Not underrated, but overlooked. Who and why?

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A couple of champions that spring to mind are -

Rohan Smith
Matthew Scarlett

Probably not recognised outside of their own fanbases as much as they should be.
 
kickazz said:
Mark Ricciuto - played at the time of some BIG name on ballers, won a Brownlow, played match-winning games. But perhaps not mentioned as much as he should.
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Came here to say this. Rarely mentioned alongside Buckley or Hird etc but was every bit as good.
 
Feel like Dean Kemp is a bit lost in the production line of superstars and larger-than-life personalities who played for West Coast in the 90s.

Joel Corey from the Geelong 2007-11 premiership era: feel like he was at least the equal of Bartel, Johnson, Chapman, Enright, Ling and Selwood over that period, but would rarely be mentioned before anyone else in that group when reeling off the Geelong stars from that era.

Feel like Jack Crisp will be a classic case of this in years to come for Collingwood, when people look back on this team: it'll be all about the Daicos brothers, Moore, Maynard, De Goey, even the likes of Grundy and Mihocek, but Crisp's value will be understated.
 

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Paul Chapman, He was the cats best big game player imo.

Fraser Gehrig's time at the Eagles tends to get overlooked compared to this time at St Kilda.
 
errant bounce said:
Just media wank and hype.

Brad Johnson gets fawned over and he won nowt and barely left the goal square and pointed and whinged more than Richo and J. Riewoldt combined.

Some nominations: Paul Kelly, David Neitz. insane players in sometimes horrible teams who were true blood and guts representatives of their clubs.
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Geez Paul Kelly was good

I'd say Paul Chapman who was in many respects, the original Dusty
 
Rowan Jones, rode shotgun for Chris Judd.

Judd took the accolades, Jones the grumbles of the supporters.

Judd acknowledged Jones work.
 
in 2008 Rick Ladson was pivotal to Hawthorns premiership and yet nobody even acknowledges it today. It's all Franklin this and Hodge that.
 
ioppolo said:
Fraser Gehrig was apparently a whipping boy.
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He had his moments at the Eagles - especially when he had a lightning quick burst. Very good player and an AA at 21. Unfortunately for Fraser, he wasn’t ready to step up when the Eagles needed him too and his last couple of years in the west were poor - and he definitely fell out of favour with the fans at that time - especially in his last year when it was pretty apparent he was leaving too. His back half of that year was pretty rough.
 
If I'm understanding the category correctly, the idea is that they're not underrated, because whenever their name comes up it's pretty universally accepted that they were a gun; it's just that their name doesn't come up as often as it should, especially compared to some of their teammates or peers from other teams?

If so, I think instead of Dunstall from the post-Matthews to Tuck retirement era Hawks (he'd quite often be the first name that comes to mind), definitely someone like Darrin Pritchard has merit, like recently after Dunstall had been announced as the next HOF Legend, he casually threw Pritchard in as one of the three best mids he played with (may have been the three players he most liked leading out to, or something like that), alongside Platten and Jarman. And when his name comes up every now and then, that seems to be the consensus, 'bloody hell, he was some player.'

Then from the early 2000s era when Brisbane and Port were at the top of the ladder and winning premierships, I think it would be the likes of Josh Francou and Justin Leppitsch. I'd even be tempted to nominate Chris Johnson and Roger James, but I think they may drift into straight 'underrated' territory.
 
Similar to Bernie Quinlan mentioned in the OP, you don’t hear Garry Wilson’s name mentioned much these days. It’s possibly an old Fitzroy thing unfortunately.

The bloke was an absolute jet from go to woe during the 1970’s-80’s.

If a player was regularly putting up numbers like he did for a decade and a half today the media and fans would be genuflecting at his feet endlessly. Garry rarely rates a mention nowadays unfortunately.

 
rapidfire7 said:
Craig Bradley and Brett Ratten.
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Surprised to see Bradley mentioned. I could only think those who'd overlook him would tie in with a young/new generation of AFL watchers who also wouldn't mention many other past greats of the game when talking football because they just weren't in their purview.
 

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Twist_of_Lemon said:
Surprised to see Bradley mentioned. I could only think those who'd overlook him would tie in with a young/new generation of AFL watchers who also wouldn't mention many other past greats of the game when talking football because they just weren't in their purview.
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Maybe it's just me, but he doesn't seem to come up as often as I think he should when discussing great midfielders of the 80s and 90s. One of my all time favourite opposition players and had the pleasure of meeting him too.. at the ice skating rink of all places. Top guy and absolute beast on the field.
 
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David Wirrpanda

My favourite non-Richmond player of that era, always just loved watching him play, even when he was tearing up the Tigers on multiple occasions.

I don't know his stats and awards apart from his premiership and his AA - Eagles fans of that era would be able to tell us more - but he was a glorious footballer to watch at his best.

He was also loyal to the Eagles, staying the course in the west despite being a Victorian boy who was always in demand by the clubs in his home state.
 
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rapidfire7 said:
Maybe it's just me, but he doesn't seem to come up as often as I think he should when discussing great midfielders of the 80s and 90s. One of my all time favourite opposition players and had the pleasure of meeting him too.. at the ice sjating rink of all places. Top guy and absolute beast on the field.
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Great footballer and amazing longevity too.

I don’t much like the Blues from that era but he was a ripper along with Kouta, SOS and from slightly before Kenny Hunter (another gun who doesn’t receive the accolades he deserves due to the passage of time).
 
Philth said:
A couple of champions that spring to mind are -

Rohan Smith
Matthew Scarlett

Probably not recognised outside of their own fanbases as much as they should be.
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Rohan Smith was a brilliant player but looking at his accolades you wouldn’t know.

The Dogs had a few of those types in that era. Scott West already mentioned and even Chris Grant never gets the credit he deserves. Bloke was a superstar at both ends.
 
Kreuuuzeurns said:
Rohan Smith was a brilliant player but looking at his accolades you wouldn’t know.

The Dogs had a few of those types in that era. Scott West already mentioned and even Chris Grant never gets the credit he deserves. Bloke was a superstar at both ends.
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It's where inner sanctum looks like the Year of the Dog documentary are such a great insight: I remember a Terry Wallace address at quarter/three-quarter time where he points to Smith and says something like "You know what he can do: get this man the ball" as though the opposition had no hope of stopping him.
 
Kreuuuzeurns said:
Rohan Smith was a brilliant player but looking at his accolades you wouldn’t know.

The Dogs had a few of those types in that era. Scott West already mentioned and even Chris Grant never gets the credit he deserves. Bloke was a superstar at both ends.
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Smith was my favourite oppo player for a long time.

The Dogs were pretty unlucky not to win a flag in that era.
 
kickazz said:
Matthew Lloyd - yeah he played at a time when Essendon was very good so it's easy to say he was an old fashioned lead out FF who got good supply; but I remember just about every game he'd take 1 or 2 marks - not sensational ones, but marks that 90% of players would probably not hang on to.\

Mark Ricciuto - played at the time of some BIG name on ballers, won a Brownlow, played match-winning games. But perhaps not mentioned as much as he should.

Milne already mentioned.
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Ricciuto like 8 time all Aus or something insane
 
HirdyLannister said:
Simon Black

You always hear about Voss, Lynch, Aka and Browny from the Brisbane threepeat days but Black was the best of the lot. You hear nothing about Black these days.
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If we're talking that Brisbane flag era, Shaun Hart is the one I'd say.

People at least occasionally talk about Black and his contribution. Hart seems to get completely lost amid all the other big names.
 
HairyO said:
Kelly was good (with one great year) but he benefited from the Swans hype the media built at a time when the game wasnt popular at all here (Sydney).
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I think you sell Kelly a bit short there - he grew into his Brownlow (was a bit of a shock when he won it in 1995), and was a better player in the seasons following that than his Brownlow year in particular.
 
From Hawthorn's 1980's to 1991 golden era I suggest Chris Mew.
Played in five premierships as a centre half back, and very highly regarded internally - he was by reputation 'first picked' every week in a team full of champions, and very rarely beaten.
Yet he is not in the AFL Hall of Fame, and rarely mentioned today, possibly because he was so unobtrusive compared to the high profile personalities in that side.
 
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