Players who looked like they'd become stars but who didn't reach them heights.

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Harding?? Paul Harding I think, could be wrong. Came from interstate with a lot of hype, lasted a year or 2 and went to St Kilda.

ANd about Bowyer, was my bloody favourite player, showed enough to suggest he could play, got hampered by injuries, and went overseas, had an "incident" in Greece, almost died, not sure if it was to do with depression, drugs, accident, but it seemed to be a significant thing. Went to Carlton, never got going again, bye-bye.
 
Harding?? Paul Harding I think, could be wrong. Came from interstate with a lot of hype, lasted a year or 2 and went to St Kilda.

ANd about Bowyer, was my bloody favourite player, showed enough to suggest he could play, got hampered by injuries, and went overseas, had an "incident" in Greece, almost died, not sure if it was to do with depression, drugs, accident, but it seemed to be a significant thing. Went to Carlton, never got going again, bye-bye.

He carved out a good career at the Saints. Didn't we take him to the Supreme Court to prevent him playing at the Eagles?
 

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Yep my list includes: Matt Bourke, Shannon Gibson, Ben Dixon, Kris Barlow, Dom Berry, Stephen Lawrence, Glen Bowyer, Danny Harford, Scott Crow, Lance Picioanne, etc. All threse guys I thought could have been twice the players they actually were.

I also thought Ang Lekkas could have been even better.
 
Dom Berry, now there's a name. Do you remember Shane McGrath? Played full forward, might have played one or two games in the seniors, and people thought he was going to be big. I remember someone like Peter Landy extolling his potential off-field.
 
Micheal Collica, was the one for me, was one of Ken Judges love childs from East Fremantle, still can't understand why he didn't make it, he had all the tools.

There's a name I'd completely forgotten.. he made an awesome smother at Waverley (maybe) to win us a game. Maybe the only thing he ever did.. Definitely seemed to underperform
 
There's a name I'd completely forgotten.. he made an awesome smother at Waverley (maybe) to win us a game. Maybe the only thing he ever did.. Definitely seemed to underperform


I remember that, made a last minute smother against the eagles to (effectively) get us over the line by 2 points. my junior footy coach used that as an example at training that week for tackling and smothering. Was good to be surrounded by eagles fans :)
 
Here are a few:

Charlie Grummisch - one of my favourites, freak mark and quality left foot kick, could read the game really well. Thought he would cement a posi in the seniors and become one of the stars of the mid 70s, didnt happen - retired at 22 after 50 games..

Wayne Bevan - Big boofhead CHF/FF that could take a solid mark and was a good straight kick. Played a few games in the mid 70s then disappeared. I thought he was going to be a star, another one that gave it away at 22.

Glen Harrison - A monster CHB who could swing to CHF as a pinch hitter. Had the physical presence and ability to make reserve grade opponents look way out of his league, was overdone in the seconds due to the settled senior backline, eventually got a chance then was injured.

Michael Cooke - Excellent forward in tandem with his brother (Robert). One player that seemed to lose as much confidence as he gained condition. Played far better while he was huffing and wheezing than when he became fit, thought we may have found our own version of Doug Wade.

Robert Cooke - IMO superstar material, destroyed opponents in reserve grade, amazing agility for his size, brilliant high mark and kicking skills. Never played a senior game.

Shane Murphy - Little guy with good goal sense and plenty of talent, i think he was starved of opportunity due to the strength of the list.

Mark Scott - Another full forward that looked like he could become a quality long term senior player, seemed glacially slow when he was given a chance in the seniors. Traded to Fitzroy or StK after kicking about a zillion goals in the seconds.

Graeme Spark - Saw this guy slot 8 against a quality Melbourne reserves FB, mainly one touch and bang, he had incredible goal kicking ability. Played a few senior games and disappeared after a knee injury.

Adrian Cox - Seemed to have the ability, speed, and ball skills to go one step further, thought he could have become a quality player.

That will do for now, don't want too many ex-players slashing their wrists for under achieving.
 

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Stephen Lawrence.

After he put in a blinder in that 1991 final vs the Eagles over in the west I thought he was going to be a great ruckman. Sadly, he never went on with it.
 
I remember that, made a last minute smother against the eagles to (effectively) get us over the line by 2 points. my junior footy coach used that as an example at training that week for tackling and smothering. Was good to be surrounded by eagles fans :)
It was a night game over in Perth, Eagles kicked the first 5 or so goals, we came back and got over the line after Collica smothered a kick near the boundary on the Eagles HFF
 
Going way back, Rick Davies

Rick Davies was a sensational player. All-Australian captain, booted 151 goals in a season for Sturt in the SANFL. If he had played VFL 5 years earlier in life he would have been a star. A number of SANFL champions suffered the same fate, went to the VFL when their careers were on a downward slope. Russell Ebert and Graham Cornes were two classic examples.

To get the best out of Davies he needed to be played as a key forward, FF or CHF, but this wasn't possible.

As it was they tucked him away in a forward pocket where he kicked 37 goals for the season in a Hawthorn team that didn't perform vey well that season. He pretty much had to stay out of the way of Leigh Matthews and Michael Moncrieff as well.

He was just starting to show what he could do with 5 goals in his final game before returning home. This thread is supposed to be about players who didn't become stars. You could never include Rick Davies in this conversation.
 
I thought most of these blokes played some great games early on and promised a fair bit but for some reason they either tapered off or remained serviceable from then on.

Glen Nugent
Shannon Gibson
Michael Collica
Tim Boyle
Shayne Stevenson
Glen Bowyer
Lance Picioane
Nick Ries
Aaron Lord
Kris Barlow
Richard Taylor
Jade Rawlings
Rayden Tallis
Nick Holland
Ben Dixon
Nathan Thompson
 
true

I wonder how many others of the players that we had great expectations for,also suffered from a similar affliction with the black dog, but not made public?

I would imagine its taken a great toll
 
These names have been mentioned

'Alex Macdonald'- Jeans recruited him from Ballarat from memory, supposedly was going to be the next big thing, number 1 draft pick, don't recall how many games he played but he did not have an impact.

'Greg Madigan'- played in the '89 Grand final but he never realy kicked on after that.

'Steve Malaxos' -Watching the State of Origin series as a lad he was pretty good for WA, when he came to hawthorn he was a fizzer.

Remember a game i saw at Waverley during the pre-season, Hawthorn played against the AFL-Allstars, Malaxos had his first game for us , showed something, kicked a goal, but that was it. I think when the eagles came into the comp he realized he needn't to do more and he was probably a serviceble player for them.
 

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Players who looked like they'd become stars but who didn't reach them heights.

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