakness either side

freak

[Diamond_Jim 12,628]

In the 80's we used to go see Robbie play ... not so much the team as we always knew the likely outcome team wise.

His performances for Victoria were sublime .. frequently best on ground amongst the best players of his time

PS Is the cup that he is presented with the Night premiership of '87?

Edited December 3, 2017 by Diamond_Jim

[durango 2,023]

If only he had been born to play with the 1950's MFC he would have won 3 Brownlows and had 7 premierships to his name.

[Big Carl 333]

 

[joeboy 3,166]

I met Robbie a number of times and he was always a modest, unassuming and courteous man, whose skinny, accountant-like demeanor belied a driven and passionate footballer who loved the Dees with an intense desire, and played the game as if his God- given talents were a reward for us mere mortals who could only marvel at his feats.

Edited December 3, 2017 by joeboy

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,294]

9 hours ago, Demonland said:

I posted this the other week on the Demonland Facebook page and I neglected to post it here.

These highlights have sat in VHS form for years on a dusty shelf and I thought it was time to convert it to digital form lest the quality degrade even more.

Apologies for the quality that it is in as our almost 30 year old VHS copy was already a copy of a copy of a copy.

At least now that it has been converted to digital it will now last as long as YouTube lasts.

Enjoy.

 

Saw this last week on Facebook and got emotional watching it. I would have been at many of those games and still clearly remember that intercept mark against Hawthorn,  Kelvin Moore I think it was. He kicked a goal from it too. Very few players could read the play before it happened like Robbie. 

Very fond childhood memories. We would get flogged more often than not but you just knew you would see a genius at work and he never disappointed.

[Willmoy1947 4,140]

All the comments above are so perfectly right and so sad, i always feel unfinished business somehow. That horn on that day will be for him too.

On the highlights i love how it looks like there is only half the opposition on the ground, so you think you see him playing by himself.

[Deemania since 56 6,718]

Great memory jog. It did seem that Robbie was the only player on the ground - not because he was 'hungry' (which he most certainly was not) but because he could see ahead and do something about it at that moment, continuously alert, ready and always able. The greatest, ever; there really are few challengers to this summation.

[ManDee 7,222]

The best MFC player I have seen, he was the reason I went to the footy week in week out.

 

Sir Robert Flower MBE DRBM

MBE - Melbourne's Best Ever  

DRBM - Deserves Retrospective Brownlow Medal

[Deemania since 56 6,718]

Absolutely!

[buck_nekkid 6,046]

What a gem.  Great post, thanks for sharing.

[deebug 1,754]

On 03/12/2017 at 10:49 AM, Sir Why You Little said:

Such balance

WTF were the field umpires doing not giving Robbie Brownlow votes!

i mean really, 

loved hearing “Bluey” Adams calling Flower highlights

Robbie should have won about 5 Brownlows over the years, best player of the time. The skill of the great man not just running down the wing but his marking and his effort was the best i have ever seen in a football player, he was an amazing player and nice guy as well.

I was lucky to have a photo with him on one of our family days, when they were at the G. Have to thank my son for that one as i was to shy to even ask him. Being able to have that photo with him, well you might as well say to me it's priceless.

[Deemania since 56 6,718]

He was accepted by the umpires as too good for the encouragement of votes, I guess. How could such a powerless team be given votes in the first place? I am sure these were contributing reasons. He was due at least 2 Brownlows  and we know it.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

21 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Robbie was almost always leaning forward when he ran. Low centre of Gravity, his balance skills are a joy to watch. 

He could play the same way today and be a star. 

Best player i saw play, Matthews was a street thug

The ablett’s were on a par with tulip

but not one Brownlow

a complete joke that Dippierdethuggero is a Brownlow Medalist and Tulip is not

i don’t rate the award at all for that reason

Flower played in some very poor teams for most of his career. I suspect that's the major reason he didn't win a Brownlow Medal. But let's look closer to home...how could he only have won a single Best and Fairest?

I haven't watched the whole clip yet and even though I'm old enough to have seen him play and have always regarded him as the best MFC player I've seen, the clip reminded me of something I had forgotten - how complete he was as a footballer. He had vision, he could run fast, he could mark, he could play inside and outside, he was ambidextrous (and whatever the equivalent word is for ambi-foot-rous), he had amazing agility and courage. I know highlights packages tend to emphasise a player's value, but as someone who saw him play many times live, I'll say his "highlights" package could also be described as "just a typical package" of every moment of every game he played.

[Sir Why You Little 37,134]

1 hour ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Flower played in some very poor teams for most of his career. I suspect that's the major reason he didn't win a Brownlow Medal. But let's look closer to home...how could he only have won a single Best and Fairest?

I haven't watched the whole clip yet and even though I'm old enough to have seen him play and have always regarded him as the best MFC player I've seen, the clip reminded me of something I had forgotten - how complete he was as a footballer. He had vision, he could run fast, he could mark, he could play inside and outside, he was ambidextrous (and whatever the equivalent word is for ambi-foot-rous), he had amazing agility and courage. I know highlights packages tend to emphasise a player's value, but as someone who saw him play many times live, I'll say his "highlights" package could also be described as "just a typical package" of every moment of every game he played.

Seriously that is how Robbie played weekly and it is why i can never work out why the White Maggots never gave him votes. 

It was pure robbery...

Edited December 4, 2017 by Sir Why You Little

[poita 3,902]

I only caught the tail end of the great man's career, but the fact that he only won one B&F in such poor sides is quite astonishing.

Forget about the lack of a Brownlow, can anybody from that era elaborate on why the MFC didn't recognise him in the B&F?

[Demonland 73,161]

1 hour ago, poita said:

Forget about the lack of a Brownlow, can anybody from that era elaborate on why the MFC didn't recognise him in the B&F?

That has always baffled me too.

[Gator 17,477]

1 hour ago, poita said:

I only caught the tail end of the great man's career, but the fact that he only won one B&F in such poor sides is quite astonishing.

Forget about the lack of a Brownlow, can anybody from that era elaborate on why the MFC didn't recognise him in the B&F?

Hard to know.  Maybe he was held to a higher account, as in it just became expected.

He did, however, finish top 5 in the B&F 9 times, so was mostly thereabouts. 

Edited December 4, 2017 by ProDee