Unfulfilled Destiny: careers cut short, or were ruined by injury

[Thommo 42]

Alistair Lynch.

Sure he won 3 flags, but his best years were lost to chronic fatigue and he never left the goal square when he came back.

 

[Johnson#26]

Dunno how good he was but Tex Walker from Collingwoods' career was ruined by injury.

Or a lack of a footy brain. Top bloke though.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I'm not sure why people are saying names like Dunstall and Hird. Pretty much everyone has injuries. I'm pretty sure this thread is aimed at those who never reached there potential due to injury.

Barry Stoneham definitely comes to mind, was on the verge of becoming a superstar. Stephen Tingay from Melbourne was another I really liked but always seemed to be injured. Bowen Lockwood from Port was going to be a star and can barely walk these days apparently.

I think Mick McGuane can be put in the unfortunately-cut-down-by-injury category. Probably the only Collingwood player I enjoyed watching. At least he had a few good years

 

[richardnose]

brendan fevola - struck down in his prime by total, like, dumbness.

 

[bringbackschwarter5]

They are good blokes but how can you say Millane is a bad bloke? Good blokes make bad mistakes too.

Didnt he collect money for drug dealers or something of that nature

 

[Bestbird]

Clem Michael from the Dockers may have been a real talent

 

[sainter35]

robert harvey - coulda been anything that guy..

 

[Barry Zuckercorn]

brendan fevola - struck down in his prime by total, like, dumbness.

Most underated user name on BF I reckon

For Carlton I'd like to nominate Andy Phillips from the early 90s. Looked on the verge of being a star but a serious back injury I think it was ended all that...

 

[mfcrox]

Been mentioned before... but David Schwarz is the biggest for me, awesome talent, and struck down by 3 ACL's. 1 by itself can ruin a career, so the fact that Schwarz was able to get back and still play decent football after 3 is a sign of how talented the man was.


Another player, yet to be mentioned I think... Allen Jakovich. He kicked 71 in his 1st season, fastest player in history to kick 50 career goals I think (by games)... including John Coleman. Finished at Melbourne due to a back injury with only 47 games, yet still kicked 201 goals. This was from a bloke who was the mid-90s Brendan Fevola... lazy, undisciplined, and his worst was terrible, but his best was incredible. Could have been anything had injury not happened, and had he also not been so lazy.

 

[PieLebo87]

I wish the careers of the likes of Hudson and Coleman weren't cut short, just to see the end statistics. How the record books would look so much more different.

I'd also love to have seen John Greening have a full career. They say he was so much more talented and complete then most of the players around him on this day. Just to see how the record books would've looked now had he still been playing to his potential for another 10 years, including the 77, 79 and 80 GFs. What if, what if. How different it could've been.

Ow well, there are sad stories in football.