toughest AFL players

Oct 9, 2006
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My rugby loving girl friend keeps going on about how afl is soft, and no afl player would stand a chance against any rugby player. I tried to explain to her there is a lot more to afl than just being big, and heavy, but she's stubborn when it comes to rugby :(

It got me thinking about who the toughest AFL players actually are, both current and past.

I remember years ago they had a charity boxing match between AFL players and NRL players, from memory most of the AFL players got walloped.

If there was to be a similar event, who would be the best AFL players you would pick?

Some that come to mind are:

Obviously Barry Hall with his boxing background

Jonathan Brown - He is a giant

Setanta O'hailpin - crazy Irish

Mitch Robinson - not the biggest bloke, but does not feel pain and he is a psycho
Barry a winner , the other three would get knocked out , even big Jonathon, O'Hailpin and Robinson there tough but I mdon,t think they,re boxers, just being a street fighting thug doesn,t make you a good fighter, the Irishman might get well slapped I,d say.
 
Oct 9, 2006
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My rugby loving girl friend keeps going on about how afl is soft, and no afl player would stand a chance against any rugby player. I tried to explain to her there is a lot more to afl than just being big, and heavy, but she's stubborn when it comes to rugby :(

It got me thinking about who the toughest AFL players actually are, both current and past.

I remember years ago they had a charity boxing match between AFL players and NRL players, from memory most of the AFL players got walloped.

If there was to be a similar event, who would be the best AFL players you would pick?

Some that come to mind are:

Obviously Barry Hall with his boxing background

Jonathan Brown - He is a giant

Setanta O'hailpin - crazy Irish

Mitch Robinson - not the biggest bloke, but does not feel pain and he is a psycho
PS If we,re talking about boxing and toughness , I don,t think many players under proper conditions could last a minute in a boxing ring if they don,t know that sport .
Boxing is not truelly understood by a lot of people, and I don,t mean the brutality of this obscene cage fighting , thats not sport. But a top line technician in the traditional boxing ring at the highest level is a superb supreme athlete with speed and courage and skill, and the toughest man would go down very quickly, for two reasons, first the toughie wouldn,t land a punch and the boxer would only need one .
 

wolfpup

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Toughest League player I recall watching at a game was a St George 2nd rower, John Fifita, broke his arm half way though the match & played out the game. But it was noticed by the people at the game that his game was a little off. It appears that John did not know the meaning of the word pain. I suspect there where a lot of words that John did not know the meaning of.

But there are also AFL players who have played on with broken bones.

the first time lenny hayes did his knee, he played out the entire game. apparently he couldnt work out why his game was off after a collision during the second quarter (from memory). He played out the game, after the game when he cooled down when doctors realised he had done his acl (or something), he had the rest of the year off. gotta find an article somewhere
 

harshbutfair

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Myth.

Gives off an outward vibe of being a tough man, very soft when leaned on.

The real toughmen of the game don't let you know they're hurt.

I think it's the blokes who smash into every contest are the ones who deserve praise, Judd, Black, Kerr, Ball, Deboer, Griffen, Hayes, Cothchin.

Love the way these guys go about it.

Hahahaha u idiot lucky i was sitting on the toilet at work when I read this cause I would have sh*t myself otherwise. U have no idea this bloke won a norm smith with broken ribs and u think he's soft. Come on mate I was at the freo hawks game in Perth the other week and your boys were the most pea hearted team I have ever seen. Several times your boys were caught looking back while sitting under the high ball they here foot steps and move. Hahahahaha if Luke hodge played one game at freo he'd be the tuffest man to ever pull on your stupid looking jumper in history of the club.
 
Aug 27, 2007
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Lower amazes me with his ability to literally crash through a pack, extract the ball and get out

Also he laid about 3 smothers in a row on a number of occasions - vs the saints you could feel the thudd from the stands and he just gets up and carries on

His twin is a similar mould of toughness down at arden street from what I've heard - he's just been unlucky of late and hasn't played much
 

showusyacunningt

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Jack Ziebell, mad man who just wants the ball more than anyone else
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Greenwood - throws his body around no matter the consequence
Petrie - to attack contests like he does after coming off 2 career-threatening foot injuries

Few of my faves from other teams:
Clint Jones, underrated toughness inside and also has 22 opp. players getting into him every week
Sam Mitchell, so tough inside
Matt Thomas, goes in harder than most
Dale Morris, always puts his body on the line
 

MagooTheRoo

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Kelvin Moore played out a game against Essendon with a ruptured testicle in 1983. If that's not tough then I don't know what is.
 

AndyLucimitis

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I think a lot don't like putting Robinson here, because it isn't cool.

There is currently not another player who'll regularly put his head in front of a boot the way he does.
(Yes, I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere :rolleyes:)

A lot of his best work goes unnoticed, by most.



I'm not sure if any of the tough players mentioned in this thread could have the survived the hammering dished out to Robinson against Melbourne last week !!
 
He hits hard, but I've seen him take his eyes off the ball plenty fo times when the heat is coming his way.

That makes him a bit of a coward for mine.
It's called awareness.

Pickett was anything but a coward.
 
Liam Shiels, at 18yrs old.
[YOUTUBE]Ua31qV0V_0c[/YOUTUBE]

Wish I could find footage of the mark he took against the Cat's earlier this year.
 
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