- Dec 14, 2008
- 19,857
- 32,355
- AFL Club
- Essendon
When you are a bombers fan the legend of John Coleman is a part of your story, it's comes across as a type of Bradman esq story, a bloke who just steps into the game, kicks 12 on debut, 100 year one , 15 Brownlow votes, then goes on to kick on ave 5.5 a game until he was retired by injury at 25.
In the two years prior to debut he trained with us but was considered too young- he kicked something like 296 goals in those 2 years, (38 games) playing locally and was only because of offers from other clubs that we gave him a crack.
They say he was football's first superstar, getting mobbed everywhere he went, his wedding was gate crashed by 10 000 people... But we can all read those stories, what I really want to know about is his actual playing style, who would he compare to nowadays, was he that good? That freakish? Or do the tales just grow with time.
I've always found it weird that for a guy the football world followed so hard, there is precious little footage proof of his wares, and in anything we do have , it never shows him actually taking a mark!
They say he was super quick, with a super vertical leap, sticky hands and a deadly shot at goal....I found a book in the shed with a bunch of action shots of him, I'm sure they are all readily available but I reckon you can paint a bit better picture of how he played or how actually good he was by looking at these pics.
Look at the elevation! Just lazily jumping head height on a lead.
Marking between two defenders, strong.
And again, 2 on 1 , just out jumps
Coming from 4 deep
Probably wins mark of the year now days
Action footage, shakes an opponent, springs then marks strong with a guy attempting a spoil.
Just a great mark! In any era.
His classic, but his best?
How good is this, so high! Got the opponents head in the choke hold
This one he runs back full steam with the flight then jumps and twists in the air....Pretty special
More next post...
In the two years prior to debut he trained with us but was considered too young- he kicked something like 296 goals in those 2 years, (38 games) playing locally and was only because of offers from other clubs that we gave him a crack.
They say he was football's first superstar, getting mobbed everywhere he went, his wedding was gate crashed by 10 000 people... But we can all read those stories, what I really want to know about is his actual playing style, who would he compare to nowadays, was he that good? That freakish? Or do the tales just grow with time.
I've always found it weird that for a guy the football world followed so hard, there is precious little footage proof of his wares, and in anything we do have , it never shows him actually taking a mark!
They say he was super quick, with a super vertical leap, sticky hands and a deadly shot at goal....I found a book in the shed with a bunch of action shots of him, I'm sure they are all readily available but I reckon you can paint a bit better picture of how he played or how actually good he was by looking at these pics.
Look at the elevation! Just lazily jumping head height on a lead.
Marking between two defenders, strong.
And again, 2 on 1 , just out jumps
Coming from 4 deep
Probably wins mark of the year now days
Action footage, shakes an opponent, springs then marks strong with a guy attempting a spoil.
Just a great mark! In any era.
His classic, but his best?
How good is this, so high! Got the opponents head in the choke hold
This one he runs back full steam with the flight then jumps and twists in the air....Pretty special
More next post...
