Last player who debuted in the 90s to retire?

[emuboy]

Outside of the AFL but still at high level football, Barry Round began his career in the late 1960s and was still playing for VFA team the Williamstown Seagulls in 1990 and 1991. In the SANFL, Woodville and Glenelg player Ralph Sewer began in 1969 and his last game in 1990 was in Woodville's last ever match in the final round against merger partners West Torrens. Sewer was also a grandfather at the time of his retirement. In the WAFL there was rare event in the early 2010s where Subiaco had a father and son playing in their league team - Alistair and Aiden Pickett.

 

[ThePope]

In the WAFL there was rare event in the early 2010s where Subiaco had a father and son playing in their league team - Alistair and Aiden Pickett.

Son was Alliston, not Aiden. They ended up playing 3 games together.

http://waflfootyfacts.net/season/games/stats.php?GameID=8974

http://waflfootyfacts.net/season/games/stats.php?GameID=8990

http://waflfootyfacts.net/season/games/stats.php?GameID=8995

 

[megadeth86]

You can stretch 120 years of VFL/AFL history over the careers of just seven players.
Vic Cumberland: 1898-1920
Gordon Coventry: 1920-1937
Dick Reynolds: 1933-1951
Jack Clarke: 1951-1967
Kevin Bartlett: 1965-1983
Tony Lockett: 1983-2002
Gary Ablett Jr: 2002-2018

This got me thinking about separation, and "the Bacon number".

The Bacon number is a number that counts the degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and any other actor or actress. Anybody who has been in a film with Bacon has a Bacon number of 1, anybody who has been in a film with someone who has been in a film with Bacon has a Bacon number of 2, and so on.

The same concept could be applied to playing in AFL games. Kevin Bartlett played against Tony Lockett in Round 20, 1983. However, Tony Lockett has never played against Gary Ablett Jr., even though his last game was against Geelong in Round 12, 2002. Adam Goodes did play in that match, and later played against Gary Ablett Jr. in Round 8, 2003, so that would mean that Ablett Jr. has a "Bartlett number" of 3, and Bartlett has an "Ablett Jr. number" of 3.

There's also the "Center of the Hollywood Universe" which calculates the average degree of separation from an actor to every other actor in history. Prolific actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro and Bruce Willis have low numbers around the 2.8-2.9 range. Kevin Bacon's number is 3.02912, which doesn't even make the top 400 of all actors. The current center is Eric Roberts, whose number is 2.83154.

Now this is the big question: Who's the centre of the AFL?

My guess would have to be somebody who had a long career in the fifties and sixties. And that's why I think it's Ted Whitten.

Perhaps someone who was still playing in 1987 as that player would then connect to a whole tree of West Coast and Brisbane players (unless I've just misunderstood the whole thing).

 

[The Warlord]

Incredible it was still Boomer since he debuted in 96. I figured there were some who debuted in 99 or 98 who i might've missed.

People forget just how good Boomer was early in his career.

 

[TheSpaghettiBoy21]

You can stretch 120 years of VFL/AFL history over the careers of just seven players.
Vic Cumberland: 1898-1920
Gordon Coventry: 1920-1937
Dick Reynolds: 1933-1951
Jack Clarke: 1951-1967
Kevin Bartlett: 1965-1983
Tony Lockett: 1983-2002
Gary Ablett Jr: 2002-2018

Interesting. Seeing Coventry up there got me curious about my Magpies, and I found that it takes 10 players to connect 1897-2021. not bad, but not quite as few as for the whole league.

PLAYER	YEARS
Charlie H. Pannam	1897-1907
Jock McHale	1903-20
Gordan Coventry	1920-37
Phonse Kyne	1934-50
Thorold Merrett	1950-60
Kevin Rose	1958-1967
Wayne Richardson	1966-1978
Tony Shaw	1978-1994
Nathan Buckley	1994-2007
Scott Pendlebury	2006-present

 

[Catsace]

People forget just how good Boomer was early in his career.

Brent Harvey astonishingly for his career scored double-figure season tallies for the period 1997-2016, and indeed his last season in 2016, he scored 36.24, his highest scoring season. Geez, as a Cats fan if it was Boomer going for a delisted free agent rather than Higgins we'd have taken him in a heartbeat. Amazing that he finished such a long career looking capable of going on with it. Freakish player and durability.

 

[The Warlord]

Brent Harvey astonishingly for his career scored double-figure season tallies for the period 1997-2016, and indeed his last season in 2016, he scored 36.24, his highest scoring season. Geez, as a Cats fan if it was Boomer going for a delisted free agent rather than Higgins we'd have taken him in a heartbeat. Amazing that he finished such a long career looking capable of going on with it. Freakish player and durability.

Forced his way into the best team in the comp in 1997.