Moved Thread Pick a Player: Jesaulenko/Blight/Quinlan
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I have a childhood based fixation with emulating the Simon Madden beard of the red shorts era….
- Sep 15, 2005
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according the Wikipedia the club was broke and had to sell a lot of their better players to make ends meet.
Quinlan sounds as though he was almost a bit of a Chris Grant type when at the Dogs - I was always under the impression that he played as a ruck-rover for at least some part of his career?
Superboot for me thx
Blight was 24 when he started with North in the VFL. It is hard to think of comparable players now. He’d be closest to say Toby Greene, Jake Stringer, De Goey or maybe Wingard at his best, without being exactly like any of them. He could be a bit streaky at times but was a great player playing in a variety of roles, on ball, half forward and full forward later on. he had already won a Magarey Medal before arriving in the VFL so obviously was VFL standard well before he played in the VFL. I would describe Blight as a mercurial, highly skilled and slightly streaky player who could do a lot of damage when on song, which he often was.
Jesaulenko was a similar height to Blight, probably a more graceful mover in his prime, superb balance, and just a great all round player. He was 21 when he first played VFL so moderately mature but was playing earlier than Blight. He played a few of his early years at full forward, mainly very successfully, and also to my knowledge played other forward line positions and on the ball. My main memories of him are from around 1974 on and he by then was mainly playing at half back, where he was also very good. His main weapon in his prime was definitely his cat-like agility and in thinking of comparable players now I might say he is a bit like Jeremy Howe in the air, and maybe something like a Shai Bolton on the ground without all the tricky side-stepping. Interested if others can think of better comparisons.
Quinlan first played at 17 years of age and obviously for a 6 foot 4 player you are years off being fully developed at that age. I remember at Footscray where he played his first 9 seasons there wasn’t that much footy on TV, especially for the Bulldogs, but radio commentators would often describe him as being a huge talent who just wasn’t always fully consistent. He mainly played Centre Half Forward, obviously a really tough position, but also Centre Half Back at times. You cannot discount the probability that he may have been knocked around a bit in his younger years costing him some confidence. It was the sort of thing that could happen to young guns in those days when they were playing well. He went on to play 9 seasons at Fitzroy as well, where we saw a lot more of him on TV. He was some player. I don’t think it would be overstating it to say he would have been the most valuable player in the VFL for 3-4 years around his peak, and one of the most valuable players around for a good few years beside that. He was a great mover, great ball handler, huge and reliably accurate kick in his later years. Like almost all great players he was unique. To think of comparisons to players playing now is difficult. The closest I could probably think of who is a similar sized hybrid key position player with great ground skills would be Jeremy Cameron but Quinlan was a better mark than him. Wayne Carey might be a better comparison for Quinlan in his prime though Carey was stronger and more aggressive.
All three scrupulously fair ball players from what I saw, all great players. I am slightly handicapped from not having seen so much of Jezza at his best in the early years, but I have a fair sense of football history and have watched replays of plenty of the big games he played in in that period.
I rate them as follows:
1. Quinlan. Criminally under-rated player, I presume mainly due to playing at less popular and less successful clubs. Others in this sort of category I saw plenty of, Robert Flower, Doug Hawkins, Gary Wilson, very classy players like Quinlan, who would be thought of differently had they played for bigger or more successful clubs. Quinlan was late peaking but I am confident had he played for one of the stronger clubs he would have been a huge finals performer and had his name in lights a lot more. Very consistent performer as his career progressed, highly professional and could do some amazing things, and do them with great ease, mainly in the toughest position on the ground, Centre Half Forward.
2. Jesaulenko. Definitely had a great aura about him as a player. Would have been the biggest name player when I first became conscious of football, and his name was synonymous with spectacular high marking. When I started actually playing footy if you tried to take a ride on someone for a high mark you were trying to take a “Jezza.” Consummate footballer who even as he aged was still a good player, but by the time they were around 30, Quinlan was about 2 levels above Jesaulenko.
3. Blight. It seems harsh to have him at the bottom of any list, truly great player that he was. He was definitely hot and cold though, although I think some of this would have been down to playing on a half forward flank a lot. Capable of mercurial things as immortalised in his post siren torpedo goal at Princes Park. Also clearly capable of high output seasons as displayed by his Magarey and Brownlow Medals and 100 goal VFL season.
Nice to reminisce about these guys. Good thread.
Jesaulenko was a similar height to Blight, probably a more graceful mover in his prime, superb balance, and just a great all round player. He was 21 when he first played VFL so moderately mature but was playing earlier than Blight. He played a few of his early years at full forward, mainly very successfully, and also to my knowledge played other forward line positions and on the ball. My main memories of him are from around 1974 on and he by then was mainly playing at half back, where he was also very good. His main weapon in his prime was definitely his cat-like agility and in thinking of comparable players now I might say he is a bit like Jeremy Howe in the air, and maybe something like a Shai Bolton on the ground without all the tricky side-stepping. Interested if others can think of better comparisons.
Quinlan first played at 17 years of age and obviously for a 6 foot 4 player you are years off being fully developed at that age. I remember at Footscray where he played his first 9 seasons there wasn’t that much footy on TV, especially for the Bulldogs, but radio commentators would often describe him as being a huge talent who just wasn’t always fully consistent. He mainly played Centre Half Forward, obviously a really tough position, but also Centre Half Back at times. You cannot discount the probability that he may have been knocked around a bit in his younger years costing him some confidence. It was the sort of thing that could happen to young guns in those days when they were playing well. He went on to play 9 seasons at Fitzroy as well, where we saw a lot more of him on TV. He was some player. I don’t think it would be overstating it to say he would have been the most valuable player in the VFL for 3-4 years around his peak, and one of the most valuable players around for a good few years beside that. He was a great mover, great ball handler, huge and reliably accurate kick in his later years. Like almost all great players he was unique. To think of comparisons to players playing now is difficult. The closest I could probably think of who is a similar sized hybrid key position player with great ground skills would be Jeremy Cameron but Quinlan was a better mark than him. Wayne Carey might be a better comparison for Quinlan in his prime though Carey was stronger and more aggressive.
All three scrupulously fair ball players from what I saw, all great players. I am slightly handicapped from not having seen so much of Jezza at his best in the early years, but I have a fair sense of football history and have watched replays of plenty of the big games he played in in that period.
I rate them as follows:
1. Quinlan. Criminally under-rated player, I presume mainly due to playing at less popular and less successful clubs. Others in this sort of category I saw plenty of, Robert Flower, Doug Hawkins, Gary Wilson, very classy players like Quinlan, who would be thought of differently had they played for bigger or more successful clubs. Quinlan was late peaking but I am confident had he played for one of the stronger clubs he would have been a huge finals performer and had his name in lights a lot more. Very consistent performer as his career progressed, highly professional and could do some amazing things, and do them with great ease, mainly in the toughest position on the ground, Centre Half Forward.
2. Jesaulenko. Definitely had a great aura about him as a player. Would have been the biggest name player when I first became conscious of football, and his name was synonymous with spectacular high marking. When I started actually playing footy if you tried to take a ride on someone for a high mark you were trying to take a “Jezza.” Consummate footballer who even as he aged was still a good player, but by the time they were around 30, Quinlan was about 2 levels above Jesaulenko.
3. Blight. It seems harsh to have him at the bottom of any list, truly great player that he was. He was definitely hot and cold though, although I think some of this would have been down to playing on a half forward flank a lot. Capable of mercurial things as immortalised in his post siren torpedo goal at Princes Park. Also clearly capable of high output seasons as displayed by his Magarey and Brownlow Medals and 100 goal VFL season.
Nice to reminisce about these guys. Good thread.
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Great summary.
Unfortunately I can only watch their highlights on YouTube, or look their stats up on AFL Tables. Interestingly for me I came to the same order.
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enjoyed that analysis, thank you!
Wouldn’t happen...”Quinlans on fire ! We better get him off”
1. Blight
2. Alex Quinlan
2. Alex Quinlan
Started watching footy in the mid 70's, by which time Jezza was already playing more in defence. Good point about Quinlan, back in that era the footy replays would have always had a big serve of Hawks, Pies, Tigers, Blues on the replays, as a Cat fan you didn't see much of Geelong, and the Dogs too would have been only really seen perhaps in '74 and '76. Blight was a spectacular and mercurial player, he actually had a very moderate performance in the '78 GF after winning the Brownlow earlier in the week.
Reckon Quinlan though had a big impact with the 'Roys, they were finals absentees from '61 till '78, but made them in '79, '81, '83, '84 and '86. Indeed i to this day reckon had Tuck not got that free for deliberate late in the '83 QF (Quinlan kicked 8 goals that day, Hawks won by 4 points) the Lions would have been montys to beat what were a fragile Kangaroos outfit in the 2nd Semi of that season...particularly when the Lions absolutely SMASHED those same Kangaroos by 150 points earlier that season. But the loss to the Hawks in that QF was costly, and a couple of in-game injuries in the semi versus Essendon saw the Bombers over-run the Lions in that year. No surprise really that upon Quinlan's retirement, the Lions dropped away, and sadly were forced to merge after the '96 season.
Jezza's most electric footy as a forward were the earlier 70's, a little before my time and memory of watching the game. Who knows how many goals he may have kicked if he remained a forward, in one sense it's quite amazing that a century goalkicker early in one's career would end up playing probably more than half his remaining footy as a defender. But he'll remain the last playing Captain-Coach to win a Flag.
Agree with others, good thread Cursed Cat, we're probably of fairly similar age (Born '68).
Reckon Quinlan though had a big impact with the 'Roys, they were finals absentees from '61 till '78, but made them in '79, '81, '83, '84 and '86. Indeed i to this day reckon had Tuck not got that free for deliberate late in the '83 QF (Quinlan kicked 8 goals that day, Hawks won by 4 points) the Lions would have been montys to beat what were a fragile Kangaroos outfit in the 2nd Semi of that season...particularly when the Lions absolutely SMASHED those same Kangaroos by 150 points earlier that season. But the loss to the Hawks in that QF was costly, and a couple of in-game injuries in the semi versus Essendon saw the Bombers over-run the Lions in that year. No surprise really that upon Quinlan's retirement, the Lions dropped away, and sadly were forced to merge after the '96 season.
Jezza's most electric footy as a forward were the earlier 70's, a little before my time and memory of watching the game. Who knows how many goals he may have kicked if he remained a forward, in one sense it's quite amazing that a century goalkicker early in one's career would end up playing probably more than half his remaining footy as a defender. But he'll remain the last playing Captain-Coach to win a Flag.
Agree with others, good thread Cursed Cat, we're probably of fairly similar age (Born '68).
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Cheers Catsace - question about Quinlan's Brownlow, perhaps you might know the answer ...
I was always led to believe that only a couple of key forwards have ever won a Brownlow; Tony Lockett's tie with John Platten in 1987 and also Kelvin Templeton's Charlie from CHF in 1980..
But did Quinlan also win won as a key forward?
He kicked 73 goals in 1981 (his Brownlow year) - at the very least he must have spent significant time as a forward.
Reckon he might have played a sort of Gary Sr role of the later 80's....playing as a marking target at CHF, bearing in mind that the Lions had goalkicking smalls like McMahon, Wilson, Conlan etc. But i'm pretty sure he was certainly playing centre half forward much of the time. Of course, he was in range when within 60 metres. Templeton won his Brownlow in 1980, although he kicked his big ton in 1978. Funnily enough the Dogs were horrid in 1980, losing the first 10 games, but they improved to win 5 by season's end.
Very different Brownlow results back then, you had several ruckmen winning back in that era, with Quinlan tying with Roundin '81, Moore, Teasdale, Moss, Thompson earlier in the 70's, and Moore again in '84. Stynes and Wynd in '90 and '91 as well. Lockett was the first full-forward to win the Charlie. Nowadays it's a midfielder or nothing!
Just an aside with my point about the Lions when Quinlan was there, they were also just outside the Five in '82 as well, aside from the anomaly of spooning it up in 1980 (famously scoring more points that year than ladder leader Geelong) they really were right up there for the majority of the time Quinlan spent there. For Lions fans, that 7-8 seasons were the most successful they were to have in the last 35 years of their existence.
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exactly; Ruckmen won Brownlow's for 5 successive seasons in the 70s..
fascinating fact regarding Fitzroy's 1980 points for tally; I'd never heard that stat before!
Yeah, forgot Dempsey in '75 too. Greig won in '73 and '74 to interrupt the big men.
Yeah, Geelong scored 2362 points for in 1980, the Lions scored 2398. However Geelong conceded 900 less points than the Lions with their league-best defence that year in '80, and did even better in '81. Gee, a Quinlan or a Blight would have been handy for the Cats in that era.
Quinlan too i guess played until 36, a very long career encompassing 18 seasons and that exposure in the era of Sunday games in Sydney too meant more people say of age 45+ saw him moreso than Jezza, where even me at age 53 would only see him in replays and live only in the 1979 GF. The only games televised live in full were the handful of Sydney games played at the SCG in 1980 and 1981, before the Swans shifted there for 1982. Blight played in 1982, Jezza retired as a player in 1980 i think. Hence Quinlan i think has a little more exposure and prominence of this group of players, even for people perhaps of roughly 60 who would have seen the debuts of all three players in their lifetimes.
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Jezza did what he did with the body of a HFF. 6’ tall my arse.
Blight & Quinlan both champions. When all three are that good, it’s churlish to be picky.
Blight & Quinlan both champions. When all three are that good, it’s churlish to be picky.
You had Larry Donahue, what more do you want.
We had him, but his last game as a Cat was at Waverley Rd 6 vs the Tigers in 1980, i guess Goggin wasn't a wrap for him. He joined Fitzroy later, but essentially his VFL career was over just past his 25th birthday, two seasons from his 95 goals in '78 and 4 seasons from his 105 goals in '76. A very quick demise, in one way like how Jezza's goalkicking career came to a screeching halt, but in the latter's case it was because he was redeployed as a defender, and Jezza was still a star player in that role.
Just checking AFL Tables (Great site created by *Paul), Jezza kicked 67 goals from 1975 onwards, although i see he also played 8 games for St.Kilda in 1981, kicking 11.16. So he must have played forward a fair bit in his last year, but had the yips to some extent.
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