They Were Teammates? – Brief crossovers of star players from different eras or teams

[RedmanWasHere]

Wanganeen played with Madden but retired in 2006.

Port had a few long-termers start in 2007 - Westhoff, Gray, Boak.

Their most experienced teammate that year debuted 12 years earlier.

That also makes Darryl Wakelin their only playing link to 1995 and prior.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Wayne Schimmelbusch --> Craig Sholl --> Brent Harvey.

1973-2016.

David Dench 1969 - 1984
Ross Smith 1984 - 1996
Boomer 1996 - 2016

48 seasons

 

[RedmanWasHere]

David Dench 1969 - 1984
Ross Smith 1984 - 1996
Boomer 1996 - 2016

48 seasons

Would Gary Dempsey have played alongside Smith?

 

[Procrastinator35]

Would Gary Dempsey have played alongside Smith?

Yep....50 seasons.

*Edit....However Ross Smith never played with Boomer Harvey....So scrap that one.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Yep....50 seasons.

*Edit....However Ross Smith never played with Boomer Harvey....So scrap that one.

Swap Smith for Fairley I reckon.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Swap Smith for Fairley I reckon.

Yep, that works….Played with them both.... So 50 it is.

 

[Lemon Boi]

This thread’s getting a bit too focused on “x number of years”.


My original idea was inspired by Lance Whitnall and Bryce Gibbs, who crossed at Carlton in (about) 2007.

My memories of Whitnall are set in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, whereas Gibbs is in the previous few years.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Yep, that works….Played with them both.... So 50 it is.

50! Nice work lads

So looks like there’s only two 50-year stretches we’ve found.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

I think Madden / Wanganeen / Burgoyne are at 47 seasons.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

This thread’s getting a bit too focused on “x number of years”.


My original idea was inspired by Lance Whitnall and Bryce Gibbs, who crossed at Carlton in (about) 2007.

My memories of Whitnall are set in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, whereas Gibbs is in the previous few years.

Adam Goodes played alongside Plugger in 1999 and I reckon Goodes played in the 1300 game too.

A thrilling moment for sure.

 

[Procrastinator35]

This thread’s getting a bit too focused on “x number of years”.


My original idea was inspired by Lance Whitnall and Bryce Gibbs, who crossed at Carlton in (about) 2007.

My memories of Whitnall are set in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, whereas Gibbs is in the previous few years.

My Denis Pagan/Terry Daniher/Peter Bedford/John Rantall link-up at South Melb in round 8 of 1976, was 'tremendous' (Thanks Trump) sleuth work; & received zero acknowledgement.

Screw you big footy.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Alastair Lynch probably played alongside Scotty Clayton who recruited Jared Brennan to the Suns from the Lions where Brennan’s first 2 seasons were Lynch’s final 2 seasons.

 

[Father Jack]

Before this thread was put back on track, I was going to pose the question as to what is the fewest amount of players that could get us from now back to 1897. Not sure if I will now though.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Don McKenzie --> Simon Madden --> James Hird.

1960-2007 = 48 seasons.

 

[Lemon Boi]

Before this thread was put back on track, I was going to pose the question as to what is the fewest amount of players that could get us from now back to 1897. Not sure if I will now though.

Brief research gets:

Gary Ablett Junior – 2002–present
Tim McGrath – 1989–2002
John Law – 1979–89
Brent Croswell – 1968–82
Ron Barassi – 1953–69
Denis Cordner – 1943, 1948–56
Percy Beames – 1931–44
Ivor Warne-Smith – 1919, 1925–32
Jack Baquie – 1907–15, 1919–20
Jack Leith – 1897–1903, 1905–08, 1911–12

10.

There may be other paths, but I think the lowest you could get would be about 8.

 

[Father Jack]

Brief research gets:

Gary Ablett Junior – 2002–present
Tim McGrath – 1989–2002
John Law – 1979–89
Brent Croswell – 1968–82
Ron Barassi – 1953–69
Denis Cordner – 1943, 1948–56
Percy Beames – 1931–44
Ivor Warne-Smith – 1919, 1925–32
Jack Baquie – 1907–15, 1919–20
Jack Leith – 1897–1903, 1905–08, 1911–12

10.

There may be other paths, but I think the lowest you could get would be about 8.

Did you do that through AFL Tables? I might embark on a mission to do one for each club and see how that goes. Probably something for another thread.

 

[Lemon Boi]

Did you do that through AFL Tables? I might embark on a mission to do one for each club and see how that goes. Probably something for another thread.

Yes; clicked on a player, went to their early matches, found a team-mate, repeat.

A difficulty with AFLTables is working out which players changed teams and when.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Only 8 club history's stretch back to 1897 in the VFL (If you include Fitzroy & Brisbane Lions as the 1 club).....I did one for Essendon 2 pages back (Post 71), that encompassed 8 players.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Another brief crossover is Mal Michael, predominately known as a Lion, and a Magpie before that, played a few games alongside Lloyd and Fletch.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Before this thread was put back on track, I was going to pose the question as to what is the fewest amount of players that could get us from now back to 1897. Not sure if I will now though.

From Procrastinator35 earlier in the thread -

Billy Griffith (1899-1913)
Fred Baring ( 1910-15, 18-1924)
Garnett Campbell (1923-1933)
Dick Reynolds (1933-1951)
Jack Clarke (1951-1967)
Ken Fletcher (1967-1980)
Tim Watson (1977-91, 93-1994)
Dustin Fletcher (1993-2015)

And there’s a few who played with Fletcher. I’d be confident on Merrett getting near-ish to 2030.

 

[Gordon Farkas]

From Geelong:

Sam Newman (64-80) > Neville Bruns (78-92) > Peter Riccardi (92-06)
= 43 years

Michael Turner (74-88) > Garry Hocking (87-01) > Corey Enright (01-16)
= 43 years

 

[Bunk Moreland]

From Geelong:

Sam Newman (64-80) > Neville Bruns (78-92) > Peter Riccardi (92-06)
= 43 years

Michael Turner (74-88) > Garry Hocking (87-01) > Corey Enright (01-16)
= 43 years

Neville Burns 1978 - 1992
Tim McGrath 1992 - 2002
Gary Ablett 2002 - 2020

 

[Generalissimo]

Nathan Ablett and Gary jnr were teammates at Geelong for a couple of seasons, and then again at Gold Coast for two games in 2011.

As far as I can tell the most recent previous instance of brothers being teammates at two different clubs was another pair of Abletts. Geoff and Kevin played together for Hawthorn up until 1980, and then a handful of games for Richmond in 1984.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Nathan Ablett and Gary jnr were teammates at Geelong for a couple of seasons, and then again at Gold Coast for two games in 2011.

As far as I can tell the most recent previous instance of brothers being teammates at two different clubs was another pair of Abletts. Geoff and Kevin played together for Hawthorn up until 1980, and then a handful of games for Richmond in 1984.

The Danihers & Morwoods from the 70's come to mind.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

So I think the Whitten --> Quinlan --> Blakey link mentioned earlier in this thread is impossible to beat.

We can make that a 4 man chain with Drew Petrie.

1951-2017 = 67 seasons.