Opinion Rank these players in order from 1-6: Gary Ablett Jnr, Nathan Buckley,James Hird, Chris Judd, Dustin Martin, Michael Voss

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Thomas Erdody

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These two and GAJ are your starting midfield in any hypothetical grand final. Dusty would be on a forward flank and would probably kick 5 goals with that midfield ahead of him. But it's ludicrous to ignore the talents of the 3 that are clearly ahead of him - as shown by the posts in this thread.
He kicked 4 in a GF (16 minute quaters, "probably kick 5"?) with a midfield of Cotchin, Prestia & Edwards, but you say only 1 extra goal? To justify picking those two and Gary jnr over Cotchin, Prestia & Edwards I'd expect Martin to get more than 5 in any hypothetical game.

Even in that hypothetical game it would still be Martin that we'd all be saying "don't get beaten by what you know" about.

Martin would still have to play some time in the middle in the hypothetical game when one of those other 3 needs to take a rest, we can't expect them to play the full game in the middle, they're not Bryan Wood, Robert Wiley and Geoff Raines.
 

Mr Meow

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He kicked 4 in a GF (16 minute quaters, "probably kick 5"?) with a midfield of Cotchin, Prestia & Edwards, but you say only 1 extra goal? To justify picking those two and Gary jnr over Cotchin, Prestia & Edwards I'd expect Martin to get more than 5 in any hypothetical game.

Even in that hypothetical game it would still be Martin that we'd all be saying "don't get beaten by what you know" about.

Martin would still have to play some time in the middle in the hypothetical game when one of those other 3 needs to take a rest, we can't expect them to play the full game in the middle, they're not Bryan Wood, Robert Wiley and Geoff Raines.
I'm assuming in this scenario we're playing a decent side like the 2013 Hawks or 2000 Bombers, and not the 2019 Giants or 2020 Cats, to be fair.

And yes Martin would be a mid rotation in that scenario but you'd have other midfielders on the bench.
 

Fadge

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He kicked 4 in a GF (16 minute quaters, "probably kick 5"?) with a midfield of Cotchin, Prestia & Edwards, but you say only 1 extra goal? To justify picking those two and Gary jnr over Cotchin, Prestia & Edwards I'd expect Martin to get more than 5 in any hypothetical game.

Even in that hypothetical game it would still be Martin that we'd all be saying "don't get beaten by what you know" about.

Martin would still have to play some time in the middle in the hypothetical game when one of those other 3 needs to take a rest, we can't expect them to play the full game in the middle, they're not Bryan Wood, Robert Wiley and Geoff Raines.
Oh no....
 

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Thomas Erdody

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I'm assuming in this scenario we're playing a decent side like the 2013 Hawks or 2000 Bombers, and not the 2019 Giants or 2020 Cats, to be fair.

And yes Martin would be a mid rotation in that scenario but you'd have other midfielders on the bench.
It can't be the 2000 Bombers, they'd win the game and we'd be talking about them.

2013 Hawks would be no match for those 3 and Martin. The hypothetical opponent would have to be a best of the rest.
 

South of the Yarra

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2002 Grand Final

Disposals

Buckley 32
Voss 26

Clearances
Buckley 8
Voss 3

Disposal Efficiency
Buckly 88%
Voss- 61%

Contested Possession
Buckley 12
Voss 10

One Percenters
Buckley 5
Voss 3

Tackles
Buckley- 4
Voss- 6
 

Ambrosia

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Hard to rank.

Judd (WCE) and Ablett had stretches of footy where they were just so far in front of the next best player in the comp it wasn’t funny.

Martin was consistently unbelievable across multiple finals series in key moments but hasn’t put together the overall home and away dominance of the Judds/Ablett

Hird/Buckley/Voss has been done to death
 

Drought Break

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May 5, 2015
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2002 Grand Final

Disposals

Buckley 32
Voss 26

Clearances
Buckley 8
Voss 3

Disposal Efficiency
Buckly 88%
Voss- 61%

Contested Possession
Buckley 12
Voss 10

One Percenters
Buckley 5
Voss 3

Tackles
Buckley- 4
Voss- 6
and posters still think Buckley should be embarrassed about winning the 2002 Norm Smith.

Instrumental in dragging an average side with probably the weakest bottom 6 ever fielded in a GF against a juggernaut team full of stars to "nearly "winning a GF. a few howlers from the umpires in final minutes typically sealed our fate.
 

GWT6

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3 of the 5 judges had not awarded Voss 1 vote halfway through the last quarter. He wasn't even in their best 3 players then suddenly in 10 minutes he is best on ground. You might want to have a look at how many Brisbane players named Buckley as Best on Ground. You have no idea. I trust the opinion of the opponents who played not someone like you who wasn't even at the game.

Those same 3 judges said they would have changed their votes to include Voss if given the chance after the game - so you just proved my point that Buckley only got it because it was given prematurely. Thanks.

That's why they changed the rule after that game.
 

Thomas Erdody

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Those same 3 judges said they would have changed their votes to include Voss if given the chance after the game - so you just proved my point that Buckley only got it because it was given prematurely. Thanks.

That's why they changed the rule after that game.
If they had of said they would've voted for Voss ahead of Buckley then you may have something.
 

blaisee

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Buckley the only one who could have 46 possessions as a midfielder, kick 6 goals as a forward and tear Carey apart as a defender.


also the world record holder in the afl for playing and coaching the most amount of games and not winning a premiership

No one has avoided more flags than Buckley
 

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blaisee

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2002 Grand Final

Disposals

Buckley 32
Voss 26

Clearances
Buckley 8
Voss 3

Disposal Efficiency
Buckly 88%
Voss- 61%

Contested Possession
Buckley 12
Voss 10

One Percenters
Buckley 5
Voss 3

Tackles
Buckley- 4
Voss- 6

No reasonable person that watched that game to the end would pick Buckley ahead of Voss

You are just being silly
 

blueiris

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1.Michael Voss
2.Garry Ablett
3.Chris Judd
4.James Hird
5.Dustin Martin
6.Nathan Buckley
 

Drought Break

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No reasonable person that watched that game to the end would pick Buckley ahead of Voss

You are just being silly
wouldn't think there would be too many "reasonable "people that would ignore every stat in the book that South has put up. 28 kicks from one of the most damaging kickers of the footy that has played the game.
 

Footy Smarts

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Suggest you have a closer look at the finals performances of the other players.

The gap in finals performances will be much closer than you think...
Disagree. From 2017-2020 Martin's finals performances are unparalleled.

He was clearly best on ground in:
2017 QF, 2017 GF, 2019 GF, 2020 SF, 2020 PF and 2020 GF.

Arguably best on ground in:
2017 PF, 2018 QF and 2019 QF.

He probably played more finals at his absolute peak than the others which helps. But none of the others come anywhere near that level of finals performance.
 

Fadge

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Disagree. From 2017-2020 Martin's finals performances are unparalleled.

He was clearly best on ground in:
2017 QF, 2017 GF, 2019 GF, 2020 SF, 2020 PF and 2020 GF.

Arguably best on ground in:
2017 PF, 2018 QF and 2019 QF.

He probably played more finals at his absolute peak than the others which helps. But none of the others come anywhere near that level of finals performance.
So you've listed Martin's finals. What about the other players?

Start with Ablett Junior between 2007 and 2010.

Then look at Judd's finals performances, which are over a longer time frame, and in teams of varying strength.

And make sure you analyse it properly. That is 'not all best on grounds are equal'...
 

Footy Smarts

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So you've listed Martin's finals. What about the other players?

Start with Ablett Junior between 2007 and 2010.

Then look at Judd's finals performances, which are over a longer time frame, and in teams of varying strength.

And make sure you analyse it properly. That is 'not all best on grounds are equal'...
Ablett had many quality finals from 2007-2010. A lot of times you could make an argument he was best on ground and clearly he was in the top few. But I'm not sure he was ever best on ground by a distance like Martin was a number of times.
 

Fadge

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Ablett had many quality finals from 2007-2010. A lot of times you could make an argument he was best on ground and clearly he was in the top few. But I'm not sure he was ever best on ground by a distance like Martin was a number of times.
My point - not all best on's are equal...
 

Lach72

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Other Teams
Freo and Bulldogs, ManU
Gary Ablett Jnr, Judd, James Hird, Voss, Buckley, Dustin Martin,
 

Thomas Erdody

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Start with Ablett Junior between 2007 and 2010.
Definitely not a team of varying strength that Geelong outfit. Even if Ablett doesn't perform at his best there's plenty of players that can pick up the slack, and as we saw in 2011, they didn't even need him.

Then look at Judd's finals performances, which are over a longer time frame, and in teams of varying strength.
In your opinion do the "teams of varying strength" make Judd a better finals player than Ablett jnr?
 

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