Most talented hawk of all time (not best or most decorated pure talent)

Hawk with the most pure talent


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Gary Buckenara not getting much love. Could do anything, great leap, booming kick, could finish with left or right. Classy HFF who matured into a premiership centre man.
 
Huddo for me any day.
I was lucky enough to see about 105 of his 129 games.
When it comes to skill, he was simply incomparable.
He did things that were so skilful and outrageous, we just laughed.

Lethal may have been the “best” (however you define that) closely followed by the likes of Cyril, Knights, Jarman, Bucky, Platts, and Brereton, but when it comes to pure skill, Huddo was in another dimension - IMO.
 

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Huddo for me any day.
I was lucky enough to see about 105 of his 129 games.
When it comes to skill, he was simply incomparable.
He did things that were so skilful and outrageous, we just laughed.

Lethal may have been the “best” (however you define that) closely followed by the likes of Cyril, Knights, Jarman, Bucky, Platts, and Brereton, but when it comes to pure skill, Huddo was in another dimension - IMO.
Huddo was a freak. He looked like an uncoordinated nerd, but by god he had some magic. Matching up on him was impossible. Keeping him to a under six goals was a fullback's wet dream.
 
Notice how Hall kicked that sensational goal and just ambled back to the centre (pretty close to the goal of the year actually).
No aeroplanes or helicopters or running around in circles or punching to the crowd.
And he wasn't overwhelmed with 17 teammates giving him high 5s.

Nuh - just shuffled back.

They were the days.
I guess thats how they did it back then
 
Wouldn’t that be fun and hard! Well we have at least 6 to kick it off from here.
Aligned to that does anyone know if they are doing a team of the century as part of the 100 year celebration?
I have four:

 
A story about Peter Hudson.
This is true, no exaggeration.

He’d marked the ball in the pocket at the northern end at Waverley - about 30 metres out, near the boundary.
There was a solid northerly blowing so he was kicking into the gale on his wrong foot. In today’s terms the only hope a player would have to kick a goal against the wind in that circumstance would be with a check side.

But Huddo ambled in and kicked his usual flat punt.

The ball ended up, blown by the wind, in the opposite pocket and was marked about 30 or so metres from goal by an opposing player. The ump blew his whistle and paid the mark. That was when the goal umpire rushed out waving his hands “No, no - it’s a goal!”. Mark cancelled and goal paid !

That was just another laughing moment when we were amazed by the skill of the man. I have no idea how anyone (other than Huddo) could kick a flat punt from the pocket against the gale and score a goal - with the ball ultimately being blown back onto the ground.
 
A story about Peter Hudson.
This is true, no exaggeration.

He’d marked the ball in the pocket at the northern end at Waverley - about 30 metres out, near the boundary.
There was a solid northerly blowing so he was kicking into the gale on his wrong foot. In today’s terms the only hope a player would have to kick a goal against the wind in that circumstance would be with a check side.

But Huddo ambled in and kicked his usual flat punt.

The ball ended up, blown by the wind, in the opposite pocket and was marked about 30 or so metres from goal by an opposing player. The ump blew his whistle and paid the mark. That was when the goal umpire rushed out waving his hands “No, no - it’s a goal!”. Mark cancelled and goal paid !

That was just another laughing moment when we were amazed by the skill of the man. I have no idea how anyone (other than Huddo) could kick a flat punt from the pocket against the gale and score a goal - with the ball ultimately being blown back onto the ground.

(Apologies for the pay wall - not sure how to defeat it)
 

(Apologies for the pay wall - not sure how to defeat it)

Thanks Cyril, a great article by Greg Baum.

And the book by Dan Eddy - A Football Genius - is a wonderful read. It sets out stories about Huddo, from all those who have known him over his journey (so far), including in particular all of the difficulties we confronted in recruiting him in the first place. Family, teammates, school teachers, journos, coaches, fans etc.
Brilliantly conceived and written.

Get someone to give it to you at Christmas.

The term "football genius" in reference to Huddo was coined by John Kennedy Snr.

I saw Huddo at the airport on the way to a Launceston game a couple of years ago and said to him - "How come John Kennedy, who never individualised (always about the team) and never paid compliments to his players, called you a football genius?"

Huddo looked sheepish and said "It wasn't my idea, I didn't want that title for the book".
 
A slightly different take on talent, but. Tuck playing 426 games in a team consistently winning premierships is outrageous.
 

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Most talented hawk of all time (not best or most decorated pure talent)

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