One of the commentators said that Fritta was the best footballer to wear  #31 since Ron.  Another said 'What about Ray Groom?'. Well here is a list of players who have worn 31, courtesy of Demonwiki.  At one stage it looks like we tried to demystify the #31.

Ray Groom - 92 games, 36 goals. B&F 1968. Missed 1964 with a hammie.  Most successful politician to wear Red&Blue?

Billy Barham - Rickys brother

Paul Goss - Norms brother

Peter Garratt - no not that one

Phil Carman

Kelvin Templeton - averaged 3 goals a game at the Dees but didn't bring ultimate success.

Rod Keogh - Trevors nephew.  More success at St Kilda. Played in the 1997 GF.

Donald Cockatoo-Collins - Che and Davids brother.

Paul Wheatley - famous for kicking the first super goal.  Un realised potential?

Tom Scully - the less said the better.  He can 'gut run' into obscurity.

Jack Grimes

Bayley Fritsch - premiership player who averages 6 goals in a GF.

To me it is Fritta vs Groom (vs Templeton).

Does anyone remember Groom playing? All I can remember is that he collided with a goal post.  Certainly none of the above can beat Bayleys medal.

Edited October 30, 20213 yr by Jontee

10 minutes ago, Jontee said:

Most successful politician to wear Red&Blue?

Given that he served as Premier of Tasmania, you'd have to say so.

However, Brian Dixon served 18 years in the Victorian Government after being elected in 1964 while still playing for Melbourne.  I can't imagine that happening these days!  Dixon was probably best remembered for introducing the "Life.  Be In It." campaign while he was the Minister for Youth, Sport & Recreation.

3 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Given that he served as Premier of Tasmania, you'd have to say so.

However, Brian Dixon served 18 years in the Victorian Government after being elected in 1964 while still playing for Melbourne.  I can't imagine that happening these days!  Dixon was probably best remembered for introducing the "Life.  Be In It." campaign while he was the Minister for Youth, Sport & Recreation.

Groom - also a Federal Govt minister

Groom was a good player but as was the case in those amateur days had better career options than being a footballer.

Injury stuffed up Templeton's career. Ditto Jack Grimes.
Pail Wheatley whilst no superstar was a very good consistent footballer with a super boot.

Phil Carman too damn crazy to realise potential.

Scully, overhyped, overpayed and underwhelming.

All the others not much to say. Just ex players.

Fritsch wins hands down. 

Edited October 30, 20213 yr by John Crow Batty

I was a fan of Paul Wheatley and thought he could have been anything with a good club/system around him.

Jack Grimes will unfortunately be remembered for his horrendous kicking, but apart from that he was a gun. 

Templeton was a seriously top shelf forward. His style of play would hold up well now, and he scored consistently in a fairly average Dees era. So it is between Templeton and Fritsch for mine. Considering Fritsch kicked 6 in a GF, he just gets the nod. 

certainly wasn't fabulous phil

Definitely Not Tom Scully 

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Definitely Not Tom Scully 

Now I feel sick....

Has to be Fritter.

Huge things were expected of Groom but did not really deliver.

Several others as noted above had careers compromised by injury. I did rate Wheatley highly, but in terms of on-field impact no-one on that list is close to six goals in a GF.

Having said that, and having a very high opinion of Fritter, it must be noted that he stands in the shadow of RDB whose closest likeness is the current No 5.

 

I remember Groom arriving as a great savior but never really delivered.
Similarly Templeton.

Wheatley as has been said above could have become a very good player in a decently run club and most reminds me of Fritatta of all the 31s.
 

But Fritatta is definitely the most succesful #31 since RDB.  

Fritsch definitely on the trajectory to be the most successful since Ronald Dale Barassi.  

Still only 24.  85 games. 118 goals. 

The famous number 31.  It has gone to “potential young stars, big name recruits and number 1 draft pick”.  

Ultimately the next most successful number 31 might be a young bloke from Coldstream who wasn’t drafted, did the hard yards through the VFL then got his AFL draft opportunity.  👍🏻

36 minutes ago, monoccular said:

I remember Groom arriving as a great savior but never really delivered.
Similarly Templeton.

Wheatley as has been said above could have become a very good player in a decently run club and most reminds me of Fritatta of all the 31s.
 

But Fritatta is definitely the most succesful #31 since RDB.  

Surely he delivered enough to win the B&F in 1968?  And a hamstring away from being a premiership player.......

Bayley Fritsch has a great record to date, if he continues to get better each year who knows he may end up the greatest of all time?

Fritter for me. How thrilled Barras must have been. Templeton was broken when he arrived at Melbourne, always thought of him as a footscray player. Captained their side, won a brownlow playing for them , 148 games and 34 for melb.

 

By the time Templeton got to us his legs were completely shot. Couldn't jump, struggled to kick over 35 metres and rarely ventured far from the goal square. Despite this, he still managed to jag a few bags including 8 against his old team out at Arctic Park.

Prior to his leg issues, he was an out and out champion for Footscray. A mate of mine was a Bluebagger & I agreed to go out to the Western Oval to watch them take on the Dogs. KT kicked 9 from CHF and in doing so, completely shredded champions like Doull & Southby. Along with Robbie's 17 contested marks against the Tiges, it remains one of the most impressive individual games I've ever seen.

27 minutes ago, Go the Biff said:

By the time Templeton got to us his legs were completely shot. Couldn't jump, struggled to kick over 35 metres and rarely ventured far from the goal square. Despite this, he still managed to jag a few bags including 8 against his old team out at Arctic Park.

Prior to his leg issues, he was an out and out champion for Footscray. A mate of mine was a Bluebagger & I agreed to go out to the Western Oval to watch them take on the Dogs. KT kicked 9 from CHF and in doing so, completely shredded champions like Doull & Southby. Along with Robbie's 17 contested marks against the Tiges, it remains one of the most impressive individual games I've ever seen.

Good post GTB.

Tempo was easily the best Dog I've seen (didn't see Whitten at his best). Footscray were pretty crap in the late 1970's when he was at his best, so there's not a lot of footage of him (those were the dayz when only two games were fully covered for TV). Those that saw his 15 against St.Kilda from CHF say it's one of the all time great performances. Most of them were kicked from beyond 50. He actually had 24 shots for goal that day. The only CHF to win a Brownlow. Even on half a leg at Melbourne he still managed to kick an average of three a game, including 51 in a team that finished ninth in a 12 team competition. He went on to have a very respectable career as an administrator (Swans) and businessperson. Easily one of the most under-rated VFL/AFL players of all time. 

Fritsch

Fritsch 🥰

After the club tried to manufacture something to happen with #31 Fritta has taken the number into his own. Of course it will always be know for Ron Barassi but now Fritta is creating his own legacy with it. 

As for the others, I can’t speak to any of the players pre-Wheatley (I remember that memorable WC victory Che was involved in in ‘98). I always felt that Wheatley could have more but the systems and development we had in place didn’t allow him to reach his full potential. Loved to roost the ball though!

I thought Grimes was another who’s career trajectory was altered by Neeld, looked ever bit a 200 gamer for us but then he got the co-captaincy and the Mark Neeld reality bus hit him hard. 

Unless Fritsch has peaked after year 4 and goes backwards from now on, I would be amazed if Fritta doesn't go down as the best player to ever wear the #31 since Barassi. A 59 goal season headlined by a 6 goal haul in a GF win has him in pole position from the list mentioned by the OP.

Grimes looked like he was going to be an absolute beauty circa 2009/2010. Not sure if it was injuries, the burden of being captain at 22 or if he quite frankly wasn't that good of a player??

 

Templeton was affected by injuries when he arrived and did not last. Good as he was, and he was that good, he was not really one of ours from the beginning.

Fritsch started with us and is the only "31" since RDB to star in a premiership by kicking 6 goals. Gets my vote.

 

On 10/30/2021 at 5:48 PM, doc roet said:

Fritter for me. How thrilled Barras must have been. Templeton was broken when he arrived at Melbourne, always thought of him as a footscray player. Captained their side, won a brownlow playing for them , 148 games and 34 for melb.

 

For sure. Great post doc. He has absolutely done the club and R.d.b very proud. What a stellar year. 

He's certainly not the atypical full forward with his slight frame and not towering over everyone. But his timing, leap, acceleration and goal sense is incredible. When he is on and its been many a time this season, he is an excitement machine.I think his size and attributes leave sides uncertain who to play on him.

I was thrilled with the addition of Bbb this year and thought that he and Weid would tear it up.

Don't get me wrong as I think Bbb did a great job but the big surprise was Fritta. 

Its no understatement to admit that he has been a huge component of winning games this season and he stepped up in the granny both in his bag of goals but how and when he scored them.

That leap and recovery goal seemed the catalyst of it all ( no offence Trac). He deserves credit for increasing his tackling and especially his accuracy.

Thank you Fritta. 

 

4 hours ago, tiers said:

he was not really one of ours from the beginning

Does being a childhood Demon supporter count?  I admit all his accolades came at the Dogs but a goal average of 3+ is marginally short of his career average.

10 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Grimes looked like he was going to be an absolute beauty circa 2009/2010. Not sure if it was injuries, the burden of being captain at 22 or if he quite frankly wasn't that good of a player??

Jack Grimes was far more talented than his brother Dylan (a 3x premiership player and AA defender). From all reports, Jack was the consummate professional both on and off-field (which fits with his selection as captain). There's always an element of drafting vs development with failed draft picks, but IMO Grimes (along with Trengove) is the most open and shut case of our lousy management from that era destroying a promising AFL career. He'd be a gun in our current system I reckon.

26 minutes ago, Accepting Mediocrity said:

Jack Grimes was far more talented than his brother Dylan (a 3x premiership player and AA defender). From all reports, Jack was the consummate professional both on and off-field (which fits with his selection as captain). There's always an element of drafting vs development with failed draft picks, but IMO Grimes (along with Trengove) is the most open and shut case of our lousy management from that era destroying a promising AFL career. He'd be a gun in our current system I reckon.

Absolutely couldn’t agree more, I don’t like potting previous systems and eras we had now that we’ve won the premiership, but those two were very good footballers that had a lot more talent than some of our premiership hero’s. in the proper system Trenners and Grimes have long and successful careers.