Leaderboard

Prymke’s injuries cost us big time. Very solid, under rated

Warren Dean was outstanding in 1987. Three Brownlow votes in Round 22 out at Footscray from memory, and played a great first couple of finals. Could have been anything but for his wonky knees. He, Viney and Spalding were the big three interstate recruits funded by the "Give Robbie one last chance to play finals" campaign.

Those gifted wa players were given to them at the end of the 80’s when the club almost collapse after what was considered a failed start. The wa public had expected to win the flag in their first year when they saw their starting squad. They special draft set them up for a decade, plus a decent AFL coach in Malthouse, who modernised their footy thinking from the original coach in terms of preparation and structures. Interesting what might have happened if the pies didn’t lose the game when they had it under control in the first week.

No it didn't ! One of Green's first games for the club. A big lump of a bloke shepherded away a Carlton defender about to smother Green's kick. That was David Schwartz. The last 15 minutes of that game was the most fun I've ever had watching the dees play. Watching the bitter tears of the Carlton fans around me after the siren was just beautiful.

I looked it up and turns out he was from Tassie - a true Van Demon, but I never realised that. Lou Richards described him as "Biffin by name and biffin' by occupation"! One day at Moorabbin when it was blowing a gale to the Nepean Hwy end, Biff spent the entire game in the same goal square, playing as full-forward when we had the wind and as full-back when kicking against it. One of my all-time favourites.

That goal from Green from the left pocket. Never looked like missing!

The Eagles were an excellent team in 94 - very underrated when we talk about the great teams. For as good as our forward line was, teams simply couldn’t get a look in against a backline of: Jakovich, Worsfold, McKenna, McIntosh and Brennan.

Good thing you didn't go with "best interstate player drafted by Melbourne". That would have been Darren Jaman.

Da Rui deserved a thump for what he'd just done. Strawbs barely connected with his wild swing.As usual, the retaliator suffered. Losing O'Dwyer unbalanced us badly. I think Hughes had to play back-up ruck in the GF. Stynes was only a 2nd yr ruck at that stage. What a great job Duursma does on Kernahan. We had some tough players then, in Grinter, Hughes, Spalding, and the "string bag full of set-squares"... Steve O'Dwyer.

Maybe, he may have helped some of our younger players walk a bit taller though. There were some key players who were thoroughly intimidated by the occasion -not mentioning any names, but Jimma wasn't one of them. It might also have helped if we kicked the very gettable goals that we missed in the first quarter.

We've done quite well with our trading with Adelaide over the years: Ingerson, Vince, Vardy (though not nearly enough games) and one of my favourites the unlucky Matty Collins (I just rewatched some of our game from 2000 on youtube ?), but there were also forgettable busts: Jace Bode (9 games), John Meesen (4) and Nick Pesch (4). Other recycled players I remember over the journey that never quite reached the heights the club hoped for were: Trevor Spencer from Essendon, 3 games Gary Moorcroft from Essendon, 3 games David Grant from St Kilda, 7 games Wayne (the Moose) Henwood from Sydney, 1 game 'Rocket' Rod Owen from St Kilda, 9 games Steven Pitt from Collingwood/Western Bulldogs, 5 games Danny Seow from Collingwood, 7 games (traded for Glenn McLean if I remember correctly). Michael Pickering played too many games (15) to qualify, but never regained the lofty heights he had ascended to at Richmond. The other one who was slightly before my time, but was my PE teacher in High School was Mark McKeon (6 games) who ended up being a runner at Collingwood and was responsible for escorting a certain Magpies Reserves player off the ground in a televised match on Sunday arvo (Army Reserve Cup) after he head butted an umpire and then jumped the fence to have a go at one of the spectators. The commentary from Ray 'Slug' Jordan is 80s footy folklore!

Believe this list was the best goal to goal line up, as usual the injury curse severely impacted this group from winning a flag... Stynes, Lyon , Shcwarz, Neitz, Jackovich, Tingay, Pike, Lovett, Prymke, Lovell Goals Lyon 79 Schwarz 60 Jackovich 51 Pike 25 Charles 24 lovell 29

1. nope....dogs brekkie 2. good one 3. yep, except backwards pass in attacking 50 should be ok (imagine stuck on boundary line near behind post.) 4. good one, overdue 5. minor infractions should be the old 15m (maybe 25m) , 50m for more serious 6. drop nominated ruckmen rubbish .... still just 1 per team but anyone 7. stricter interpretation of holding the ball (reduce time) 8. quicker ball-up in scrimmages as it used to be (reduce ugly maul)

He was the only one who even tried to fly the flag. Gave Hird a bodyslam from memory though was all a bit late.

Trapper was amazing that day

Glaring omission!!!! Diamond Jim ..... built like Tarzan , but , ..... well there’s another story. The

More arrogance from the AFL. What's the point in announcing a return date? The AFL do not control if the season commences. Maybe wait until more than 2 people are allowed to exercise together? which might be 4 weeks or longer

Coming back from 21points & watching the Carlton fans in disbelief was awesome. Daniher got the best out that side considering Melb had the worst training facilities at the Junction oval along with their preseason done across multiple venues & using plastic cones for goal posts! Team unity/chemistry is everything!

This is the only photo of I could find of David Neitz wearing the Tooheys logo. It is from 1996.

Note that the weagles backline comprised local wa players who had been gifted to the weagles when they entered the league. We had recruited so well but still couldn't beat a gifted team.

Nope. I miss the good old wet days where you saw teams bomb it as long as possible along the boundary line. Nope. Can’t get 15 right, 20 wont be any better, and I love a short 20m worm-burner speared through traffic. Nope. If you want to stop teams sharing it around, go man on man, they’ll boot it to a contest pretty quickly. Surely you couldn’t penalise a forward for firing off a pass from the point post to a player 30m out dead in front, surely.. Nope. Rotate as much as you want. I will never understand this fascination with constantly tinkering with the game.

Febey for me and by quite a long way. Talented, tough and completely reliable over the course of his career. Davey IMHO was at his best in his first three-four years and even then was too easily tagged out of matches. I think when you weigh up his talent and physical attributes, he under achieved for what he was capable of.

Strawbs suspension was a big moment. He won our b and f that year. But let’s face he wouldn’t have helped with the shalacking the following week.

Garry Lyon's Torpedo from the square ?and Steve O'Dwyer belting Steve Da Rui to be rubbed out for the GF ?

Watch for Ricky Jackson's lucky 5th goal....free for ??? then hit the post! Important goal!

Davey had game-winning form, and was capable of some of the greatest playing streaks in many, many games. His skills were sublime, whatever the aspect of football that was required (except the big grab, of course). From this skills base, and with his pace and determination, he created the attacking forward defence role as a marque of his own. His passing by foot was elite - underpinned by his 'eyes-up' tendencies and readiness. He contributed enormously to the team keeping the ball in the forward line by this means, opening up options amongst teammates for another possession to score. His defensive work was widely copied at both ends of the ground. An uncanny attribute of Davey was his reading of the game, with great talents to anticipate what an opponent would be doing next with the ball; Davey performed some brilliant intercepts as a consequence. Steve Febes was pure talent, as well. After a variable start in the early days, he was just behind the skills of his brother but progressively and over a couple of seasons, worked on his game to become a key interceptor and driver of the ball, gathering commendable possessions no matter who his opponent(s) was/were. Steve used the ball very well; his foot skills and handball were often sublime, and his pace and maneuvreability were just about as good as these qualities can get. Steve was a play-maker, his disposals were often accurately lengthy and unexpected. To measure the positive changes in team attributes of both of these players is very difficult; IMO, based on raw skills and impact on games, Davey gets my vote.

Reckon this vote should have been a lot closer

I know he played more than 10 games, but as an aside, Allan Jacovich kicked 50 goals in his first 9 games. Including 8.8 in the 4th game and 11.8 in 9th game. What a freak. Rate him as the most exciting player I've seen in red and blue.

Alan Johnson not only played on the wing he invented himself in the backline as to being tagged to stop him from making attacking moves with his reasonable speed and penetrating kicks. I remember he saying that Phil Krakouer was told to tag him and stay close to stop him at all costs. Such was his influence he had..Not taking anything away from another champion in Todd. However both had heart , one better skills and the other toughness. Two Greats.

he could certainly enthral and dazzle you one minute and frustrate the bejeezus out of you the next he certainly didn't fit the usual mould, but then neither did gablett-snr

well, .....thought i'd better reply...... but now can't remember what i was going to say

We were doing that for a long time between 2007 and 2013 (arguably before that as well). I remember there were years that we were firmly down the bottom of the ladder, looking like we'd be beaten by VFL teams and still paying 100% of the cap.

I'd very much like to see a return to the reserves competition but I don't know how that will happen given everything that has gone on with the coronavirus and tightening of the screws. Carlton dumping their VFL team so unceremoniously (and frankly with a lot of disrespect) could be the first domino to fall in the AFL no longer having VFL/WAFL/SANFL affiliates, but I was really please that Melbourne actually went to opposite direction and said they would be sticking by Casey. I think a reserves/2nds competition is needed, nothing can truly simulate playing in match conditions against players that are quite happy to smash their opponent into the ground. How this happens post COVID-19 will be anyone's guess.

We had quite a number of players who played well over 10 games that should also be on this list.

The AFL should never have taken over the VFA There was room for both, but AFL greed always wins. look at The VFL Fixture It is a joke

Comments at about 25 minute mark above. I don't think Jennings is really saying winning isn't important, he even says the opposite. The Dogs had a good VFL team before their flag when he was there. We had a strong Casey side as we went up the ladder. He's saying the teams and the competition of the current VFL means little, and the structure of a VFL fixture often hampers players on the fringes who need to be held over as emergencies etc and it's hard to disagree with that. Forking out a heap of money to prop the rest of the VFL up and get a special branding on a reserves comp does seem a waste. It's sad that the AFL took over the VFA and created a mess of a competition. Williamstown, Port Melbourne, Werribee, Frankston, Coburg and anyone else who can get a team together would be better off back in their traditional VFA league.

Crikey Old Goat, you accuse me of a lack of knowledge then go on to describe Eishold as "a great player". He wasn't great, he was a foot soldier and no better than average. That shot wasn't tough, especially for a "great" player. We have a different opinion. C'est la vie. I would have slotted it, since you ask! ?

Agree with Daniel & Brad...Jennings has conned his way into a microphone. He talks inconsequential rubbish most times.

This is why the VFL is endangered. For reasons that are beyond me VFL form rarely converts to AFL form. At best it delivers an injured best 22 player a few weeks of match practice before rejoining the main team. This can be done reasonably well by an alternative training program at far lesser cost. Finally the AFL has largely killed off the community spirit aspect of the VFL competition. It has always been a pleasure going along to the standalone clubs and seeing their supporters passion for their club but in the main they are a mature declining group. Long live the Burra Burger !!

I loved both these players, both Stars in their own right......................!!

If the question was best guns then stings by a mile. Best player? Jako. Insane talent. Favorite player? Saw Jako tear the pies apart at vic park. One of my fav games. Cemented jako as one of my all time favourite players.

I recall at one stage Norm Smith winner Peter Matera, and Tingay were the two best wings in the competition before the position lost its fashion

It's fascinating isn't it, who provides what expert information to the AFL to make the 'entertainment package' more subjectively palatable. I for one am a purist, and quite like the dull sounds of blokes running on turf, smacking into each other, whilst having a beer in one hand, and goanna oil in the other...

Essendon knock back AFL assistance in bid to remain independent. Dons knock back cash injection would've made a better headline.

...and we can use the canned laughter tracks from the sitcoms to laugh at Brian jokes.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/04/13/lifting-the-draft-age-to-19-a-no-brainer-beveridge/ Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge believes the AFL should use the COVID-19 situation to raise the draft age to 19. With underage pathways and leagues not running because of the virus and a situation where list sizes may be reduced, limiting the need for a draft in 2020, Beveridge believes it is time to pull the trigger. “It’s an absolute no-brainer (to lift the draft age). I mean, every other year as much as I’ve advocated for the draft age to be lifted, I was finding it hard to work out how you would actually do it,” he told SEN’s Whateley.

When Glenn played well, more often we won. Well thats my memory ! his efforts not respected enough IMO

green for me; didn't walk out on us to get a longer deal, a better user of the pill than bruce, whose ball drop was horrific mind you, if brent guerra hadn't buried green into the carpark against the aints when he was in electric form, smashing his shoulder in the process, bruce was showing the hallmarks of having a star season that year never recovered