Barry Cable and Leigh Matthews

[stui magpie]

Matthews was brute force. Cable was anticipation and skill.

Chalk and cheese as players.

It's a bit like comparing Carey with Hird.

pay that, great summary. Matthews could do anticipation and skill, he had both in bucketloads but him and cable were very different players.

My mum was/is a North supporter, I watched a bit of Cable, absolute bloody gun player. The Carey V Hird comparison is Very good.

 

[Chewy]

It doesn't matter how matter how many silly nob ends try to denigrate Leigh Matthews and call him a dirty so and so, he will always be one of the initial 12 Legends of the game. i.e Before they started to water it down with the slightly-less-legendary Legends like Barry Cable and Barrie Robran

Lethal won 8 best and fairests for a club that was a top 3 side in 10 seasons from 1971-1985. His first best and fairest was in 1971 and his 8th was in 1982. That's 8 best & fairests in 12 years! Bob Skilton and Kevin Murray won 9 best and fairests, but they also played for crappy teams that never made the finals.

It is doubtful that anyone will match Lethal's record of sustained excellence

They didn't name the Players' MVP award the Leigh Matthews Trophy for nothing.

I would describe Matthews as a 178 cm version of Wayne Carey and Cable as a quicker version of Greg Williams

That's not a bad comparison in terms of style, except that Matthews was more clever, read the bounce of the ball better and was much quicker (not 100m speed, but quicker to react, grab the ball and get away, lateral movement, etc)

I'm not so sure i agree with your comparison of Barry Cable and Greg Williams. The similarity is that both were nuggety and used handball. Both were ahead of their time with their professionalism and honing their skills. But in terms of style, the Barry Cable that I remember was a bit more like Dale Weightman. A tough, running, handballing rover. Whereas the Diesel Williams that I remember won most of his ball in the packs, drew tacklers towards him and fired out amazing handballs to teammates running past. More of a centreman than a rover. I would describe Scott Pendlebury as a 190cm version of Greg Williams.

 

[baja]

It doesn't matter how matter how many silly nob ends try to denigrate Leigh Matthews and call him a dirty so and so, he will always be one of the initial 12 Legends of the game. i.e Before they started to water it down with the slightly-less-legendary Legends like Barry Cable and Barrie Robran

Who was Barrie Robran? What happened to his career?

 

[MaddAdam]

Chewy - I'm not denigrating Matthews in any way.

 

[Pessimistic]

I watched the 78 ?? grand final and it was a bit like 08 Highly fancied skilful North and tough as nails even brutal hawthorn.

hawks wore them down but what surprised me, as a contemporary watcher, that the commentators (lou etc) didnt have a hissy like 08, just said things like "Hawthorn want it more"

 

[Chewy]

Chewy - I'm not denigrating Matthews in any way.

No mate, I just noticed some clown taking a potshot at Lethal, so I thought I would address it, rather than let it slide. There are nobs out there who gnashed their teeth and booed Matthews for the better part of a decade and even 30 years on, they still can't get over it and STFU about it.

It's true that Leigh Matthews was a brutal footballer and this was not to everyone's taste. But those were the times. Football was a brutal game back in the 70's and early 80's. Most players raised their forearms, whacked their opponent in back of the head or shirtfronted someone if the opportunity presented itself. That's just the way it was.

The beautifully skilled ball players like Robbie Flower, Keith Greig, Barry Cable and Garry Wilson never resorted to the rough stuff, but in my opinion, that just made them slightly less effective - more of a target and less of a weapon than Matthews who was just an all-round force of skill and strength.

if I was choosing my team, I would pick Lethal first every time

Chris Grant was a beautiful footballer, an ornament to the game, scrupulously fair and highly skilled. But if you were choosing a CHF to play in the Grand Final, you would take Carey for his skill, strength, ferocity, intimidation and goalkicking every time.

 

[MaddAdam]

Yep, IMO the best players had that touch of mongrel.

 

[baja]

It's true that Leigh Matthews was a brutal footballer and this was not to everyone's taste. But those were the times. Football was a brutal game back in the 70's and early 80's. Most players raised their forearms, whacked their opponent in back of the head or shirtfronted someone if the opportunity presented itself. That's just the way it was.

lol you make it sound so romantic, you neglect to mention blatant king hits when players weren't looking, or how he crippled a player by deliberately diving into the pack knees first way late etc, I like a bit of mongrel too but he took it to a whole different level. Disgusting and cowardly is how I would describe it. This thread is comparing Cable and Matthews so its not taking pot shots.

No one is doubting his football ability.

 

[Chewy]

There were better classical rovers, but none of them could go forward and have Matthews's impact.

By that you mean, you mean more dazzling, quicker, will-o-the-wisp types of rovers. Yep, okay, no argument... But Matthews still dominated all around the ground, getting the most possessions, winning all the hard ball in the packs, out of the centre and getting the Hawks moving forwards. The fact he could follow up the play and snag goals from anywhere just made him the GOAT.

Who was Barrie Robran? What happened to his career?

They say he was a pretty good CHF from North Adelaide. Him and Cable both had the misfortune of running into Lethal and came off second best. Oh well. Them's the breaks. Although, to be fair, the Robran collision was more accidental than on purpose.

BTW, You should go ask Peter Caven, Guy McKenna, Brad Fox and Plugger's numerous other victims if they'll sign your petition for Lockett's exclusion from eventual Legend status on the grounds that he was a dirty thug.

 

[Old Skool]

By that you mean, you mean more dazzling, quicker, will-o-the-wisp types of rovers.

Yes, rovers in the classical sense.

I'd rate Cable just ahead of Matthews in pure roving terms.

I'd rate Matthews light years ahead of Cable as a forward.

This was the beauty of Matthews. If he was having an (albeit rare) ordinary game in the middle, he could still go forward and be a matchwinner.

 

[baja]

Oh well. Them's the breaks. Although, to be fair, the Robran collision was more accidental than on purpose.

You're kidding LOL.. I saw it. He ran in late driving his knees into Robran who was at the bottom of a pack..
I remember my dad saying that the reason Matthews never played another state game after that was because the interstaters were gonna lynch the dirty dog.. OK Im sure thats not the reason Matthews always faked injury to avoid state games after it but I remember it clearly. Matthews was the pioneer at avoiding state games to represent his club best he could. He always had a niggle of some sort.. I would even argue he killed SOO because of it but we are getting off topic now. No doubt he was a gun.

 

[skilts]

Matthews, like Ditterich, Whitten and John Peck became a dirty bugger in response to the treatment he received from opponents who set out to maim him. Matthews was an excellent rover, as good as any. As his career went into its latter stages, he became a great forward - that's how good he was. Bartlett did something similar.

Cable was a magician at any aspect of ball-handling. He was one of the last players to be able to kick perfect dropkicks. He learned his handball from 'Polly' Farmer. What more need I say? Oh, and he was a left-footer - so beautiful to watch.

 

[Chewy]

You're kidding LOL.. I saw it. He ran in late driving his knees into Robran who was at the bottom of a pack..
I remember my dad saying that the reason Matthews never played another state game after that was because the interstaters were gonna lynch the dirty dog.. OK Im sure thats not the reason Matthews always faked injury to avoid state games after it but I remember it clearly. Matthews was the pioneer at avoiding state games to represent his club best he could. He always had a niggle of some sort.. I would even argue he killed SOO because of it but we are getting off topic now. No doubt he was a gun.

The state game you're referring to with Robran's knee injury was in 1974. Matthews played numerous state games after this. The first actual State of Origin game was in 1977. Matthews was a Big V regular, but he often pulled out of games that were played after the VFL season had ended. As far as he was concerned, the footy season was over , they weren't paying him and he had his business to run.

He played a couple of State of Origin games at Football Park. He actually got knocked out in one of these games. Matthews was named Victorian captain in 1980 when they defeated WA at Waverley. I think this may have been his last game for Victoria and after that, like you said, he opted to put club first and sit the games out.

 

[Rod Stroker]

Matthews was a sniper, dirty, dirty footballer who once ended a SA players career by sliding in knee first in a state game, not to mention his many other discretions..

He thought he killed Grant Simmons from Footscray in a hit, to the point where he sent someone into the Footscray rooms at half time to see if he was still alive.

 

[Rod Stroker]

I would describe Scott Pendlebury as a 190cm version of Greg Williams.

Pendlebury has better footskills than Diesel did, more accurate with longer penetration.

 

[yaco55]

Pendlebury has better footskills than Diesel did, more accurate with longer penetration.

You are joking - Diesel Williams had elite kicking skills on both sides of his body - This is overlooked because his handballing skills were out of this world.

 

[yaco55]

Been watching watching footy since 1970 and Matthews is clearly the best player in my time.

I must check my eyes after reading this thread - I never realised that he was poorly skilled,unfit, timid at the ball - Trying to work out how a 170cm rover ended up as a FF in the 1980's.

Matthews played the best individual game I witnessed - VFL Park 1972/73 - VS Essendon.

Played as a rover and in those days it was pretty much a 50/50 split with Peter Crimmins - Kicked a lazy 11-2, collected 35 possessions and spent half the day on the ball. The only other game that matches it was Williams collecting 53 possessions and kicking 6 goals for the Swans.

 

[Rod Stroker]

You are joking - Diesel Williams had elite kicking skills on both sides of his body - This is overlooked because his handballing skills were out of this world.

No I'm not joking. Jarman had elite kicking skills, Diesel did not. And he was not a long kick of the footy.

 

[Flukey!]

Cable was more a natural footballer, beautifully skilled and very fluent in his actions.
Matthews was absolute brute force, extremely strong and intimidating.
Matthews went forward a lot more and kicked 915 goals over his 300+ games.

 

[Kwality]

Ranking legends is so much based on what you saw or what you read/ been told.

Fair dinkum, these are our champs ...

 

[yaco55]

No I'm not joking. Jarman had elite kicking skills, Diesel did not. And he was not a long kick of the footy.

Darren Jarman is the best kick of a footy I have seen - No question.

But you were comparing pendlebury to G.Williams.

Changing the goalposts !

 

[Rod Stroker]

Darren Jarman is the best kick of a footy I have seen - No question.

But you were comparing pendlebury to G.Williams.

Changing the goalposts !

You said Diesel had elite kicking skills. Jarman is the definition of elite kicking skills, Diesel's were nowhere near as good.

I still maintain that Pendlebury is a better kick than Diesel on both sides of his body. I don't recall Diesel kicking many of these from 50 out near the boundary.

 

[skilts]

The best kick ever, as a midfielder, was Bernie Quinlan. During the year in which he won his Brownlow, he played as a ruck-rover.

 

[Blue Heart]

Apologies if this has all ready been menitoned, but does anyone remember when Matthews KO'ed
Cable with a raised elbow in a state game in the early 70's. Knocked him out cold IIRC !!!

Both were great footballers and I remember watching Cable being BOG V. Essendon at Waverley Park in his 7th game for North in his 1970 debut season, guiding the Kangas to an upset win. Although he started slowly that season, I think he won North's B & F and finished 4th or 5th in the Brownlow behind Peter Bedford.

North were struggling at the time and hadn't started their climb up the ladder and Cable's skills stood out and for the most part his handball was too quick for lesser talented team mates. They were better able to take advantage of his talents when he returned 4 yrs. later

 

[yaco55]

You said Diesel had elite kicking skills. Jarman is the definition of elite kicking skills, Diesel's were nowhere near as good.

I still maintain that Pendlebury is a better kick than Diesel on both sides of his body. I don't recall Diesel kicking many of these from 50 out near the boundary.

We can agree to disagree - Do you understand that G.Williams was dual-sided - Pendlebury is much stronger on his preferred foot.