The meanest AND cleanest player in AFL history?

[John Who]

Who would be the best player in AFL history, with a clean sheet of "no suspensions"?
Who looks like a bloke you'd hang out for a quiet few drinks at a bar, but would be a silent assassin on a footy field?

 

[Sweetback]

Max Rooke, Byron Pickett, Troy Cook

 

[Generalissimo]

To this day, Raphael Clarke has recurring nightmares in which he's driving down a deserted country highway, happens to glance in his rear view mirror, and there's Max Rooke.

 

[John Who]

Max Rooke, Byron Pickett, Troy Cook

Don't know about the other 2, but I'm pretty sure Byron Pickett got suspended a few games for his several bumps. If he was still playing and doing those bumps now, it might get him a life ban at the MRP hearing!

 

[Luv_our_club]

Robert Flower, clean.

Bruce Doull was clean too, and also silent.


The best silent assassin i ever saw was Garry Ayres... never raised a hand, never needed to.

 

[FISTO]

Ryan Houlihan

 

[Farm Boy]

Gerard Whateley

 

[Muddiemoose]

bones mcghie

 

[thecatattack]

Bill Goggin

 

[wal]

Shane Parker, he brutality attacked Gehrig's hand once.

 

[Topkent]

Reckon Beau Waters killed a few blokes without suspension.

 

[ExTasDeeMan]

Ask Luke McCabe and David Neitz

 

[Benny78]

Kelvin Matthews

 

[Buzzasto DaSilva]

Hayden Crozier .

 

[Chadwiko]

Glenn Archer

 

[ZEV]

Flower
Woosh or Hodgey if i needed a lift home

 

[Silent Alarm]

You mean simultaneously?

You either mean someone hard and fair like Robert Harvey, pains me to say it but James Hird as a player, Paul Kelly, Josh Kennedy etc.

Otherwise they're probably little *in rats who do stuff cameras don't pick up on.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Robert Flower, clean.

Bruce Doull was clean too, and also silent.


The best silent assassin i ever saw was Garry Ayres... never raised a hand, never needed to.

He gave Jacko Jackson a little clip in that infamous game between Haw and Geel when all hell broke loose and Bruns got his come uppence. Plenty of back pocket players were snipers and Ayres was in that category. Eg. Sheedy, Magro.

 

[Marcus DuQuesne]

Bill Goggin

He would pinch your wallett and never shout..haha

 

[Ron The Bear]

Francis Bourke

(Jack Dyer was only ever suspended once.)

 

[HolyRioli]

Shaun Burgoyne. His hard stuff is probably lost a little in his nickname, but he tackles for keeps.

 

[Giant Pete]

Cal Ward

 

[Tas]

Don't know about the other 2, but I'm pretty sure Byron Pickett got suspended a few games for his several bumps. If he was still playing and doing those bumps now, it might get him a life ban at the MRP hearing!

You can't judge past players by present day standards, that being said, Pickett was rubbed out for 6 weeks for a high hip and shoulder on James Begley under the new points based system back in 2005, prior to them at North he had only one suspension in 8 years.

Even Archer said that had he kept playing with the modern tribunal system he would have spent more time suspended than playing. Pickett used to get cleaned up as well, he would often line up someone from a fair way out and as Adam Simpson said "For every 30 people he cleans up, maybe one or two of them are on the wrong side of the law, but that's just the way he plays and I like it, I like the way he plays."

Simpson made that comment after Pickett got rubbed out for 6 weeks playing for Port Adelaide in a pre-season game in 2005.

When people talk about Pickett, most just remember the one or two incidents which he miscalculated, given the speed he came in at, there is a fine line between fair and illegal and it was exceptionally difficult to aim to play fair and do what he did, he often hurt himself playing the way he did. The fact remains every player I have ever heard about who talk about the incidents where Pickett cleaned them up have defended him that he was just playing the game hard and it wasn't anything malicious.

In his prime, late in his career with us and early in his time at Port, he put the fear of god into forwards, players didn't hang on to the ball for an eternity when they played against a side that Pickett was in and when they did get the ball they usually frantically looked around to see if he was in the vicinity. He used to swoop in like a hawk making a run on a rabbit, he was majestic to watch and painful when he played against us.

He was one of the most feared opponents behind Archer and well respected by his peers. I am not sure it is even possible to play hard and not get suspended, it is impossible to rack up 10 years being a tough aggressive player and not make any mistakes.

 

[saintkildaman]

Sir Leonard Hayes.

 

[astro1212]

Chris Judd found it hard to get suspended even with his ninja assassin techniques.