dogs105
Sweet Kennels Proprietor
He came down to Westies later in the 1991 season and kicked a heap of goals, got them into 5th and they went on to make the grand final. I saw him live a few times in late 1991 and he was unbelievably good. It was widely thought then that he was special. The crows listed him at the end of 1991 through our original concessions (could take sanfl guys until 92, but not allowed into the draft until 93). He played about 8 games for the Crows in 1992, but in about half of them he barely got off the bench (old fashioned bench - not rotations). He still kicked bags of 5, 5 and 7 that year. Hodges was clearly the number 1, and kicked 12 against Geelong in one match! Everyone knew Modra was special though. In his 10-12 games for Westies he kicked another 50odd goals.From memory, he wasn't kicking bag after bag of goals for West Adelaide in 1991 or 1992. He played 5 or 6 AFL games in 1992 and kicked a few goals but no huge bags.
I don't think anyone expected Tony Modra to be a century goal kicker in 1993 or to become the human highlight reel. Plenty of people had confidence in him to become a good player but never bigger than Bradman as labeled by Greham Cornes.
From 1993 everyone knows the story of Hodges injured before round 1, and he took his chance.