Universal Love Adelaide Crows Folklore

[119others]

I did say a lot....not all.

The jobs he did on some of the star forwards giving away plenty of height and weight were massive both defensively and offensibly.

can anyone remember witnessing him pulling Dunstalls pants down in our very first game. Went from relatively unknown to wow, the pace, leap and confidence of this lad is amazing, also saw him rip the Horks a new one in our first finals victory at The G (a very under rated game). Plus 97 prelim and 98 GF.

versatile, skillful, athletic. Absolute gun

 

[GreyCrow]

can anyone remember witnessing him pulling Dunstalls pants down in our very first game. Went from relatively unknown to wow, the pace, leap and confidence of this lad is amazing, also saw him rip the Horks a new one in our first finals victory at The G (a very under rated game). Plus 97 prelim and 98 GF.

versatile, skillful, athletic. Absolute gun

Dany Hughes played FB that night

 

[119others]

Dany Hughes played FB that night

99.9% sure it was Smart on Dunstall. Will await others feedback but was amazed on the night seeing him take down Dunstall

 

[GreyCrow]

99.9% sure it was Smart on Dunstall. Will await others feedback but was amazed on the night seeing him take down Dunstall

Looks like you were right. I was sure Hughes played that night

Narrator : He did not

 

[119others]

Looks like you were right. I was sure Hughes played that night

Narrator : He did not

whole game

and for a snapshot watch this 8 mins highlights for seriously almost the most complete and perfect game of footy we have EVER played.

 

[GreyCrow]

You might be able to see me in that 2nd vid screen shot

 

[119others]

You might be able to see me in that 2nd vid screen shot

The atmosphere that night and in the early years overall….electric.

We played so amazingly well that I think that little ferret Rucci - or certainly someone from the Tiser - came out before the inevitable let down week 2 loss saying “Crows should now be adjusting their sights on not just the finals, but winning the whole thing”

 

[crowholder]

whole game

and for a snapshot watch this 8 mins highlights for seriously almost the most complete and perfect game of footy we have EVER played.

I remember seeing that game and the crowd were saying Dermie is a W****r before he wiped out McDermont. Then my mother sang the chant, which was so amusing to me, as she was/is so conservative in what she says

 

[Bearded Clam]

I remember back in the day hearing that in Brett Burtons draft year there was a highlights package put out that showed highlights from all that years (1998?) draftees..

and that most of the footage in it was dominated by reel after reel of Brett Burton taking screamers!

One of the greatest players ever for taking speccies…. But terrible at football administration…

 

[Multiballz]

Nigel Smart the footballer chronically underrated by a lot of Adelaide BF supporters.

Agreed.

Tyson Edwards chronically overrated IMO.

Popular opinion Im sure.

 

[119others]

A great aerialist. Best after Mods without a doubt.

Good package even if they missed the most obvious of all “that’s one of the marks of the century”. Great call by Dwayno

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Agreed.

Tyson Edwards chronically overrated IMO.

Popular opinion Im sure.

I reckon Smart is underrated by younger fans who only clearly remember his final couple of years, too young to remember his best

Not sure Edwards is overrated? Never mentioned in the same breath as Roo, McLeod, Jarman etc. Next tier down which is about right

 

[Firewalker]

Nigel Smart the footballer chronically underrated by a lot of Adelaide BF supporters.

Underrated by Crows supporters and totally forgotten by the wider AFL, I remember a few years ago Garry Lyon seeing footage of him playing on him in a State match and his reaction was something like “oh that’s right I couldn’t get a touch that night because Nigel Smart was on me - he was actually a really good player”, his record compares so favourably if not better than some especially some more recently that have gone into the Hall of Fame; 2x Premiership, 3x All-Australian, 2x Aus Int. Rules, 8x South Australia, AFL life member.

Not having a go at Mark Bickley but it’s always not sat well with me that Smart was easily the more decorated player during their playing career’s yet it’s Bickley in the Hall of Fame instead. Not even sure the Football Club has ever nominated him either, was probably a difficult thing to actually acknowledge his on-field exploits while he was still working at the club.

Can almost paint Smart and Burton with the same brush, not covering yourself in glory off-field with club supporters whilst given a ‘nepo’ non-earned job at the club you played for and/or being a bit ‘different’ off & on-field in your playing days like both Smart and Burton were seems to have tarnished their actual performances in their playing careers which included some of the most extraordinary individual displays certainly in the first 20 years of the club.

Burton’s playing career is always now tarnished by his career post-script & that whole ‘Bird-Brain’ diatribe frustrated fans threw at him due to team failures in important matches at the time which has now become a more prevalent recollection of his playing performances rather than the player who helped win lots of games, consistently destroyed his opponents and did ridiculous things in the air and on the ground in a frustratingly injury riddled career.

I have no doubt it contributed to him losing any chance he had of a rightful place in the best team in 30 years thing the club ran a couple of years ago, Matthew Robran in that team over him, please .

 

[Bearded Clam]

Nigel Smart the footballer chronically underrated by a lot of Adelaide BF supporters.

Our most underrated player was Simon Goodwin.. criminally underrated.

Absolute gun of a player.. underrated mostly because he did alot of his work in the shadows of Roo and Mcloud..

 

[cleanhands]

Underrated by Crows supporters and totally forgotten by the wider AFL, I remember a few years ago Garry Lyon seeing footage of him playing on him in a State match and his reaction was something like “oh that’s right I couldn’t get a touch that night because Nigel Smart was on me - he was actually a really good player”, his record compares so favourably if not better than some especially some more recently that have gone into the Hall of Fame; 2x Premiership, 3x All-Australian, 2x Aus Int. Rules, 8x South Australia, AFL life member.

Not having a go at Mark Bickley but it’s always not sat well with me that Smart was easily the more decorated player during their playing career’s yet it’s Bickley in the Hall of Fame instead. Not even sure the Football Club has ever nominated him either, was probably a difficult thing to actually acknowledge his on-field exploits while he was still working at the club.



Can almost paint Smart and Burton with the same brush, not covering yourself in glory off-field with club supporters whilst given a ‘nepo’ non-earned job at the club you played for and/or being a bit ‘different’ off & on-field in your playing days like both Smart and Burton were seems to have tarnished their actual performances in their playing careers which included some of the most extraordinary individual displays certainly in the first 20 years of the club.

Burton’s playing career is always now tarnished by his career post-script & that whole ‘Bird-Brain’ diatribe frustrated fans threw at him due to team failures in important matches at the time which has now become a more prevalent recollection of his playing performances rather than the player who helped win lots of games, consistently destroyed his opponents and did ridiculous things in the air and on the ground in a frustratingly injury riddled career.

I have no doubt it contributed to him losing any chance he had of a rightful place in the best team in 30 years thing the club ran a couple of years ago, Matthew Robran in that team over him, please .

Robran was a key part of our premierships

 

[Firewalker]

Robran was a key part of our premierships

He played in those premierships and played a role in getting to those grand finals for sure but so did a lot of those players at the time like your Caven, Johnson, Vardy & Pittman types but none of those were ever considered to be any chance for the best of 30 year team just because they played in premierships. Premiership’s are definitely not the be-all and end-all classification for the overall output & contribution as an individual player.

Robran was nothing more than an ok to good-ish footballer that was more just a very gifted 194cm tall aerobic athlete that came from elite bloodlines, he was not that great a forward, he helped with structure but played probably only a dozen good to decent games in all be it a tough position at Centre Half Forward in those premiership years, his best football was actually played as an undersized ruck in 1996 & 1999 and as a loose running defender in 2000. The 1993 broken leg certainly hampered his development in ever being a fully consistent performer but certainly was not in the top 22 players in that 1991-2021 period.

Looking at that 30 year team it’s a bit of a mess, especially that half forward line making little sense…



The fact Robran ended up on field at CHF in that 30 year team was only because the team was selected just after Taylor Walker’s racism scandal and they didn’t want to name Tex on-field even though he was so clearly the best CHF the club had even at that point ever had.

Also that selection panel (John Reid, Trevor Jaques, John Condon, Michael Taylor, Mike Sheahan and Chris McDermott) consisted of people who favoured some older guys, for starters McDermott has ended up on a panel that selected himself, sure he was a tough as nails, loyal servant and great player throughout his whole footballing career but is certainly the other player who shouldn’t be in that team given he only really had a 1 good year (1992) and a couple of ok years at AFL level given he was in his twilight at the crows.

IMO the Team of 30 years 1991-2021 should’ve been;

B: Hart, Rutten, Johncock
HB: Smart, Talia, Bickley
C: Goodwin, Ricciuto, Sloane
HF: Edwards, Walker, Dangerfield
F: Betts, Modra, D.Jarman
Foll: Rehn, Thompson, McLeod

Int: Jacobs, Laird, McGuinness, Burton

 

[cleanhands]

He played in those premierships and played a role in getting to those grand finals for sure but so did a lot of those players at the time like your Caven, Johnson, Vardy & Pittman types but none of those were ever considered to be any chance for the best of 30 year team just because they played in premierships. Premiership’s are definitely not the be-all and end-all classification for the overall output & contribution as an individual player.

Robran was nothing more than an ok to good-ish footballer that was more just a very gifted 194cm tall aerobic athlete that came from elite bloodlines, he was not that great a forward, he played probably only a dozen good to decent games in all be it a tough position at Centre Half Forward in those premiership years, his best football was actually played as an undersized ruck in 1996 & 1999 and as a loose running defender in 2000. The 1993 broken leg certainly hampered his development in ever being a fully consistent performer but certainly was not in the top 22 players in that 1991-2021 period.

Looking at that 30 year team it’s a bit of a mess, especially that half forward line making little sense…

View attachment 1883863

The fact Robran ended up on field at CHF in that 30 year team was only because the team was selected just after Taylor Walker’s racism scandal and they didn’t want to name Tex on-field even though he was so clearly the best CHF the club had even at that point ever had.

Also that selection panel (John Reid, Trevor Jaques, John Condon, Michael Taylor, Mike Sheahan and Chris McDermott) consisted of people who favoured some older guys, for starters McDermott has ended up on a panel that selected himself, sure he was a tough as nails, loyal servant and great player throughout his whole footballing career but is certainly the other player who shouldn’t be in that team given he only really had a 1 good year (1992) and a couple of ok years at AFL level given he was in his twilight at the crows.

IMO the Team of 30 years 1991-2021 should’ve been;

B: Hart, Rutten, Johncock
HB: Smart, Talia, Bickley
C: Goodwin, Ricciuto, Sloane
HF: Edwards, Walker, Dangerfield
F: Betts, Modra, D.Jarman
Foll: Rehn, Thompson, McLeod

Int: Jacobs, Laird, McGuinness, Burton

He was obviously no favourite of yours, ok goodish, from elite bloodlines, a dozen good to decent games, whilst I wouldn’t rate him in front of Tex, I think he was a very good CHF and I obviously rate him more than yourself

 

[Firewalker]

He was obviously no favourite of yours, ok goodish, from elite bloodlines, a dozen good to decent games, whilst I wouldn’t rate him in front of Tex, I think he was a very good CHF and I obviously rate him more than yourself

Nah almost the opposite always liked him as a player and probably due to being young at the time didn’t get why other fans were very critical of his efforts especially when playing that hard CHF role and personally my dad had always chatted to him at his work for years when he was a teenager coming up so always had a soft spot for him and will always rate him as a highly skilled player who was at his best when freed up to use his aerobic abilities as a footballer.

He was a great structural piece for Blight’s gameplan much like Barry Stoneham was for him at Geelong but like Stoneham it doesn’t mean that he was among the great top-class footballers of his time, I think even Robran would say whilst he had skills and height he fell short of putting it all together whether that was because of the leg injury, being moved all over the park or sitting out a year at AFL level.

 

[kirky]

He's in my top 10.

Smart great on the field, absolute tosser (even when a player) off it.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Smart great on the field, absolute tosser (even when a player) off it.

He has arrogance which is not unusual for a top footballer.

But yeah, I heard stories of how bad he was as an administrator. Should never have been given the role.

 

[GROTTO]

He has arrogance which is not unusual for a top footballer.

But yeah, I heard stories of how bad he was as an administrator. Should never have been given the role.

Doesnt surprise me.

 

[cleanhands]

I wonder what SANFL club Matthew played for?

 

[cleanhands]

REDLEGS MUSEUM | PLAYERS

www.redlegsmuseum.com.au

View attachment 1883911

No doubt you're in there somewhere....

Not that important …………Black and white snap

 

[Rotayjay]

I come in peace!!

Apologies for the bump of this thread, wasn't sure where else to post this.

Also feel free to delete if warranted!

For anyone interested I have started a series doing each clubs Mt Rushmore, beginning with the Crows.

Would be interested to know how close to the mark I was given I don't know the club as in depth as all of you!

noting that i didnt include players who i didnt see play or current players.

Edit: yes I'm aware the thumbnail is s**t lol. Kids were running riot and I rushed it

I'm finding it hard to argue with your selection. Ricciuto and McLeod are, in my view, neck and neck for the greatest ever to pull on the tricolours, without Jarman we would have no premierships, and Modra put us on the map when we were trying to become relevant as a new club.

 

[Rotayjay]

Folklore isn't just the highlights, it's the lowlights too. Missing out on finals due to a blatant goal umpiring error will definitely go down in the club's history.