What if 15 of the greatest tall forwards played 306 games (like coventry)

[Procrastinator35]

whether its 10, 15 or 1000, where did i state that im ranking full forwards in terms of who I think is best?
At least you can ready numbers, but should practice reading words a little more mate.

Your table is about tall forwards & their hypothetical projected goal averages @ 306 games….Given you have Coventry - who hails from the same era - then it strikes me as odd, as to your omission of Pratt, since his overall average is superior to Coventry's....Todd's omission I can understand, given he didn't reach over 100 games due to the onset of the Second World War.

Those are the only 2 players based upon your hypothetical premise, missing out of the Top 10 goal-kickers, based upon average goals kicked across their careers (averaging over 4 or more goals per game)...and given Pratt shares the record with Hudson - with the most goals kicked in a season - then it seems an even more stark & glaring omission.

 

[cricketnut14]

Your table is about tall forwards & their hypothetical projected goal averages @ 306 games….Given you have Coventry - who hails from the same era - then it strikes me as odd, as to your omission of Pratt, since his overall average is superior to Coventry's....Todd's omission I can understand, given he didn't reach over 100 games due to the onset of the Second World War.

Those are the only 2 players based upon your hypothetical premise, missing out of the Top 10 goal-kickers, based upon average goals kicked across their careers (averaging over 4 or more goals per game)...and given Pratt shares the record with Hudson - with the most goals kicked in a season - then it seems an even more stark & glaring omission.

Ron Todd chose to play in the VFA for Williamstown and left Collingwood for the $$$$

 

[jsdsgn]

Your table is about tall forwards & their hypothetical projected goal averages @ 306 games….Given you have Coventry - who hails from the same era - then it strikes me as odd, as to your omission of Pratt, since his overall average is superior to Coventry's....Todd's omission I can understand, given he didn't reach over 100 games due to the onset of the Second World War.

Those are the only 2 players based upon your hypothetical premise, missing out of the Top 10 goal-kickers, based upon average goals kicked across their careers (averaging over 4 or more goals per game)...and given Pratt shares the record with Hudson - with the most goals kicked in a season - then it seems an even more stark & glaring omission.

but it wasnt a 'top 10' list
i literally brainstormed 15 random players. im sorry I forgot your favourite player Bob Pratt. Yes, he is a legendary full forward.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Ron Todd chose to play in the VFA for Williamstown and left Collingwood for the $$$$

@ 500 Pounds guaranteed per year for the first 2 seasons, plus 5 pounds extra per match…..Quite the princely sum back in the day prior to the war I'd wager.

Then went on to own & run pub in Lorne post retirement from football, circa early 1950's....Smart fella.

 

[Ron The Bear]

Titus gets to 1000 goals. Richmond forcibly retired him in 1943; four years later when the Reserves team was a player short, Titus stepped in and kicked a lazy dozen @ 39yo.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Titus gets to 1000 goals. Richmond forcibly retired him in 1943; four years later when the Reserves team was a player short, Titus stepped in and kicked a lazy dozen @ 39yo.

2 very remarkable stats about Jack Titus....He played as the key forward at a height of only 175cm's, meaning he was shorter than KB @177cm's.

And he played in 8 Grand Finals for only 2 wins & 6 losses.....The worse losing Grand Final record in VFL/AFL history.

 

[cricketnut14]

Titus gets to 1000 goals. Richmond forcibly retired him in 1943; four years later when the Reserves team was a player short, Titus stepped in and kicked a lazy dozen @ 39yo.

Great effort and just fell short of 1000.

Seems cruel to retire him 30 goals shy of 1000 and 6 games shy of 300. End of the day it's a team sport.

970/294 @ 3.30

Had he played the OP's 306 games, he would have joined the elite 1000 club.

He did got another 100+ goals in the VFA which takes his grand total past 1000.

3.30 goals per game certainly ain't up there with the greats, but in saying that no one today maintains that average for now. The day will come again.
To put things into perspective, Buddy has played 6 more games than Titus did and is still 26 goals behind him.

 

[cricketnut14]

I brainstormed 15 of the greatest tall forwards ever (not the 15 best, just 15 of the best) and of those 15, G. Coventry played the most games.
What if we scaled all of their goals to match his games tally?

View attachment 866901

buddy has now played 306 games and coincidentally enough has kicked 963 goals

 

[jsdsgn]

buddy has now played 306 games and coincidentally enough has kicked 963 goals

They have always referred to me as some kind of prophetic genius.

 

[cricketnut14]

They have always referred to me as some kind of prophetic genius.

we should start guessing how many goals he will end up with and from how many games.

i'll have a go first up: 1070/337 @ 3.18

franklin will be on his last year of the 9 year deal at the swans and may well finish at the end of next season.

 

[jsdsgn]

we should start guessing how many goals he will end up with and from how many games.

i'll have a go first up: 1070/337 @ 3.18

franklin will be on his last year of the 9 year deal at the swans and may well finish at the end of next season.

I would predict a little less.

Perhaps something like 1039/330

 

[Generalissimo]

If Hudson had played as many games as Boomer Harvey he'd have ended up with 2434 goals. Crazy!

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

What I do know though i that only Coleman & Hudson stand alongside Plugger.

Nonsense.

Dunstall and Ablett absolutely stand beside Plugger (and the other two although let's be serious Hudson is the greatest FF of all time by a fair margin)

You have selectively used stats to make your argument and forgot about the 500 goals that Dunstall could have kicked himself but gave away.

Ablett played the first hundred odd games of his career on a wing.

 

[goodie23]

Special mentions to:
*Ron Todd: (if you include his VFA stats): 999 (217) @ 4.60
*Fred Cook (VFA) : 1336 (300) @ 4.45 - Two seasons (Yarraville/Moorabbin) were in Div 2 of VFA, and his first 6 years was as a swingman backman/forward.
He did manage 33 games @ Footscray/Western Bulldogs before heading off to the VFA.
*Rino Pretto (VFA): 1070 (221) @ 4.84 - A lot of his footy was in Div 2, and his first 3 seasons were as a full back.
He did manage 1 game @ Fitzroy before heading off to the VFA.
*George Doig (WAFL): 1095 (202) @ 5.42 - Kicked 100 goals in a season on 9 consectitive occasions @ East Fremantle.
*Bernie Naylor (WAFL): 1034 (194) @ 5.33.
*Ken Farmer (SANFL): 1417 (224) @ 6.33 - Kicked 100 goals in a season on 11 consectitive occasions @ North Adelaide and once kicked 23 goals in a game.
Smaller grounds and weaker opposition is generally considered a factor here, nevertheless great stats.
*Peter Hudson (TFL): 994 (159) @ 6.25 - His stats at Glenorchy are insane.

Seeing this actually brought up an interesting historical hypothetical for me. A distant relative of mine is Hugh "Bonny" Campbell, full forward in East Perth's team of the century and member of the West Aussie Hall of Fame. 630 goals in his 188 league games despite starting his career as a defender - an average of 3.35 goals a game. Purely as East Perth's full forward - 4.07 goals a game. Who knows how many more if he hadn't sat out 1923 after being denied a clearance to East Perth.

In 1926 Campbell kicked 89 goals, including finals, to create an Australian record. Collingwood champion Gordon Coventry beat it the following year with 97.

Here's what the Internet and history books haven't written. Collingwood tried to poach him. They flew him over and wanted him to play for them - why not, the man kicked 23 goals for Western Australia against Queensland at the 1924 Hobart carnival. I'm not sure what year this happened, I'll ask my family and see if I can find out. My grandmother told me he knocked them back because he didn't want to move across the country (and didn't like Melbourne weather enough to live here).

How different history could've been if Campbell had've made the move.

For the record
306 games at 3.35 goals a game - 1025 goals
306 games at 4.07 goals a game - 1245 goals

Given his performance at state carnivals, it could've happened.

 

[cricketnut14]

Nonsense.

Dunstall and Ablett absolutely stand beside Plugger (and the other two although let's be serious Hudson is the greatest FF of all time by a fair margin)

You have selectively used stats to make your argument and forgot about the 500 goals that Dunstall could have kicked himself but gave away.

Ablett played the first hundred odd games of his career on a wing.

Lockett's first 71 games included playing second fiddle to Mark Jackson, stints at centre half forward and in the ruck. he also gave away his fair share of goals too, including goals to dunstall in the 89 state game and ablett in the 95 state game.

I will agree that the above 5 mentioned , are also my top 5.

i'll have a go at rating my top 10 (and this ain't easy)

i went with the criteria:
-played at the top level AFL/VFL for 100+ games (coleman 98)
-averaged 4+ goals per game (wade 3.96 - but did kick 1000+)
-1000+ goals were automatic selections

1.Lockett
2.Hudson
3.Coleman
4.Dunstall
5.Ablett
6.Coventry
7.McKenna
8.Pratt
9.Wade
10.No one else qualifies so throw a blamket over any of the previous mentioned.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Lockett's first 71 games included playing second fiddle to Mark Jackson, stints at centre half forward and in the ruck. he also gave away his fair share of goals too, including goals to dunstall in the 89 state game and ablett in the 95 state game.

I will agree that the above 5 mentioned , are also my top 5.

i'll have a go at rating my top 10 (and this ain't easy)

i went with the criteria:
-played at the top level AFL/VFL for 100+ games (coleman 98)
-averaged 4+ goals per game (wade 3.96 - but did kick 1000+)
-1000+ goals were automatic selections

1.Lockett
2.Hudson
3.Coleman
4.Dunstall
5.Ablett
6.Coventry
7.McKenna
8.Pratt
9.Wade
10.No one else qualifies so throw a blamket over any of the previous mentioned.

In theory Franklin ends up at 10. Or do you put him higher?

 

[cricketnut14]

In theory Franklin ends up at 10. Or do you put him higher?

going by my theory above then yeah he'd be 10 (when he gets to 1000) - he ain't in the class of the other 9.

i mean he is currently 7 goals behind titus and played 13 games more than him and titus doesn't rate a mention amongst the above.
i'd probably be happier with lloyd at number 10.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

going by my theory above then yeah he'd be 10 (when he gets to 1000) - he ain't in the class of the other 9.

i mean he is currently 7 goals behind titus and played 13 games more than him and titus doesn't rate a mention amongst the above.
i'd probably be happier with lloyd at number 10.

There’s no question Franklin is a better footballer than Lloyd though, surely?

 

[cricketnut14]

There’s no question Franklin is a better footballer than Lloyd though, surely?

yeah you'd say so - afterall Franklin will be inducted as a legend one day i'm sure.

Lloyd is a better full forward and a better kick for goal though.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Lockett's first 71 games included playing second fiddle to Mark Jackson, stints at centre half forward and in the ruck. he also gave away his fair share of goals too, including goals to dunstall in the 89 state game and ablett in the 95 state game.

I will agree that the above 5 mentioned , are also my top 5.

i'll have a go at rating my top 10 (and this ain't easy)

i went with the criteria:
-played at the top level AFL/VFL for 100+ games (coleman 98)
-averaged 4+ goals per game (wade 3.96 - but did kick 1000+)
-1000+ goals were automatic selections

1.Lockett
2.Hudson
3.Coleman
4.Dunstall
5.Ablett
6.Coventry
7.McKenna
8.Pratt
9.Wade
10.No one else qualifies so throw a blamket over any of the previous mentioned.

Talk about some rose coloured glasses when it comes to Lockett. His record is imposing as it is without you trying to pump it up.

Lockett's first 71 games included playing second fiddle to Mark Jackson. You mean those 10 games Jacko played in Pluggers debut season when Plugger was 17 years old?

Stints at CFH and in the ruck? I remember him having 'stints' in the ruck. Probably more to get him warm after sitting at full forward freezing in that putrid St Kilda side at the time. How many 'stints' in the ruck did he have in his Brownlow year when he kicked 117 goals in 22 games and had 63 hit outs for the year, the most he had in any season in his career?

 

[cricketnut14]

Talk about some rose coloured glasses when it comes to Lockett. His record is imposing as it is without you trying to pump it up.

Lockett's first 71 games included playing second fiddle to Mark Jackson. You mean those 10 games Jacko played in Pluggers debut season when Plugger was 17 years old?

Stints at CFH and in the ruck? I remember him having 'stints' in the ruck. Probably more to get him warm after sitting at full forward freezing in that putrid St Kilda side at the time. How many 'stints' in the ruck did he have in his Brownlow year when he kicked 117 goals in 22 games and had 63 hit outs for the year, the most he had in any season in his career?

fair analysis that. i did say 'stints' though

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

fair analysis that. i did say 'stints' though

As Wallsy would say, 'Give him a run in the ruck.'

A St Kilda fan would know better, I certainly remember him having the odd run in the ruck and at CHF, but no great length of time.

 

[cricketnut14]

Jack Titus 970/294 @ 3.30

Lance Franklin 968/308 @ 3.14

Franklin should pass Titus next week or after the BYE.

90 more goals will see him pass Ablett & Wade as well and into 4th position.

 

[Occidental]

Gordon Coventry played when seasons were only 18 games. Had he played when seasons were 22 games, he hypothetically would have another 72 games.
At his goal average plus 72 more games, Nuts Coventry would have 1604 career goals.
Simply the GOAT.

 

[cricketnut14]

Gordon Coventry played when seasons were only 18 games. Had he played when seasons were 22 games, he hypothetically would have another 72 games.
At his goal average plus 72 more games, Nuts Coventry would have 1604 career goals.
Simply the GOAT.

22 years ago today Plugger slotted his 1300th through the big sticks