Best forwardline duos

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MiloStedman

MiloStedman

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Aug 21, 2012
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Not sure who saw or whether it's been done before, but Fox Footy just posted on Facebook asking who fans thought was the "best forwardline duo of all time", suggesting duos like Ablett and Brownless, Dunstall and Breteton, Brown and Lynch, Lockett and Loewe and Roach and Bartlett.

Go.

Note: This is an Aussie rules thread. NOT just a VFL/AFL thread.
 

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Buddy, Roughead
 
Wild Bill said:
Carey Longmire
Click to expand...

you could probably add McKernan to the mix too as he often stretched defences with his exceptional marking prowess.
Can't beat Ablett and Brownless however.
If that team only had a quality back-line, they would have won a flag (or two), as it was often the forward line which dictated a game.

Between 1986 - 1996, Ablett booted 906 goals (4.4 goal average), 5.7 marks per game
Brownless booted 436 goals (2.2 goal average), 5.4 marks during the same period

Compared to the Roughead & Franklin duo

Roughead booted 366 goals (2 goal average), 4.7 marks per game
Franklin booted 580 goals (3.1 goal average), 5.1 marks per game
 
Bobby_ said:
you could probably add McKernan to the mix too as he often stretched defences with his exceptional marking prowess.
Can't beat Ablett and Brownless however.
If that team only had a quality back-line, they would have won a flag (or two), as it was often the forward line which dictated a game.

Between 1986 - 1996, Ablett booted 906 goals (4.4 goal average), 5.7 marks per game
Brownless booted 436 goals (2.2 goal average), 5.4 marks during the same period

Compared to the Roughead & Franklin duo

Roughead booted 366 goals (2 goal average), 4.7 marks per game
Franklin booted 580 goals (3.1 goal average), 5.1 marks per game
Click to expand...
Carey and Ablett as forwards are hard to split and we have all seen the debates so know need to bring it up again.

But I would have Longmire ahead of Brownless.
 
Bobby_ said:
you could probably add McKernan to the mix too as he often stretched defences with his exceptional marking prowess.
Can't beat Ablett and Brownless however.
If that team only had a quality back-line, they would have won a flag (or two), as it was often the forward line which dictated a game.

Between 1986 - 1996, Ablett booted 906 goals (4.4 goal average), 5.7 marks per game
Brownless booted 436 goals (2.2 goal average), 5.4 marks during the same period

Compared to the Roughead & Franklin duo

Roughead booted 366 goals (2 goal average), 4.7 marks per game
Franklin booted 580 goals (3.1 goal average), 5.1 marks per game
Click to expand...

That is flawed logic though, the game has changed since the all-out attack of the 80s/90s. Brownless/Ablett scored an enormous amount of goals, but if you offered Geelong fans the chance to swap them for another player in the competition at the time, it would have been 'goodbye Billy, hello Dunstall or Lockett' without much of a second thought. Not sure you could say the same about Franklin/Roughead, I think they are the two best KPFs of their generation. Franklin easily, and Roughead somewhat in front of Cloke/Hawkins (I'm counting Pav and Riewoldt as being nearer to the end of their careers).

Put another way, if we looked at the stats I think you'd find that Franklin/Roughead completely dwarf any other forwardline duo over the last 10 years, whereas Brownless/Ablett would have been in the ballpark of Dunstall/Brereton and Lockett/Loewe for example.
 
1) Dunstall/Brereton
2) Carey/Longmire
3) Ablett/Brownless
4) Lloyd/Lucas
5) Franklin/Roughead

It's kind of difficult to compare to some of the 60s & 70s teams where the CHF would play further up with a much more open forward line for the FF. Wade/Andrews was a good combo at Geelong too. Lockett/Loewe when together were a bit funny because that was the era when Loewe couldn't kick straight.
 
Brereton and Dunstall have this discussion well covered as far as recent times go.

You're talking about two key forwards who could easily be slotted into the best 5 ever to play their respective positions in the history of the game.

Laurie Nash and Bob Pratt would be right up there in this discussion too, as would Ron Todd and Gordon Coventry.
 
CyrilDaSquirrel said:
Put another way, if we looked at the stats I think you'd find that Franklin/Roughead completely dwarf any other forwardline duo over the last 10 years, whereas Brownless/Ablett would have been in the ballpark of Dunstall/Brereton and Lockett/Loewe for example.
Click to expand...

they wouldn't dwarf any other forward duo in the last ten years though. Lucas/Lloyd statistically, averaged more goals per game than what Roughead & Franklin did and that was during the period of 1996-2009.

It's easy to caught up in the moment and forget just how good some of these past players actually were.
 
Bobby_ said:
Between 1986 - 1996, Ablett booted 906 goals (4.4 goal average), 5.7 marks per game
Brownless booted 436 goals (2.2 goal average), 5.4 marks during the same period

Compared to the Roughead & Franklin duo

Roughead booted 366 goals (2 goal average), 4.7 marks per game
Franklin booted 580 goals (3.1 goal average), 5.1 marks per game
Click to expand...

Key forward positions have changed, there is no traditional full-forward role anymore so it's harder for key forwards to score in this era. Franklin and Roughead stack up very well against Ablett/Brownless, and probably end up ahead.
 
Lethality said:
Key forward positions have changed, there is no traditional full-forward role anymore so it's harder for key forwards to score in this era. Franklin and Roughead stack up very well against Ablett/Brownless, and probably end up ahead.
Click to expand...

I don't care for your excuses Hodgepodge. I could very well say the same thing about defenders and how they were given a free ride to illegally negate forwards as opposed to today's ruling interpretations. Franklin and Roughead would have needed to contend with defenders who chopped the arms, blocked 5 metres off the ball and were often allowed to infringe (front on contact) when not even looking at the footy as it was coming down.
This would have seen both of those guys struggle to score anywhere near as often as what they do today.

As for positional changes, another misconception about Franklin's career to date as he's spent a great deal of his career playing full forward. We saw how often he played full forward for Sydney thus far and it was no different at Hawthorn throughout the years.
 
Bobby_ said:
I don't care for your excuses Hodgepodge.
Click to expand...

They're not excuses, that's been one of the biggest evolutions in the game the last 15 years. The full-forward spot that Ablett occupied no longer exists in that form. Teams these days no longer rely on one or two key forwards as they did in the past and therefore there is less scoring done by said key forwards.

Bobby_ said:
. I could very well say the same thing about defenders and how they were given a free ride to illegally negate forwards as opposed to today's ruling interpretations.
Click to expand...

You could say anything, you don't have enough credibility for it to matter. Matthew Richardson played with both rules and noted no difference in difficulty, stating that the changes helped the defender as much as the forward.


As for positional changes, another misconception about Franklin's career to date as he's spent a great deal of his career playing full forward. We saw how often he played full forward for Sydney thus far and it was no different at Hawthorn throughout the years.
Click to expand...

He plays the same position that Ablett played in the 80s. Non-traditional full-forward.
 
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