Has Lance Franklin surpassed Wayne Carey as the greatest key forward of the modern era?

Has Lance Franklin surpassed Wayne Carey as the greatest key forward of the modern era?

  • Yes – already

  • Not yet – but he will

  • No – and he won't

  • Someone else is the best


Results are only viewable after voting.

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100% agreed, Young blokes making these claims only watched Carey on highlights. The impact he had on games had to be seen to be believed.

Carey was that huge that you could argue that he was a big part in Friday night footy taking off. Who would tune in to just watch North?

Carey was on a million a year over 20 years ago. Unheard of.
 
Carey was the greatest player, let alone forward, that I've seen.

Buddy while very good, is not even close to Carey. Franklin is more a big flanker and a little man trapped in a big body.

Carey was a true CHF.

Carey is one of the main reasons we now have Friday night footy which North pionereered. I remember hating North but tuning in anyway just to watch Carey - many footy watchers were the same. Before he hurt his shoulders and groins he was a huge pack mark and a long straight kick. No one was better overhead. But he also had incredibly quick hands. He'd be on the lead, pick up a ground ball at pace and do a little give to a mid streaming into the paddock for an easy goal. Buddy is more one track, get ball and wheel on to the left. Buddy is far more selfish a player as well.

In summary the only thing Buddy has on Carey is that he is a bit quicker and maybe is as good a field kick as Carey. Carey owns Buddy in all other facets of footy, chest marking, over head marking, pack marking, set shots with long straight kicking, courage, extremely quick hands, two sided, assists, unselfish, leadership, etc.

Put simply imagine how many goals Buddy would kick if he could mark and kick straight. That is what Carey would do today. Imagine how much better his team mates would be if Buddy could handball....actually if Buddy was as good as Carey in his prime its hard to see any premier not being Syd or Hawthorn depending on who Buddy played with.


Nah mate, the 23 year olds know better than you.
 
Carey was that huge that you could argue that he was a big part in Friday night footy taking off. Who would tune in to just watch North?

Carey was on a million a year over 20 years ago. Unheard of.


They were talking about this on the radio the other day.

He was on 30% of the salary cap, nobody else has come close. That's around $4,062,000 a season with the current CBA.

A story Archer tells is how he got into his car one day and his glove box was open, there was a cheque in there for $200,000, he said "Oops I keep forgetting to cash that", remember the median house price in Melbourne in 96 was $118,000..........
 
They were talking about this on the radio the other day.

He was on 30% of the salary cap, nobody else has come close. That's around $4,062,000 a season with the current CBA.

A story Archer tells is how he got into his car one day and his glove box was open, there was a cheque in there for $200,000, he said "Oops I keep forgetting to cash that", remember the median house price in Melbourne in 96 was $118,000..........


I remember a Carlton official at the time (Elliot?) replying to comments about Carey being a million dollar player, by stating that they would be happy to pay him double.
 
Lol no way Franklin can't even mark he's not even a key forward. Would have him as best running forward of the modern era.
 

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860 at the moment. I think he will end his career in 4th place of the all time goal kicking record. To get there he needs another 198 goals which is very doable. He looks like he is going to reach the 1000 goal mark either late 2019 or early 2020.
Cheers. Bloody good west aussie
 
860 at the moment. I think he will end his career in 4th place of the all time goal kicking record. To get there he needs another 198 goals which is very doable. He looks like he is going to reach the 1000 goal mark either late 2019 or early 2020.
Out of the the players above Buddy, who would you consider him comparable to?
 
Out of the the players above Buddy, who would you consider him comparable to?

To be honest none of them really as Buddy plays so differently to McKenna, Matthews, Lloyd, Titus, Ablett Snr, Wade, Dunstall, Coventry and Lockett.

Though by the end of 2018 I think he will be ahead of McKenna and Matthews and by the end of 2019 he will be ahead of Lloyd and Titus.
 
All forwards had more impact on games during the 90's

Can you imagine how Buddy would've fared under those same conditions, one out against Andrew Dunkley, Gary Pert, Tim McGrath, Richard Champion, Jamie Shanahan or Mick Martyn with the entire forward fifty to himself and just one extra defender dropping back into his space instead of 3 or 4 defenders zoning back?

Franklin has often been unstoppable when given room to move. On the rare occasions when dumb opposition teams have given Buddy the leeway of an open 1 v 1 contest for half a game, he has generally DESTROYED them and gone on to kick 8/9/10 goals

Carey played in an era when forwards could stay at home and take 8 contested marks inside fifty. Nobody gets near that these days. Not Buddy; not Kennedy; not Joe Daniher; not Cameron, Patton, Hogan nor Hawkins. Nor would Carey if he'd played against modern defences. A champ like Nick Riewoldt had to run mini-marathons and repeat-lead from full forward up to the wing in order to take a dozen marks. Most opposition KPD's let him have those uncontested marks 90m from goal.

Carey's effectiveness as a tall target inside 50 would be much reduced under today's conditions. He'd be forced to scrounge more goals and play more defensively (locking the ball inside 50m with chasing, tackling & pressure) in order to earn his keep.

Buddy excels in these areas as a modern day KPF. That's why he has been the best for the past 10 years (with only J Kennedy getting close to him over the past 4 years)
 
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All forwards had more impact on games during the 90's

Can you imagine how Buddy would've fared under those same conditions, one out against Andrew Dunkley, Gary Pert, Tim McGrath, Richard Champion, Jamie Shanahan or Mick Martyn with the entire forward fifty to himself and just one extra defender dropping back into his space instead of 3 or 4 defenders zoning back?

Franklin has often been unstoppable when given room to move. On the rare occasions when dumb opposition teams have given Buddy the leeway of an open 1 v 1 contest for half a game, he has generally DESTROYED them and gone on to kick 8/9/10 goals

Carey played in an era when forwards could stay at home and take 8 contested marks inside fifty. Nobody gets near that these days. Not Buddy; not Kennedy; not Joe Daniher; not Cameron, Patton, Hogan nor Hawkins. Nor would Carey if he'd played against modern defences. A champ like Nick Riewoldt had to run mini-marathons and repeat-lead from full forward up to the wing in order to take a dozen marks. Most opposition KPD's let him have those uncontested marks 90m from goal.

Carey's effectiveness as a tall target inside 50 would be much reduced under today's conditions. He'd be forced to scrounge more goals and play more defensively (locking the ball inside 50m with chasing, tackling & pressure) in order to earn his keep.

Buddy excels in these areas as a modern day KPF. That's why he has been the best for the past 10 years (with only J Kennedy getting close to him over the past 4 years)

Some of what you say is accurate but other points not so much IMO.

First Carey wasn't a stay inside 50 forward. He was a true CHF playing further up the ground.

Second, whilst team defence is a thing these days as opposed to yesteryear, oppositions entire defence strategy was to try and contain Carey. He was often manned by 2 players.

Third, today's best defender is undoubtedly Rance. As good as he is he can still give up goals because of his attacking mindset. Most of today's best defenders do the same. Intercepting, attacking rebounds etc are all part of the modern game. Carey didn't have the luxury of defenders trying to attack.
 
People forget just how good players from previous eras were. It's a case of out of sight out of mind

I think it's the opposite, people have a nostalgia about the past and people overhype them and add to the stories being passed down generations. With that said, Carey is better than Buddy. Buddy might be on the fringe of being a top 10 player of the last 25 years, but Carey is either the best, or second best to Gary Ablett Sr.
 
People on this forum, and in the media, do tend to massively overrate players from the 90's, especially they key forwards.
How would you know when you were too young to have seen those players ?

It's a bit like me saying John Coleman was overrated. How the $#@! would I know enough about Coleman to be able to form that view ?
 
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Buddy only needs one more All Australian to have more All Australian awards than Carey. Carey didn't even win the goal-kicking at his own club most of the time.

As a result I am not even sure both players are comparable as clearly if Carey was one of the best ever seen, he wasn't really a forward, or at least no where near a full time one since full time forwards are meant to kick goals.
Such ignorance.

Carey, the CHF, was often giving goals to Longmire the FF. It was a far more positional game.

To suggest the CHF should regularly kick more goals than your gun FF shows you have no concept of how football was played.

No concept at all.
 
Brownie didn't need a Pagan's Paddock set up in order to dominate games.
Carey had the whole forward line to himself, only had to contend with one defender, but I must say his battles with Glenn Jakovich were great.
You need a history lesson.

Pagan's Paddock was only implemented for 18 months.
 
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