Opinion 5 Toughest Cats You've Seen

[Man0gwaR74]

I think that Joel Selwood is a classic case for debate of that toughness/stupidity query that Vdubs suggested.

I know Vdubs was referring more to the fine line between bravery & stupidity but It is still connected to mentality towards being tough imo.

 

[Partridge]

Great post.
In most situations, Couchy did not jump out as a classically tough player, but any player who was as heavily tagged week in week out and triumphed, is tough. He NEVER EVER sooked. for a free kick. Just got on with it with that perpetual smile.

Couch? Yes he did. After the Footscray game when there were photos in the paper of the treatment he was getting. And again years later with Mike Sheahan.

Good player, but let's not go too far. Wasn't in either Garry or Steve Hocking's league when it came to toughness.

To be honest I think he's one of a few from that era who tried to act like the Grand final failures weren't their fault just other players.

 

[Partridge]

1. Gary Ablett senior
2. Garry Hocking
3. Tom Lonergan
4. John Newman
5. Joel Selwood

Honourable mentions (and there isn't much in it) to Mark Bos, Ray Card, Steve Hocking, and Andrew Bews.

 

[Two Planks]

Dangerfield is being criminally underrated here. Apart from Joel, nobody comes close IMHO.

 

[Partridge]

How tough was it though? Some of it was just thuggery. (Not all, of course.)

I'd say extremely tough.

The first defence that modern commentators make is that the game has never been faster (true), the players have never been fitter (true), they hit harder (maybe), but there's a flip side to that. The game has never been cleaner either, and players now have actual resting as part of their routine. Players thirty years ago rarely went to the interchange bench, let alone having a game off. You think they didn't have niggles or were sore?

Consider Newman's unbelievable toughness. Take everything Tom Lonergan did, and then throw in a far dirtier era where players would try and take you out, and he came back into that environment and played for another decade. There's a reason Doug Wade said he was the bravest player he ever saw.

 

[Max Milburn]

I'd say extremely tough.

The first defence that modern commentators make is that the game has never been faster (true), the players have never been fitter (true), they hit harder (maybe), but there's a flip side to that. The game has never been cleaner either, and players now have actual resting as part of their routine. Players thirty years ago rarely went to the interchange bench, let alone having a game off. You think they didn't have niggles or were sore?

Consider Newman's unbelievable toughness. Take everything Tom Lonergan did, and then throw in a far dirtier era where players would try and take you out, and he came back into that environment and played for another decade. There's a reason Doug Wade said he was the bravest player he ever saw.

True. For every player who came through with a raised elbow, there was someone on the receiving end.
Most players knew it would eventually happen to them.
I guess I was questioning the so called toughness of the snipers.
Although some of those could take it as well.

 

[Man0gwaR74]

I remember early doors everyone was saying Joel would be burned out and gone from the game at 25, either by those so called dodgy knees or one too many concussions. But here he is still going strong. The man is ridiculously durable especially given the brand of footy he plays. He's a star.

There is no disputing that Joel is a class act which is of all the more reason for my concern for his influence on important games, due to the season grind. When we need it from him the most, is he going to continue to deliver? Will he be injured or carrying an injury before then? Is it his ego that drives it and is that good for the team harmony/balance?!? I'm sure that it is inspiring to see it but is he too invested innit?!? Should it be more controlled now that he is in the twilight of his career?!?

 

[Man0gwaR74]

True. For every player who came through with a raised elbow, there was someone on the receiving end.
Most players knew it would eventually happen to them.
I guess I was questioning the so called toughness of the snipers.
Although some of those could take it as well.

raised elbows show how tough they are not, it's a coward's act!
Reminds me of that encounter between Mummy and Duncan when Mummy connected with Duncan head high and the football community hailed Mummy for his bravery and toughness. All I seen was a giant too afraid to get low for the spear tackle. Duncan didn't even get a free kick for that incident that left him concussed, how was that acceptable?!? They still show replays of it on TV to glorify Mummy!

 

[Man0gwaR74]

Just on that era - seeing you saw them etc - you might be interested that Cursed Cat on the main board under the thread " Older Premierships " he put vision up of all Geel premierships from 63 back

The 1963 one was excellent - he had the whole last qtr ( i had never seen that before - i watched that the other night ) excellent quality vision - Geel ripped Haw to bits - toyed with them - thought you might be interested if you hadnt seen it before

I tried to find it, got a link?

 

[Shadow89]

Anyone leaving out Rooke is crazy. Man was built like a brick shizenhousen (as Rex Hunt would say), and played like it too. As tough as all the others are though, no-one surpasses Captain Courageous.

1. Joel Selwood
2. Budda Hocking
3. GAS
4. Max Rooke
5. (Slightly controversial) Greg Williams

Although Williams didn't play for us for long, he's still one of the toughest to ever play the game, and was at our club where he won a Carji, so fits the criteria.

Honourable mentions: Stevie J (That bump against Sandilands where he just gets straight back up is evidence enough), Chappie, Ling, Lonergan, A. Bews, Bartel, Mooney, Danger, Lingy, Yeates, Corey.

Corey another one that is underrated on here.

 

[Vdubs]

Couch? Yes he did. After the Footscray game when there were photos in the paper of the treatment he was getting. And again years later with Mike Sheahan.

Good player, but let's not go too far. Wasn't in either Garry or Steve Hocking's league when it came to toughness.

To be honest I think he's one of a few from that era who tried to act like the Grand final failures weren't their fault just other players.

I never saw him remonstrate with umpires for frees, but will accept your views as you probably saw more of his games than I did.
As I said, Buddha and Steve were certainly more classical toughness

 

[Goggin Our Best]

I tried to find it, got a link?

Thread title - Older Premiership Wins - on the main board

 

[Rubberducky]

1. Buddha
2. Selwood
3. Rooke
4. Ablett snr
5. S Hocking (89 grand final injury blows my mind he played with that.)

 

[Goggin Our Best]

One for the old timers

Big Tim Colley didnt play many games for the Cats - but he was a pretty rough and tough type - had the Neil Balme long unkept hair look too

Went to a game at Victoria Park - Tim was throwing the weight around much to the irk of the Pies supporters

 

[DanA]

Names that come to mind for me are S.Hocking, G.Hocking, J.Selwood, M.Scarlett, M.Rooke, A.Bews and J.Kelly. I thought Chappy was a little hard nut as well.

 

[David the Cat]

Just on that era - seeing you saw them etc - you might be interested that Cursed Cat on the main board under the thread " Older Premierships " he put vision up of all Geel premierships from 63 back

The 1963 one was excellent - he had the whole last qtr ( i had never seen that before - i watched that the other night ) excellent quality vision - Geel ripped Haw to bits - toyed with them - thought you might be interested if you hadnt seen it before

Thanks GOB....a really enjoyable half hour watching the 63GF...amazingly clear footage. I was amazed I could remember every player and their numbers....and I was pretty young when it happened. I was a boy fanatic! Only the boy bit has changed!!

The only one that caught me out was Scott...#14...didnt remember him. Thanks so much for the referral. For those who haven't seen it, link is below.



https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/older-premiership-wins.1209624/

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Thanks GOB....a really enjoyable half hour watching the 63GF...amazingly clear footage. I was amazed I could remember every player and their numbers....and I was pretty young when it happened. I was a boy fanatic! Only the boy bit has changed!!

The only one that caught me out was Scott...#14...didnt remember him. Thanks so much for the referral. For those who haven't seen it, link is below.

I read somewhere that you couldn't find replay of the last quarter of the 63 GF ......you will also find footage of the 51/52, and newsreel footage of the 30's Premierships as well. The footage of the 63 GF is awesome.

What amazed me was I remembered every single player and their numbers....only #14 Scott was the one I had no recollection of.

For those that missed it, follow the link below.

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/older-premiership-wins.1209624/

Just one thing re that last qtr - how well Gordon Hynes played

Bob Davis actually once said on that League Teams - that Hynes should have been a better player than Goggin - he actually said that - i think there might have been a bit of angst between Bobby and Billy at that time

But Hynes should have played alot more than the 50 odd games he played - because he had alot of natural talent - as evidenced by that 63 last qtr

 

[hamG]

The amount of legitimately tough bastards in the 2007-2011 era over all lines says a lot about those guys. It's much faster to go through the list and pick out the few of them who were not known for toughness.

 

[MacStradbroke]

Names that come to mind for me are S.Hocking, G.Hocking, J.Selwood, M.Scarlett, M.Rooke, A.Bews and J.Kelly. I thought Chappy was a little hard nut as well.

Glad someone mentioned Kel. Always thought both he and Stevie J were hard as and they liked to hurt the opposition when they hit or tackled them. Just a bonus for us that they were stars as well.

 

[vicpride]

Cam Mooney wasn't tough. He was a hothead ect but geez he didn't scream reckless with his body. Steve hocking, Scarlett, Ling they all went when it was thier turn but come on tough? Show me a highlight of Scarlett sacraficing his body Anyways here is my list.

Rooke- toughest bastard by a mile
Selwood
Bews
Hocking
Kilpatrick
Colbert
Lonergan
Milburn
Bartel
Ablett Snr


Sent from my SM-A300Y using Tapatalk

 

[Hello Kitty]

Garry Ablett Snr was not tough. He lined blokes up, and ran through them.....nothing tough about that.
Rarely saw him shape up if ever when confronted


For mine:
1. Joel Selwood (captain courageous)
2. Mark Yeates. (Could legitimately fight)
3- Ray Card (actually put the fear of god into people)
4. Ken Hinkley. (Often put his health at risk by taking intercept marks in front of charging forwards). Never shirked it. (Honourable mention to Tommy Lonegran for exactly the same reason)
5. Garry Hocking. (Would take on anyone, including John Worsfold in his beastly prime)


* James Parsons unlucky to miss out

That was the best thing to happen to such a good bloke!

 

[Hello Kitty]

Thanks GOB....a really enjoyable half hour watching the 63GF...amazingly clear footage. I was amazed I could remember every player and their numbers....and I was pretty young when it happened. I was a boy fanatic! Only the boy bit has changed!!

The only one that caught me out was Scott...#14...didnt remember him. Thanks so much for the referral. For those who haven't seen it, link is below.

I read somewhere that you couldn't find replay of the last quarter of the 63 GF ......you will also find footage of the 51/52, and newsreel footage of the 30's Premierships as well. The footage of the 63 GF is awesome.

What amazed me was I remembered every single player and their numbers....only #14 Scott was the one I had no recollection of.

For those that missed it, follow the link below.

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/older-premiership-wins.1209624/

Thank you so much for posting the link, David.

Looking forward to watching it.

 

[Hello Kitty]

This is difficult to decide, I've seen a lot of really tough players over the years.

1. Gary Ablett Sr
2. Max Rooke
3. Joel Selwood
4. Sam Newman
5. Gary Hocking
6. Andrew Bews
7. Paul Couch
8. Matthew Scarlett
9. Tom Lonergan
10. Jimmy Bartel
11. Paul Chapman
12. Darren Milburn
13. Bill Ryan
14. Bill Goggin
15. Neville Bruns

BTW I chose 15 because I'm so old

 

[Sparkle]

Reading through this thread and thinking of the kind of player Max Rooke was, as well as re-watching the 2009 Grand Final on the weekend, Rooke should have won the Norm Smith that day for sure. Chappy played a great game, but when the game was there to be won, Rooke was in amongst it, throwing himself everywhere and playing an inspirational game.

He definitely showed characteristics of someone who is tough that day - resilient, determined and selfless

 

[Man0gwaR74]

Corey another one that is underrated on here.

This may appear gay but I don't care: Joel Corey has a special place in my heart!