Daisy Pearce?

Of all the players who ever played VFL/AFL for the dees (since the late 50s) only Robbie could do what no other player in the world (not just Melbourne) could do.

In a world and class of his own. He will always be number one on my list.

Following I would classify (in no special order) Gawn, Barassi, Schwarz, Jackovich, Oliver, Jurrah as those who were (or are) superior to all others.

But Robbie rules.

1 hour ago, Stiff Arm said:

Daisy Pearce?

would probably be in my top 5 if i included aflw players

paxy a decent shout too for inside top 10 too

Edited August 30Aug 30 by whatwhat say what

Maxy is the greatest Melbourne player I have seen, a bit too young to remember Tulip and wasn't born when Barrassi was around.

I’ve been a Dees supporter since approximately 1960 until now, and in that time I’ve seen Barrassi, Alves, Schwarz, Lyon, Flower, the Wizard, Jimmy, and so many more great players at the club, but in all of that time I’ve not seen any player that comes close to matching (apologies Jimmy) Max!! He is not just a ruckman… he’s a full back, a full forward, and a 209cm midfielder… a true Renaissance man!

6 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Up until this year I would have no argument with this statement (recognising that I don't recall Barassi and never saw Norm Smith). Now I'm starting to wonder. Are we, the spectators of the Flower era, remembering him as better than he actually was? I only say this because Flower only won the B&F once. That has never made any sense to me as he seemed head and shoulders (metaphorically, of course, as opposed to Gawn for whom that expression is both literal and metaphorical) above every other teammate in his era.

I don't know why but I recall hearing rumours that as Robbie's loyalty was a given, it was sometimes manipulated to give the B&F to someone else to ensure that they stayed. What I think is even a bigger bilght is that Robbie never won a Brownlow in an era when Keith Greig won two in succession and Peter Moore also won two (with Robbie third behind him in 1984). So Robbie was robbed!

IIRC we won only one game in 1981, Barassi's first year as Melbourne coach. And guess who it was who took a speccy in a pack in the goal square to kick the winning goal in the last minute or so of the game ... A classic captain's goal if there ever was one.

I liken the GOAT debate to extend well beyond statistical means, although it is the greatest and most heavily favored aspect of the debate of any athlete in a given sport.

The “GOAT” should be seen as an ambassador of the sport with clear and tangible change to the way the game is played and handled.

By this measure, this is why I still believe Federer as an example is still the GOAT of tennis even though Djokovic has literally all boxes ticked in the overall statistical sense (ATP finals trophies, grand slams, Masters, Olympics, 428 weeks as world number 1..)

Federer also had insanely good numbers and did most of the heavy lifting to transform the sport of tennis and got millions of people interested in the sport. I say all this as a Nadal and Del Potro fan.

With that in mind, the equivalent of this measure would have to go to Gawn as the amount of work he had done as captain onfield is just incredible. To be able to back up year after year would have taken more mental toll than the physical. His overall playing record speaks for themselves.

Likewise, from all The stories I heard about Flower and the loyalty he had shown to the club on top of his playing record, I would think only he could rival Gawn without disrespecting Neitz and the 50 and 60’s generation of players.

Edited August 31Aug 31 by VNightCityLegend

Flower only won 1 B&F for three reasons:

Played in every position on the ground, sometimes in a single game, to plug holes or take responsibility when our squad talent was too poor.

Injury - he was too courageous for his own size and shape, and some opposition thugs even tried t take him out (e.g. Leigh Matthews etc...)

Barassi put too much responsibility solely on his shoulders during his coaching reign.

In an era when the media showed so little Dees interest, to go and see him play live was astonishing. Skills were evolving for most players in the game, and Robbie was running around with grace and speed, playing both sides of his body, flying into packs and doing EVERYTHING. He might not have had the influence of Barassi or Gawn but for pure skills he is a class all his own.

Life is subjective.

It's hard to compare eras. Money and professionalism alone can have such a profound impact on one generation to another.

Most of our premierships were before my time.

Neitz was my favorite player before our most recent success and, as much as I still admire him, it's hard to deny Gawn and his consistent impact on each and every game.

I did name my little pooch MAXine for a reason!

I recall that there was one year in the 80s where Robbie was leading in the Brownlow count but he missed the last 6 games of the year having broken his finger tackling an opponent who wore a lace up jumper that was fashionable for a time.

Otherwise Robbie would have romped in.

I’m too young to have seen Barrassi or Flower, but it seems undisputed they are both top 5 if not top 3.

In my time I’m possibly also too young to have clean memories of peak Lyon, Jakovich, Stynes or pre-knee Ox. Of those I’ve witnessed for the vast majority of whole careers, I’d have:

Gawn, Oliver

Daylight

Petracca

Probably some more daylight

Yze, Neitz

White, Viney

Below that I’m not sure anyone is worthy of being compared to the above due to either too few games with us/incomplete careers (Farmer, May, Lever, Pickett etc) or not quite consistently being at the level of those above (Jones, J Mac, Robertson, Johnstone). I will say that Pickett is probably the most amazing player I’ve seen surpassing even Farmer and if he keeps it up he’ll be right up there.

I’ve probably forgotten a few. We’ve had a few forwards at times who really should be on this list but for a number of reason just didn’t work out - Jurrah, Hogan and even Mitch Clark.