Player Number Memories: #1

[Supermercado]

Shamelessly pinched from the Swans board. I'm only going back to 1980 so if you want to go further then good luck to you. You decide on the best, and your favourite in the list.

Garry Baker (1974-1981)
Steven Smith (1984-1985)
Steven O'Dwyer (1988-1991)
Adrian Campbell (1993-1994)
Sean Charles (1995-1997)
Jamie Shanahan (1998-1999)
Chris Heffernan (2003-2005)
Simon Buckley (2007-)

A contentious one this. Buckley has been quite good and he's not up against much. Charles did a lot of his best work in other numbers.

My personal favourite was Shanahan, but I don't expect anyone to sling him a vote for best of the above players.

Back soon with #2 if anyone cares.

 

[TelkoTheGreat]

Sean Charles

 

[sillius soddus]

Not a real good bunch there really is it?

• I do remember Lethal Leigh Matthews punching out Gary Baker at the G, mustve been his last year, It just about killed him.
• Dont remember much of Smith other than he looked like a footballer and was a nice kick, did he used to play for north?
• Big Strawbs was next to useless, even after having his wingnut taped back he was jumper #40 or something high as well wasn't he?
• Campbell was a scrapper
• Sean Charles takes my vote, silky skills and pretty hard for an outside player
• Shanahan, hmm. good footy brain but too slow IMO
• Heffernan - no comment
• Buckley would struggle to get a game in most other teams at this stage of his career.

 

[Supermercado]

According to the 2008 Almanac (where's the 2009 one?) O'Dwyer was #32 in 1987.

 

[Demon Revival]

Go back a bit further, Maxie Walker

 

[00Stinger]

Steven O'Dwyer


Not the best player thats for sure. but he was damn nice bloke.
I remember as a kid he and a couple of other Melbourne players had a sportsco shop near my house. Because i was a Melbourne supporter and we would buy stuff from there he would ask me what players signatures and so forth I would want and would have them there waiting for me later on in the week.

 

[Go the Biff]

Garry Baker (1974-1981)
Terrific mark - not a big leap but very safe hands. We got him from Footscray. Was great for us until he buggered a knee. Won a Bluey in '78. Finished up at South I think & has run a pub in Hobart for many years since finishing footy. Had a massive beard until Barassi turned up as coach & made him shave it off !

Steven Smith (1974-1985)
Another B&F winner & a 200 gamer, Smith played his best footy in #35. Good player but never rose to the heights many thought he was capable of. Had dodgy hammies as well. A bit of trivia - Smithy was the first player to play senior VFL footy having played in the Little League as a kid. I believe Ted Whitten Jnr was second. Was a nice bloke Smithy, had a super hot model g/f there for a while. Reckon silly soddus has confused Baker & Smith. Matthews knocked Smithy out about 150 metres behind play. Smith was playing full back that day & giving Lethal a hiding. Dog act but a handy effort from Matthews given Smith was wearing a bike helmet at the time. That was to keep his rug in place as he had some disease that had alopaecia as a side effect.

Steven O'Dwyer (1988-1991) Won a Bluey, Big Strawbs but he cost us a couple of finals as well. Had a habit of whacking blokes & getting rubbed out at inopportune times. He also accidentally cleaned up Lyon at training before we took on WCE in a final one year. Formed a great partnership with Jimmy. I stood between them in the rooms once & thought the lights had gone out. I'm reasonably tall but they were skyscrapers. Good ruckman, good mark, shocking kick & handball though. Jimmy the Greek at the local fish'n'chip shop loved him - had newspaper cuttings & pics of Strawbs all over his shop.

Adrian Campbell (1993-1994) Talented - when he started at Footscray he reminded me a lot of a young Garry Lyon. Injuries had finished him before he came to us though. We should never have picked him up.

Sean Charles (1995-1997) Brilliantly talented but bones like chalk unfortunately. Not many better to watch than Charles when he was up & going. Absolute jet cruelled by injuries. Check out the '94 QF against Carlton (2nd half) when he & Schwarz ran amok.

Jamie Shanahan (1998-1999) Gave us good service in his brief stint with us. Possibly had more in him but the club elected to retain only one of him or Ingerson & went with Ingo.

Chris Heffernan (2003-2005) Was never a star, even at Essendon's great era of the late 90's - early 2000's. Ok player in great team. Just didn't get the footy with us & his skills declined as well - possibly through lack of use in matches. Looked laconic but he was busting his guts each week. Just couldn't find the footy the poor bugger

Simon Buckley (2007-) a modern day Rhino Richards with considerably lesser skills. For younger readers, Rhino will likely get covered when we get to #20.

Smith the best footy career of that lot, Charles easily the most talented

Tipping #2 will be a short discussion

 

[nobrot]

gary baker great bloke only saw him about 3 weeks ago home one the mainland for an mdu reunion won a b and f at melbourne, runs a few pubs and cafes/restaruants in hobart