Great Finals Players

[aussierulesrules]

Sam Fisher. Very good the rest of the time, but his averages were significantly better in finals than his overall averages, as of a couple of years ago. Best final was a 42 possession, 16 mark one against Collingwood on the MCG one night and he was also our 3rd best behind Goddard and Hayes in the 2010 drawn GF and was going great guns again the following week until he did his hammy.

Here is his finals record, pretty bloody good for someone who would have spent a lot of that time playing CHB:

2005
QF v Adelaide- 18 kicks, 8 marks, 22 disposals

2006
EF v Melb- 19 disposals, 6 marks

2008
QF v Geelong- 31 disposals, 8 marks
SF v Collingwood- 20 kicks, 17 marks, 27 disposals
PF v Hawthorn- 17 kicks, 11 marks, 22 disposals

2009
QF v Collingwood- 25 kicks, 16 marks, 42 disposals
PF v Western Bulldogs- 22 kicks, 7 marks, 30 disposals
GF v Geelong- 15 disposals, 4 marks, 4 tackles

2010
QF v Geelong- 26 disposals, 7 marks
PF v Western Bulldogs- 17 kicks, 8 marks, 23 disposals
GF v Collingwood- 22 kicks, 8 marks (5 contested!), 25 disposals
GF2 v Collingwood- 16 disposals, 7 marks (possibly in just a half of footy- did hammy before half time)

2011
EF v Sydney- 21 disposals, 7 marks

In his 12 completed finals he averages 25 possessions and 9 marks per game, with a stack of those marks being intercepting ones I'd expect.

 

[Righteo]

Michael Walters goes alright for a small forward. Players in his position have rather infamously struggled in the pressure cooker atmosphere but he has 25 goals from 11 finals. Rioli has 17 goals from 16 finals and Eddie Betts has 16 from 8. The Chad also averages 2 a game from his 5 finals.

 

[1achie]

Wayne Carey was best on the ground in 6 successive qualifying finals.(maybe 7?)

How'd he go in the 98 GF?

 

[eaglespremiers]

Judd's 2005 was ridiculous.

 

[HBF]

I hate Carlton with a passion but Wayne Johnston was one of the greatest big time players ever.

Beat me to it.

 

[Dinga_19]

To avoid bias I will start with my favourite non-Hawk ever. Chapman. Guy is a deadset legend. He really did have 1 good year left in him, though I can understand Geelong wanting to start their rebuild.

Ayers and Hodge. Incredible players who never stop. I think Hodge goes ahead of Ayers this year.
Ablett Snr. Nearly single handedly beat one of the greatest teams of all time.
Chris Mew. Never had a bad game, wins grand finals, then drives home because he doesnt understand what all the fuss is about.
McLeod. 2 in a row in insane.
Buckley. Mentioned for the lolz.

And yes, Im only focussing on GF, not all finals. Because ultimately its the only one that counts.

In that case, Ablett played one outstanding GF, two shockers, and i'm not sure about '92'?

 

[The_Flying_Egg]

Nic Fosdike was a good ordinary player who played 2 excellent grand finals and could easily have won a Norm Smith

 

[underthestars]

Another vote for Mitchell. Deserved the norm smith last year - hope he gets it this year, but already the first player i thought of from the thread title.

 

[Catfish Alley]

In that case, Ablett played one outstanding GF, two shockers, and i'm not sure about '92'?

Yeah, Ablett's a weird one. Played some ridiculously good finals and went missing in his fair share too.

 

[Catfish Alley]

I'm not sure how consistent he was in finals but I remember Akermanis stepping up in a few of them.

 

[Prestigerrycomo]

Glen Freeborn

 

[Procrastinator35]