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Top 10 Players of the Decade

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A decade is a period of ten years. The word is derived (via French) from the Late Latin decadem, accusative of decas, from Greek decas, from deca. The other words for spans of years also come from Latin: lustrum (5 years), century (100 years), millennium (1000 years). The term usually refers to a period of ten years starting with 0 and ending in 9.

BTW what about a new topic..

Top 5 Players of the Lustrum
 
A decade is a period of ten years. The word is derived (via French) from the Late Latin decadem, accusative of decas, from Greek decas, from deca. The other words for spans of years also come from Latin: lustrum (5 years), century (100 years), millennium (1000 years). The term usually refers to a period of ten years starting with 0 and ending in 9.

BTW what about a new topic..

Top 5 Players of the Lustrum

If it's from the Latin, it must start at 1, because the Romans didn't have a 0
 
Cousins and Black too low IMO. Brown probably too high but he is a gun. Reiwoldt maybe unlucky not to make it, surely Cox would have gone close as well.

No Pav is fail. Ablett shouldn't be close to top 5, in fact all of the 5 listed after him have been better this decade.

No player has ever won 3 consecutive MVP's and Ablett did that in the noughties. His position at 5 is well deserved.
 

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My top 10: Don't agree? Don't care.

1. James Hird
2. Michael Voss
3. Simon Black
4. Robert Harvey
5. Adam Goodes
6. Mark Ricciuto
7. Ben Cousins
8. Nathan Buckley
9. Chris Judd
10. Matthew Lloyd



Close, but no dice: Scarlett, Tredrea, B.Johnson, Fletcher, Richardson, Akermanis, Cox, others...

James Hird should NOT be in the top 10 for the noughties. He won his Brownlow in the 1990's, and apart from a stellar year in 2000, was injury plagued for the remainder of his career which I hasten to add, finished in 2005 in which year he only played 13 games.
 
Can anyone tell me how you could have Cousins ahead of Ablett? Cousins has spent the last 5 in a drug induced stupor while the later has destroyed the competition in the the last three and was pretty handy for the two or three before it. Cousins is quickly becoming the James Dean of the football world. Great player, but better than Ablett? Not a chance.
 
A decade is a period of ten years. The word is derived (via French) from the Late Latin decadem, accusative of decas, from Greek decas, from deca. The other words for spans of years also come from Latin: lustrum (5 years), century (100 years), millennium (1000 years). The term usually refers to a period of ten years starting with 0 and ending in 9.

BTW what about a new topic..

Top 5 Players of the Lustrum

No one is disputing what a decade is ie 10 years but when they begin/end. There was no year 0 so the first century began 1AD-100AD and the first decade 1AD-10AD not 0AD-9AD.
 
James Hird should NOT be in the top 10 for the noughties. He won his Brownlow in the 1990's, and apart from a stellar year in 2000, was injury plagued for the remainder of his career which I hasten to add, finished in 2005 in which year he only played 13 games.

I could have sword he was still running around in 2007?
 
James Hird should NOT be in the top 10 for the noughties. He won his Brownlow in the 1990's, and apart from a stellar year in 2000, was injury plagued for the remainder of his career which I hasten to add, finished in 2005 in which year he only played 13 games.

Haha you goober, not only did Hird win the Essendon BnF in his final year (which was 2007, not 2005), he also finished three votes off a second Brownlow in 2003, despite missing eight games.

Hird is in the list without a doubt.
 
Can anyone tell me how you could have Cousins ahead of Ablett? Cousins has spent the last 5 in a drug induced stupor while the later has destroyed the competition in the the last three and was pretty handy for the two or three before it. Cousins is quickly becoming the James Dean of the football world. Great player, but better than Ablett? Not a chance.

You see this is the problem with these lists done by Journo's. I am not going to argue over who is the better player between Ablett and Cousins but the reality is that the last2-3 years is what sticks in peoples minds and we all know that Ablett has been sensational for the last 3 years.

But what about the first 6-7 years of the decade? Cousins was sensational in that period but that is a few years back now so it slips peoples minds.

It is human nature to remember yesterday but not to remember last year or before that.

From 2000 until 2007 Cousins would have been first pick on baller for virtually every club in the country.

That to me makes him a walk up start in this list and maybe even higher than some have him.

A decade the last time I looked is 10 years, if you are rated in the top 3 players in the league as cousins was for at least 6-7 of those years then you must be going alright.

At this point Ablett can not lay claim to that. he more than likely will be able to in 2-3 years
 

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Would all the w***ers that ruin these threads stating what a decade actually is, STFU.

No.

If it's from the Latin, it must start at 1, because the Romans didn't have a 0

The origins of the word 'decade' are irrelevant. A.D. is very Latin. Anno Domini is translated as 'in the year of our Lord.' If someone can tell us what events occurred in the zeroeth year of our Lord, then I'll accept the new millienum began in the year 2000. I prefer to appear pedantic than to appear stupid.

Incidentially, J.Brown wouldn't barely break into the top four from the Lions, let alone top four in the league. Two AA's? Pfft . . .
 
Thing with these sort of arbitrary 'best of the decade' articles is that it will generally favour those players who would by now be 30 or just over, having played an 11-12 year career, thus spanning most of the decade in question. Simon Black, who was drafted in 1997 and thus has played at a high level all decade may well be the player of this period. But blokes like Hird, Buckley and Voss played 12-13 year careers which spanned from the early-mid 90's to middish 2000's. Gary Ablett's career although starting in 2002 is probably only being considered from 2006 or so, he was a lively forward pocket who tackled earlier in his career, he had no motor for the midfield at that stage.

So in the context of this current decade, Black, Goodes, Riewoldt, Tredrea, Scarlett, Judd, (who came to prominence earlier than Gaz Jr), B.Johnson, Lloyd and maybe even Kirk could be up there. But for pure impact Gary Jr's three MVP's, brownlow and excellent finals performances for most of the decade would have to give him claims, even if he's only played great footy for three years, and perhaps very good footy for a couple of others.
 
Hird's last game (in 2007) saw him rack up a lazy 34 touches and a goal and pick up a Brownlow vote. He was hardly a spent force post 2000 and is a walk up start for the list.

Cousins over Ablett? Easy.

2000: 25 possessions a game in a side which won 7 games, 8 Brownlow votes.
2001: Leading possession winner in the AFL H&A season in a side which won 5 games, 18 Brownlow votes, B&F, AA.
2002: 550+ disposals, 16 Brownlow votes, B&F, AA.
2003: 500+ disposals, 21 Brownlow votes, B&F.
2004: Bright start, injured in the second half of the year.
2005: 600+ disposals, 20 Brownlow votes, Brownlow medalist, AA, B&F.
2006: 550+ disposals, 13 Brownlow votes, AA.

If anyone can show me a 7 year period where Ablett performed at the above level, I will gladly concede Cousins status above him this decade. For the record, when Cousins pulled in 600 touches in 2001, there were 19 players in the AFL to accumulate 500 possessions or more. In 2009 that number had increased to 51.
 

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Goodes should be in the top 10. Won 2 Brownlows and has been a great player in the last decade. The fact he couldn't even crack his top 10 is laughable and a disgrace.
 
Hird's last game (in 2007) saw him rack up a lazy 34 touches and a goal and pick up a Brownlow vote. He was hardly a spent force post 2000 and is a walk up start for the list.

Cousins over Ablett? Easy.

2000: 25 possessions a game in a side which won 7 games, 8 Brownlow votes.
2001: Leading possession winner in the AFL H&A season in a side which won 5 games, 18 Brownlow votes, B&F, AA.
2002: 550+ disposals, 16 Brownlow votes, B&F, AA.
2003: 500+ disposals, 21 Brownlow votes, B&F.
2004: Bright start, injured in the second half of the year.
2005: 600+ disposals, 20 Brownlow votes, Brownlow medalist, AA, B&F.
2006: 550+ disposals, 13 Brownlow votes, AA.

If anyone can show me a 7 year period where Ablett performed at the above level, I will gladly concede Cousins status above him this decade. For the record, when Cousins pulled in 600 touches in 2001, there were 19 players in the AFL to accumulate 500 possessions or more. In 2009 that number had increased to 51.

Exactly what i was going to say... :thumbsu:
 
Can anyone tell me how you could have Cousins ahead of Ablett? Cousins has spent the last 5 in a drug induced stupor while the later has destroyed the competition in the the last three and was pretty handy for the two or three before it. Cousins is quickly becoming the James Dean of the football world. Great player, but better than Ablett? Not a chance.

Because his output over the decade has been greater. He might not have produced three seasons as good as Ablett's last 3 (winning 3 AFLMVPs etc), but if Ablett's last 3 were all 10/10, Cousins would have 5 that were 9/10.
 
cousins > ablett

no need to get all statistical, he was just an absolute freak of nature.
 

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Top 10 Players of the Decade

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