Strapping Young Lad
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Anytime someone discount Lethal as the best ever, I scoff.
Opinion Leigh Matthews and that season he didn't win the Brownlow . . .
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He was in great form, but don't underestimate the season Graham Teasdale had. He was absolutely spectacular, taking screamers and dominating in either the forward line or in the ruck.
? How did he get second one season and two thirds
Osho
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Some great, and forgotten, names on those lists...Garry Wilson for one. Star.
Osho
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Osho
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The 80s rivalry between Essendon and Hawthorn was extremely intense. Hatred. Animosity. Made for exciting games and the sense of danger escaped into the crowds as well. And such a cavalcade of colourful characters.
He'll get more weeks then votes today. So in the end nothing changed...
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lucky not to be in jail let alone being allowed to play footy.
he may have been the best, but he was not anywhere near fair.
he may have been the best, but he was not anywhere near fair.
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Origins of “never complain, never explain” date back to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who served during the late 1800s. It’s been used by high-ranking political and military officials as a code of conduct ever since. It was Her Majesty’s mom, the Queen Mother, who made the saying a mainstay of the British royal family... In essence, “never complain, never explain” is about keeping the power of neutrality on your side. It’s about ignoring critics and dismissing their claims by your silence, rather than becoming defensive...
It was the title of one of the chapters from his autobiography, "Lethal", and it served as his own motto or personal credo during his playing days
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Geez, if that was so, they would've needed to build a lot of jails to house all the footballers & rugby players who threw punches in suburban, country, amateur and professional matches around Australia from 1965 to 1985
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Yeah we'll maybe they should of. Don't see why playing sport should allow you to assault people with acts that are in no way part of the actual sport.
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1970 was even worse from that standpoint
Hudson kicked 146 goals from 22 matches for a team which missed the finals and finished 8th (10 wins, 12 losses)
He polled just 14 Brownlow votes (4-0-2)
His goal tallies that year: 13, 11, 11, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 6, 6, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2
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Well, actually it was a part of the sport back then. Not in the rules. Not condoned by anyone. But it's what every team did.
Every team had their share of players who went the knuckle. It was a common tactic to stop a team who were on a roll, or for a weaker team to put their opponent off their game. If a player was hit, bumped, elbowed unfairly, one or two of his teammates would fly the flag and square up. They didn't grab jumpers and push & shove each other, or wait for the MRO reviews.
If players were held onto unfairly by an opponent, they would often lash out with their fist. They didn't bother squealing to the umps for a free kick. They'd warn the guy and if he kept doing it, they'd belt him. Matthews KO'd a few players like this, same with Greg Williams, Gary Ablett, Tony Lockett and many others.
Any time a forward took a mark, his opponent would "make him earn it" if he was in a position to do so... Not just Grand Finals, but in any game. This was a euphemism for punching him in the head, or riding him into the ground and elbowing or kneeing him in the head on the way down. At worst, they'd give away a 15 metre penalty. Generally speaking, nothing ever eventuated. Everyone back then just accepted that was how the game was played. This went on right through the 1980's and early 90's. Video reviews came in after 1985 for the obvious rough stuff, but defenders got better at disguising their cheap shots.
Watch the old Grand Finals - they were literally a different game to the home & away matches with a "law of the jungle" mentality... Elbows and raised forearms in virtually every contest. Plenty of head high bumps and cheap shots throughout the game. The most respected opposition players were the ruthless tough nuts who could dish it out, cop it back and still win the match for their team: Wayne Johnston from Carlton is one such player who springs to mind. On Grand Final day, he'd thump a couple of opponents in the first quarter, end up with 25 possessions and boot a couple of goals. He was a big game player...
It was a violent era of football.
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Exactly.
Things like tackling, accidental head hits in marking contests, bumps etc are exempt from the law because they're reasonably accepted parts of the actual game. I have no issue with a footy act gone wrong.
Running up behind someone and roundhousing them in the head never was, and players should be punished under the law. Maybe then we wouldn't see it anymore.
That noone has died from one of these coward punches over the years is a miracle.
Generation X
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Matthews was a thug, even by the 80's standards. Great player, perhaps even the best ever, but still a thug. He was very good at hitting blokes who weren't looking or expecting it.
It's just the nature of the Brownlow Medal, a concept I've never been comfortable with. I've never liked the 3-2-1 voting system. I'll say this for Lethal, he won 8 Best & Fairest awards in a period where Hawthorn were a strong team, and I think that's a great effort.
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Any chance you can merge these two threads?
www.bigfooty.com
Leighfall Leigh invented diving.
Hey dudes, I was just searching the internet for something totally unrelated to diving and flopping when this happened across my massive 16" plasma monitor. I was as startled as as a 16 year old when his mum walks into his room without knocking when I clicked on the link and saw this motion...
www.bigfooty.com
Lip Gallagher
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- #45
Kevin Bartlett had a couple of very good year, he never won one either.
lumpinee
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in short he belted blokes when they werent looking,many,many,many times thruout his career,hed get 6-8 weeks multiple times for some of the things he dished out,it was no secret he was never ever gonna win a brownlow,he was just too dirty,a sniper for a better word,there was never ever talk back in the day of
1/Matthews might win it tonight & 2/ how the hell did Matthews not win it the next day
it is FACT as i grew up in that era that london to a brick Matthews aint winning no Brownlow,it was pencilled in before the dew had even been kicked off
the turf
lumpinee
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Prince Andrew has read that book i think
I lost a lot of respect for him watching that video. I know it was a different era, but he was running around blatantly punching guys.
Osho
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You had to be there.
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