Analysis Where does Buddy Franklin rank amongst the greats?

Buddy's rank of all time players

  • Total voters
    174

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RUNVS said:
Most of the time it didn't rain. You make it sound like it was raining 24/7 in the 1980's.
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Drainage was terrible. It only needed to have rained within a couple of days of the weekend for the grounds to be a mess. These days grounds are nearly dry within hours of rain stopping.
 

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catscollector said:
Rampe would not be 189cm tall if born 20-25 years earlier.
He also wouldn't have been as fit.
Probably still have been good enough to make it but the physicality was another reason why many excellent players barely managed 100 games and moved onto other things in their lives.
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I was only young when I saw them, but weren't SOS and Langford bigger and just as athletic versions of Rampe anyway? They got bags kicked on them, doubt Rampe would've been any different if he played in that era.
 
Franklin polled 20 votes in 2008 and Cooney won with 24, not like he polled 5 votes or anything.

What surprises me is that he polled in 3 games in the second half of the season. Would've thought by that stage umpires would be looking for him. Looking at the stats he was marked down for inaccurate kicking. I'd almost forgotten the number of scoring shots he had. It's such an outlier it looks like someone copied and pasted player stats from a great year of a key forward in the 90s.

Franklin 2008: 158 marks (125 inside 50), 113 goals, 88 behinds

Peter Sumich 1991: 171 marks (MI50 not kept), 111 goals, 89 behinds
Tony Modra 1993: 163 marks (MI50 not kept), 129 goals, 61 behinds
Gary Ablett Sr 1993: 111 marks (MI50 not kept), 124 goals, 60 behinds
Jason Dunstall 1992: 199 marks (MI50 not kept), 145 goals, 84 behinds
Tony Lockett 1992: 157 marks (MI50 not kept), 132 goals, 58 behinds

The most comparable individual season from a peer is probably Jonathan Brown 2009 or Fev 2008. Lloyd only just overlapped Franklin's career but underrated for how far ahead of the pack he was in the early 2000s because he played in the mid 90s. Nick Riewoldt had a couple of 100+ marks inside 50 seasons but wasn't as prolific a goal kicker.

Jonathan Brown 2009: 204 marks (114 inside 50), 85 goals, 52 behinds
Brendan Fevola 2008: 129 marks (104 inside 50), 99 goals, 51 behinds

50+ scoring shots ahead of the next best is silly. Josh Kennedy has had a couple of 80 goal Coleman Medal winning seasons and even the odd year where he's had a better season than Franklin, but I can't fathom the idea of his best season (80 goals in 2010s footy is bloody good!) and just casually tacking another 80 scoring shots on top of that.
 
flamingEMBERS said:
Buddy is the greatest of his era. No denying, he is an absolute superstar.

The only way to compare players of different eras is to compare them to their own era and how much better they are than everyone else. How many Standard deviations they are ahead of the average in a bell curve. Without looking into it, I'd say Buddy (with goals alone) would be pretty far right along the curve.
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Yes!!! This is clearly the smartest way to accurately measure how ' great' a player is.

The other factor that I would add to this would be the change in the size of the pool of players playing the game. For example a player dominating in the 30s or 40's where only a handful of private schools played the game compared to the 90s where the game had become much more national would need to factored in somehow.
 
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Aristotle Pickett said:
Bumping this thread before Buddy cracks the 1000.
He is underrated by many imo.
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Where is there evidence he's ''underrated'' by many ?

I don't think anyone underrates him. He may not be rated the equal of Carey by most and some may have him in the best 15-30 of all time and not higher, but that's hardly underrating him.

But if you have examples please share them.
 

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Trav 20 said:
Where is there evidence he's ''underrated'' by many ?

I don't think anyone underrates him. He may not be rated the equal of Carey by most and some may have him in the best 15-30 of all time and not higher, but that's hardly underrating him.

But if you have examples please share them.
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Have a look at the poll.Most have him ranked 9 to 20 of all time.
He is clearly top 6 for mine.
No other player that tall had the skills at ground level and no other player consistantly kicked 65m+ goals.
Also he was always elite under pressure and usually has 2 to 3 players hanging off him when he goes for the ball.
 
Aristotle Pickett said:
Have a look at the poll.Most have him ranked 9 to 20 of all time.
He is clearly top 6 for mine.
No other player that tall had the skills at ground level and no other player consistantly kicked 65m+ goals.
Also he was always elite under pressure and usually has 2 to 3 players hanging off him when he goes for the ball.
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That's not ''underrating'' him. That's called having a different opinion to you.

He's not top 15 for me, but that doesn't mean I underrate him. I just rate others ahead.

You do realise that being in the top 25 of all time, across 125 years, is incredible ?
 
Coleman Medals

Dick Lee
7​
Gordon Conventry
6​
John Coleman
5​
Fred Fanning
4​
Lance Franklin
4​
Peter Hudson
4​
Tony Lockett
4​
Doug Wade
4​
Gary Ablett Snr
3​
Jason Dunstall
3​
 
Trav 20 said:
That's not ''underrating'' him. That's called having a different opinion to you.

He's not top 15 for me, but that doesn't mean I underrate him. I just rate others ahead.

You do realise that being in the top 25 of all time, across 125 years, is incredible ?
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Which 14 players do u have ranked above him ?
 
Trav 20 said:
Where is there evidence he's ''underrated'' by many ?

I don't think anyone underrates him. He may not be rated the equal of Carey by most and some may have him in the best 15-30 of all time and not higher, but that's hardly underrating him.

But if you have examples please share them.
Click to expand...
He is number 1 (The GOAT) for me. Imagine Buddy in 90's and 80's when it was one on one, every attack went through one person and you had 'pagan's paddock' he would 1500+ goals.
 
Buddy at his best is as good as any player I have seen.
Was at the final where he tore Lake and the doggies a new one.
 
Aristotle Pickett said:
Well I think it is relevant for comparisons sake.
I have Lockett, Ablett snr, Carey and Matthews ahead of him but I don't think for example that Coleman and Ted Whitten are ahead of him.
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As well as those I'd have him behind Skilton, Bunton, Judd (I'm a huge fan of Judd at his best), Williams, Voss, Hudson, Hart, Dunstall, Stewart, Polly Farmer, Hutchison, Dick Reynolds (not in order). Will Ablett Jnr and Martin edge him out too ?

It's a combination of the best forwards and the best mids the game has seen.

High marking (and pack) is one of the great attributes of Aussie Rules that separates it from any other professional sport in the world. I mark Franklin down slightly due to this weakness in his game.

Has any tall ever moved like Franklin ? No. He's a true great of our game.

But it's all just conjecture. You having him top 6 doesn't offend me, just as my opinion shouldn't trouble you.
 
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