The team of 2000 - 2017

[Snake_Baker]

Wow. That's a ripper team. And the 2s would have Lewis, Kemp, Tuck, Platton, Brereton, Vander Haar, Healy, Baker, Quinlan, Millane, Picken, Dougey Hawkins, Daniher (all of them!), Watson, Winmar, Langdon (not the Eagles one, the Hawks one), Couch, Stynes and Paul Kelly...

You could swap those 22 blokes for another 22 blokes from that era and they would STILL beat the best contemporary team.

 

[james Dean]

Enright Scarlett C. Johnson
McLeod Leppitsch Hodge
Ricciuto Judd Akermanis
S. Johnson Riewoldt Cousins
Betts Franklin Milne

Cox Ablett Voss

Pendlebury Lloyd Black Goodes

 

[Steinfreo]

Yeah I stand by that.

I see McPharlin on more of a Glass/Taylor level. Great player, not quite the best.

Rance has been the standout KPD for half a decade now with second way off in the distance. He may well finish up being percieved as one of the best key defenders the game has seen.

We over here are just used to Rance getting toweled up by Pav every time they played on each other. Seems overrated.

 

[Appa]

FB:Enright - Rance - Gibson
HB:McLeod -Lake - Hodge
C:Judd - GAJ - Goodes
HF:Akermanis - Riewoldt - Franklin
FF:Betts - Lloyd - Rioli
FOL:Cox - Voss - Mitchell
INT: Cousins - Burgoyne - Pavlich - Pendlebury

Probably should only have one of Scarlett, Gibson and Rance and play a more lockdown KPD at fullback but i cheated because I wanted Rance in.

 

[Forward Press]

Surprising at how many teams leave out Pavlich. The entirety of his career falls within 2000-2017 and is indisputably one of the best KPFs of his time. Same with Riewoldt. They along with Lloyd and Buddy should raffle amongst themselves the KPF spots.

 

[SterlingArcher]

Forwards to the Sword (2000 - 2017) for 6 spots
Retired:
Jonathan Brown - 256 games, 594 goals, 3x Premiership Player, 3x B&F, 2x AA, 1x Coleman, 5x Club Leading Goalkicker
Jason Akermanis - 229 games, 329 goals, 3x Premiership Player, Brownlow Medallist, 2x B&F, 4x AA, 2x Club Leading Goalkicker
Brendan Fevola - 202 games, 623 goals, 3x AA, 2x Coleman, 7x Club Leading Goalkicker
James Hird - 143 games, 143 goals, 1x Premiership Player, 1x Norm Smith, 2x B&F, 3x AA
Matthew Lloyd - 189 games, 681 goals, 1x Premiership Player, 3x AA, 3x Coleman, 9x Club Leading Goalkicker, 2x Centurion
Matthew Pavlich - 353 games, 700 goals, 6x B&F, 6x AA, 8x Club Leading Goalkicker
Paul Chapman - 280 games, 366 goals, 3x Premiership Player, 1x Norm Smith, 1x B&F, 2x AA
Brent Harvey - 368 games, 452 goals, 5x B&F, 4x AA
Warren Tredrea - 217 games, 476 goals, 1x Premiership Player, 1x AFLCA MVP, 4x B&F, 4x AA, 6x Club Leading Goalkicker
Stephen Milne - 275 games, 574 goals, 2x AA, 4x Club Leading Goalkicker
Barry Hall - 237 games, 683 goals, 1x Premiership Player, 1x AFLCA MVP, 1x B&F, 4x AA, 10x Club Leading Goalkicker
Brad Johnson - 240 games, 456 goals, 2x B&F, 5x AA, 3x Club Leading Goalkicker

Current:
Eddie Betts - 261 games, 504 goals, 2x AA, 5x Club Leading Goalkicker
Steve Johnson - 282 games, 503 goals, 3x Premiership Player, 1x Norm Smith, 3x AA, 2x Club Leading Goalkicker
Cyril Rioli - 185 games, 273 goals, 4x Premiership Player, 1x Norm Smith, 3x AA
Jarryd Roughead - 239 games, 507 goals, 4x Premiership Player, 2x AA, 1x Coleman
Jack Riewoldt - 210 games, 506 goals, 1x B&F, 2x AA, 2x Coleman, 7x Club Leading Goalkicker
Nick Riewoldt - 324 games, 702 goals, 1x Leigh Matthews Trophy, 6x B&F, 5x AA, 4x Club Leading Goalkicker
Lance Franklin - 255 games, 810 goals, 2x Premiership Player, 1x B&F, 6x AA, 3x Coleman, 9x Club Leading Goalkicker, 1x Centurion
Josh Kennedy - 196 games, 477 goals, 2x AA, 2x Coleman, 5x Club Leading Goalkicker

Most goals (KF)
1. Franklin 810 2. N.Riewoldt 702 3. Pavlich 700 4. Hall 683 5. Lloyd 681
Most goals (SF)
1. Milne 574 2. Betts 504 3. S.Johnson 503 4. B.Johnson 456 5. Harvey 452
Most flags
1. Roughead & Rioli (4) 3. S.Johnson, Chapman, Brown & Akermanis (3) 7. Franklin (2)
Most B&F
1. N.Riewoldt & Pavlich (6) 3. Harvey (5) 4. Tredrea (4) 5. Brown (3) 6. Akermanis & B.Johnson (2)
Most AA
1. Franklin & Pavlich (6) 3. N.Riewoldt & B.Johnson (5) 5. Hall, Harvey, Akermanis & Tredrea (4) 9. S.Johnson, Lloyd & Fevola (3)
Most Colemans
1. Lloyd & Franklin (3) 3. Fevola, Kennedy & J.Riewoldt (2) 6. Roughead & Brown (1)
Most Club Leading Goalkickers
1. Hall (10) 2. Lloyd & Franklin (9) 4. Pavlich (8) 5. Fevola & J.Riewoldt (7). 7. Tredrea (6) 8. Kennedy, Betts & Brown (5)
Other Accolades
Akermanis (Brownlow), Lloyd (2x Centurion), Hird (Norm Smith), Chapman (Norm Smith), S.Johnson (Norm Smith), Rioli (Norm Smith), Tredrea (AFLCA MVP), Riewoldt (Leigh Matthews Trophy), Franklin (1x Centurion), Hall (AFLCA MVP)

David Neitz (169 games, 414 goals, 1x B&F, 1x AA, 1x Coleman, 4x Club Leading Goalkicker), Matthew Richardson (163 games, 426 goals, 1x B&F, 1x AA, 8x Club Leading Goalkicker), & Fraser Gehrig (164 games, 424 goals, 1x AA, 2x Coleman, 5x Club Leading Goalkicker) all very unlucky to not make the top 20, but they would have only replaced the likes of Fevola + Kennedy, Roughead & J.Riewoldt who did not make the final 6 anyway, and are tracking well ahead (aided by playing their entire careers within the time frame).

Summarising
HF:
Jason Akermanis - 2nd most flags, 5th most AA (=2nd for smalls), Brownlow medal, he's my midfield/forward which every team has, nudging out Chapman (51 more games for only 37 more goals, not as good a midfielder as Akermanis) and Hird (discussed below)
Nick Riewoldt - The last non-mid to win the Leigh Matthews Trophy, he was also 1st for B&Fs, 3rd for AAs, 2nd for goals, and 3rd for games.
Lance Franklin - 1st for goals, 7th most flags, 1st AAs, 1st Colemans, 2nd for club leading goalkickers, Centurion. KF most suited to a flank
F:
Steve Johnson - 3rd most goals for SF, 3rd most flags, 9th most AAs, Norm Smith, switched to a midfielder around the age of 30 where his goal tallies sunk from 49+ in 4 of the last 5 seasons, to 19, 23, 17. Probably fair to say he missed out on 80 goals there, and so his true talent as a SF is glossed over because he was also a brilliant midfielder. 282 games with his whole career played in this time frame
Matthew Lloyd - 5th most goals (2nd for full-forwards, 2 goals behind Hall from 48 less games). Hall gets him for B&F & AA, but Lloyd also had the extra Coleman win, as well as 2x Centurion (Hall had the AFLCA MVP, outweighed by 2x 100 seasons). I think it's reasonable when it's only <50 games, not 100-odd, to give it to the player achieved the same - this isn't Leppitsch v Gibson where Gibsons accolades outstripped Leppitsch as well as having an extra 100 games
Matthew Pavlich - 2nd most games, 3rd most goals, most B&F, most AA, 4th club leading goalkickers. Able to influence around the ground, not confined to a forward line. Would most likely send him up the ground - Lloyd, Johnson & Akermanis the stay at home forwards (the latter 2 able to rotate into the midfield), N.Riewoldt leading up the wings from CHF & Franklin and Pavlich influencing contests around the ground, with Franklin more of a centre square player. I think Franklin and Pavlich's below-the-knees ability would make this forward line work.

James Hird would make the side if I relaxed the criteria a bit, because obviously those stats don't tell how good he was, but I'm just trying to create a most successful team of this time period rather than nail every selection on ability and game-winning influence. To do that you'd have to rewatch these players careers and only watch 2000 onwards, otherwise the memories of what players like Hird did pre-2000 easily gets in the way of you. On team balance Hird would get a game ahead of Pavlich too, I can justify the 6 I picked functioning, but not nearly as well with a medium forward instead of a key forward.

Definitely more difficult than defenders. Leppitsch the only one I struggled with in defence, while here Chapman (HFF/FP), Hird (HFF), Betts (FP) and Hall (FF) all very unlucky.

 

[The Swert]

SterlingArcher that final 6 is a bit tall, who is the next small in line?

DW you said Hird

 

[luciien]

Enright Scarlett C.Johnson
Hodge Leppitsch McLeod
Judd Black Ablett
Chapman Brown Akermanis
Rioli Franklin B.Johnson
Cox Voss Mitchell
Cousins Lappin Goodes Buckley

 

[Jeremias]

Can't believe some have left N.Riewoldt out. Wowee. I think Nat Fyfe should be in as well.

Nick makes it into this side fairly easily.

Fyfe I'm not as sure about - there have been some phenomenal midfielders during the period stipulated by the OP.

 

[SterlingArcher]

SterlingArcher that final 6 is a bit tall, who is the next small in line?

Well I'd like to pick Hird, but that makes my other selections inconsistent I'd say, plus Hird isn't a genuine small anyway.

Chapman is probably the frontrunner for me. Has longevity, flags and accolades. Loses out on goals though to every player bar Rioli though.

Milne is the most genuine small forward, but while one St Kilda fan made a salient point that in a team where you are picking gun midfielders anyway: do you need your small forwards to rotate through - I do think Milnes rivals would have been his equal goal-wise had they not played as much in the midfield (S.Johnson 70 odd and B.Johnson 120 - a bit further off, but did average just under 20 disposals a game over his career compared to Milnes 11.8). Harvey fairly equal with B.Johnson.

Betts isn't far off but if his career ended now he wouldn't be ahead of either of Milne or B.Johnson in my opinion. Maybe by the end of 2019 or 2020, with another 150+ goals under his belt will be a different story. But to include that would be unfair to those guys who also had games in the 90s - can't include games not in the timeframe.

Rioli could fit in the team on team balance (small pressure forward, a clear difference to the rest of the team and every good team has a player who does his role, which shows his true importance) and could fit in on the criteria (weight put on flags, AA and other accolades such as Norm Smiths).

So really, I'm pretty stumped on it - do you go with the pure goalkicking forward (Milne), the forward/midfielders (Chapman, B.Johnson, Harvey) or the pressure forward (Rioli). If you go with the forward/midfielders you then have to decide which one...

 

[Bardo State]

Definitely more difficult than defenders. Leppitsch the only one I struggled with in defence, while here Chapman (HFF/FP), Hird (HFF), Betts (FP) and Hall (FF) all very unlucky.

Just wait til you try and do the mids... At least ruck isn't that complicated

 

[SterlingArcher]

Just wait til you try and do the mids... At least ruck isn't that complicated

Cox, Sandilands, Primus & Ottens would be the 4 that spring to mind, with Cox sweeping most categories (bar flags) I'd imagine.

 

[Bardo State]

Cox, Sandilands, Primus & Ottens would be the 4 that spring to mind, with Cox sweeping most categories (bar flags) I'd imagine.

Can't see anyone touching Cox's legacy as it stands. Naitanui and Grundy the two to watch going forward. Grundy has a lot of time on his hands to crave out a legacy, especially as a ruckman.

 

[PhatBoy]

Not that I'd pick him over the majority of guys being mentioned but seems odd that no-one has brought up the G Train.
Couple of coleman's, century in a season, couple of AAs (only one after 2000 admittedly), second in a B and F at fullback before making his name at full forward, heck of a player.

 

[citizen-erased]

Yeah I stand by that.

I see McPharlin on more of a Glass/Taylor level. Great player, not quite the best.

Rance has been the standout KPD for half a decade now with second way off in the distance. He may well finish up being percieved as one of the best key defenders the game has seen.

I would say the last 3 years (2014 was 1st AA squad he made).
Scarlett & Leppitsch are 3 time premiership defenders. Scarlett 6 time AA to boot.

 

[Bardo State]

I would say the last 3 years (2014 was 1st AA squad he made).
Scarlett & Leppitsch are 3 time premiership defenders. Scarlett 6 time AA to boot.

Scarlett is a non-negotiable in these teams. Can see the arguments for players like Leppitsch or Lake ahead of Rance and maybe I'm giving him too much credit for assuming he'll continue the form of his last few years when that shouldn't come in to consideration.

 

[SterlingArcher]

Not that I'd pick him over the majority of guys being mentioned but seems odd that no-one has brought up the G Train.
Couple of coleman's, century in a season, couple of AAs (only one after 2000 admittedly), second in a B and F at fullback before making his name at full forward, heck of a player.

Had him as an unlucky, but from what I've got he'd be 15th for goals kicked by a KF in this time frame - 1. Franklin 810 2. N.Riewoldt 702 3. Pavlich 700 4. Hall 683 5. Lloyd 681 6. Fevola 623 7. Brown 594 8. Roughead 507 9. J.Riewoldt 506 10. Kennedy 477 11. Tredrea 476 12. Bradshaw 470 13. Petrie 431 14. Richardson 426 15. Gehrig 424, with an extra 5 small forwards ahead of him too.

Of course Gehrig played a hell of a lot less games than those guys in the time period, but I think it's too far down (compared to say Lloyd) in total to make up for it.

edit: Cloke 446 goals also - another underrated guy, contested marking in his prime was unstoppable, B&F, flag, and dual AA.

 

[citizen-erased]

Cox, Sandilands, Primus & Ottens would be the 4 that spring to mind, with Cox sweeping most categories (bar flags) I'd imagine.

Cox, then either of Primus or Sandilands.
Primus was pretty awesome. Was an $8 brownlow contender at one point.

 

[SterlingArcher]

Cox, then either of Primus or Sandilands.
Primus was pretty awesome. Was an $8 brownlow contender at one point.

Was far and away the best ruck at the turn of the century, but ACL's in 1999 and 2004, as well injury-riddled years in 2003 and 2005, ruined his career and I really think the debate of Primus v Cox if Primus had stayed on the park would have been awesome. Primus every bit as good at his peak.

 

[Monkster]

The fact that only one person has mentioned Dale Morris shows how criminally underrated he is.

 

[citizen-erased]

The fact that only one person has mentioned Dale Morris shows how criminally underrated he is.

plenty of decent defenders not being mentioned.
Rutten, Bolton, Michael, Milburn, Gibson, Lake, Cornes, Wilson, Glass.
Scarlett, Leppa & Fletcher take the top billing for the past 17 years.

 

[Monkster]

plenty of decent defenders not being mentioned.
Rutten, Bolton, Michael, Milburn, Gibson, Lake, Cornes, Wilson, Glass.
Scarlett, Leppa & Fletcher take the top billing for the past 17 years.

The bolded have all been either included in most peoples teams or argued about and Morris is a much better player than both Wilson and Bolton for their positions given that Morris isn't a fullback like Rutten, Michael, Glass, Scarlett or Fletcher.

 

[Forward Press]

The bolded have all been either included in most peoples teams or argued about and Morris is a much better player than both Wilson and Bolton for their positions given that Morris isn't a fullback like Rutten, Michael, Glass, Scarlett or Fletcher.

You can't have 6 full backs and Rutten, Bolton, Michael, Gibson, Lake, Glass, Scarlett, Leppitsch and Fletcher all have stronger cases than Morris.

 

[Monkster]

You can't have 6 full backs and Rutten, Bolton, Michael, Gibson, Lake, Glass, Scarlett, Leppitsch and Fletcher all have stronger cases than Morris.

Morris isn't a fullback so why would he be battling Rutten, Michael, Lake, Glass, Scarlett or Fletcher?

 

[Jiggyman]

Surely Pav gets a run... carried his team for 10 years! Criminally underrated outside WA.