If the VFL/AFL greatest team of all time, was selected today, who is in, and who is out of the team of the century

[rapidfire7]

Ablett Snr out on character grounds. Maybe his son can take his place.
Farmer out for Max Gawn.

Out on character? Are we really gonna go down that road? How about Leigh Matthews? Also, Gawn is a very good Ruckman, but no where near all time great status. I would argue Dean Cox, and maybe even Sandilands were better in recent times.

 

[Toump Ass]

Out on character? Are we really gonna go down that road?

Oh yeah baby, I'm already halfway down there, I just past the service station just then!!

How about Leigh Matthews?

Good call.

Also, Gawn is a very good Ruckman, but no where near all time great status.

HORSE s**t.
6 x AA including AA captain
Premireship captain.
MURDERED 2022 premiers Geelong with 5 goals in a preliminary final, one on of the greatest individual finals by a ruckman of all time.

I would argue Dean Cox, and maybe even Sandilands were better in recent times.

Agree Cox is "in the conversation".
Sandilands is nowhere near it.

 

[blaisee]

Oh yeah baby, I'm already halfway down there, I just past the service station just then!!


Good call.


HORSE s**t.
6 x AA including AA captain
Premireship captain.
MURDERED 2022 premiers Geelong with 5 goals in a preliminary final, one on of the greatest individual finals by a ruckman of all time.


Agree Cox is "in the conversation".
Sandilands is nowhere near it.

If performances in finals matter then dusty is captain

 

[PhatBoy]

Oh yeah baby, I'm already halfway down there, I just past the service station just then!!


Good call.


HORSE s**t.
6 x AA including AA captain
Premireship captain.
MURDERED 2022 premiers Geelong with 5 goals in a preliminary final, one on of the greatest individual finals by a ruckman of all time.


Agree Cox is "in the conversation".
Sandilands is nowhere near it.

I don’t really have an opinion on this argument and obviously Gawn has been a champion but are you really going to use 100 minutes of football to justify your stance?

Why not just put Nick Davis in for 10 minutes of footy?

 

[Toump Ass]

I don’t really have an opinion on this argument and obviously Gawn has been a champion but are you really going to use 100 minutes of football to justify your stance?

Sure- 100 minutes is all it took Gawn to get 6 All Australians, amazing isn't it?

 

[PhatBoy]

Sure- 100 minutes is all it took Gawn to get 6 All Australians, amazing isn't it?

I wasn’t disputing that.

What I’m wondering is what one good match adds to the equation

 

[Fadge]

I wasn’t disputing that.

What I’m wondering is what one good match adds to the equation

Ask Richmond supporters!

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Dustin Martin stole one Norm Smith off Bacher Houli for a start.

 

[Toump Ass]

I wasn’t disputing that.

What I’m wondering is what one good match adds to the equation

One great match. A preliminary final no less.

Just adds a little something extra, much like Hodge and Martin get some extra points for their finals achievements.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Name a better field kick than him then. Range, depth, accuracy, difficulty rating, speed on ball, retention % etc.
Buckley was laser pin point even in congestion both him or the target.
Beautiful running goal from 50m kick too.

Akermanis and D Jarman at least as good.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Very true. I do think there's a bit of "rose coloured glasses" when we talk of older statesmen of the game. Most people including them in their lists never even saw them play.

I think it's worth considering AFL is now in a professional era, it is a greater competition and a national one too. Farmer played 60 odd games in the strongest (VFL) league. Max is closing in on two hundred games in the AFL and 6 times has won AA honours. That's more than half a decade he's been the best player in his position.

Only competition for Max Gawn IMO is Dean Cox. I prefer Max Gawn but Cox was incredible too.

When Farmer played in Vic and WA, AA's were only given out every 3 or 4 years following a national carnival. If you happened to be injured at the time you missed out and had to wait another 3 or 4 years. The teams were picked on how you performed in the carnival.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

VFL/AFL Team of the Century

B:	Bernie Smith (Geelong, West Adelaide)	Stephen Silvagni (Carlton)	John Nicholls (Carlton)
HB:	Bruce Doull (Carlton)	Ted Whitten (Footscray) Captain	Kevin Murray (Fitzroy, East Perth)
C:	Francis Bourke (Richmond)	Ian Stewart (Hobart, St Kilda, Richmond)	Keith Greig (North Melbourne)
HF:	Alex Jesaulenko (Carlton, St Kilda)	Royce Hart (Richmond)	Dick Reynolds (Essendon)
F:	Leigh Matthews (Hawthorn)	John Coleman (Essendon)	Haydn Bunton Sr. (Fitzroy, Subiaco, Port Adelaide)
Foll:	Graham Farmer (Geelong, East Perth, West Perth)	Ron Barassi (Melbourne, Carlton)	Bob Skilton (South Melbourne)
Int:	Gary Ablett Sr. (Hawthorn, Geelong)	Jack Dyer (Richmond)	Greg Williams (Geelong, Sydney, Carlton)
Coach:	Norm Smith (Melbourne, Fitzroy, South Melbourne)

Out : John Nicholls, Ted Whitten, Francis Bourke, Alex Jesaulenko, Royce Hart, John Coleman and Jack Dyer.

In : Matthew Scarlett to the back pocket
Bernie Quinlan to centre half back
Nathan Buckley to a wing
Ablett Snr to the half forward flank
Wayne Carey to center half forward
Peter Hudson to full forward

Akermanis to the bench
Ablett Jnr (4 on the bench as per current day)

Adam Goodes (sub)

Emg : Bill Hutchison, Michael Voss, Simon Madden, Tony Lockett

Leigh Matthews takes over as Captain.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

Yes, agreed.

Something like this would still hold their own...

G. Southby, A. Rance, C. Enright
B. Doull, P. Knights, N. Buckley
C. Bradley, S. Mitchell, W. Schimmelbusch
D. Jarman, N. Riewoldt, J. Akermanis
G. Coventry, J. Dunstall, E. Betts
S. Madden, R. Harvey, S. Pendlebury
M. Ricciuto, J. Selwood, B. Hutchison, G. Dempsey

and that's with some biases and off the top of my head, recognising there were many champions before my time that don't immediately spring to mind.

Very tough to do.

Doull is in the original TotC.

 

[TheEscapeClub]

GAJ and Dusty would be in. Buddy just misses out due to the strength of key forwards.

Carey and Lockett are the two who were mid career that would be considered. Carey more likely than plugger though.

Lockett debuted in 1983, he'd had 13 seasons by the time the original team was picked.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Out Nicholls in Enright
Add Ablett JR to the bench
Out Hart in Carey

 

[Inspecta Gadget]

How many Norm Smith's did Norm Smith win?

Dustin Martin should take his spot since he's only one of them away from being the GOAT.

 

[ABSOLUTE MADMAN]

I personally think there are other better ways to differentiate players than "flags won", otherwise the likes of Skilton would get nowhere near these sides.

I chose to include Carey for his on field performances only which in my view, surpasses that of even the great Royce Hart.

I can make my argument but I don't wish to denigrate a champion in Hart and I think most footy pundits have Carey amongst the top 5 players of al time whilst Hart, as good as he was, is not quite in that echelon.

On 'character'? Definately Hart.

You are being very polite. It is not even worthy of debate.

If the AFL never did the team of the century but instead did a team of the millenium in 2000 and treated it just as seriously there is no way Hart would be named in that team at CHF and anyone watching the game back then knows this.

So why in 2023 would Hart have any case for that spot.

 

[Partridge]

I agree with your Buddy and Dusty assessments. For team balance I put Dusty on the field as the HF as that’s his actual role. Thus Buddy had to go on the bench for me.

Interestingly neither Lockett or Coventry got in the team (1st and 2nd all time goal kickers) and John Coleman did despite playing only 98 games. They must have prioritised goal average over total goals, I’d personally have the former 2 over Coleman. I don’t have Coleman in my team at all.

I actually quite like that Coleman did get picked. Based on the absolutely universal opinion of everyone I've ever met who saw him play (obviously less and less now), he must have been something pretty special. Every person I've asked - Essendon supporters, but tons of neutrals - are unanimous that he was one of or the greatest player they'd ever seen (my Dad a lifelong Geelong fan had him tied with Skilton). I would find it hard to leave Lockett out for sure, but I can be happy with either selection.

 

[Partridge]

Out on character? Are we really gonna go down that road? How about Leigh Matthews? Also, Gawn is a very good Ruckman, but no where near all time great status. I would argue Dean Cox, and maybe even Sandilands were better in recent times.

If they seriously left out footballers based on the hilarious "character" grounds there wouldn't be enough players left to field a team.

 

[Freddy Swift]

Dustin Martin stole one Norm Smith off Bacher Houli for a start.

I wish people would stop perpetuating this myth. Yes Bachar played very well that day but many of his possessions were uncontested.

He kicked something like 1 goal 3 behinds. Perhaps if he had been a bit more accurate he may have won the medal. As it was the voting was pretty close anyway iirc. It’s not Martins fault the judges went with him.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

I wish people would stop perpetuating this myth. Yes Bachar played very well that day but many of his possessions were uncontested.

He kicked something like 1 goal 3 behinds. Perhaps if he had been a bit more accurate he may have won the medal. As it was the voting was pretty close anyway iirc. It’s not Martins fault the judges went with him.

Yeah, Martin's profile and status as the football media's current hype job had nothing to do with it.

 

[chrstphrwnstn]

I wish people would stop perpetuating this myth. Yes Bachar played very well that day but many of his possessions were uncontested.

He kicked something like 1 goal 3 behinds. Perhaps if he had been a bit more accurate he may have won the medal. As it was the voting was pretty close anyway iirc. It’s not Martins fault the judges went with him.

Bachar: 25 disposals, 1 goal 2 behinds, 11 marks. Also his goal came from an assist from Dusty.

Dusty: 29 disposals, 2 goals 2 behinds, 1 mark.

Rance would have won it had the ball not stop going inside our defensive 50m after half time.

 

[GWT6]

Franklin, Ablett Junior and Martin should all be a good chance. Even though Greg Williams was a champion, I'd take Martin and Ablett before him. Voss is my favourite midfielder of all time, but Ablett and Martins records can't be ignored.

Peter Hudson and Robbie Flower both very unlucky not to be in the original team. Glen Jackovich could be named at CHB, move Whitten to one of the positions taken up by a Carlton player.

Seems to be a massive Carton bias with more than a quarter of the team playing for them. Does anyone know who the selectors were?

If it were picked these days the AFL would do what they are now doing with the Hall of Fame - pick half the team from third tier interstate competitions just to please the WA and SA sooks.

***Edit - Wayne Carey in - Greatest player of all time in my opinion, first selected and captain.

Absolute s**t person, but if Whitten, Ablett and Matthews are in there, there is obviously no character assessment and is based purely on football.

Royce Hart the obvious one to get cut as he is CHF.

 

[GWT6]

Yes, agreed.

Something like this would still hold their own...

G. Southby, A. Rance, C. Enright
B. Doull, P. Knights, N. Buckley
C. Bradley, S. Mitchell, W. Schimmelbusch
D. Jarman, N. Riewoldt, J. Akermanis
G. Coventry, J. Dunstall, E. Betts
S. Madden, R. Harvey, S. Pendlebury
M. Ricciuto, J. Selwood, B. Hutchison, G. Dempsey

and that's with some biases and off the top of my head, recognising there were many champions before my time that don't immediately spring to mind.

Very tough to do.

Rance

Played uncontested footy and dived repeatedly, but media loved him.

 

[Partridge]

I wish people would stop perpetuating this myth. Yes Bachar played very well that day but many of his possessions were uncontested.

He kicked something like 1 goal 3 behinds. Perhaps if he had been a bit more accurate he may have won the medal. As it was the voting was pretty close anyway iirc. It’s not Martins fault the judges went with him.

Well people could always watch the game and see exactly how much better Houli apparently was. Great early, but faded after half time and Martin got better and better (and seemed to be involved in a ton of goals too). Wasn't nearly as controversial once you actually watch the match.