Ranking Each Team's Best Team of this Century So Far....

[curnow inferno]

Random question to all, but of the players in your current 21st century team, which players do you think will still be there in 2100?

For Sydney, I think Franklin and Goodes are locks, Barry Hall is quite possible, as are Bolton, Kennedy, Heeney and this might seem odd to people but maybe Nick Smith.

judd, cripps, weitering, fevola would be very hard to dislodge

 

[Forward Press]

Random question to all, but of the players in your current 21st century team, which players do you think will still be there in 2100?

For Sydney, I think Franklin and Goodes are locks, Barry Hall is quite possible, as are Bolton, Kennedy, Heeney and this might seem odd to people but maybe Nick Smith.

Given the current state of West Coast, all of them.

In all seriousness, Josh Kennedy and Jeremy McGovern (simply because those type of players are becoming rarer and both are locks in a team of the century right now and difficult to see another one overtaking them). The others are more replaceable by a future gun.

 

[curnow inferno]

Given the current state of West Coast, all of them.

In all seriousness, Josh Kennedy and Jeremy McGovern (simply because those type of players are becoming rarer and both are locks in a team of the century right now and difficult to see another one overtaking them). The others are more replaceable by a future gun.

Judd, cousins, cox couldnt be replaced in 3 centuries!

 

[Forward Press]

Judd, cousins, cox couldnt be replaced in 3 centuries!

Rucks are becoming more mobile and winning more possessions, and a Chris Judd or Ben Cousins will come along - maybe not for our team, though.

They are first three in the 'possibly will remain in 2100' list, though.

 

[Papa G]

My Port Team with changes highlighted.

FB	G.WANGANEEN	A.ALIIR*	Wakelin
HB	Wilson	C.CORNES	Pickett
C	S.BURGOYNE	O.WINES*	P.BURGOYNE
HF	R.GRAY	W.TREDREA (c)	J.WESTHOFF
FF	C.WINGARD	J.SCHULZ	D.MOTLOP
RR	M.PRIMUS (vc)	Francou	Butters
INT	B.LADE	Rozee	J Carr, JHF
COACH:	MARK WILLIAMS

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Also for these sort of discussions I find the best on paper vs actual team to be an interesting one.

Like looking in more detail at the teams listed by the OP a lot of teams have 3 key forwards

Geelong - Cameron, Hawkins, Mooney
Brisbane - Lynch, Brown, Bradshaw
Richmond - Riewoldt, Lynch, Richardson
Adelaide - Walker, Tippett, Lynch
Essendon - Lloyd, Danniher, Lucas

and I am not sure if this would work in real life as we have seen teams try 3 key forwards at the same time in the past, with those teams thinking they can stretch the oppositions defence, but what usually ends up happening is that the team ends up being too slow and lumbering in the forward line, so if the ball hits the deck it just shoots out far too easily as the key forwards don't have the defensive pressure to keep it in. Now there can be exceptions, as the more mobile key forwards who can apply proper defensive pressure might be okay, or a key forward who can move up the ground and get out of the way sometimes, but overall I don't think it works in real life, even if Lynch, Brown and Bradshaw all in the same forward line sounds amazing on paper.

Likewise, I don't think 3 KPD's in defence is a good idea for a similar reason, perhaps 2 KPD's and a defender who can play tall or small, but 3 again is too lumbering and slow.

Lynch actually played as a 3rd forward nearly all the time, usually with Walker & Jenkins. He roamed all over the ground with a high workrate.

You have a point with some of the others though.

 

[RUNVS]

Lynch actually played as a 3rd forward nearly all the time, usually with Walker & Jenkins. He roamed all over the ground with a high workrate.

You have a point with some of the others though.

I do think the general rule should be for a forward line, two key forwards, one medium forward, one small forward and perhaps 2 forwards that also spend time in the midfield, while for defence, two key defenders, a medium defender, a small defender and two half backs.

I think with these teams sometimes the small defenders and small forwards can be somewhat forgotten.

 

[Mr Meow]

I do think the general rule should be for a forward line, two key forwards, one medium forward, one small forward and perhaps 2 forwards that also spend time in the midfield, while for defence, two key defenders, a medium defender, a small defender and two half backs.

I think with these teams sometimes the small defenders and small forwards can be somewhat forgotten.

IMO it's fine to pick forwards who genuinely did play as a third tall a lot. Mooney didn't, but Adelaide's Lynch did. Bradshaw, Micky O, Gunston etc can easily command a forward pocket in these sides. GC/Richmond's Tom Lynch is an example of it being silly.

Sort of a similar story with KPD's, although there have more commonly been third talls as a kind of spare interceptor in a lot of teams. Harley for the Cats played this role in the second half of his career, but personally I left him out because Taylor, Scarlett, Stewart and Milburn are all good in the air. Adding another KPD to that mix feels redundant and Stewart/Milburn offered better mobility + counter attacking ability than Harley. In theory Andrews or McGovern can work alongside two conventional KPD's (as they often have), but again there would be examples where it looks a bit silly - depending on the mobility of the talls.

 

[theasian]

IMO it's fine to pick forwards who genuinely did play as a third tall a lot. Mooney didn't, but Adelaide's Lynch did. Bradshaw, Micky O, Gunston etc can easily command a forward pocket in these sides. GC/Richmond's Tom Lynch is an example of it being silly.

Sort of a similar story with KPD's, although there have more commonly been third talls as a kind of spare interceptor in a lot of teams. Harley for the Cats played this role in the second half of his career, but personally I left him out because Taylor, Scarlett, Stewart and Milburn are all good in the air. Adding another KPD to that mix feels redundant and Stewart/Milburn offered better mobility + counter attacking ability than Harley. In theory Andrews or McGovern can work alongside two conventional KPD's (as they often have), but again there would be examples where it looks a bit silly - depending on the mobility of the talls.

Mcgovern, Glass and Barass can work because Glass played that Third Tall defensive general (Like Scarlett) late in his career. Yeah Three genuine KPF won't work unless maybe one is a Ruck-Fwd, but as you said Gunston, Bradshaw, Micky O' and Lynch did play as Third Talls/Medium Forwards. For Richmond, Riewoldt, Lynch and Richardson would work, if Richo is on a Forward Flank.. He was very mobile for a Tall. Played as season on Wing.

 

[Lingsface]

Elliot has to take Leon Davis

Leon Davis

Age

44

Ht

177cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.5

3star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.1

3star

T

2.8

4star

G

1.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

5.0

1star

K

3.6

2star

HB

1.4

2star

M

1.2

2star

T

0.4

3star

G

0.4

3star

spot.

 

[Lingsface]

Goodes and Heeney in the midfield rotation as well. Heeney has been a top 3 player the last 3 years and Goodes was a top 3 player for many years as well.

Daicos and Buckley the only midfielders who have been held in this category from the Pies.

Depth maybe to the pies but it doesn't make up for how much worse their forward line is than Sydneys.

 

[Headless]

Impressive work, curnow inferno.

 

[UltraEgo]

Elliot has to take Leon Davis spot.

This would be mine. Neon Leon stays in the team.

FB: Howe - Clement - Maynard
HB: H Shaw - Moore - Maxwell
C: Sidebottom - Buckley (C) - J Daicos
HF: Didak - T Cloke - Swan
FF: L Davis - A Rocca - Elliott
R: Grundy - Pendlebury (VC) - N Daicos

INT: Burns - Licuria - Tarrant - Crisp - D Thomas

Edit: I have 5 on the bench because I couldn't decide between Crisp and Daisy

 

[Stumpy Pete]

This would be mine. Neon Leon stays in the team.

FB: Howe - Clement - Maynard
HB: H Shaw - Moore - Crisp
C: Sidebottom - Buckley (C) - J Daicos
HF: Didak - T Cloke - Swan
FF: L Davis - A Rocca - Elliott
R: Grundy - Pendlebury (VC) - N Daicos

INT: Burns - Licuria - Tarrant - Beams

Firstly - well done to the OP.

In terms of the Pies team I think I’d be squeezing in Dale Thomas - probably for Beams but possibly for Crisp.

I reckon Chris Dawes is unlucky to miss out (I couldn’t find a spot for him), his defensive pressure inside the forward 50 was severely underrated.

Regards

S. Pete

 

[doppleganger]

Goodes and Heeney in the midfield rotation as well. Heeney has been a top 3 player the last 3 years and Goodes was a top 3 player for many years as well.

Daicos and Buckley the only midfielders who have been held in this category from the Pies.

D.Swan was a top 3 player back in 2010-11, won AFL MVP, AFLCA and Brownlow in that stretch

Pendles also won the AFLCA in 2013

Their respective peaks are much better than Heeney, who only had a good 2024 in comparison.

 

[Stumpy Pete]

D.Swan was a top 3 player back in 2010-11, won AFL MVP, AFLCA and Brownlow in that stretch

Pendles also won the AFLCA in 2013

Their respective peaks are much better than Heeney, who only had a good 2024 in comparison.

Yes - the post you quoted criminally underrates Swan and overrates Heeney.

Regards

S. Pete

 

[RUNVS]

Yes - the post you quoted criminally underrates Swan and overrates Heeney.

Regards

S. Pete

No offence to Swan, but at their best Heeney was better.

 

[doppleganger]

It’s bizarre to me to see this perception because I think my own of the teams we’ve had since 2000 has been that the defence has always been rock solid and our clear best line

Agree

Early 2000s - Presti, Clement, Wakelin and B.Johnson were rock solid down back.

2010-12 era - Maxwell, H.Shaw, Heritier, B.Reid, Toovey, Tarrant/N.Brown/Presti and finally adding L.Davis were very strong and set up so much attack for us

2020s - Moore, Howe, Maynard, Crisp the intercepting kings, and throw a Daicos brother across HB and so important to our success.

Always relied heavily on great backlines whenever the Pies have been making GFs.

Our 2010 GF HB line of H.Shaw, Reid and Heritier was my fav individual line - Reid and Heritier were both AA level players in that era, but neither were able to really sustain that level of play much post 2012, so they lose out on longevity - IMHO peak B.Reid is the best KPD the Pies have had in 21st century.

Edit to add: well done OP. Great discussion point too.

Yep, a great effort!

 

[doppleganger]

No offence to Swan, but at their best Heeney was better.

Be good if you could point out the season when Heeney

Was voted AFL MVP, was awarded AFLCA player of the year, also won media awards like Herald Sun player of the year and Lour Richards - basically a clean sweep of all the leagues best player awards for the season.

Or in a follow up season, when Swan also won a Brownlow Medal.

D.Swan at his peak was the best player in the game.

Heeney has had 1 season, 2024 where he was a top5 player, outside of that a AA player at best but nowhere near top handful of players for performance (league wide) in any season.

 

[UltraEgo]

Firstly - well done to the OP.

In terms of the Pies team I think I’d be squeezing in Dale Thomas - probably for Beams but possibly for Crisp.

I reckon Chris Dawes is unlucky to miss out (I couldn’t find a spot for him), his defensive pressure inside the forward 50 was severely underrated.

Regards

S. Pete

shit I completely forgot about Daisy lol. I can't fit him into the team. If I did it would probably be at Beams' expense

 

[RUNVS]

Be good if you could point out the season when Heeney

Was voted AFL MVP, was awarded AFLCA player of the year, also won media awards like Herald Sun player of the year and Lour Richards - basically a clean sweep of all the leagues best player awards for the season.

Or in a follow up season, when Swan also won a Brownlow Medal.

D.Swan at his peak was the best player in the game.

Heeney has had 1 season, 2024 where he was a top5 player, outside of that a AA player at best but nowhere near top handful of players for performance (league wide) in any season.

So you think that the best player in the league always wins the AFL MVP or AFLCA?

I don't think there was a single year where Dane Swan was the best midfielder in the game.

Heeney is far more damaging than Swan ever was. Heeney is a genuine goal kicking midfielder, while Dane Swan, while he could do that, was no where near as proliffic as Heeney is.

 

[UltraEgo]

So you think that the best player in the league always wins the AFL MVP or AFLCA?

I don't think there was a single year where Dane Swan was the best midfielder in the game.

Heeney is far more damaging than Swan ever was. Heeney is a genuine goal kicking midfielder, while Dane Swan, while he could do that, was no where near as proliffic as Heeney is.

were you asleep during 2010?

 

[doppleganger]

So you think that the best player in the league always wins the AFL MVP or AFLCA?

Some years multiple players share the awards.

Rare that a player wins AFL MVP, AFLCA and key media awards.

But yes, usually the best performers win the league wide awards.

Swan won multiple, Heeney ain't got any - might have had a top5 placing in 2024 (his sole peak season of note).

I don't think there was a single year where Dane Swan was the best midfielder in the game.

2010-11 Swan was not just the best midfielder in the game, he was the best player in the game.

 

[RUNVS]

were you asleep during 2010?

Pretty sure I was awake, and Gary Ablett Jnr was much better.

 

[Lingsface]

D.Swan was a top 3 player back in 2010-11, won AFL MVP, AFLCA and Brownlow in that stretch

Pendles also won the AFLCA in 2013

Their respective peaks are much better than Heeney, who only had a good 2024 in comparison.

Yes, I overlooked Swan he was very good for a few years.