I'm too young to have a worthwhile opinion. I wasn't even a teenager when he retired.I never saw Hart play so can’t judge too much, but career averages of 13 touches, 5 marks, and less than 2 goals a game over 187 games does not show he was better as a forward no matter how he rated at the time.
On anecdotal evidence he was as good as it gets. Former teammates and older supporters rated him as an incredible player. Bartlett says he's the best Richmond player he's seen.
I think it's incredibly difficult to revisit stats from a different era and make any meaningful conclusions.
Hart was the best CHF of his generation. Carey his and Buddy his. I think that's the most important metric.