Best Back 6 All Time

[Seeds]

Which club puts together the best back 6 of all time? Ones that pop to mind are eagles and Carlton but would be interested to know where we rate these lineups.

Geelong would be in my opinion this lineup

Milburn Scarlett Stewart
Enright Taylor Bilcavs

West Coast

Wirrapanda Glass Worsfold
McGovern Jackovich McKenna

Blicavs and milburn? Did blicavs even play on the back flank for more than 6 weeks of his career? And was he any good in those 6 weeks?

 

[Seeds]

Geelong Football Club has been around for over 160 years and your all time back 6 only has players from the past 20 years.

And not even the best in those twenty years.

 

[Lingsface]

Blicavs and milburn? Did blicavs even play on the back flank for more than 6 weeks of his career? And was he any good in those 6 weeks?

He was a Backmen for a large period of his career and best and fairest years. Milburn was a jet for a long time as well.

 

[peetoo]

1988 premiers

 

[Seeds]

He was a Backmen for a large period of his career and best and fairest years. Milburn was a jet for a long time as well.

He was a full back for a couple of years. Not a half back flanker.

and of all the full backs ive seen at geelong he is well down the list.

scarlett, lonergan and orielly all rate higher. Possibly ben graham as well.

 

[Lingsface]

Full back is taken and he definitely has enough run and versatility to play half back flank very well. Better footballer than the other 3.

He was a full back for a couple of years. Not a half back flanker.

and of all the full backs ive seen at geelong he is well down the list.

scarlett, lonergan and orielly all rate higher. Possibly ben graham as well.

 

[NYCFC]

SOS Southby Christou
Doull D. McKay Hunter


Doull + Ang for insane rebound, and in Doull's case the ability to blanket almost any kind of forward.
McKay for absolutely incredible intercept marking.With Southby and SOS in the team, he'd be able to roam around and probably take 20 intercept marks a game.
Hunter for reckless bravery, run, ultra-competitiveness and team-lifting hangers. He'd stand in the hole no matter what was coming his way.
Southby + SOS because, well, they're two of the best 3-5 full backs to have ever played the game IMO.

(A lot of people might not have Christou but he's one of the best rebounding defenders I've ever seen. Great spoil, took off and ran at every opportunity, and could kick it 60m to a target. Not sure if they kept meters-gained stats back in the 90's, but his numbers would've been huge).

 

[Daka]

Best I've seen @ Richmond was 2017 grand final -

Houli, Astbury, Vlastuin
Broad, Rance, Grimes

edit: Didn't realise it was all time...

I don't think Richmond will ever have a better back 6 than that.
If you want a back 7 though 2019 to get Shorty in.

 

[Seeds]

Full back is taken and he definitely has enough run and versatility to play half back flank very well. Better footballer than the other 3.

Not as a full back he wasn't better then them. Lonergan regularly towelled up buddy at his peak and swung the 2011 grand final when he stopped a rampaging cloke dead in his tracks.

Oriellys time with us was short but he was arguably the best full back in the comp during those years. Blicavs was never that level. And Graham was probably better then blicavs as a defender (and definitely as a foward) as well.

And as far as half back flankers Geelong probably has the best list of all clubs. Players with multiple all australians on the half back flank. as an example Hinkley has two all Australians listed on the half back flank and won a best and fairest playing that position in a year we made the grand final. And you want to put a player who played about 6 games there and not all that well? Cos he won a best and fairest playing as a full back (and no all Australian). Why don't you just name Gary ablett snr on the back flank? He played there just as much as blicavs did.

 

[ZEV]

Oriellys time with us was short but he was arguably the best full back in the comp during those years. Blicavs was never that level. And Graham was probably better then blicavs as a defender (and definitely as a foward) as well.

O'Reilly was ok but I'd have Silvagni, Langford, McIntosh, Martin, Frawley, Lynch and Pert ahead of O'Reilly off the top of my head.

 

[Scritchyscroony]

Essendon

Wanganeen Fletcher Duckworth
Ridley Hurley Thompson

Hurley ahead of Terry Daniher.

Umm Yeah Nah

 

[Tall poppy Syndrome]

Moore Langford Ayres
Knights Mew Hodge/Tuck

Decent…

 

[Tall poppy Syndrome]

The Eagles don't need a composite side...

McIntosh Brennan Hart
McKenna Jakovich Worsfold

... gets the job done against just about anyone.

Yeah I remember there was a period in the 91 season when the Eagles seemed almost impossible to score against. Somehow the Hawks got up to beat them in the end but greatest Front 6s is a whole other thread I’m sure.

 

[Meteoric Rise]

In Richmond's 9 winning finals to take out their 2017-19-20 flags, Richmond conceded 61 goals at less than 7 per game.

In their 3 Grand Finals they conceded 18 goals at 6 per game.

In Richmond's 3 finals in 2019 they conceded 20 goals.

Not sure that makes our back 6 the best of all time but they were incredibly parsimonious in finals during that period. I don't think there is any modern team that has conceded less goals in equivalent matches.

 

[Walshawk]

Decent…

Can’t believe Mew is not in the HOF. Leigh Matthew’s rated him better than Kevin Moore. Coupd play FB and CHB and as a point of interest - never lifted a single weight in 13 years in the VFL/AFL.

 

[Korol Mira]

Collingwood's current back line is easily top 3 ever

 

[Lingsface]

Not as a full back he wasn't better then them. Lonergan regularly towelled up buddy at his peak and swung the 2011 grand final when he stopped a rampaging cloke dead in his tracks.

Oriellys time with us was short but he was arguably the best full back in the comp during those years. Blicavs was never that level. And Graham was probably better then blicavs as a defender (and definitely as a foward) as well.

And as far as half back flankers Geelong probably has the best list of all clubs. Players with multiple all australians on the half back flank. as an example Hinkley has two all Australians listed on the half back flank and won a best and fairest playing that position in a year we made the grand final. And you want to put a player who played about 6 games there and not all that well? Cos he won a best and fairest playing as a full back (and no all Australian). Why don't you just name Gary ablett snr on the back flank? He played there just as much as blicavs did.

He was rotating in a different kind of defence with Stewart a lot of the times on who was looser and who was playing on the best key forward so I think it is a suitable position.

Hinkley, definitely taking Bilcavs over him.

 

[RichLeMonde]

In Richmond's 9 winning finals to take out their 2017-19-20 flags, Richmond conceded 61 goals at less than 7 per game.

In their 3 Grand Finals they conceded 18 goals at 6 per game.

In Richmond's 3 finals in 2019 they conceded 20 goals.

Not sure that makes our back 6 the best of all time but they were incredibly parsimonious in finals during that period. I don't think there is any modern team that has conceded less goals in equivalent matches.

These backs didn’t all peak at the same time, but were all in the same team: pretty good bunch of players

• Rance 5 x AA
• Grimes AA
• Balta (future AA)
• Houli AA
• Short premiership B&F
• Rioli AA squad
• Vlaustin AA squad
• Baker AFL Most Courageous Player award

 

[Mr Meow]

In Richmond's 9 winning finals to take out their 2017-19-20 flags, Richmond conceded 61 goals at less than 7 per game.

In their 3 Grand Finals they conceded 18 goals at 6 per game.

In Richmond's 3 finals in 2019 they conceded 20 goals.

Not sure that makes our back 6 the best of all time but they were incredibly parsimonious in finals during that period. I don't think there is any modern team that has conceded less goals in equivalent matches.

I actually agree somewhat with the sentiment here although it bares repeating that 2020 had shorter quarters and there's no reason to exclude 2018 in the middle - it still existed even if a flag wasn't won.

The scores against would still be meagre even if accounting for those two factors so there's no need to pad it out.

One caveat is that the standard of the opposition - in particular their midfields and forward lines - weren't high compared to what some other great defences historically dealt with. Especially in finals (E.g Geelong in that era were held to tiny scores in many finals against okay but not outstanding defences).

With that out of the way, it was an outstanding and underrated defensive group and the nucleus for those flags. The tough, scrapping midfield and a couple of point of differences up forward were important too - but it all started from that Rock of Gibraltar defence. That was the line that truly made Richmond a strong side.

 

[fusion]

Not sure this one could QUITE beat it at the other end but could give it a run:

Ablett Sr, Hawkins, Cameron
S Johnson, Wade, Ablett Jr

No way would Cameron get in if looking at contribution at Geelong to date. His goals/season are about the same as Ben Brown, who isn't even close to being discussed as an all time North player. He's clearly a great player, but would you take his contribution over Bob Davis, who was named in that position in the Geelong Team of the Century, is in the AFL Hall of Fame, and a premiership captain?

 

[peetoo]

If Hawkins is in your teams top 6 forwards, it’s not impressive