Horn's top 50

[BrianSpeaking]

1. Ben Dowd – SKOBS

2. Matthew Robbins - Ormond

3. Tony Brown – Old Haileybury

4. Sam Anstey - SBMT

5. Luke Wintle – SBMT

6. Ben Jordan – St Bernards

7. Brett Voss - Old Haileybury

8. Michael Davis – Old Melburnians

9. Tim Clarke – Old Xavs

10. Mark Ainley – Old Brighton

11. Steven Greene – Old Melburnians

12. Leigh Harrison – De La Salle

13. Peter McGettigan - SBMT

14. Charlie Gardiner – Old Melburnians

15. Michael Darvell – Old Xavs

16. Cam Howat – Old Carey

17. Leigh Hendra - Old Brighton

18. Adam Houlihan – Old Scotch

19. Nick Stone - Collegians

20. Jarrod Carlson - Marcellin

21. Ben Phibbs - SBMT

22. Andrew Bowen – Old Xavs

23. Andrew Lowcock – Uni Blues

24. Matthew Handley – Old Xavs

25. Tim Hazell – Old Camberwell

26. Hayden Heta – Old Ivanhoe

27. Mark Paterson – Uni Blues

28. Andrew Cultrera – Old Trinity

29. Aaron Shields – De La Salle

30. Brendan Iezzi – Old Trinity

31. Evan Spargo – Old Ivanhoe

32. Matt Gadsden – Old Brighton

33. David Lowe – De La Salle

34. Chris Richards - SBMT

35. Matthew Bortolotto - Marcellin

36. Tom Simpson - SKOBS

37. Scott Curatolo – Old Ivanhoe

38. Nick Wynne - Old Xavs

39. Brett Sinclair – Old Brighton

40. Cameron Purss – Old Xavs

41. Richard Eva – Old Scotch

42. Chris Blumfield - Collegians

43. Adrian Delmonte – Old Ivanhoe

44. Nick Marston – Old Brighton

45. Daniel Cooper – Old Essendon

46. Ben Mannix – De La Salle

47. Chris Liberatore - St Bernards

48. Tim Fleming – Old Xavs

49. Kane Loxley – Uni Blacks

50. Grant Baldwin – Old Carey

Pretty good job there Jonno...

 

[Rhombus]

3 B Grade Players as the Top 3? 6 B Grade Players in the Top 10?

Best Tall Backman not in Top 20: Bowen
Best Ruckman not in Top 20: Heta
Best Wingman not in Top 20: Phibbs
Best Small Forward not in Top 50: Mercuri

 

[BrianSpeaking]

3 B Grade Players as the Top 3? 6 B Grade Players in the Top 10?

Let's look at those six players.
Ben Dowd: All Australian and acknowledged by many as the best player in the VAFA. Dominated rep games for Victoria and Australia.
Robbins: 150 plus AFL games
Brown: 90 plus AFL games and Magarey Medal winner
Jordan: One of the best VAFA players over a number of years, maybe now not a top 10 player but was a champion.
Voss: nearly 200 AFL games, a genuine gun.
Davis: Magarey Medal winner.

Who cares if they are in B Section, all would be first picked in the best A Section team. Hornet is spot on, perhaps he could have snuck Daniel Poynton into his top 50.

 

[ultimate hater]

helps when you're playing against b grade competition - the whole of the st bedes lineup would be the top 22 if they were still playing in B grade...

Genuine question, what has robbins and jordan done this year that others in the same position from other teams haven't? Is robbins THAT good? I've never seen him play, and how would those on ballers go against A grade's best on ballers? remembering it's easy to run around without an opponent and rack up kicks but you can't do that in A grade without getting hurt the other way...

 

[justafan]

helps when you're playing against b grade competition - the whole of the st bedes lineup would be the top 22 if they were still playing in B grade...

Genuine question, what has robbins and jordan done this year that others in the same position from other teams haven't? Is robbins THAT good? I've never seen him play, and how would those on ballers go against A grade's best on ballers? remembering it's easy to run around without an opponent and rack up kicks but you can't do that in A grade without getting hurt the other way...

So, basically what you are saying here is these guys would not be able to step up to A-Grade and make the same sort of impact??
If the boys at St Bedes can do it, then why couldn't these guys, most of which have played in AFL and are relatively young??
I saw Phibbs and Anstey playing in B-Grade a couple of years ago and they were very, very good players and yet they have made the step up and are still very, very good players. Are you saying that the St Bedes boys are freaks and no-one else can do what they have done?
I agree with you from one point, I saw Robbins play last year and he wasn't THAT good - but that was only one game. Number 2 might be a big high for him.

 

[BrianSpeaking]

helps when you're playing against b grade competition - the whole of the st bedes lineup would be the top 22 if they were still playing in B grade...

Genuine question, what has robbins and jordan done this year that others in the same position from other teams haven't? Is robbins THAT good? I've never seen him play, and how would those on ballers go against A grade's best on ballers? remembering it's easy to run around without an opponent and rack up kicks but you can't do that in A grade without getting hurt the other way...

So what your saying is that A Section VAFA footy is stronger than the AFL or SANFL? Are you also suggesting that dominating for Victoria against other states and caning professionals from the EFL doesn't mean anything?

Robbins IS a freakshow. Can play anywhere and is tough as nails with tricks coming out of his arse.

What I would love to see would be a rep game of A Section vs B Section, would be a ripping contest, I suspect B Section would get over the line.
Kingsley, Brown, Harvey, Robbins, Voss, Howat, Williams, Dowd, Iezzi, Cultrera, Jordan, Davis, Simpson, Greene, Gardiner, Hazell, Tallis, Hilton, Bolton, Ramsden... what can A Section come up with?

 

[man in outer]

helps when you're playing against b grade competition - the whole of the st bedes lineup would be the top 22 if they were still playing in B grade...

Genuine question, what has robbins and jordan done this year that others in the same position from other teams haven't? Is robbins THAT good? I've never seen him play, and how would those on ballers go against A grade's best on ballers? remembering it's easy to run around without an opponent and rack up kicks but you can't do that in A grade without getting hurt the other way...

Stupid post...does big grade deserve 6 of the first 8? I dont know. Maybe not. However to suggest that any of those players could not step up to A grade is moronic given that they have all played against tougher opposition. Much tougher in many cases...btw B grade play 18 on 18 so everybody has an opponent and St Bedes were in b grade in 07 with a very similar line up from all reports.

 

[Punch From Behind]

Very tough job, hats off to you for giving it a good crack.

Nick Ries must be somewhere inside the top 50 though.... please?
Can you tell me your thoughts behind that one or was it just an oversight?

 

[Scribe]

Nice effort by the Hornbag.

It'd be pretty easy to criticise on a micro level, with some individuals fortunate to be in/out, but across the board a very fair assessment.

Me and my ten foot barge pole will leave well alone save to say that the past 3 seasons I've spent outside the top couple of grades leads me to suggest there's probably a handful of lads running around in C section or below who would have genuine claims to places 41 - 50 in that list.

Having said that, it'd be unfair to expect Jonno to be able to cast his net across the whole comp. We all agree the vast majority of the best players are in A/B, and this list maintains that theme.

Nice work and a good talking point for the week

PS - I'd have Cultrera up a few notches higher....sorry, couldn't resist!

 

[Chris Griffin]

helps when you're playing against b grade competition - the whole of the st bedes lineup would be the top 22 if they were still playing in B grade...

Genuine question, what has robbins and jordan done this year that others in the same position from other teams haven't? Is robbins THAT good? I've never seen him play, and how would those on ballers go against A grade's best on ballers? remembering it's easy to run around without an opponent and rack up kicks but you can't do that in A grade without getting hurt the other way...

The fact that Jordan is a previous A Grade premiership captain as well as someone that was in the top 3 in the A Grade comp medal numerous times leads me to believe he would be more than capable of knocking around with the fellas in A Grade. If your not convinced about what he has done this year, get your hands on the round 1 tape against Ormond and work your way fwd.

Good crack at it Hornbag...

 

[get_a_kick]

helps when you're playing against b grade competition - the whole of the st bedes lineup would be the top 22 if they were still playing in B grade...

Genuine question, what has robbins and jordan done this year that others in the same position from other teams haven't? Is robbins THAT good? I've never seen him play, and how would those on ballers go against A grade's best on ballers? remembering it's easy to run around without an opponent and rack up kicks but you can't do that in A grade without getting hurt the other way...

Wouldn't these players get MORE attention in B-Grade? I could not imagine a B-Grade coach letting Dowd, Greene, Robbins and the like run around by themselves all day. You be asking some serious questions if they did?
Lastly, a couple of years back Carl Steinfort left Collingwood and went to Mazenod in B-Grade. This was, mind you, after playing in the previous years AFL Grand Final. Now based on your theory, is it suffice to say that he wouldn't have been in the top 10 players that year because he wasn't playing in A-Grade?

 

[Chazz M Michaels]

Wow, a lot of B grade people sparked up didn't they! Fair enough though, poor post hater, would have expected better from you..

Dowd is a gun no doubt and the ex-Afl guys of course are good, but weren't the biggs bro's rated extremely highly while they were in B grade? Where are they now?

 

[Dan Cullinan]

I know this will come across biast but is Cam MaClaren unlucky?

Won the Goal kicking in B grade last year and has has a pretty good start to this season and was rewarded with Under 23 State selection?

No doubt a tough task for J.Horn and there would be a million different opinions, so did pretty well I think.

I do think B. Sinclair is better than number 39 though!

 

[MO AMMO]

I know this will come across biast but is Cam MaClaren unlucky?

Won the Goal kicking in B grade last year and has has a pretty good start to this season and was rewarded with Under 23 State selection?

No doubt a tough task for J.Horn and there would be a million different opinions, so did pretty well I think.

I do think B. Sinclair is better than number 39 though!

]
Agreed B.Sinclair is should be right up there ahead of a few more...

How many of following guys from last years League B&F made the top 50??

Watts, Jack (UNI BLUES) Clearly O/S
Smith, Matthew (OLD BRIGHTON) Not mentioned?
Heta, Hayden (OLD IVANHOE) 26 Should be lower - in the best in the rep game
Duggan, Michael (DE LA SALLE) Not mentioned - still playing?
Serafini, Nicholas (OLD XAVERIANS) No mention
Watts, Fergus (COLLEGIANS) Not playing
Anstey, Sam (ST BEDES/MENTONE TIGERS) Fair @ 4th
Curatolo, Scott (OLD IVANHOE) 37????
Agius, Joshua (OLD XAVERIANS) Gun - I rate higher than most at Xav land..
Stone, Nick (COLLEGIANS) 19 - and slipping...


Anyones thoughts on consistency here?

What are the pre requisites? I am confused....AFL or not, this should surely be based on the top 50 in form players from the year passed and the first 6 rounds....

I am all for rewarding players for service to the Ammo's but surely there is a fair bit of Bias going into this....HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MO!

 

[get_a_kick]

]
Agreed B.Sinclair is should be right up there ahead of a few more...

How many of following guys from last years League B&F made the top 50??

Watts, Jack (UNI BLUES) Clearly O/S
Smith, Matthew (OLD BRIGHTON) Not mentioned?
Heta, Hayden (OLD IVANHOE) 26 Should be lower - in the best in the rep game
Duggan, Michael (DE LA SALLE) Not mentioned - still playing?
Serafini, Nicholas (OLD XAVERIANS) No mention
Watts, Fergus (COLLEGIANS) Not playing
Anstey, Sam (ST BEDES/MENTONE TIGERS) Fair @ 4th
Curatolo, Scott (OLD IVANHOE) 37????
Agius, Joshua (OLD XAVERIANS) Gun - I rate higher than most at Xav land..
Stone, Nick (COLLEGIANS) 19 - and slipping...


Anyones thoughts on consistency here?

What are the pre requisites? I am confused....AFL or not, this should surely be based on the top 50 in form players from the year passed and the first 6 rounds....

I am all for rewarding players for service to the Ammo's but surely there is a fair bit of Bias going into this....HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MO!

Mate, surely you can take the list in the spirit is was meant to be taken in??
I hardly think The Hornbag wanted this to be considered the definitive list of top 50 footballers in the VAFA....but rather an general opinion to spark some debate amongst the punters??
I don't think pleading for some justification is needed, just state your opinion and move on.

 

[Gas Mask]

I know this will come across biast but is Cam MaClaren unlucky?

Won the Goal kicking in B grade last year and has has a pretty good start to this season and was rewarded with Under 23 State selection?

No doubt a tough task for J.Horn and there would be a million different opinions, so did pretty well I think.

I do think B. Sinclair is better than number 39 though!

I thought you were pretty stiff Dan.

 

[football lover]

I thought you were pretty stiff Dan.

I might be a little biased, but thought that OEG were a little harsh done by on the top 50. Ben Clifton has had a great start to the year, has played CHB and been in the best almost every game this year. D Biggs, is a two time B grade B & F winner, three time state player winner, only played his first game for the year last week back from injury but should be in top 50. Also D Flaherty, two time state player, who has been playing in the QAFL past two yrs has been dominant for OEG as well at CHF this year. Cooper was named in the top 50, which was well deserved. Kicked 7 goals in a half against Ivanhoe and kicked 2 goals 8 against Scotch 2 weeks prior.