The peculiar case of anthony stevens seat in the afl hall of fame

[Duckimus Prime]

I am not here to argue the merits of players. My point is that very few players deserve to be legends. Don’t think any coaches should be legends. There are already too many legends.
Rugby League has it right. There are 13 Immortals (over 113 years). AF legends should just be the best one or two layers from each decade. There are 27 Legends already all post 1908. If you add in my list plus yours, that makes 36. Way, way too many.

At nearly 150 years old, if we're looking on average at 2 per decade that 29-30. So number wise, its really not that bad. The problem being that the category of "Legends of the Australian Football Hall of Fame" is way too Victorian centric. It could easily include Legends of Australian Football from other states by rationalising the number of VFL-centric entries.

 

[Captain_Bender]

One or two per decade. So, they are behind Whitten and Coleman.

By this standard Ablett is nowhere near the best player of the 80s

 

[lumpinee]

I like this, a lot.

2010s: Franklin
2000s: Judd, Ablett
1990s: Carey, Lockett
1980s: Ablett
1970s: Lethal
1960s: Whitten, Skilton
1950s: Coleman
1940s: ?
1930s: Pratt, Bunton
1920s: Coventry
etc

your way off the mark here,Dyer,Bartlett,Hart,Stewart,Blight,Greig,Cable... just to name a few

 

[hilly]

When looking at the hall of fame there is one player who does not seem to belong. Anthony stevens.

Why is he there?

A good solid midfielder. But no champion.

Anthony stevens individual accolades consist of 2 best and fairest and 1 all australian (where he snuck onto the bench). Was selected to play for victoria only once and again was mostly a benchwarmer. Thats it.

He averaged 20.7 touches a game, 0.4 goals and 2.8 tackles. On top of that he had no x factor. Was a tiny kick and fairly slow. A good workhorse. But no star. He played in two flags but wasnt terribly remarkable in grand finals averaging less then 20 touches a game.

Yet he is in there.

There are so many better players that arent.

From my club there is one obvious player who played the same position over much of the same period.

Paul Couch. 1 brownlow medal in 1989, 2 all australians (would atleast be 3 but probably 4 if all australians existed before 1991) and 3 best and fairests. 5 state of orgin selections and ironically stared in the one game stevens was selected. Averaged 23.3 disposals, 0.8 goals and 1.9 tackles a game. And unlike stevens had some x factor in that he had one of the best kicks in the game. These are vastly better individual achievements then stevens. Its not even close.

So why is stevens there? Im really struggling. Yes he won 2 flags but they are team achievements. Does that mean other players who have similar individual accolades get in too? Surely andrew mackie, jordan lewis and cam mooney dont deserve a spot. But they all have more flags then stevens and an all australian.

Who else is obviously far more worthy then stevens? Does anyone know how stevens snuck in?

His GF record is good:

96 GF 23 touches and two goals
98 GF 23 touches
99 GF 12 touches (carried a busted ankle and then did a pec in the 2nd term).

Also tiny kick is flat out wrong. Could clear 50 easily.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Walshawk]

your way off the mark here,Dyer,Bartlett,Hart,Stewart,Blight,Greig,Cable... just to name a few

Some of those guys are Not even legends and you want to elevate them to immortals?
Purely as a player, even Blight should not be a legend - he was brilliant but inconsistent in games and seasons.

 

[Seeds]

His GF record is good:

96 GF 23 touches and two goals
98 GF 23 touches
99 GF 12 touches (carried a busted ankle and then did a pec in the 2nd term).

Also tiny kick is flat out wrong. Could clear 50 easily.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Its not great. Just not terrible. As i said he averaged a bit under 20 touches a game as a mid in gfs.

 

[Seeds]

One or two per decade. So, they are behind Whitten and Coleman.

All 3 are ahead of whitten as footballers. Ps. Lockett, ablett and carey all played in the 80s-90s. Which one misses out?

 

[lumpinee]

Some of those guys are Not even legends and you want to elevate them to immortals?
Purely as a player, even Blight should not be a legend - he was brilliant but inconsistent in games and seasons.

rofl

 

[Seeds]

Some of those guys are Not even legends and you want to elevate them to immortals?
Purely as a player, even Blight should not be a legend - he was brilliant but inconsistent in games and seasons.

What is the difference between a legend and immortal?

 

[Walshawk]

What is the difference between a legend and immortal?

I mentioned earlier that there are way too many Legends in the HOF (27), and the NRL has just a dozen Immortals.

 

[iameviljez]

By this standard Ablett is nowhere near the best player of the 80s

Yeah, but that's just because the decade considered is 1980-1990, not 1984-1994. Anyway, if you were to take, say, 1980 to 2000 as a whole, then surely it's Ablett and Carey. Edit: Lockett too.

 

[iameviljez]

All 3 are ahead of whitten as footballers. Ps. Lockett, ablett and carey all played in the 80s-90s. Which one misses out?

None of them. If you can have one or two per decade, that fits.

 

[iameviljez]

your way off the mark here,Dyer,Bartlett,Hart,Stewart,Blight,Greig,Cable...

So somehow one single ten-year stretch of football contains six players who are the equal of the ten to fifteen other greatest in the game's history?

 

[PhatBoy]

So somehow one single ten-year stretch of football contains six players who are the equal of the ten to fifteen other greatest in the game's history?

right at the moment in rugby league there are 3 players who either just retired or are still going in Thurston,Smith and Slater who are guaranteed to be immortals. two of them played in the same team, two of them are the best player in their position in the game’s history and the other is probably in a tie for first. And all 3 of them played against another Immortal in Andrew Johns and possibly another two in Lockyer and Fittler.

why would you cap it?

imagine if in tennis they had something similar and decided that only one-two players per generation could achieve that status and then in 30’years they have to say ‘sorry Novak you’ve won more slams than anyone in the century before you played but two other guys came along at the same time as you with a couple more so you miss out.’