Universal Love Gordon Coventry - The Greatest

[Heater3923]

Our greatest ever champion!

Never forget what this man has done for our club and the highlights he brought to us when Collingwood FC was the not the laughing stock of the comp from 1920 to 1937, because we were basically the Brisbane lions and Hawthorn dynasties combined and yet still this great Collingwood man was a player that people paid to see play

- 5 x VFL premiership player
- 10 x VFL Grand Final player
- 16 x leading Collingwood goal scorer
- 6 x leading VFL goal scorer
- Only player ever to head the league's goal-kicking list in five consecutive seasons
- First to ever play 300 games
- First to kick 1299 goals
- First to kick 9 goals in a GF
- 31 finals matches
- 25 x games for Victoria


Let’s attribute the term “Greatest” to whom it belongs from now on.

Records matter. Results matter. Success matters.

 

[The Prince 29]

For St. Kilda home games at Marvel the great man's name is covered. Who should we put over Locketts name for our home games ? My vote, Jack "The Prince" Regan, who kindly sourced final's tickets for the old man over many years...

Our greatest ever champion!

Never forget what this man has done for our club and the highlights he brought to us when Collingwood FC was the not the laughing stock of the comp from 1920 to 1937, because we were basically the Brisbane lions and Hawthorn dynasties combined and yet still this great Collingwood man was a player that people paid to see play

- 5 x VFL premiership player
- 10 x VFL Grand Final player
- 16 x leading Collingwood goal scorer
- 6 x leading VFL goal scorer
- Only player ever to head the league's goal-kicking list in five consecutive seasons
- First to ever play 300 games
- First to kick 1299 goals
- First to kick 9 goals in a GF
- 31 finals matches
- 25 x games for Victoria


Let’s attribute the term “Greatest” to whom it belongs from now on.

Records matter. Results matter. Success matters.

 

[Brad Goodman]

Call me cynical but this thread seems to be both pro-Nuts and anti-Bucks.

 

[Carringbush2010]

This is a big call, there are many champions of this club depending on your view that one would label 'the greatest'. Sure Nuts has the numbers on the board, but he is a forward that received delivery from the likes of the Colliers and his brother Syd - then there's guys like Pendles v Bucks. They have their own numbers on the board. Heck you could go into that team that played 3 GF over 4 years without the prize. Guys like Picken, Bahram, Ray Shaw, Moore snr. etc.

If I really wanted I could go all bias and say Daniel Minogue coz I'm related, he was before all of them, played out a GF with a broken collar bone, labelled as the Barrassi of his time (by my uncle), an AFL hall of famer.

It's such a broad term and uber heady recognition that no one can really 100% define who really is / was the greatest of this club. Folly to attempt so.

 

[gouki88]

I feel like this thread might be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the idea that there is one 'lone' greatest is pretty flawed at a club that has seen 125+ years. The game has changed immeasurably. I think there's merit to calling someone the greatest of their time though. Pendles is the greatest of his era, Bucks the same. Before him guys like Nuts, Bobby Rose, Len Thompson, Daicos, etc.

 

[ipswichpies]

What about Todd he may well have surpassed Coventry, also do not forget Coventry was still there when Todd started and Todd 22 when finished and more than 400 gls he definitely would be in the conversation for all time great.

 

[Heater3923]

For St. Kilda home games at Marvel the great man's name is covered. Who should we put over Locketts name for our home games ? My vote, Jack "The Prince" Regan, who kindly sourced final's tickets for the old man over many years...

Agree 100%. The fact Regan was not considered the GOAT Full Back in AFL history is a disgrace. It’s a farce what Collingwood players did before 1958 is ignored. The best of all time, no doubt

 

[Heater3923]

Call me cynical but this thread seems to be both pro-Nuts and anti-Bucks.

Not cynical - just factual. It’s sad our best players are demeaned against modern players that were “alright” in comparison.

Honestly, I love the players I’ve seen in my life time. Millane, Daicos, Crossica, Monkhurst, the Shaws, the Roccas, Brown, Clement, half the 2010 side, treloar and adams etc … quality players - like Buckley was… but they aren’t anything like our players pre 1958. Certainly nowhere in the league of Coventry

We need to remember that

 

[Heater3923]

I feel like this thread might be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the idea that there is one 'lone' greatest is pretty flawed at a club that has seen 125+ years. The game has changed immeasurably. I think there's merit to calling someone the greatest of their time though. Pendles is the greatest of his era, Bucks the same. Before him guys like Nuts, Bobby Rose, Len Thompson, Daicos, etc.

It’s not tongue in cheek. I respect our greatest players. I respect our greatest player. Coventry is it. Not Buckley. Not Millane. Not anyone. And I’m sure the Coventry family believe the same.

He is a god that kept succeeding and dominating and winning on every elite level there was.

He is our Tom Brady. Any discussion otherwise is sacrilege and Anti Collingwood

 

[Heater3923]

What about Todd he may well have surpassed Coventry, also do not forget Coventry was still there when Todd started and Todd 22 when finished and more than 400 gls he definitely would be in the conversation for all time great.

Todd played 5 seasons which ended in 1939 two years after Coventry. He kicked 327 goals in 76 games.

I agree with you - if Todd is to be considered on Coventry’s level - then he by default is better than Buckley.

I will again reiterate Coventry’s record though:

10 x GFs
5 x cups
First x 300 games
First time 5 x leading goal kicker
16 x time leading Collingwood goal kicker
Etc etc etc

For NFL fans out there, Buckley may be Dan Marino (or a “great” QB that never won anything) but Coventry is Tom Brady

For any true Collingwood fan to profess Buckley is “the Greatest” is actually insulting to the Coventrys, and to our intellect as supporters

 

[jonmacTrag]

Not cynical - just factual. It’s sad our best players are demeaned against modern players that were “alright” in comparison.

Honestly, I love the players I’ve seen in my life time. Millane, Daicos, Crossica, Monkhurst, the Shaws, the Roccas, Brown, Clement, half the 2010 side, treloar and adams etc … quality players - like Buckley was… but they aren’t anything like our players pre 1958. Certainly nowhere in the league of Coventry

We need to remember that

There are a few between the two eras that you are forgetting too.

Greening

Thompson

Carmen

Rose

We've had more than our share of champions.

But agree the treatment of McHale, Coventry, Todd, Regan and the immortal Leeter would never happen in any other big time sport.

The willful organized and determined bias against this club is ingrained and smug.

 

[Cyclops]

1. Team of the century was a joke. At the point it was selected Collingwood had won more games than anyone, more finals than anyone, more flags than all but Carlton and Essendon and got zero (0) players in. Apparently our century long dominance of the sport , that led to multiple rule changes to stymie our success, meant we had zero (0) good players. The politics behind the inclusion of Nichols (lol not even in the top 20 rucks ever) Williams (very good but literally half a footballer) and Silvagni (the latter not the fullback in Carlton's own TotC lol) stank. Guys like Stewart, Skilton and Bunton pick themselves, but where was Dick Reynolds? Even a rabid Pie like me can see that was stupid. The inclusion of Coleman raises questions about the criteria, he's a flash in the pan beside Gods like Lockett, Coventry and Dunstall: this topic has been done to death and by quantity and quality Coleman simply does not stack up against even Hudson. The weird omission of Thurgood and Dick Condon, who both changed the game with their brilliant play shows the selectors had a clear historical bias.

2. The idea of Coventry or anyone else being our GOAT would earn you a slap from McHale's ghost and stern disapproving look from Nuts' ghost (he was a gentle giant). Both were about the TEAM.

 

[jonmacTrag]

1. Team of the century was a joke. At the point it was selected Collingwood had won more games than anyone, more finals than anyone, more flags than all but Carlton and Essendon and got zero (0) players in. Apparently our century long dominance of the sport , that led to multiple rule changes to stymie our success, meant we had zero (0) good players. The politics behind the inclusion of Nichols (lol not even in the top 20 rucks ever) Williams (very good but literally half a footballer) and Silvagni (the latter not the fullback in Carlton's own TotC lol) stank. Guys like Stewart, Skilton and Bunton pick themselves, but where was Dick Reynolds? Even a rabid Pie like me can see that was stupid. The inclusion of Coleman raises questions about the criteria, he's a flash in the pan beside Gods like Lockett, Coventry and Dunstall: this topic has been done to death and by quantity and quality Coleman simply does not stack up against even Hudson. The weird omission of Thurgood and Dick Condon, who both changed the game with their brilliant play shows the selectors had a clear historical bias.

2. The idea of Coventry or anyone else being our GOAT would earn you a slap from McHale's ghost and stern disapproving look from Nuts' ghost (he was a gentle giant). Both were about the TEAM.

There was good reason for that TEAM first attitude that stems from the origins of the club in what was originally labelled 'The flats'.

Collingwood at the time of the formation of the VFL was the meanest and lowest of slums, if you were unfortunate enough to be born there you were naturally assumed to be a gutter snipe and a factory worker for the span of your shortened life.

Here is a link to a series of pictures of the slums in the Collingwood/Fitzroy area at around that time.

collingwood slums - Google Search

www.google.com

It truly was an 'us against the rest' mentality that saw the birth of our great traditions and was behind the unalloyed joy at beating the 'snobs' in 1958.

The only way out for most was through sport and the club was truly the beating heart of the community.

 

[JB1975]

He is a god that kept succeeding and dominating and winning on every elite level there was.

He is our Tom Brady. Any discussion otherwise is sacrilege and Anti Collingwood

Not really a fan of shutting down conversation with dogma.

To suggest 'sacrilege' in any open discussion of greatness is mindless and offensive.

I like remembering the past and the giants of the club, but this thread is nothing more than a troll.

 

[jonmacTrag]

Not really a fan of shutting down conversation with dogma.

To suggest 'sacrilege' in any open discussion of greatness is mindless and offensive.

I like remembering the past and the giants of the club, but this thread is nothing more than a troll.

Well JB if you think the thread is a troll do the obvious.

 

[JB1975]

Well JB if you think the thread is a troll do the obvious.

Call it out?

 

[ExcitementMachine]

Definitely a troll thread.

 

[jonmacTrag]

Call it out?

Move on, life is too short.

 

[JB1975]

Move on, life is too short.

Or I might choose to die on this hill, Jon, to demonstrate the absurdity of life...

 

[jonmacTrag]

Or I might choose to die on this hill, Jon, to demonstrate the absurdity of life...

Life isn't absurd JB - it continues on it's ponderous flow whatever the circumstances.

It's us ephemerals that join it for a while and seek to bend it to our will that are absurd.

 

[pugsville]

Add Walter "Dick" Lee as one with claims.

 

[jonmacTrag]

Add Walter "Dick" Lee as one with claims.

Yes 'the leap'.
Bloody good at ground level too.

 

[35Daicos]

1. Team of the century was a joke. At the point it was selected Collingwood had won more games than anyone, more finals than anyone, more flags than all but Carlton and Essendon and got zero (0) players in. Apparently our century long dominance of the sport , that led to multiple rule changes to stymie our success, meant we had zero (0) good players. The politics behind the inclusion of Nichols (lol not even in the top 20 rucks ever) Williams (very good but literally half a footballer) and Silvagni (the latter not the fullback in Carlton's own TotC lol) stank. Guys like Stewart, Skilton and Bunton pick themselves, but where was Dick Reynolds? Even a rabid Pie like me can see that was stupid. The inclusion of Coleman raises questions about the criteria, he's a flash in the pan beside Gods like Lockett, Coventry and Dunstall: this topic has been done to death and by quantity and quality Coleman simply does not stack up against even Hudson. The weird omission of Thurgood and Dick Condon, who both changed the game with their brilliant play shows the selectors had a clear historical bias.

2. The idea of Coventry or anyone else being our GOAT would earn you a slap from McHale's ghost and stern disapproving look from Nuts' ghost (he was a gentle giant). Both were about the TEAM.

In the team - as he should have been!!

 

[magpie_marty]

Move on, life is too short.

Jonbe is this you?

 

[35Daicos]

Add Walter "Dick" Lee as one with claims.

Dick Lee should have been named as one of the original HoF Legends, yet he still hasn't got there. The same goes for Albert Thurgood, but I suspect neither of them will ever make it. People were waxing lyrical about them long after they had finished playing, as should be the case with true legends of the game. Lee dominated the VFL's goalkicking tally more than any player ever has (including even Coventry), but playing in an era when scoring was quite low seemingly counts against him. No doubt cynics would say his having played for Collingwood does as well!