Peter Matera (WCE) OR Shane Crawford (HAW)

[Skooks]

Both Champions in their own rite, its hard to go past Matera in his prime, so ill say Matera but only on the merits that the eagles won two premierships while he was in his prime with him contricbuting to one with a 5 goals display and Norm Smith Medal

 

[windyhill]

Matera by the proverbial country mile.

 

[Goldenblue]

Matera > Crawford

 

[Casey]

Crawf has a Brownlowe....

.... but matera should have multipuls

 

[skywalk750]

Matera easily

 

[Hoonose atall]

In terms of which one one killed Essendon over the years I've gotta give it to Matera.
I don't know what we ever done to that bloke but it was his personal mission in life to destroy us....and he did on many occasions.
So much so that I ended up begrudgingly admiring the bloke, was sad to see the day he retired.

 

[Carn the Coasters]

stupid poll really.

 

[theorangeapple]

both quality. i am biased but i think matera had an 'x' factor that crawford doesnt. dont forget matera was was a very significant reason behind us winning those premierships. if he wasnt playing im not sure we would have won them.

 

[Thewlis Dish]

Crawford for mine, but not by a lot.

Materia is one of the most damaging players I've seen, his pace, long kicking and long runs could take any team apart. However there aren't many midfielders from the last 10-15 I'd rate above Crawford at his best. He covers so much ground, he is at every contest, his skills are impeccable, he is close to the fittest guy going around, and he can still bob up with a goal or a crucial play that sets up a goal. The perfect balance of hardiness and silk, and IMO the prototype midfielder.

 

[feher]

Crawf

 

[nic_rox13]

Crawford for mine, but not by a lot.

Materia is one of the most damaging players I've seen, his pace, long kicking and long runs could take any team apart. However there aren't many midfielders from the last 10-15 I'd rate above Crawford at his best. He covers so much ground, he is at every contest, his skills are impeccable, he is close to the fittest guy going around, and he can still bob up with a goal or a crucial play that sets up a goal. The perfect balance of hardiness and silk, and IMO the prototype midfielder.

i find it 2 be a hard choice, and although i dont know all that much about peter matera from watching replays and hearing about him, i'm not sure, but knowing a lot about crawfy he's a workhorse and a champ, i dont care who is better their both great players at their prime and that's it

 

[Nightwolf]

Crawford

 

[Snickers]

Crawford.

 

[jod23]

Silly poll....Matera by absolute miles!

 

[bluey17]

Both very different players.

Matera was my hero as a young kid and if I had to choose one to have in my team it would be Roo.

I ********ing miss him.

 

[fearlessone77]

In terms of which one one killed Essendon over the years I've gotta give it to Matera.
I don't know what we ever done to that bloke but it was his personal mission in life to destroy us....and he did on many occasions.
So much so that I ended up begrudgingly admiring the bloke, was sad to see the day he retired.

I have the same issue with Michael Long.

 

[Skooks]

Its actually not a stupid poll, considering Crawford has a brownlow and Matera doesnt....... yet Matera is winning by fair margin so really it is quite an even poll

 

[jourgo]

Matera by so far the two shouldn't even be compared.

 

[Nightwolf]

Matera by so far the two shouldn't even be compared.

By so far. If Matera was so far ahead of Crawf, wheres his Brownlow? Crawf was unlucky not to have 3 Brownlows...
What a load of crap that Matera is a fleminton staight ahead of Crawf, he was exceptional yes, but to say they shouldnt even be compared is garbage...

 

[nonchalance]

was sad to see the day Matera retired.

I wasn't. I was dancing in the streets. The guy tore us a new one on a regular basis.

 

[jourgo]

By so far. If Matera was so far ahead of Crawf, wheres his Brownlow? Crawf was unlucky not to have 3 Brownlows...
What a load of crap that Matera is a fleminton staight ahead of Crawf, he was exceptional yes, but to say they shouldnt even be compared is garbage...

Where's Crawford's Norm Smith? Where's his two premiership medallions? If you're going to use the Brownlow as the basis for comparison, that would put Woewodin on the same level as Crawford wouldn't it!

 

[CyberKev]

Where's Crawford's Norm Smith? Where's his two premiership medallions? If you're going to use the Brownlow as the basis for comparison, that would put Woewodin on the same level as Crawford wouldn't it!

You do realise that Paul Dear, Colin Robertson & Billy Duckett all won Norm Smith medals?!

It works both ways, doesn't it.

Matera was a fine footballer, but lacked the diversity and consistency that Crawford has displayed over a number of years.

For all the WC people calling this a silly poll, I can but agree, as Crawford should be well clear out of these two.

That said, I agree that its daft comparing the two, given one was a pacy winger and the other is a centre/rover cum dangerous floating forward.

Still, daft player comparisons are always the go on this site over summer.

 

[Two-Bobby]

This comparisons are so hard to call because we can't really judge a player's career in the absence of those playing around him.

Dunstall was recognised as a fantastic Full Forward and yet we often overlook the role his Harthown team-mates had in his success - from the defense which was adept at quick rebounds, to the highly skilled and pacy midfield, down to the other forwards (in particular Brereton) that made it verry difficult for opposition sides to "double-team" Dunstall.

Would Dunstall have been the same player at the Western Bulldogs - or even in today's Hawthorn side?

Matera was one of the premier wingmen of the nineties, where the role is primarily to attack the ball and use one's pace to deliver it forward. His defensive game was not as consistently called upon/utilised as Crawford's who - as a midfielder - probably NEEDED to have a more rounded defensive side of his game. So I've witnessed more of Crawford having to do "in-pack" type of work than I've seen from Matera.

Matera was a much more damaging player in terms of scoring opportunities than Crawford was. Then again, Matera was a player in a very strong Eagles side as opposed to Crawford's place in a "lesser" footballing unit.

Not being a supporter of either of these teams, I also have to accept that my observations are based on a much more limited sampling of games than others. But I am happy to be quite impartial about it...

I guess that as a Collingwood supporter, I did see the difference in Sav Rocca's game when he had more support from the team - specifically when Brereton played in the forward line for a season. Rocca fell agonisingly short of a ton that year and it was recognised as perhaps his "best" year as full forward.

This was no doubt helped by the fact that in other years, other teams were able to effectively double- and triple-team him due to a lack of forward options at Collingwood. I find it therefore hard to really state in any conclusive manner whether Sav was a "better" or "worse" player in other years.

Likewise, unless I saw Crawford playing in the same WCE team that Matera did, and unless I saw Matera playing in the same Hawks team that Crawf did, I find it hard to really hard to make any accurate call.

Both players were standout players for their respective clubs.

TB

 

[Bestbird]

Different players but Matera did have that X Factor as mentioned by another poster

A better poll would have been

Cousin V Crawford as they are similar players IMO in that when the chips are down they come into there own

 

[hotpie]

Matera on a countback by two premierships and a Norm Smith and ten consecutive years in the finals to nil.