Best 'spine'

[Sttew]

We've got threads on best midfields, best premiership teams, etc. What about best spine, i.e., fullback - CHB - centre - CHF - full forward?

I've seen plenty. Here are the ones that stood out for me in chronological order:

1988 Hawks
Langford
Mew
Schwab
Brereton
Dunstall

1994 WCE
Brennan
Jakovich
Kemp
Langdon
Sumich

2000 Bombers (not 2001!)
Fletcher
Wallis
Misiti
Lucas
Lloyd

2003 Brisbane
Michael
Leppitsch
Voss
Brown
Lynch

2009 Cats
Scarlett
Taylor
Corey
Mooney
Hawkins

2015 Hawks
Lake
Gibson
Mitchell
Gunston
Roughead

2024 Brisbane
Andrews
Payne
Ashcroft
Hipwood
Daniher

My vote is with Essendon 2001. Looked the most potent, with Brisbane 2003 a very close second.

 

[RUNVS]

Well it isn't mine as I get lower back pain after around a half hour of picking things up.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

2013 Hawks was handy...

Lake (3 Premierships, Dual AA, Dogs B&F, Norm Smith)
Gibson (3 Premierships, Dual AA, Duel Hawthorn B&F)
Mitchell (4 Premierships, Brownlow, 3xAA, 5 time Hawthorn B&F, AFL HOF)
Franklin (2 Premierships, 8xAA, 4x Coleman Medallist, 13x Club leading Goalkicker - 1000 goals)
Roughead (4 Premierships, Dual AA, Coleman Medallist, 3 x Club leading goalkicker - 500 goals).

Brisbane 03 the best 'non-hawthorn' group (in the interest of avoiding bias - otherwise I'd be Hawks 1st, 2nd and 3rd).

Bombers 01 (Solomon), Cats 08 (Mooney) don't really belong in the discussion - similar to Hawks 08 (Croad, Hodge, Mitchell, Franklin, Roughead) they are a rung below.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Solomon was a HBF, wouldn’t have him in the spine. Would be Wellman or perhaps Wallis.

Similarly Mercuri, he was a forward, didn’t spend a lot of time on the ball. Misiti or Jason Johnson belongs in there. Even Hird, who spent a fair bit of time in the middle.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Too hard. Champion teams. Also I didn't know West Coast went b2b in 1993.

 

[Sttew]

Solomon was a HBF, wouldn’t have him in the spine. Would be Wellman or perhaps Wallis.

Similarly Mercuri, he was a forward, didn’t spend a lot of time on the ball. Misiti or Jason Johnson belongs in there. Even Hird, who spent a fair bit of time in the middle.

Heffernan was named in the middle in the line up for the GF

 

[Sttew]

Too hard. Champion teams. Also I didn't know West Coast went b2b in 1993.

Edited

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Not in my era but that Hawks 88 team looks potent

 

[Robroy22]

Solomon was a HBF, wouldn’t have him in the spine. Would be Wellman or perhaps Wallis.

Similarly Mercuri, he was a forward, didn’t spend a lot of time on the ball. Misiti or Jason Johnson belongs in there. Even Hird, who spent a fair bit of time in the middle.

Thanks for that, was gonna say....Solomon on Jono Brown woulda been an ask.

Best spine, Brissy Lions they had it all.

 

[Robroy22]

Not in my era but that Hawks 88 team looks potent

Schwab in the middle v a Voss or a Mitchell or a Kemp??? Yeah nah.

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Schwab in the middle v a Voss or a Mitchell or a Kemp??? Yeah nah.

Best forward line though. Brereton and Dusntall the best CHF and FF.

 

[NetworkNerd]

 

[Robroy22]

Best forward line though. Brereton and Dusntall the best CHF and FF.

Against Michael and Leppitsch. Would have been a hell of a game! Imagine Derm and Leppa going at it!

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Against Michael and Leppitsch. Would have been a hell of a game! Imagine Derm and Leppa going at it!

Prime Dermie wins wouldn't he? I know a prime Dunstall does. Good for 6 goals in a Grand Final.

 

[boncer34]

Heffernan was named in the middle in the line up for the GF

He was on a wing.

 

[Robroy22]

Prime Dermie wins wouldn't he? I know a prime Dunstall demons. Good for 6 goals in a Grand Final.

Don't forget the Lions had the Bash (sorry I mean the Scott brothers) either side of Leppa so Derm would have had his hands full

 

[Sttew]

He was on a wing.

Fair enough. I went off Wikipedia:

B:	42 Danny Jacobs	31 Dustin Fletcher	6 Sean Wellman
HB:	1 Mark Johnson	7 Dean Solomon	11 Damien Hardwick
C:	9 Adam Ramanauskas	26 Chris Heffernan	33 Blake Caracella
HF:	5 James Hird (c)	25 Scott Lucas	43 Dean Rioli
F:	29 Gary Moorcroft	18 Matthew Lloyd	27 Steven Alessio
Foll:	22 John Barnes	14 Jason Johnson	24 Joe Misiti
Int:	10 Mark McVeigh	32 Justin Blumfield	2 Mark Mercuri
16 Paul Barnard
Coach:	Kevin Sheedy

[td]

Essendon​

[/td]​

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

Fair enough. I went off Wikipedia:

B:	42 Danny Jacobs	31 Dustin Fletcher	6 Sean Wellman
HB:	1 Mark Johnson	7 Dean Solomon	11 Damien Hardwick
C:	9 Adam Ramanauskas	26 Chris Heffernan	33 Blake Caracella
HF:	5 James Hird (c)	25 Scott Lucas	43 Dean Rioli
F:	29 Gary Moorcroft	18 Matthew Lloyd	27 Steven Alessio
Foll:	22 John Barnes	14 Jason Johnson	24 Joe Misiti
Int:	10 Mark McVeigh	32 Justin Blumfield	2 Mark Mercuri
16 Paul Barnard
Coach:	Kevin Sheedy

[td]
Essendon

[/td]​

That's a brilliant team.

 

[boncer34]

Fair enough. I went off Wikipedia:

B:	42 Danny Jacobs	31 Dustin Fletcher	6 Sean Wellman
HB:	1 Mark Johnson	7 Dean Solomon	11 Damien Hardwick
C:	9 Adam Ramanauskas	26 Chris Heffernan	33 Blake Caracella
HF:	5 James Hird (c)	25 Scott Lucas	43 Dean Rioli
F:	29 Gary Moorcroft	18 Matthew Lloyd	27 Steven Alessio
Foll:	22 John Barnes	14 Jason Johnson	24 Joe Misiti
Int:	10 Mark McVeigh	32 Justin Blumfield	2 Mark Mercuri
16 Paul Barnard
Coach:	Kevin Sheedy

[td]
Essendon

[/td]​

I was looking at that trying to work out why Jacobs, Rioli and McVeigh were there and suddenly realised its the 01 Grand Final side being talked about not the 00.

 

[Sttew]

I was looking at that trying to work out why Jacobs, Rioli and McVeigh were there and suddenly realised its the 01 Grand Final side being talked about not the 00.

My bad!!

This was 2000:

B:	1 Mark Johnson	31 Dustin Fletcher	6 Sean Wellman
HB:	11 Damien Hardwick	21 Dean Wallis	7 Dean Solomon
C:	26 Chris Heffernan	24 Joe Misiti	33 Blake Caracella
HF:	2 Mark Mercuri	25 Scott Lucas	5 James Hird (c)
F:	9 Adam Ramanauskas	18 Matthew Lloyd	13 Michael Long
Foll:	22 John Barnes	32 Justin Blumfield	14 Jason Johnson
Int:	8 Darren Bewick	16 Paul Barnard	27 Steven Alessio
29 Gary Moorcroft
Coach:	Kevin Sheedy

Essendon

 

[crowman2]

What was north melbournes

Martyn
Archer
Schwass
Carey
Longmire

Not bad

 

[PowerfulPies2023]

What was north melbournes

Martyn
Archer
Schwass
Carey
Longmire

Not bad

Brilliant. Like many premiers their septembers were perfect. Saved the best for when it mattered. No one got close to them in 96 and 99.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Needs a poll.

2003 Lions for me.

 

[MisterMarcus]

2001-3 Lions were just the most 'complete' team all round, out of all those successful era teams.

 

[Butters and Pepper]

We've got threads on best midfields, best premiership teams, etc. What about best spine, i.e., fullback - CHB - centre - CHF - full forward?

I've seen plenty. Here are the ones that stood out for me in chronological order:

1988 Hawks
Langford
Mew
Schwab
Brereton
Dunstall

1994 WCE
Brennan
Jakovich
Kemp
Langdon
Sumich

2000 Bombers (not 2001!)
Fletcher
Wallis
Misiti
Lucas
Lloyd

2003 Brisbane
Michael
Leppitsch
Voss
Brown
Lynch

2009 Cats
Scarlett
Taylor
Corey
Mooney
Hawkins

2015 Hawks
Lake
Gibson
Mitchell
Gunston
Roughead

2024 Brisbane
Andrews
Payne
Ashcroft
Hipwood
Daniher

My vote is with Essendon 2001. Looked the most potent, with Brisbane 2003 a very close second.

I can't really recall Langdon being a CHF, I'm thinking of players like Jason Ball or Brett Spinks in that role.

Likewise at full back, I would more likely expect to see McIntosh than Brennan, but it's 30 years ago now so who knows!