Last player who debuted in the 90s to retire?

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PerthBoy86

PerthBoy86

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With nobody who debuted/played in the 90s still playing, curious as to who the very last was. Bob Murphy debuted in 2000, so it must've been someone who retired in 16 or 17. Was it Boomer?
 
Last player to play by debut decade:
1890s: Vic Cumberland, St Kilda, 126 games 1898-1920
1900s: Syd Barker Sr, Rich, Ess, NM, 68 games (plus many in VFA) 1908-1927
1910s: Tom Fitzmaurice, Ess, Gee, NM 188 games, 1918-1935
1920s: Alby Morrison, Footscray, 224 games, 1928-1946
1930s: Gordon Hocking, Collingwood, 171 games, 1938-1952
1940s: Alan Gale, Fitzroy, 213 games, 1948-1961 (by 2 weeks over Jim Taylor (SM))
1950s: Kevin Murray, Fitzroy, 333 games, 1955-1974 (by 5 weeks over John Nicholls (Car))
1960s: Bruce Doull, Carlton, 356 games, 1969-1986 (Doull GF, Quinlin PF)
1970s: Roger Merrett, Ess, BB, 313 games, 1978-1996 (Hawkins 1995)
1980s: Robert Harvey, St Kilda, 383 games, 1988-2008
1990s: Brent Harvey, NM, 432 games, 1996-2016 (Goodes & Fletcher 2015)
2000s: My guess? Steele Sidebottom 2009-2025 or Callan Ward 2008-2025
 

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ThePope said:
Last player to play by debut decade:
1890s: Vic Cumberland, St Kilda, 126 games 1898-1920
1900s: Syd Barker Sr, Rich, Ess, NM, 68 games (plus many in VFA) 1908-1927
1910s: Tom Fitzmaurice, Ess, Gee, NM 188 games, 1918-1935
1920s: Alby Morrison, Footscray, 224 games, 1928-1946
1930s: Gordon Hocking, Collingwood, 171 games, 1938-1952
1940s: Alan Gale, Fitzroy, 213 games, 1948-1961 (by 2 weeks over Jim Taylor (SM))
1950s: Kevin Murray, Fitzroy, 333 games, 1955-1974 (by 5 weeks over John Nicholls (Car))
1960s: Bruce Doull, Carlton, 356 games, 1969-1986 (Doull GF, Quinlin PF)
1970s: Roger Merrett, Ess, BB, 313 games, 1978-1996 (Hawkins 1995)
1980s: Robert Harvey, St Kilda, 383 games, 1988-2008
1990s: Brent Harvey, NM, 432 games, 1996-2016 (Goodes & Fletcher 2015)
2000s: My guess? Steele Sidebottom 2009-2025 or Callan Ward 2008-2025
Click to expand...

Incredible it was still Boomer since he debuted in 96. I figured there were some who debuted in 99 or 98 who i might've missed.
 
You can stretch 120 years of VFL/AFL history over the careers of just seven players.
Vic Cumberland: 1898-1920
Gordon Coventry: 1920-1937
Dick Reynolds: 1933-1951
Jack Clarke: 1951-1967
Kevin Bartlett: 1965-1983
Tony Lockett: 1983-2002
Gary Ablett Jr: 2002-2018

This got me thinking about separation, and "the Bacon number".

The Bacon number is a number that counts the degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and any other actor or actress. Anybody who has been in a film with Bacon has a Bacon number of 1, anybody who has been in a film with someone who has been in a film with Bacon has a Bacon number of 2, and so on.

The same concept could be applied to playing in AFL games. Kevin Bartlett played against Tony Lockett in Round 20, 1983. However, Tony Lockett has never played against Gary Ablett Jr., even though his last game was against Geelong in Round 12, 2002. Adam Goodes did play in that match, and later played against Gary Ablett Jr. in Round 8, 2003, so that would mean that Ablett Jr. has a "Bartlett number" of 3, and Bartlett has an "Ablett Jr. number" of 3.

There's also the "Center of the Hollywood Universe" which calculates the average degree of separation from an actor to every other actor in history. Prolific actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis have low numbers around the 2.8-2.9 range. Kevin Bacon's number is 3.02912, which doesn't even make the top 400 of all actors. The current center is Eric Roberts, whose number is 2.83154.

Now this is the big question: Who's the centre of the AFL?

My guess would have to be somebody who had a long career in the fifties and sixties. And that's why I think it's Ted Whitten.
 
Connor7395 said:
You can stretch 120 years of VFL/AFL history over the careers of just seven players.
Vic Cumberland: 1898-1920
Gordon Coventry: 1920-1937
Dick Reynolds: 1933-1951
Jack Clarke: 1951-1967
Kevin Bartlett: 1965-1983
Tony Lockett: 1983-2002
Gary Ablett Jr: 2002-2018

This got me thinking about separation, and "the Bacon number".

The Bacon number is a number that counts the degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and any other actor or actress. Anybody who has been in a film with Bacon has a Bacon number of 1, anybody who has been in a film with someone who has been in a film with Bacon has a Bacon number of 2, and so on.

The same concept could be applied to playing in AFL games. Kevin Bartlett played against Tony Lockett in Round 20, 1983. However, Tony Lockett has never played against Gary Ablett Jr., even though his last game was against Geelong in Round 12, 2002. Adam Goodes did play in that match, and later played against Gary Ablett Jr. in Round 8, 2003, so that would mean that Ablett Jr. has a "Bartlett number" of 3, and Bartlett has an "Ablett Jr. number" of 3.

There's also the "Center of the Hollywood Universe" which calculates the average degree of separation from an actor to every other actor in history. Prolific actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis have low numbers around the 2.8-2.9 range. Kevin Bacon's number is 3.02912, which doesn't even make the top 400 of all actors. The current center is Eric Roberts, whose number is 2.83154.

Now this is the big question: Who's the centre of the AFL?

My guess would have to be somebody who had a long career in the fifties and sixties. And that's why I think it's Ted Whitten.
Click to expand...

Cracking well thought out post, but surely Lockett doesn't count because he wasn't listed in 00 & 01. Same with Cumberland who didn't play in 1902, 05-06, 09-11, or 16-19.
 
Cumberland also didn't play in 1897.

Longest uninterrupted stint, with at least 1 game per year, and playing with or against in the same game as the previous player, from 1897 is 9, I think.
  • Henry Young: 1897-1910 (Geelong, 167 games),
  • Lots could make this step, but Vic Thorp 1910-1925 Rich 263 games played vs Young, but doesn't quite reach Titus, so you need someone like
  • Donald Don: 1917-1928 (Rich, 158 games, played with Thorp)
  • Jack Titus: 1926-1943 (Rich, 263 games, played with Don)
  • Bert Clay: 1940-1951 (Fitz 178 games, played vs Titus)
  • Ted Whitten: 1951-1970 (Foots 321 games, played vs Clay)
  • Bernie Quinlan: 1969-1986 (Foots/Fitz 366 games, played with Teddy)
  • Craig Bradley: 1986-2002 (Carl 375 games, played vs Superboot)
  • Shaun Burgoyne or Luke Hodge 2002-2018, both played vs Bradley (Ablett also debuted in 2002, but didn't play vs Carlton)
 
Remember we got to doing this by club in this thread

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/thre...onnections-game.1084816/page-10#post-36552950

For Essendon it’s 11 players

1. Kyle Langford (2015 -) Youngest player to play with Fletcher, born 1/12/96.
2. Dustin Fletcher 1993 - 2015
3. Tim Watson 1977 - 1994
4. Robin Close 1968 - 1978
5. Ken Fraser 1958 - 1968
6. Lance Mann 1951 - 1959
7. Dick Reynolds 1933 - 1951
8. Garnet Campbell 1923 - 1933
9. Fred Baring 1910 - 1924
10. Billy Griffith 1899 - 1913
11. Jim Anderson Round 1 1897 - 1905 (first alphabetically, there are others).
 
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Not quite the same, but Freo have only had 3 wins in our history without either Dale Kickett, Pavlich or Mundy playing!

If you make the rule must play in 1st game, then play with the next player to hand it over then it's 3. First year, but not rd 1, then it's 2:
1 Kickett or Norrish (Both retired year before Sandilands debuted; Bell played game 1, but then left; Parker, McManus played with Sandi, but didn't play in rd 1)
2 Pavlich
3 Darcy Tucker the youngest to play with Pav.
 
ThePope said:
Not quite the same, but Freo have only had 3 wins in our history without either Dale Kickett, Pavlich or Mundy playing!

If you make the rule must play in 1st game, then play with the next player to hand it over then it's 3. First year, but not rd 1, then it's 2:
1 Kickett or Norrish (Both retired year before Sandilands debuted; Bell played game 1, but then left; Parker, McManus played with Sandi, but didn't play in rd 1)
2 Pavlich
3 Darcy Tucker the youngest to play with Pav.
Click to expand...

Now THAT is pretty amazing. Pavlich was huge, he's the personification if Freo. Maybe between channel 7 gigs he can just be the Freo mascot - as himself, without the suit lol.
 
This is similar in concept to the Degrees of Danny Dickfos that was a game we played in pubs waiting for interstate footy to be on.
The idea was to name any player, then link him to Danny Dickfos, who played for the Brisbane Bears & Lions
Roger Merrett, Craig Lambert, Andrew Gowers, Adrian Fletcher & Alastair Lynch all played in the same team as Danny Dickfos.

EG Ted Whitten played for Footscray with Bernie Quinlan
Bernie Quinlan played at Fitzroy with Scott McIvor
Scott McIvor played at Brisbane with Danny Dickfos.
Ted Whitten has a Dickfos number of 2.
 
Mero said:
This is similar in concept to the Degrees of Danny Dickfos that was a game we played in pubs waiting for interstate footy to be on.
The idea was to name any player, then link him to Danny Dickfos, who played for the Brisbane Bears & Lions
Roger Merrett, Craig Lambert, Andrew Gowers, Adrian Fletcher & Alastair Lynch all played in the same team as Danny Dickfos.

EG Ted Whitten played for Footscray with Bernie Quinlan
Bernie Quinlan played at Fitzroy with Scott McIvor
Scott McIvor played at Brisbane with Danny Dickfos.
Ted Whitten has a Dickfos number of 2.
Click to expand...


Doesn't Devon Smith also have a Dickfos No. 2?
 

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ThePope said:
Last player to play by debut decade:
1890s: Vic Cumberland, St Kilda, 126 games 1898-1920
1900s: Syd Barker Sr, Rich, Ess, NM, 68 games (plus many in VFA) 1908-1927
1910s: Tom Fitzmaurice, Ess, Gee, NM 188 games, 1918-1935
1920s: Alby Morrison, Footscray, 224 games, 1928-1946
1930s: Gordon Hocking, Collingwood, 171 games, 1938-1952
1940s: Alan Gale, Fitzroy, 213 games, 1948-1961 (by 2 weeks over Jim Taylor (SM))
1950s: Kevin Murray, Fitzroy, 333 games, 1955-1974 (by 5 weeks over John Nicholls (Car))
1960s: Bruce Doull, Carlton, 356 games, 1969-1986 (Doull GF, Quinlin PF)
1970s: Roger Merrett, Ess, BB, 313 games, 1978-1996 (Hawkins 1995)
1980s: Robert Harvey, St Kilda, 383 games, 1988-2008
1990s: Brent Harvey, NM, 432 games, 1996-2016 (Goodes & Fletcher 2015)
2000s: My guess? Steele Sidebottom 2009-2025 or Callan Ward 2008-2025
Click to expand...
In 2015 Fletcher was playing with people born in 1994-1996 and in 2016 Boomer was playing with people born in 1997. It would be interesting to see how many times this type of situation has occurred
 
Is this year's draft going to be the first with a player born on or after 1-1-2000?

(... and I know the century technically started in 2001 as there was no year 0)
 
BartBart said:
Is this year's draft going to be the first with a player born on or after 1-1-2000?

(... and I know the century technically started in 2001 as there was no year 0)
Click to expand...

Yes, the top-age players in the TAC Cup were born in 2000, some were born in 1999. Bottom-age TAC Cup players were born in 2001
 
i am a logo said:
In 2015 Fletcher was playing with people born in 1994-1996 and in 2016 Boomer was playing with people born in 1997. It would be interesting to see how many times this type of situation has occurred
Click to expand...
That's really interesting when you think about it properly.
 
Connor7395 said:
You can stretch 120 years of VFL/AFL history over the careers of just seven players.
Vic Cumberland: 1898-1920
Gordon Coventry: 1920-1937
Dick Reynolds: 1933-1951
Jack Clarke: 1951-1967
Kevin Bartlett: 1965-1983
Tony Lockett: 1983-2002
Gary Ablett Jr: 2002-2018

This got me thinking about separation, and "the Bacon number".
Click to expand...

I like this line of succession thinking a lot.

My own side in Hawthorn have been very blessed indeed with cracking smalls/Rovers over the course of our Premiership era, stretching from 1960, on up till 2018.

Ian 'Liberty' Law: 1960-1968....106 Games. 1961 Premiership, 3 B & F.
Leigh 'Barney' Matthews: 1969-1985....332 Games. 4 Premierships, 8 B & F, Player of the Century.
Johnny 'The Rat' Platten: 1986-1998....258 Games. 4 Premierships, 2 B & F, Brownlow Medal.
Shane 'Cindy' Crawford: 1993-2008.....305 Games. 2008 Premiership, 4 B & F, Brownlow Medal.
Cyril 'Sizzle' Rioli: 2008-2018....189 Games. 4 Premierships, Norm smith Medal.

That's 5 players encompassing almost 60 years & 13 Premierships, with only Crawford & Rioli sharing the 2008 one.

We have been truly blessed in this department.
 
ThePope said:
Last player to play by debut decade:
1890s: Vic Cumberland, St Kilda, 126 games 1898-1920
1900s: Syd Barker Sr, Rich, Ess, NM, 68 games (plus many in VFA) 1908-1927
1910s: Tom Fitzmaurice, Ess, Gee, NM 188 games, 1918-1935
1920s: Alby Morrison, Footscray, 224 games, 1928-1946
1930s: Gordon Hocking, Collingwood, 171 games, 1938-1952
1940s: Alan Gale, Fitzroy, 213 games, 1948-1961 (by 2 weeks over Jim Taylor (SM))
1950s: Kevin Murray, Fitzroy, 333 games, 1955-1974 (by 5 weeks over John Nicholls (Car))
1960s: Bruce Doull, Carlton, 356 games, 1969-1986 (Doull GF, Quinlan PF)
1970s: Roger Merrett, Ess, BB, 313 games, 1978-1996 (Hawkins 1995)
1980s: Robert Harvey, St Kilda, 383 games, 1988-2008
1990s: Brent Harvey, NM, 432 games, 1996-2016 (Goodes & Fletcher 2015)
2000s: My guess? Steele Sidebottom 2009-2025 or Callan Ward 2008-2025
Click to expand...
Who was the first player to finish in each decade from the 1920s onwards to begin playing?

Alternatively put, when was the earliest start for a career ending in each decade from the 1920s to the 2010s?

I know a few answers – Michael Tuck in the 1990s, Tony Lockett in the 2000s (but what if it must be continuous), Ted Whitten for the 1970s, Dick Reynolds for the 1950s.
 
Last edited:
So for the 2020s, Ablett beats Burgoyne by 2 rounds 2002-2020
Dustin Fletcher 1993-2015
Paul Salmon actually beats Lockett by 3 rounds, 1983-2002
Tuck 1972-1991
John Rantall and Carl Ditterich both debuted in Rd 1 1963, played to 1980 (Rantall's last game was Rd 9, Ditterich lasted until Rd 22)
Whitten a clear leader 1951-1970
Ron Clegg 1945-1960
Dick Reynolds 1933-1951
Albert Collier Rd 1 1925-1942 just beat Perce Bentley Rd 12 1925-1940

This was worked out from the list of 200 game players. If there was a longer lasting sub 200 game player, then I have missed him. This definitely applies to earlier players, so I won't go back earlier
 
Last edited:
ThePope said:
So for the 2020s, Ablett beats Burgoyne by 2 rounds 2002-2020
Dustin Fletcher 1993-2015
Paul Salmon actually beats Lockett by 3 rounds, 1982-2002
Tuck 1972-1991
John Rantall and Carl Ditterich both debuted in Rd 1 1963, played to 1980 (Rantall's last game was Rd 9, Ditterich lasted until Rd 22)
Whitten a clear leader 1951-1970
Rob Clegg 1945-1960
Dick Reynolds 1933-1951
Albert Collier Rd 1 1925-1942 just beat Perce Bentley Rd 12 1925-1940

This was worked out from the list of 200 game players. If there was a longer lasting sub 200 game player, then I have missed him. This definitely applies to earlier players, so I won't go back earlier
Click to expand...

Salmon debuted in 1983....& it's Ron Clegg.
 
ThePope said:
So for the 2020s, Ablett beats Burgoyne by 2 rounds 2002-2020
Dustin Fletcher 1993-2015
Paul Salmon actually beats Lockett by 3 rounds, 1983-2002
Tuck 1972-1991
John Rantall and Carl Ditterich both debuted in Rd 1 1963, played to 1980 (Rantall's last game was Rd 9, Ditterich lasted until Rd 22)
Whitten a clear leader 1951-1970
Ron Clegg 1945-1960
Dick Reynolds 1933-1951
Albert Collier Rd 1 1925-1942 just beat Perce Bentley Rd 12 1925-1940

This was worked out from the list of 200 game players. If there was a longer lasting sub 200 game player, then I have missed him. This definitely applies to earlier players, so I won't go back earlier
Click to expand...
The earliest debutant who played in the 1930s was Bill Cubbins – who debuted for St. Kilda in Round 13 of 1915 and finished with Footscray in 1932, although he returned for one game with the Bulldogs in 1934. Although St. Kilda were in recess in 1916 and 1917, it can be noted that no player who played VFL during those war-affected seasons played into the 1930s.

Apart from Tom Fitzmaurice noted above, and Cubbins, only two other players from the 1910s – Tich Utting and Ivor-Warne-Smith who both debuted in 1919 and neither of whom played continuously – remained in the VFL at any point during the 1930s. It is interesting to note how no player played continuously in the League between 1919 and 1930, in part because players moved around much more for work than in later seasons and the richest clubs in the VFA could compete successfully for players with the League.
 
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