Has any current Player got any claim on any "Best ever" tag ?

[KevJen5]

Can we have a best ranga ever or a best blue-eyed player ever, too?

best ranga jason wild

 

[Hodgepodge]

He won three Colemans in the first three years he played full-forward, well into his 30s. From memory (may be incorrect) the first man ever to win three consecutive Colemans.

Technically he started at full forward well earlier. If he was playing today they would've just called him a full forward from his 3rd year at Geelong onward.

You could say Lockett and Dunstall were lucky he didn't play there for his entire career. To think he almost kicked as many goals as them across his career is staggering really. And Ablett was reported almost as often as any.

I mean they missed games when Ablett won his Colemans. Particularly Lockett who played 10 games one year, 12 the next, etc. Dunstall had a knee brace on and his last good year was 93.

 

[SJ]

Technically he started at full forward well earlier. If he was playing today they would've just called him a full forward from his 3rd year at Geelong onward.



I mean they missed games when Ablett won his Colemans. Particularly Lockett who played 10 games one year, 12 the next, etc. Dunstall had a knee brace on and his last good year was 93.

Last word.

I know stats are not the be-all and end-all but these give a good indication of Ablett's career.

Across Lockett's career, 78.4% of his kicks resulted in a score.

Dunstall registered a score with 70.7% of his career kicks.

From 1982-1992, Ablett registered a score with 38.7% of his kicks.

From 1993-1996 he registered a score with 76.1% of his kicks.

Clearly there were two separate volumes of his career and to think otherwise is deluding yourself, probably after watching highlight clips of Ablett kicking goal after goal and thinking that's all he ever did.

 

[Vdubs]

Technically he started at full forward well earlier. If he was playing today they would've just called him a full forward from his 3rd year at Geelong onward.



I mean they missed games when Ablett won his Colemans. Particularly Lockett who played 10 games one year, 12 the next, etc. Dunstall had a knee brace on and his last good year was 93.

Ablett kicked 120+ goals each of those Coleman years where he played FF.
Technically, he was not FF prior to that on a regular basis. Did you go to every single match he played with Geelong? Some of us did in Melbourne. And the rest were on TV because Ablett was playing. So be it.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Last word.

I know stats are not the be-all and end-all but these give a good indication of Ablett's career.

Across Lockett's career, 78.4% of his kicks resulted in a score.

Dunstall registered a score with 70.7% of his career kicks.

From 1982-1992, Ablett registered a score with 38.7% of his kicks.

From 1993-1996 he registered a score with 76.1% of his kicks.

Clearly there were two separate volumes of his career and to think otherwise is deluding yourself, probably after watching highlight clips of Ablett kicking goal after goal and thinking that's all he ever did.

I'm more interested in 86-92, which is what I said were his non traditional full forward years. Pretty much exactly the way Franklin plays today, and about the same percentage of scoring kicks.

 

[SJ]

I'm more interested in 86-92, which is what I said were his non traditional full forward years. Pretty much exactly the way Franklin plays today, and about the same percentage of scoring kicks.

From 1986-1992 he was at 43.3%. Marked increase from 1993. Don't let all the goals prior to 1993 fool you.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Ablett kicked 120+ goals each of those Coleman years where he played FF.

120 plus is standard for full forwards of Lockett and Dunstall's quality.

Lockett still averages the highest goals per game in the AFL.

Harder to kick goals as a key forward these days, too.

I remember Ablett kicking 14 against Essendon with Salmon kicking 10 at the other end before doing an injury in the 3rd quarter lol.

Goal fest.

 

[Rioli magic]

Mathews > Carey > Ablett.

 

[Hodgepodge]

From 1986-1992 he was at 43.3%. Marked increase from 1993. Don't let all the goals prior to 1993 fool you.

How did you get the scoring shots for 1986? I couldn't find the behinds for that year so I just went from 87-92, and a very similar kick-score ratio to Franklin's today.

Which website are you using?

 

[SJ]

How did you get the scoring shots for 1986? I couldn't find the behinds for that year so I just went from 87-92, and a very similar kick-score ratio to Franklin's today.

Which website are you using?

Didn't notice that, my mistake. Either way the figures won't change greatly.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Didn't notice that, my mistake. Either way the figures won't change greatly.

Depends how many behinds he kicked I guess.

But going from 1987 it's about 50% which is sort of what Franklin is doing now.

 

[Hodgepodge]

Of course we can apply Ablett's average over his full forward years to his whole career and we get about 1300 goals.

Which is a lot but it's generous to apply a four year average over a fourteen year career.

 

[weagles_fan]

If Judd didn't leave WC he may never have gone downhill. If he was still playing at the same level as 04-06 and has been since then he would have a good claim. As it is no Ablett took too long to peak he would have to destroy oppositions for the next 4-5 years to have a claim.

 

[melbournemartin]

I reckon Liam Jurrah will end his days as the best speccie taker of all time.

 

[absfab]

what is your REAL gripe with the Great Man? Brownless was our FF, Stoneham CHF, Ablett HFF. Nothing too complex. That it took the teams best defenders to play on him, usuall FB's like Silvagni, Langford, does not mean he was FF. FF he was as has been cited, when Blight decided he could preserve his career at age 31 by plonking him at FF. Ablett kept himself fit enough to play HBF, Wing, HFF, and finally FF.

There was a time in 85 we had a centre line of Ablett Williams Turner, and it was Ablett who stood out. All were AA's. Ask Diesel who the best ever player that he has played with and seen is.

When he kicked 14 goals against Richmond at the G , it was not as a forward, but as a winger floating forward.

When he kicked 9 against Hawks in the 89 GF, he went up for ruck hitouts 50-60 metres out and goaled from that, as well as leading from HFF.

When he got 35 possessions against WCE from a HBF, nobody could keep up with him. Not until his very last season was fitness really an issue, and by that stage, he was gone in many ways. If that's your only memories of him, that is sad. We don't need the internet, just fantastic memories. You obviously need to research before you spout forth your negative biase. Again, what is the real gripe here.

I don't know exactly which part of this rant is the most deluded.

No. Yes I do. It's the bit about fitness never being an issue.

No. Maybe it's the bit about "the great man". We have ample evidence to the contrary about that being less than accurate.

No. It's just, well, all of it.

Oh. Thanks for your contribution on the "goals" from a ruck contest 50-60 out in the 89 GF. In fact it was one goal. 40 out. And like everything else he did that day he was on the point of the goal square before that play commenced.

In fact I saw that game start to finish, at close range, and I'd suggest that Ablett never got outside 50 metres from goal all day except when he was running in at the end of quarter. HFF/Wing my arse.

 

[AG]

I reckon Liam Jurrah will end his days as the best speccie taker of all time.

Dees have a good history of high flyers.

 

[spartan-magpie]

heath shaw - best ever smother in a grand final.

 

[Sin City]

heath shaw - best ever smother in a grand final.

Nope, Earl Spalding's was better

 

[spartan-magpie]

lol.. the earl of spalding was a favourite of mine

 

[chefmeister]

In fact I saw that game start to finish, at close range, and I'd suggest that Ablett never got outside 50 metres from goal all day except when he was running in at the end of quarter. HFF/Wing my arse.

hahaha, you didn't see the game at all.
But Robert Dipierdomedico says hi.

Deluded indeed.

 

[absfab]

I reckon Liam Jurrah will end his days as the best speccie taker of all time.

Jezza, Swan Mckay, Trevor barker. Just a handfull of the many players who have more in a single season (or even a single game) than Jurrah will take in a lifetime.

 

[SJ]

I don't know exactly which part of this rant is the most deluded.

No. Yes I do. It's the bit about fitness never being an issue.

No. Maybe it's the bit about "the great man". We have ample evidence to the contrary about that being less than accurate.

No. It's just, well, all of it.

Oh. Thanks for your contribution on the "goals" from a ruck contest 50-60 out in the 89 GF. In fact it was one goal. 40 out. And like everything else he did that day he was on the point of the goal square before that play commenced.

In fact I saw that game start to finish, at close range, and I'd suggest that Ablett never got outside 50 metres from goal all day except when he was running in at the end of quarter. HFF/Wing my arse.

What about when he flattened Dipper?

 

[chefmeister]

What about when he flattened Dipper?

That was on HF, SJ.
And seeing as absfab said, "HFF/Wing my arse" I guess it doesn't count.

 

[Rioli magic]

What about when he flattened Dipper?

That was definately outside the 50, probably about 60 metres out.

The goal from 60 metres out is at 1:00 of this video - LOL

[YOUTUBE]mc6118yATwc[/YOUTUBE]

What a performance!!

 

[lewigie]

heath shaw - best ever smother in a grand final.

Daniel Chick?