Worst afl player you've seen (and why)

BattlerGM

Team Captain
Jun 16, 2016
424
498
AFL Club
Essendon
How has Zac Clarke's 2019 form at Essendon failed to get a mention? Of all the players I can think of that were worse, they were either very young or from a different sporting code.

In 2019 Clarke was spectacularly awful.
 

Tiger08

Premiership Player
Nov 14, 2007
3,054
4,998
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls

No idea where he was on the field, joined the illustrious club of players with a negative supercoach score (-3). Had injuries to mitigate somewhat but I just recall having NFI what he was doing on the field when i watched him. Has soured hyphenated surnames for me, concerning considering we picked up one with out first pick this year.

Absolutely. Drafting Fiora and Tambling were strokes of genius compared to picking this bloke. Can’t recall ever watching someone who always seemed so far out of their depth at AFL level and we picked him at 7!!
 

Nutjob

Premiership Player
Oct 23, 2014
3,075
5,258
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Reynolds from Essendon from I think the early 00’s. He was a twig with no talent. The name got him a spot on their list, he was rubbish.


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My Tilly

Premium Gold
Jun 30, 2018
9,815
11,848
AFL Club
Geelong
Reynolds from Essendon from I think the early 00’s. He was a twig with no talent. The name got him a spot on their list, he was rubbish.


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Reminds of that time Dennis Pagan got his son (Ryan) to North and persisted in playing him despite the backlash which was warranted. The kid was hopeless but goes to show people in high places can pull the strings whenever they want.
 

Socrates2

Norm Smith Medallist
Aug 11, 2015
9,041
9,787
AFL Club
Richmond
Taylor Hunt was awful, Ryan Sheonmakers was a one trick pony.
Out of the younger players, I would be very surprised if Ben Silvagni , Oscar Brownless or Liam Stocker played more than 30 games betwee them.The first two are just not up to it and Stocker has zero endurance- not a good trait for a midfielder!
 
Aug 17, 2006
23,225
21,444
AFL Club
Geelong
There’s another question in play here - who are the league’s worst one-time, two-time, three-time etc. premiership players? I’d love to hear a nomination for a worse two-time premiership player than Shannon Byrnes.

Interesting career that Byrnes had. He was terrific in 2009 and 2010 and the rest of his career was underwhelming, to say the least. He was in the right place at the right time in 2007, but was an absolute walk up in the 2009 side. I wouldn't have thought he was the worst two time premiership player though.
 

gcsunsfc

Cancelled
Oct 24, 2012
7,619
7,901
AFL Club
Gold Coast
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Milwaukee Bucks
There were some pretty damn average footballers in the post Lions premiership era.
None the

James Polkinghorne was a mid sized forward who had 7 seasons where he averaged between 9-15 possessions and never kicked more than 15 goals in a season.

Sam Sheldon - son of Ken Sheldon was on the Lions list for 6 years and played 43 games including 2 finals as a 'midfielder' / utility played 43 games for an average of 11 possessions and 0.3 goals per game - had >15 possessions 4 times in his career.


GC have listed some guys who were barely second grade players
- Anyone familiar with Louis Herbert, Jacob Gilbee, Hayden Jolly, Joey Daye, Lewis Moss etc.. etc..
 
Jun 23, 2008
33,485
27,225
Headed for Kirribilli House
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
Norwood, Everton, Detroit Red Wings
Reminds of that time Dennis Pagan got his son (Ryan) to North and persisted in playing him despite the backlash which was warranted. The kid was hopeless but goes to show people in high places can pull the strings whenever they want.

I heard Denis later justify it by saying that he was reluctant to select him due to fears of nepotism, but that they couldn't reasonably deny him, either, as he was supposedly getting 40 touches a game in the 2's the year before.

Ryan played a grand total of 3 AFL games at the start of 2000, so there wasn't really a huge amount of "persistence" with him, anyway.
 
Feb 26, 2013
525
984
AFL Club
Hawthorn
A lot of pages...but everyone knows it’s Israel Folau - as he was technically an ‘AFL’ player...
Agreed, although an honourable mention has to go to Zac Clarke. When we play the Bombers I’m always glad he’s selected as it means they’re a man short. Even happier when he lines up for a shot on goal. Result: Behind/OOF, rebound - goal. I have always been short and often felt the big guys only got picked because of height. He’s a classic example!
 
Jun 23, 2008
33,485
27,225
Headed for Kirribilli House
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
Norwood, Everton, Detroit Red Wings
Interesting career that Byrnes had. He was terrific in 2009 and 2010 and the rest of his career was underwhelming, to say the least. He was in the right place at the right time in 2007, but was an absolute walk up in the 2009 side. I wouldn't have thought he was the worst two time premiership player though.

I never thought Byrnes was particularly bad, just not that good, either. His "poorness" was only really in comparison to his other great Geelong teammates. He was pretty standard fare for a player outside of the top 15-18 players in a great side, capable of some quality footy on his day, but mainly just a passenger and a pretty average player overall.

Right place, right time, in terms of team success. For a little bloke who was selected in the Rookie Draft, who probably came in with zero expectations, to manage 12 years on an AFL list and at least hold his own is a decent effort.
 

gcsunsfc

Cancelled
Oct 24, 2012
7,619
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AFL Club
Gold Coast
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Milwaukee Bucks
Agreed, although an honourable mention has to go to Zac Clarke. When we play the Bombers I’m always glad he’s selected as it means they’re a man short. Even happier when he lines up for a shot on goal. Result: Behind/OOF, rebound - goal. I have always been short and often felt the big guys only got picked because of height. He’s a classic example!
I played junior AFL with Brent Renouf.
Good distance runner, tall.

Softest thing you've ever seen even in under 16's when he was much bigger than everyone else!
 
Aug 17, 2006
23,225
21,444
AFL Club
Geelong
I never thought Byrnes was particularly bad, just not that good, either. His "poorness" was only really in comparison to his other great Geelong teammates. He was pretty standard fare for a player outside of the top 15-18 players in a great side, capable of some quality footy on his day, but mainly just a passenger and a pretty average player overall.

Right place, right time, in terms of team success. For a little bloke who was selected in the Rookie Draft, who probably came in with zero expectations, to manage 12 years on an AFL list and at least hold his own is a decent effort.

All true, but seriously, just look at his season splits with 2009/10 compared to everything else. It's Jack Anthony-esque.
 

Nutjob

Premiership Player
Oct 23, 2014
3,075
5,258
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Reminds of that time Dennis Pagan got his son (Ryan) to North and persisted in playing him despite the backlash which was warranted. The kid was hopeless but goes to show people in high places can pull the strings whenever they want.

He only played 3 games, so he was hardly persisted with. He was actually putting up good numbers in the VFL.
Completely agree that he would never have been on a list if it wasn’t for Dennis.


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Sep 16, 2015
10,225
11,632
Inside 50
AFL Club
Fremantle
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Claremont Tigers

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queensberryrules

Club Legend
Aug 16, 2019
2,670
3,722
AFL Club
Collingwood
Daicos' son is quite poor, and an embarrassment really. It is a bit like that bloke from One and a Half Men living off the family name while producing garbage performances all the while critics farting into his sail pushing him along.

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Taylor Hunt was awful, Ryan Sheonmakers was a one trick pony.
Out of the younger players, I would be very surprised if Ben Silvagni , Oscar Brownless or Liam Stocker played more than 30 games betwee them.The first two are just not up to it and Stocker has zero endurance- not a good trait for a midfielder!

Not so sure on that one given he was just extended for an extra 2 years. I reckon he’ll get the 30 games on his own.
 
Oct 9, 2003
44,592
42,222
Singapore / 30,000 feet
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Eagles (NFL), Suns (NBA)
Taylor Hunt was awful, Ryan Sheonmakers was a one trick pony.
Out of the younger players, I would be very surprised if Ben Silvagni , Oscar Brownless or Liam Stocker played more than 30 games betwee them.The first two are just not up to it and Stocker has zero endurance- not a good trait for a midfielder!
Brownless has been de-listed.
 
Nov 12, 2002
41,685
49,987
AFL Club
Geelong
At least for Geelong, and because the horror is fresh in my mind, Josh Cowan is pretty hard to surpass.

Ticked just about every box you could wish for. Chronically injured (missed 4 years straight at one point), no stand out VFL form, no breakout game, no outstanding skills, not a long kick, not a strong mark, absolutely zero physical strength, and yet above all this - somehow got 8 years on a senior list for a whopping 16 games. A curious phenomenon emerged too - the longer he was on the list for zero reward, that somehow made him more valuable. Absolutely mindboggling.

Towards the end his performances were actually defended with the argument that he was guarding one side of the ground. Yes really.
 
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