Alltime Best Indigenous Saints.

[borderbarry]

I see on Saintsational Forum they have a thread discussing the all time best indigenous players to play for the Saints. Now since I cant post on Saintsational, I thought I might start that thread here.
My best.
.No.1. Neil Elvis Winmar
2nd. Robbie Muir.
3rd. Xavier Clarke.
4th. Gilbert McAdam.
5th. Russell Jeffries.


Who are your all time favourites?

 

[Savage Kent]

My all time favourite indigenous saints:
#1 - Nicky Winmar then daylight.
#2 - Xavier Clarke (such a shame injuries plagued his career)
#3 - Gilbert McAdam
#4 - Gresh
#5- Phil Narkle

I am going by players I have watched during my lifetime.

Did anyone see the herald sun article the other day that had each club's top 3 indigenous players of all time. They had the following for us:
1. Nicky Winmar
2. Xavier Clarke
3. Raph clarke

 

[George]

Nicky Winmar
Gavin Mitchell
Gilbert McAdam
Robbie Muir

In order.

 

[Keg on legs]

1. Nicky winmar

2. Robbie muir (huge talent sadly not recognised for the ability he had)

3. Gilbert mcadam

4. Phil narkle

5. X Clarke

Special mention to Gresh (i reckon he might end his career at number 2 but doesn't warrant it yet)

 

[Sab22]

Future Best Indigenous Players.

Rankine - Long - Gresh

 

[mightymalaka]

Winmar by a mile
Agree about Muir's talent. But one angry unit, career unfulfilled
Gilbert Mcadam- love this bloke, wish he stayed with us longer.
Phil Narkle- very good player, in a very poor team.
Xavier Clarke-special talent....Cruelled by injuries.
Pity we only got a glimpse of Jimmy Krackour at the end of his career. Was still a class above.
Special Mention to Greg Mcadam whom we only had briefly, cause he couldn't settle in the city.
Freak of a footballer who was clearly the most talented in a very gifted family.

 

[Moorabbin Ghost]

 

[jwikked]

I saw Raph Clarke get ranked in the Herald Sun for one of our top 5 Indigienous Saints which said it all.

 

[King_Steele]

Terry Milera.

 

[st_trav_ofWA]

people bagging out Raph need to remember that not only did he play 85 games at the top level of footy he did so in an era when we were the strongest team in the land .. of his fianls games he was one of our best in the 2008 prelim he was also massive for us in the 2009 finals series ...
while popular as the designated whipping boy the dude could play and our coach in our grand final year picked him as our best 22.. he wasnt gifted games he wasnt the last resort he was a best 22 player in one of the strongest teams in AFL history ... so you can discredit him all you like but Raph is fully deserving of being one of our bests

 

[sunny3193]

Well done Baz.
This is a great thread.
But I’m disappointed that we have so few indigenous players to choose from.
How many have played for us over 140+ years?
20?
30?
Given we’ve had about 1,450 players represent us over the same time frame, we really need to address that imbalance.
There is a special something that indigenous players bring to our game; an artistry all their own.
Irrespective of team, I just love to watch these guys strut their stuff.
Would love to have many more in our team.

 

[joop]

people bagging out Raph need to remember that not only did he play 85 games at the top level of footy he did so in an era when we were the strongest team in the land .. of his fianls games he was one of our best in the 2008 prelim he was also massive for us in the 2009 finals series ...
while popular as the designated whipping boy the dude could play and our coach in our grand final year picked him as our best 22.. he wasnt gifted games he wasnt the last resort he was a best 22 player in one of the strongest teams in AFL history ... so you can discredit him all you like but Raph is fully deserving of being one of our bests

That’s great, how did he play in the 09 grand final?

 

[MOLTEN GANGLANDS]

raph had some good moments, but we can't forget he was the main whipping boy for supporters during that time. It was his lack awareness that was his downfall, both in general and on the big day.

I moved to melbourne in 2000 and started going to the footy on a weekly basis. A Murray played some nice games back then - soft spot for him.

 

[Grav]

Nicky Winmar by the length of the Flemington straight,
Robbie Muir was an exceptional footballer, unfortunately had a short fuse,
Xavier Clarke oozed class when you could get him onto the paddock.

 

[Grav]

Future Best Indigenous Players.

Rankine - Long - Gresh

And when we take Longs cousin Michael Coombes in the rookie draft, we will be rocking.

 

[Joffaboy]

Sean Charles and Fred Campbell for me, closely followed by Budge and Choo Choo

On [device_name] using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Drake GGHuggins]

people bagging out Raph need to remember that not only did he play 85 games at the top level of footy he did so in an era when we were the strongest team in the land .. of his fianls games he was one of our best in the 2008 prelim he was also massive for us in the 2009 finals series ...
while popular as the designated whipping boy the dude could play and our coach in our grand final year picked him as our best 22.. he wasnt gifted games he wasnt the last resort he was a best 22 player in one of the strongest teams in AFL history ... so you can discredit him all you like but Raph is fully deserving of being one of our bests

Raph also had undiagnosed epilepsy when he came to the club. He used to fall asleep in meetings and people thought he was just over tired. He was actually having tiny seizures. It must have affected him on field as well. They eventually got it under control with medication , but who knows how much damage had been done by then. In those circumstances it was a fair effort to play 85 games in such a brutal sport.

1. Winmar
2. McAdam
3. Narkle
4. X. Clarke
5. Muir
I wonder how good Sean Charles might have been had he been really dedicated.

 

[mightymalaka]

Raph also had undiagnosed epilepsy when he came to the club. He used to fall asleep in meetings and people thought he was just over tired. He was actually having tiny seizures. It must have affected him on field as well. They eventually got it under control with medication , but who knows how much damage had been done by then. In those circumstances it was a fair effort to play 85 games in such a brutal sport.

1. Winmar
2. McAdam
3. Narkle
4. X. Clarke
5. Muir
I wonder how good Sean Charles might have been had he been really dedicated.

Geez didnt know that about Raph! Never liked the way our fan base as a whole treated him.
And equally true about Charles. Saw him singlehandedly present the Blues with their arse in a big final before he broke his leg.

 

[bergholt]

I'm surprised those who saw Gilberto have him below anyone except Nicky (and maybe Muir and Narkle who I never saw). I thought he was a fantastic player, better than X Clarke though I have a big soft spot for X as well. I suppose the only negative is that we couldn't get the best out of him, imagine if he'd still been around and playing well in 97 when he would have been 30...

 

[Keg on legs]

Special mention also to Bob Cobb

One of the best for sure

 

[st_trav_ofWA]

That’s great, how did he play in the 09 grand final?

statistically better than :
Milne
Kosi
Gardi
Dempster
King
Ray
Ling
Rooke
Hawkins
Harley
StevieJ

every bangs on cause he gave up the one free kick resulting in a goal after being run down.... but take a wider look at that one play and it was actually Sam Fisher who stuffed that up by not applying a block on the guy chasing Raph down...
Raph actually across the game played a fairly solid game but memories have a tendancy to see things fairly differant to the way they actually were

 

[plugger66]

Greg McAdam then daylight.

 

[joop]

statistically better than :
Milne
Kosi
Gardi
Dempster
King
Ray
Ling
Rooke
Hawkins
Harley
StevieJ

every bangs on cause he gave up the one free kick resulting in a goal after being run down.... but take a wider look at that one play and it was actually Sam Fisher who stuffed that up by not applying a block on the guy chasing Raph down...
Raph actually across the game played a fairly solid game but memories have a tendancy to see things fairly differant to the way they actually were

Well I rest my case then...

 

[borderbarry]

We had a number of players who only played one season, like Jimmy Krakourer and Dale Kickett. Dale Kickett who was a real journeyman, impressed me. I wish he had of stayed on at St.Kilda, he could have been anything.

 

[RobbieMuir]

On pure ability, I think Robbie Muir was the best, but Nicky Winmar was just about as talented, and Nicky consistently produced the goods for over a decade, so I think Nicky should be ranked number one. For those who never saw Muir play, he had extreme high end pace, was a booming kick and was the most spectacular high-flyer I have ever seen. He was a ferocious tackler and could run all day. I saw him kick a torpedo goal from the wing at Moorabbin against Essendon in around 1975/76 from about 80m out. It was every bit as long as Fehring's long bomb! His mark against Carlton that was on the front cover of 'Football Life' in 1975 was one of the best hangers I've seen.

He was pretty much the perfect footballer...

...in every way but one (unfortunately ).