Best midfield ever?

[Sttew]

Some people mention Geelong for some reason.

Peak Judd, Cousins and Cox are better than anybody from their midfield.

Ottens v Cox would be a bloodbath.

For the Lions, 3 Brownlow medalists is enough said really. All better big game players than any Geelong mid too.

Here you go again ...

Between Ablett, Selwood, Bartel, Corey, Ling & Ottens - 20 All Australians, 3 Brownlows, 1 NS, and countless B&F's. And yet you manage to come up with a troll statement, "Some people mention Geelong for some reason".

How can anyone take your posts seriously????

 

[PJays]

Geelong 2007 onwards probably the greatest ever. To have that much success, in that era, when your key forwards are Cameron Mooney

Cameron Mooney

Age

45

Ht

195cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.5

3star

K

8.2

3star

HB

4.3

3star

M

5.8

5star

T

1.1

3star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

3.6

1star

K

2.4

1star

HB

1.2

2star

M

0.8

1star

T

0.2

3star

G

0.0

1star

and a pre-pubescent Tom Hawkins

26

Tom Hawkins

Age

36

Ht

197cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.2

3star

K

7.9

3star

HB

4.4

3star

M

5.5

5star

T

1.9

4star

G

2.1

5star

D

12.7

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.1

5star

T

2.1

3star

G

1.6

5star

D

7.8

2star

K

5.6

3star

HB

2.2

2star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.0

3star

G

2.2

5star

tells you how awesome that group was. Star-studded, deep and basically unstoppable.

Brisbane's 3 peat group next

Then West Coast's Judd, Cousins and Kerr. Absolute fire for a couple of years

 

[Cleansweep17]

Here you go again ...

Between Ablett, Selwood, Bartel, Corey, Ling & Ottens - 20 All Australians, 3 Brownlows, 1 NS, and countless B&F's. And yet you manage to come up with a troll statement, "Some people mention Geelong for some reason".

How can anyone take your posts seriously????

Why can’t you leave me alone.

The peaks of the WC mids are so superior to yours it isn’t even funny. GAJ your best mid lost to Cooney in the Brownlow ffs.

And the lions have 3 Brownlows across that era you have 2. Why you are deciding to count awards from GC I have no idea.

 

[Sttew]

Why can’t you leave me alone.

When you make provocative troll posts like that you cannot expect to be left alone. If you want peace and quiet stop trolling and obsessing about Geelong.

And how is it that in the thread about Who of the last 20 years actually makes the AFL/VFL/SANFL/WAFL Best 23 of All Time you posted that GAJ is included but you didn't include any of the WC mids who "are so superior"? The answer is that you make it up on the run.

 

[QuietB]

Wallace, Tuck, Matthews

Scott, Wallace, Tuck, Matthews with Dipper and Eade on the wings (or Geoff Ablett).

 

[Cleansweep17]

When you make provocative troll posts like that you cannot expect to be left alone. If you want peace and quiet stop trolling and obsessing about Geelong.

And how is it that in the thread about Who of the last 20 years actually makes the AFL/VFL/SANFL/WAFL Best 23 of All Time you posted that GAJ is included but you didn't include any of the WC mids who "are so superior"? The answer is that you make it up on the run.

Troll post? Most people don’t think Geelongs is as good as those two and rightly so. Stop having a hissy fit whenever somebody doesn’t rate Geelong. They are factually worse.

D Cox especially would stomp Ottens so hard his foot would come out the other end.

And no the GAJ things are factual. Couldn’t beat Cooney in the Brownlow and Richo almost beat him to playing forward.

Your mids got beat by the Hawks in 08 and couldn’t even contain Dew for 5 mins. So excuse me for thinking Lions and WC would torch your mids.

I included Judd and Cox in that other thread. Learn to read. I do think Cousins was better at his peak to, unfortunately he cooked it literally. So it lines up with exactly what I’m arguing. Sit down.

 

[PerthBoy86]

Why can’t you leave me alone.

The peaks of the WC mids are so superior to yours it isn’t even funny. GAJ your best mid lost to Cooney in the Brownlow ffs.

And the lions have 3 Brownlows across that era you have 2. Why you are deciding to count awards from GC I have no idea.

Lol come on you think Cooney was better than Jnr? Coons was a very good player but GAJ is the best player of the 00s.

 

[FreddyTwoShoes]

Lol come on you think Cooney was better than Jnr? Coons was a very good player but GAJ is the best player of the 00s.

Don’t get him started.

 

[WillHayward]

Cousins Kerr Judd.

When you include Cox in that then it's pretty bloody good... He was like an extra.

 

[BlueJet]

They possibly didn't bat as deep as Geelong but it's hard to go past a midfield of Cox, Cousins, Judd & Kerr.

 

[Bucking Bronco]

Troll post? Most people don’t think Geelongs is as good as those two and rightly so. Stop having a hissy fit whenever somebody doesn’t rate Geelong. They are factually worse.

D Cox especially would stomp Ottens so hard his foot would come out the other end.

And no the GAJ things are factual. Couldn’t beat Cooney in the Brownlow and Richo almost beat him to playing forward.

Your mids got beat by the Hawks in 08 and couldn’t even contain Dew for 5 mins. So excuse me for thinking Lions and WC would torch your mids.

I included Judd and Cox in that other thread. Learn to read. I do think Cousins was better at his peak to, unfortunately he cooked it literally. So it lines up with exactly what I’m arguing. Sit down.

Ablett went in as the pre-count betting favourite 4 times, that is more meaningful to me than what the incompetent umpires actually ended up doing with their votes.

Also was having arguably the best year of his career in 2014 when Brent Macaffer blew his shoulder out half way through the year.

Despite the injury he still came 3rd and only finished 4 votes off Fyfe.

Best midfielder since the turn of the century without any question .

 

[PhatBoy]

Ablett went in as the pre-count betting favourite 4 times, that is more meaningful to me than what the incompetent umpires actually ended up doing with their votes.

Also was having arguably the best year of his career in 2014 when Brent Macaffer blew his shoulder out half way through the year.

Despite the injury he still came 3rd and only finished 4 votes off Fyfe.

Best midfielder since the turn of the century without any question .

It doesn’t matter.

See Ablett finished behind Cooney in a Brownlow so it means he wasn’t that good.

Chris Judd also finished behind Cooney but he was better.

That’s how it works.

 

[Bucking Bronco]

It doesn’t matter.

See Ablett finished behind Cooney in a Brownlow so it means he wasn’t that good.

Chris Judd also finished behind Cooney but he was better.

That’s how it works.

Nah, it does matter, you just thick.

Professional sports bettors making lines on who deserves to win > umpire's who are too pre-occupied with not getting dropped the following week from making bad calls, being forced to try and remember what happened in the match and come up with votes

 

[PhatBoy]

Nah, it does matter, you just thick.

Professional sports bettors making lines on who deserves to win > umpire's who are too pre-occupied with not getting dropped the following week from making bad calls, being forced to try and remember what happened in the match and come up with votes

I’m agreeing with you. I was being facetious

 

[Mr Meow]

Most of the best I remember have been named, although I do think people should include the defensive midfielders as well - they often get forgotten here.

What made Brisbane 01-04 so special wasn't just having Voss/Black/Akermanis/Lappin, but that they had Hart/Scott/Ashcroft who could play those defensive roles and free up the big guns to do their thing.

The other that I think should be acknowledged is Collingwood 2010. They were the first to really heavily rotate midfielders, and were rotating Pendlebury, Thomas, Beams, Sidebottom, Ball, Swan and Didak, plus Wellingham and Johnson in the more defensive roles. That team was able to beat out some great midfields - Geelong in the PF, then St Kilda (Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna, Goddard) in the GF and mostly did so by weight of numbers. Carlton at that time were also pretty good (peak Judd/Murphy/Gibbs/Carazzo) and I remember for two years simply not being able to compete against their heavy rotations and sheer number of options.

Geelong were heavy in the rotations too. If you include the wings they had Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Corey, Ling, Johnson, Chapman, Kelly and Enright (who shifted to defence more over time). Enright the only one of that group who wasn't at many stoppages each game.

 

[Mr Meow]

Here you go again ...

Between Ablett, Selwood, Bartel, Corey, Ling & Ottens - 20 All Australians, 3 Brownlows, 1 NS, and countless B&F's. And yet you manage to come up with a troll statement, "Some people mention Geelong for some reason".

How can anyone take your posts seriously????

Even better is he wasn't even following football when either of those Geelong and West Coast midfields were playing.

So it's essentially just guessing and extreme bias - "waaaah why are Geelong praised, they probably weren't even that good back then".

 

[ZEV]

Geelong easily.

That group won 3 flags, unlucky not to be 5.

Take Ablett out and they still cruised to the flag.

 

[WCE_phil]

This reminds me of what would have happened if Bryan Cousins had played 33 more games for Geelong. Ben would have been F/S!

Ben prior to being drafted had the option of choosing WCE, Fremantle or Geelong.

 

[Mr Meow]

Ben prior to being drafted had the option of choosing WCE, Fremantle or Geelong.

Imagine if he'd chosen the Cats! Surely we don't lose the Nick Davis final and go on to have the weakest premiership side this century in 2005.

Jokes aside, if Cousins didn't make that choice then the 2005/2006 double of runner up and premier doesn't happen.

Gun.

 

[sleep]

West Coat

Geelong easily.

That group won 3 flags, unlucky not to be 5.

Take Ablett out and they still cruised to the flag.

This.

West Coast 1 Flag and 1 Runner up and pretty meh in surrounding seasons. Not sure why its being rated as the best midfield group, stats say otherwise

 

[WilloTree]

Imagine if he'd chosen the Cats! Surely we don't lose the Nick Davis final and go on to have the weakest premiership side this century in 2005.

Jokes aside, if Cousins didn't make that choice then the 2005/2006 double of runner up and premier doesn't happen.

Gun.

If the criteria is 'midfields you'd want to win you a Premiership' I'm going with 80s Hawks every day of the week and twice on Sundays.. Insanely reliable. That group morphed it's way through 7 Premierships

So good Gary Ablett snr was pushout out to Geelong for more opportunities.

 

[Altum Volantes]

This reminds me of what would have happened if Bryan Cousins had played 33 more games for Geelong. Ben would have been F/S!

Actually, under the rules of the time he qualified as a F/S for Geelong and WC and could have also been taken by Fremantle as a start-up zone selection, had he not nominated for the Eagles as a F/S.

I remember the news report about it around mid 1995 - ‘The young gun who had his pick of 3 AFL clubs’. Talked about how he was a Geelong fan because of his old man but he wanted to stay in Perth and that the Eagles were the reigning premiers etc etc

So yeah. There you go.

 

[Hens Hall]

Controversial I know but I reckon the WCE midfield are a little overrated.

Everyone raves on about "Peak WCE" but this peak could barely get them across the line against a workmanlike Sydney team. Hardly a dominant midfield performance (or lights years better as some people put it).

I'd rate the Brisbane and Geelong teams of the 00's better. WCE slightly above the current Melbourne team.

The Hawks are tough to measure as they had various guys rolling through it but obviously very good also given the dominance the team had.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Controversial I know but I reckon the WCE midfield are a little overrated.

Everyone raves on about "Peak WCE" but this peak could barely get them across the line against a workmanlike Sydney team. Hardly a dominant midfield performance (or lights years better as some people put it).

I'd rate the Brisbane and Geelong teams of the 00's better. WCE slightly above the current Melbourne team.

The Hawks are tough to measure as they had various guys rolling through it but obviously very good also given the dominance the team had.

I think if we are isolating midfield groups, it would be fair to say that WCE had less to kick to than Brisbane and Geelong - it could be argued that the midfield group, along with some great defenders carried them to a flag, you wouldn’t say that about Brisbane or Geelong.

Re. Melbourne, fair call.
I’d say Judd has Petracca covered, Cousins over Oliver and obviously Kerr over Viney. I rate Cox over Gawn but I know some may disagree. WCE went deeper too with Braun, Stenglein, Embley and Fletcher all playing great footy at that time.

 

[Cleansweep17]

Lol come on you think Cooney was better than Jnr? Coons was a very good player but GAJ is the best player of the 00s.

GAJ also lost to Cotchin in the 2012 Brownlow and coaches award. Cooney is not just some outlier.

There is a pattern of his peak not being that great. I think people confuse his great longevity for being his peak.

I personally believe Judd was better in the 00’s especially if you count 2010 where he won a second Brownlow. GAJ made his legacy in the early 2010s at the suns.