WCE peak Judd was better than peak GAJ and peak Dustin Martin

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Also we only saw Martin's best football for around 5 years. He took forever to find his best football and we saw it for a number of years before his performances dropped off again.
Yeah but this thread is about how good they were at their peak, not about longevity
 
I think it’s a pretty well established that mids are the ones that get flooded with awards. I don’t really want to go down this rabbit hole with you about it. For what it’s worth GAJ’s peak is better than Carey’s imo. He’s not part of this thread though.


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Carey's peak from 1995-2000, 18 disposals, 7 marks, 3 goals per game, 2 x Premiership, 2 x MVP, 2 x B&F, 4 x AA. He played in multiple positions and his ability to stand up when a game was on the line was legendary.
 

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Also we only saw Martin's best football for around 5 years. He took forever to find his best football and we saw it for a number of years before his performances dropped off again.
5 games**

 
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2017 Dusty was better than not just Chris Judd but probably any player in the modern game. He polled the most Brownlow votes, bnf, AA, coaches award, mvp, norm smith, premiership, best finals player and every media award there was. Hell if we played him fwd a bit more he probably would have won the Coleman as well!
Over their entire careers is a different story however at their peak, Dusty easily.

ROFL…thanks for the lols.
 
5 games**

Obviously a bit of sarcasm, but a bit of a common misconception that he didn't play well unless it was a final.

As a tigers supporter I remember often sitting there texting or getting a phone call from my old man going - we're about done here, need some dusty magic or something to pull off this game. On queue would burst through and deliver a goal or two plus set up another to shift the momentum and win you the game.

It'd always be a piece of brilliance too. Like laying multiple tackles and winning the ball, or bursting through a pack and snapping a stupid goal, or a 60m pass to someone running in the clear. It happened too often to be a fluke, he just had a way of seizing the moment when he needed and rarely failed or got it wrong. Without him, we don't win those flags.

They're all ridiculous at their peak for what it's worth... If I had to chose, either to be in my team during our best years I dont know if GAJ or Judd would've won us the flags, doesn't mean they're not better though. Saw all of them play live (GAJ during his best years at cats, Judd rip us a new one at blues EF so not peak but was still class above and of course Dusty).

Have to say though saw Ablett Snr back in his day as a kid and that was pretty unreal too... Sitting on heads in the wet, kicking bags of goals - freak.
 
West Coast Chris Judd wasn’t even the best midfielder in his team, Ben Cousins was a far better footballer than Judd during the Eagles years.

Even as a Geelong supporter Ben Cousins is my favourite footballer of all time...he was just incredible. Judd's peak was awesome too but it helps when you've got Cuz and Kerr next to you, not to mention Cox tapping it down your throat (don't google that btw)
 
Gary Ablett junior at his peak was 10 times the player Judd was

10x is a bit over the top.

At their peak they're pretty even, Gaz was just better and for far longer.

If the Brownlow was simply a poll of 'who is the best player in the competition' rather than an umpire decided joke he wins it every year from '07-14 in a landslide.
 
GAJ at his peak is the greatest we have ever seen, he completely transformed footy as we know it today and every midfielder of the past 15 years would attest to that.

As much as I can't stand him GAJ was the definition of untagable at his best. He got the ball a lot and always seemed to know the right thing to do with it. He was definitely better than Judd and Martin at his peak.
 
As much as I can't stand him GAJ was the definition of untagable at his best. He got the ball a lot and always seemed to know the right thing to do with it. He was definitely better than Judd and Martin at his peak.
Understandable, footy fans always hate the best player in the oppostion line up. Judd was good, Martin was good, but Ablett jr is something we have never seen before. He set the bar higher than anybody else in the history of the game. His season in 2014 before he got injured with the Suns was the most outstanding ever seen in a team that was pretty much useless, he lost the Brownlow by 4 votes missing the final 6 games...
 

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lol when did Judd ever be a massive whinging coward and refuse to travel to away games as captain of the team? Judd carried a shit carlton team to the finals and won an elimination final off his own boot. GAJ refused to play for a shit GC. their leadership was on completely different levels.

it's arguable that one of the biggest reasons GC was a basketcase for years is because of his awful leadership and his active participation in splitting the player base in two along religious lines.

as for players better than him, Judd and Riewoldt definitely, there shouldn't even be an argument there, and there's a case for Martin because of his consistently excellent performances in big games. He's then in that next group with Voss, Mitchell, Brown, Buckley, Hird, Pavlich etc - and i refuse to hear any argument against Sam Mitchell in that group; he's single most underrated player this century.

I've literally never seen anyone be so petulant and selfish too, which also comes into it beyond his ability. I'll never forget the filthy and covetous look on his face when Bartel won the brownlow, for example.

edit: also, he's responsible for this modern obsession with quantity over quality when it comes to statistics. i remember a game in a final against the pies where he had like 10 or 11 possessions in the first quarter, but 3 of them were turnovers that led directly to goals and the others were cheap handballs around the back of the man on the mark in the back half that then went nowhere, yet all the commentators were saying at half time were, 'geez look at the possession count'

when you think about it, the only difference between GAJ and, say, Tom Mitchell is that GAJ was a genuinely elite forward. In fact, he played his best footy as a forward

It's interesting how you're saying that GAJ was selfish. I've heard that a few times before on here and outside this forum?

Genuine question - is there truth to it though?
 
Gary Ablett’s career is probably one of the least hyped I’ve ever seen, I’ve never seen better.
Judd at his peak was something else, he done it all with at least one tagger hanging off him and teams blocking him individually like you never see these days.

There really isn't much between Judd, GAJ & Martin in terms of peak performances. I think it still comes down to opinion and there is no right or wrong.
 
GAJ and Judd are the clear two best mids of the 2000s

Dusty not too far behind. Not the longevity, but always stood up when it counted

Yep and performances in games when they truly matter most must give weight when assessing players.
 
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I'm not getting involved in this debate. I'm a Tigers man and may be seen to be biased. I do think Judd and Ablett's peak ran for longer. I'll leave it at that.

What I would like to know is...does anyone have the following stats for the 3:

Meters Gained
Score Involvements
Goal Assists
 
I was maybe a bit too young to appreciate Judd's WCE years.

I think he was a better mid than Dusty.

Dusty a better forward/damaging/game-changing player.

GAJ probably the balanced option between the two. His GCS numbers are interesting to me because he was clearly an amazing player but also clearly playing for such a dogcrap team that he stood out like a sore thumb as the 'give it to X' option. Still a remarkable player though.

At their peaks, gee it would be hard to pick. Dusty with my goggles on, maybe GAJ without because of his option to go forward or back. If I wanted a pure mid I'd go Juddy.


Ultimately the one who did crazy things on the big days is Dusty though and that's enough for me as a Tiger fan.
 
An easy one for me. Ablett.

Yep. Just as good or better than the others and did it for far, far longer. Exploded the argument about only being good because he was in a great team by going to a rubbish team and if anything being even better. Would have sailed away with a third Brownlow if not for injury.
 

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WCE peak Judd was better than peak GAJ and peak Dustin Martin

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