Who are the biggest examples of wasted talent in AFL history and why?

[KermitJagger]

This thread was posted in 2015, but deserves a re-do because there are a few potential additions to this list. I've always felt, as a Hawks supporter, our biggest example of a wasted talent was Dayle Garlett.

Supremely talented, goal kicking machine with skills to burn. Best possible club to draft him, with Cyril Rioli and Shaun Burgoyne as mentors, but he couldn't cope with the professional rigors of AFL football and tore up his contract before returning to WA without playing a game.

Shortly afterwards, ended up in prison for a fair chunk of time - may have realised the mistake recently as he tried to be granted bail in order to resurrect his AFL career but was denied.

 

[Scanlens Man]

Phil Carmen comes to mind

 

[rumply]

Liam Jurrah. /thread

 

[Crashy]

Bennell
Sylvia
Jurrah

 

[jakson68]

Ben Cousins.
Not so much a wasted talent but a wasted life.
He had it all, good looking bloke, great footballer, premiership player, widely admired by all. From the outside looking in, he had the perfect life.
Then evil stepped in and the rest is common knowledge.

 

[basashi]

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-11-22/i-was-really-angry-exbear-reveals-racism-struggle

 

[Kwality]

I've no doubt the Chris Lewis career was shortened by his on field treatment, not diminishing what flew over the fence ... his best was as good as it gets.

 

[schmuttt]

Adrian McAdam
Liam Jurrah
Colin Sylvia

 

[Kyptastic]

Damian Cupido

 

[Cotchins Hair Piece]

Could be hogan depending on how he recovers.

 

[NonPhixion]

Colin Sylvia
Reece McKenzie - had a crazy amount of talent

 

[james Dean]

Chris Yarran, was lazy at Swan Districts and would have been pick 1 if he had any work ethic in the colts. Still ended up being a top 10 pick, and when he was finally making a name for himself, he starts smoking meth and is out of the league before you know it

 

[CharacterFirst]

Nathan Ablett.


Had all the physical skills to be GOAT.

 

[Back One Out]

I've tried to avoid picking blokes who had rotten luck with injuries. Some young footballers are just dealt a bad hand through no fault of their own.

Harley Bennell and Liam Jurrah are the most obvious candidates of wasted talent from recent years. They both coodabeen champions.

Chris Yarran had talent to burn, but had some issues
Jarrad Grant, the skinny Bulldogs forward showed some ability. I saw him kick 6 goals in one game. Not sure why he never became a senior regular.
Mitch Clark could've been a great ruckman/forward, but he suffered from various issues
Richard Tambling was a brilliant junior footballer who appeared to be too timid at AFL level and lost confidence
Ashley Sampi - super talented, but he played just 78 games. ????
Damian Cupido - Stupido, more like. A big-headed clown who could've been anything, but squandered his talent.

Allen Jakovich kicked 201 goals from 47 games with Melbourne - pretty good, I guess - but he could've been a Hall of Famer. He was a dynamite forward, more explosive and naturally talented than his brother, Glen. But he always looked a bit unfit and chunky around the middle. Hurt his back, I think and never really recovered from that. Maybe that's why he looked unfit and a bit overweight because he couldn't train.

In his first AFL season (aged 23) he kicked bags of 8, 6, 6, 8, 7, 11, and 5 in successive weeks and then destroyed Essendon in the '91 Elimination Final with 8 goals (I think he kicked 7 in the 2nd half). What an enigma, he was! He literally came from nowhere to set the AFL on fire, but was gone a few seasons later.

 

[sthmelb_dimmies]

Jarrad Waite

 

[Johanpetro]

Dunno about AFL history but Bomber Thompson said Nathan Ablett had more natural ability than Gaz Jr.

 

[Baird]

Chris Yarran, was lazy at Swan Districts and would have been pick 1 if he had any work ethic in the colts. Still ended up being a top 10 pick, and when he was finally making a name for himself, he starts smoking meth and is out of the league before you know it

One of the most talented players to ever play the game.

 

[Bastyy]

Nathan Fyfe, the fact he hasn't won every brownlow since 2012 is blasphemy and should be dropped to Peel!

In all seriousness I think Mitch Clark never lived up to the name. Maybe that's a salty Freo supporter showing his bias but I do think he could have done more

 

[Monkey King]

Chris Yarran, was lazy at Swan Districts and would have been pick 1 if he had any work ethic in the colts. Still ended up being a top 10 pick, and when he was finally making a name for himself, he starts smoking meth and is out of the league before you know it

Dayle Garlett in the same vein.

A different situation, but one I think still fits in this thread is Stephen Oliver, who decided the big smoke wasn’t for him and returned to the bush where he kicked over 1000 goals in the BFL.

 

[00Stinger]

Melbourne have had a few contenders over the last 15 years

Colin Sylvia
Travis Johnstone
Liam Jurrah

 

[Jesse Custer]

This thread was posted in 2015, but deserves a re-do because there are a few potential additions to this list. I've always felt, as a Hawks supporter, our biggest example of a wasted talent was Dayle Garlett.

Supremely talented, goal kicking machine with skills to burn. Best possible club to draft him, with Cyril Rioli and Shaun Burgoyne as mentors, but he couldn't cope with the professional rigors of AFL football and tore up his contract before returning to WA without playing a game.

Shortly afterwards, ended up in prison for a fair chunk of time - may have realised the mistake recently as he tried to be granted bail in order to resurrect his AFL career but was denied.

What about Mitch Thorp?

 

[Back One Out]

Melbourne have had a few contenders: Colin Sylvia, Travis Johnstone, Liam Jurrah

Johnstone is a good shout. Just a naturally gifted star, oozing class. He played some great games for Melbourne and ended up playing 209 games over a 13 year career, so he didn't completely squander his talent. But at his core, he was a lazy footballer who showed more passion for the punt than getting himself super fit, shaking off the taggers and winning a Brownlow Medal which would've been well within his reach. He had some good seasons, some great games, but by the end of his career, most AFL fans wouldn't give him a second's thought. Wasted talent.

 

[marty36]

Melbourne have had a few contenders over the last 15 years

Colin Sylvia
Travis Johnstone
Liam Jurrah

Melbourne does but none of those

Jackovich in his first 47 games would be that far ahead of any player ever in average goals kicked he was a freak

 

[HTT]

Ben Cousins

 

[Back One Out]

What about Mitch Thorp?

Hawk diehards wrote his career off as a mixture of bad attitude (arrogance) and bad luck with injuries. He came to Hawthorn from the Tassie U/18's with some sort of degenerative hip complaint which basically robbed him of his speed & mobility. His body was f**ked. That said, he never gave himself much of chance with his poor attitude.

Still, it's a bit rough to write off the injury-prone kids as "squandered talents". Every year, there are kids taken in the 1st round of the National Draft whose careers never really get started because of injuries