Enjoy 

 

He was a sensation before his 3 knee reconstructions. One of the saddest curses to hit MFC.  His eventual return and win in the 1999 B&F plus 2000 grand final was a testament to his determination and talent.  

tragically became only a shadow of his former self after the recos. Prior to this was probably the most promising forward I had seen at Melbourne .Would have been every bit as good as Carey.

Great player and one of the best dees players to pull on the jumper. 
 

Love the Ox. 

Thanks for putting this up 

will watch and remember. 
for me it is Tulip and The Ox. Best two players I can remember 

I only remember Barassi playing for the opposing side, Been others that made me go as well, the wizard , Jakovitch and jurrah to name a few, 

there might even be a couple playing now that might make me watch with pleasure again. Win or lose.

4 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

He was a sensation before his 3 knee reconstructions. One of the saddest curses to hit MFC.  His eventual return and win in the 1999 B&F plus 2000 grand final was a testament to his determination and talent.  

Alongside Robbie - for sheer talent (when not hobbled by injury upon injury) - I hold David Schwartz in absolute awe. He is up there with the greatest 5 players the MFC ever had since WWII. 

Better than Carey, even going back to Royce Hart!

Just a phenomenal player had everything

My second favourite player behind Robby!

Extraordinary bad luck with injuries is the only reason we didn’t snaffle a flag in the 90’s. I mean the talent on our list was amazing. The Ox, Gazza, Jimmy, both Lovetts, Tingay, Charles, Neitz, the Febeys, Healy, Pike and in 94 Jakovich was still on our list for heavens sake. As I remember it in 93 Balme as coach tried to develop a new game plan and we dropped the first 4 games of the year and played well thereafter but missed the finals. In 94 we played well but dropped games to just sneak into the finals and lost to the eventual winners. Then from 95 it was just a procession of injuries, Ox, Charles, Jackovich, Tingay, Glenn Lovett and Pike sent packing. Oh what could have been with a little bit of injury luck.

6 hours ago, kallangurdemon said:

tragically became only a shadow of his former self after the recos. Prior to this was probably the most promising forward I had seen at Melbourne .Would have been every bit as good as Carey.

Even after his 3 Reco's,  he still turned his career around and became an excellent power forward.  Being more an athletic tall half-forward, earlier.   He became the true power-forward/ruck.  Very effective and a handful for opposition's.

Thanks again that was fantastic to watch. 
 

if only we had a couple like him now.

those that did not see him play before his recos just would not believe how the ball followed him or how hard he hit packs and the heights he got to flying over players 

he was “special”. To quote a well known commentator 

He was an absolute freak before the knee problems. IMHO the player he was most similar to was Corey McKernan (at his peak).

He was a very good player after that, but nothing like his former self.

What might have been. 

Watching that Id forgotten what a powerful and accurate kick he was...this on top of all his other extraordinary attributes. 

I agree with previous posters. After Robbie he's the best Ive seen play for the dees. Could do it all.  

Have watched this 3 times now.

can only think,  I hope all our forward line look at it and watch how the Ox  Neitz Lyon and the wiz  all attacked the ball and worked together. 
 

hell if Tom could be like The Ox

I first noticed Schwarz running around in the Under 19s at the MCG one day, replete with long blond hair and bandanna.  It was clear that he was going to be something special and it wasn't long before he became my favourite player.

If only his knees had been OK.  I clearly remember opening the Sunday paper and reading that he'd done his knee for the third time in a practice match at Lavington.  There was a picture of him and his girlfriend watching from the stands later in the game and I reckon I was as close to tears as he appeared to be in that pic.

Highlight reel makes you remember how good  he was, two good knees and he’s a superstar! What a pity!

Jeez MFC have been stiff with some really freakish and sometimes unstoppable players, imagine if the ox, jurrah and jakavich played mostly full careers.  Nearly brings me to tears. fmd

If you consider that Schwarz, Jakovich and Jurrah had their careers ruined by injury or fate, you'd be inclined to wonder how great they might have been. They were all sublime in their own ways. 

Unbelievable player. He could do anything before his tragic injuries.

1994 we had an extraordinary team, but Balme wanted everyone to “share” the ball - ie overuse it so we dropped a lot of games and ended up 7th. Anyone who can get hold of a copy of the first final v Carlton will weep.  But because we were 7th we ended playing a final in Perth......

Oddly, one of my favorite plays from the Ox came near the end of his career when he lived up to the nickname.  He faced two tacklers, ran through the middle and they grabbed at him from either side.  His size and momentum carried him through and they swung around behind him, crashed into each other and dropped like stunned mullets.  Classic slapstick football.