Past Player Of The Week - Mark Graham

[Todman]

in his first game in 1993 v Adelaide Crows round 6 at football Park, he came off the bench in the last qtr at the 25 minute mark, and was promptly dropped for the following game.

A typical Hawthorn selection play in the 1990's. Promote a rookie, sit him on the bench and don't give him a decent run. Drop him back to the Twos and replace him with a spud who got axed at the end of the season.


Nathan Thompson's debut was similiar.

 

[OneEyedHawk]

Was a very good player and a terrific clubman. Didn't make nearly as many mistakes a people made out - any backman in some of our teams back then was going to be up against it.

I'd agree with this. Wasn't his fault he by necessity was forced into playing on the gorilla's.

Gave his all, and was a better player than most gave him credit for.

 

[Pessimistic]

He constantly had to punch well above his weight but he still wasn't a bad spoiler. He did, unfortunately become the whipping boy on forums, to the point where it became cringworthy. There seems to be a tradition of hammering our defenders on these boards....Graham, Hay, Dawson, Shoenmakers.

Even Croad used to get it. Honestly there was one off the cuff remark about "athlete learning to play footy" and the whole footy world (including the club who traded him) went ape. Gets some perspective folks.
Mind you croads clearing kicks ised to go anywhere. i remember one actually finding a teammate once !

If his foot was stronger, would have made a fine NFL punter

 

[randall boner]

Even Croad used to get it. Honestly there was one off the cuff remark about "athlete learning to play footy" and the whole footy world (including the club who traded him) went ape. Gets some perspective folks.
Mind you croads clearing kicks ised to go anywhere. i remember one actually finding a teammate once !

If his foot was stronger, would have made a fine NFL punter

add tom murphy to that list

 

[Cyrilyouchampion]

Grahamakers

 

[HolyWars]

Well, I am surprised at many of the comments on here. He was a good honest player who often had to take on KPFs far bigger than he was. I was pretty gutted that he finished his career at Richmond.

I really like Graham.

 

[Pessimistic]

i think mention is needed of Heebies alternative tendencies ( settle down now)

The retro dress sense etc. A person ahead of his time and bridging the time gap between don scott, dermott and brian lake

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Easily the worst 200 game player for HFC EASILY

 

[Pessimistic]

Easily the worst 200 game player for HFC EASILY

Theres a few reasons for that

Before 61, we probably hd trouble holding onto good players, and probably turned over the rest quite often

61 to 91 all the 200 games plus players would have easily scored premierships

92 to 2004, the merger and the cause of it had an effect. 93 on would have had a bad rep for even paying players ( some of them at least) players like graham were servicable and they might have been shown some gratitude for sticking fat.
I also think Dicker being an inclusive type wouldnt have been as ruthless as some

Heeebie, lekkas, tallis. Mccabe and co were crawfords good mates, it would have had some bearing


But honestly, it was rare to find hawthorn teams not having a crack. Maybe in 2004 for a while but otherwise, not often

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Theres a few reasons for that

Before 61, we probably hd trouble holding onto good players, and probably turned over the rest quite often

61 to 91 all the 200 games plus players would have easily scored premierships

92 to 2004, the merger and the cause of it had an effect. 93 on would have had a bad rep for even paying players ( some of them at least) players like graham were servicable and they might have been shown some gratitude for sticking fat.
I also think Dicker being an inclusive type wouldnt have been as ruthless as some

Heeebie, lekkas, tallis. Mccabe and co were crawfords good mates, it would have had some bearing

Being Crawford's good mate was the key here bar Lekkas who got games on Merit.

 

[Hawkas1988]

Being Crawford's good mate was the key here bar Lekkas who got games on Merit.

Tallis wasn't that bad either, had some very good games in the brown and gold. Overall an average footballer but he had his moments.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Tallis wasn't that bad either, had some very good games in the brown and gold. Overall an average footballer but he had his moments.

We had a very average team full of average footballers in a below average era....Crawford was the only class footballer who made a very painful period in our history bearable to watch!....It was a forgettable era to say the least!

 

[Hawkas1988]

We had a very average team full of average footballers in a below average era....Crawford was the only class footballer who made a very painful period in our history bearable to watch!....It was a forgettable era to say the least!

Oh no doubt, it was hard to watch. I look back now and I loved certain players (when you're young you have a lot of fav players) and so many were very average footballers. You compare those teams to these days and you can find at least 10 A graders in our side, back then as you mentioned, we had 1.

 

[moginie]

Oh no doubt, it was hard to watch. I look back now and I loved certain players (when you're young you have a lot of fav players) and so many were very average footballers. You compare those teams to these days and you can find at least 10 A graders in our side, back then as you mentioned, we had 1.

Agree. There were a lot of "if" players.

"If Holland...."
"If Barker...."
"If Thompson...."
"If the midfield...."

It wasn't a fun time to be a supporter. Thankfully, better times have come.

On Graham, he's played 223 more games for Hawthorn than me. Longevity counts for something in my book.

 

[Pessimistic]

Many of those players could have done their bit in a premiership

Holland would have gone a whole lot better since the in the back and chopping arms came in

In 2001, we were a shade off a grand final. The next day some youngsters put in a very good performance in the VFL grand final. Very very good.

If they were average, they overachieved quite a bit at times

I still think theres a big IF, and the lions would have been difficult in the granny

 

[Procrastinator35]

Many of those players could have done their bit in a premiership

Holland would have gone a whole lot better since the in the back and chopping arms came in

In 2001, we were a shade off a grand final. The next day some youngsters put in a very good performance in the VFL grand final. Very very good.

If they were average, they overachieved quite a bit at times

I still think theres a big IF, and the lions would have been difficult in the granny

Still shake my head at that 2001 Finals run & how we managed to go as far as we did....Having said that, if we kicked straight in the Prelim then we'd of made it to the Grand Final. That & a certain Mr Gold-Spank of course....If we'd of won the GF in 2001, then that would have been a true Bradbury Flag!

All our list was fit & healthy & at it's peak...All of Croad, Barker, Dixon, Thompson, Holland, Chick, Smith, Crawford, Woods, Graham, Hay, Barlow, Vanders, Harford, Rawlings & Rehn doesn't make too shabby a team reading.

Anyhow, the next 3 seasons pretty much exposed our list for it's true worth....But it all came together for that particular September of 2001.

 

[Bedi]

Still shake my head at that 2001 Finals run & how we managed to go as far as we did....Having said that, if we kicked straight in the Prelim then we'd of made it to the Grand Final. That & a certain Mr Gold-Spank of course....If we'd of won the GF in 2001, then that would have been a true Bradbury Flag!

All our list was fit & healthy & at it's peak...All of Croad, Barker, Dixon, Thompson, Holland, Chick, Smith, Crawford, Woods, Graham, Hay, Barlow, Vanders, Harford, Rawlings & Rehn doesn't make too shabby a team reading.

Anyhow, the next 3 seasons pretty much exposed our list for it's true worth....But it all came together for that particular September of 2001.

And what about the first 8 games of the season we won 2001. That was a fluke too?

 

[Bedi]

was painful his first game playing against us for Richmond they came back to beat us by 8 goals at Docklands.

 

[Procrastinator35]

And what about the first 8 games of the season we won 2001. That was a fluke too?

Not sure why your being defensive here?....We ended 2001 at 13/9, which means we went 4/7 at the back end of the season....Not exactly finals winning form!

Our least successful H&A season when winning the Premiership was in 1983 at 15/7. we turned at the half-way mark at 6/5 & came home 9/2, which is Finals winning form!

We fell into 6th spot in 2001, with a % of 105. even Coll'wood in 9th spot had a better %....Even when Adelaide won the flag with a 13/9 record in 1996/1997 from 4th & 5th spot respectively, they still had the best percentage across the entire H&A season in both years!

 

[mustang]

Still shake my head at that 2001 Finals run & how we managed to go as far as we did....Having said that, if we kicked straight in the Prelim then we'd of made it to the Grand Final. That & a certain Mr Gold-Spank of course....If we'd of won the GF in 2001, then that would have been a true Bradbury Flag!

All our list was fit & healthy & at it's peak...All of Croad, Barker, Dixon, Thompson, Holland, Chick, Smith, Crawford, Woods, Graham, Hay, Barlow, Vanders, Harford, Rawlings & Rehn doesn't make too shabby a team reading.

Anyhow, the next 3 seasons pretty much exposed our list for it's true worth....But it all came together for that particular September of 2001.

If we had won the flag in 2001 our history would have been so much different as Croad may never had been traded for Hodge,Mitch. Swabby would have been a premiership coach and may have been given the job to rebuild the side in 2004 if we did still slide so no Clarko. So all the players that Clarko got rid of would have been premiership players. So Swabby and the club may not have wanted to get rid of them and by giving them another chance for having a bad year. Thomo may never had want to be traded to North. And more then likely no Franklin and Roughy and Lewis as it was Clarko who wanted two talls as our first 2 picks in the 2004 draft. The new strong culture at Hawthorn may never had come back. While we waited for our next flag which could have been another 15/20 years. So I'm glad that we didn't make that grand final. Because we are better ran off field and on field now thanks to Clarko and Dunstall and the board. And we have enjoyed 3 flags and maybe with more to come.

 

[MrFujiMoto]

He constantly had to punch well above his weight but he still wasn't a bad spoiler. He did, unfortunately become the whipping boy on forums, to the point where it became cringworthy. There seems to be a tradition of hammering our defenders on these boards....Graham, Hay, Dawson, Shoenmakers.

Don't forget Murphy, he held the whipping boy title well and truly for quite a while

 

[Pessimistic]

Welcome to bigfooty, James Frawley

 

[Tasmaniac]

Welcome to bigfooty, James Frawley

Ah yes,

Give me a moment to get my whipping boy boots, my whipping boy hat, not to forget my whipping boy whip (with extra whip tails for the genuine flagellation experience).

Now I'm ready. Bring on the Frawley.

 

[Steven Tyler]

was painful his first game playing against us for Richmond they came back to beat us by 8 goals at Docklands.

We were 8 goals up at one stage, only to lose by a kick in the dying minutes
Wasn't painful at all for me
If we won that game, we would have missed out on a priority pick in the upcoming draft

At one stage I remember yelling out something about priority picks, and most of the supporters agreed

Winning a meaningless game, or drafting another top-end talented kid, I know what I wanted!