Who do you think is the best indigenous person to ever play?

[Demonic Ascent]

Mobility, strength, vision...bloke revolutionised the game.

What did Goodes do bar slide in with his feet and knees, and stir up racial unrest for the sake of his ego?

Wow someone has a chip on the shoulder. Dual Brownlow Medallist, dual premiership player but yeah, all he did was cheat and be an uppity ******

 

[JackOutback]

Wow. This is probably the dumbest post in BigFooty history. Congratulations!

Giant knob trolling for a reaction. Best left alone.

 

[CitizenU]

Giant knob trolling for a reaction. Best left alone.

Yeah it's just me. Goodesy is mr popularity

 

[seanoff]

Great fan of Michael Graham. How is his health?

seems OK

saw him the other day. near the TAB LOL

 

[parano1a]

"Neon" Leon Davis.

 

[d33my]

I'd have Farmer over Davey by a fair margin. Would win games off his own boot regularly.

Goodes would have to get the nod all time though with special mention to McLeod and Matera. Obviously Polly Farmer for the older folk who saw him play.

Fair call, Farmer was my second cab off the rank.

Honestly I was only about 10 years old in Farmer's Melbourne prime, so I can't really recall his peak. I do think that maybe Flash was slightly more consistent for us though.

If the question was about talent or 'X factor' (shudder), Farmer would be my number one (EDIT: in terms of Melbourne players).

 

[GreyCrow]

If the question was about talent or 'X factor' (shudder), Farmer would be my number one.

Followed by the younger Adrian Macadam

 

[Geoffa32]

Shaun Burgoyne deserves the right to be mentioned among the best players in the modern era.

Four Premierships, 300 games with the second best winning record for 300 game players.

 

[d33my]

Followed by the younger Adrian Macadam

Sorry - just meant for the Dees.

 

[Dacksaredown]

Wayne Carey easily.

 

[Parolee]

Wow! When I think of the players that I have watched play & others that talk of the players that I haven't seen play. My mind wonders who is the best of them all? Is it, Farmer, Rioli (but which one?), Long Winmar, Krakour, Goodes & many many more.

With my favorite current player about to make it to a very exclusive club of 300 games this weekend.
Shaun Burgoyne, must rank high among the elite of all indigenous players to have ever played our great game? Congrats to him & all those from a very talented mob that make our game so much better from their sublime skill.

Andrew McLeod anyone?

Some food for thought: The best all indigenous team ever vs the best non indigenous team ever. Who wins?

I'm very new to the game but where does Micky O rate?

 

[pablo668]

Hence why he is never talked about in here indigenous threads except by west Australians who saw him play WAFL. No doubt was brilliant but never played at AFL level.

Seriously there's that much talent in all the names mentioned in this thread. Our game is so much richer for having our indigenous players.

Around 1979 South Fremantle played Carlton in an Escort cup match I think. They Beat Carlton Handily.
The next match they played against a VFL team was against Essendon, they faded badly and lost by 30 points, which is kind of standard.
The WAFL was pretty strong back in Stephen Michaels time, filled with a lot of very good players.
As mentioned he also performed very well in the SOO games of the time, which contrary to what many might think these days was a very high level of footy indeed.
I've never heard a player from that era (from any state) ever downplay how good Stephen Michael was.

 

[footyfan1978]

Nicky Winmar for mine is best I seen in my time although Maurice Rioli I rate almost as good. Before my time there was Barry Cable and Polly Farmer and I got no reason to think one of them were not better given what others older than me saw and rated. I suspect Barry Cable is numero uno.
Adam Goodes next best of the ones I seen.
Andrew McLeod, Michael Long and Gavin Wanganeen certainly have strong cases to be in such a discussion. Certainly had more team success than Winmar but I think he trumped them in all round talent as a player.
Pickett, Betts, Syd Jackson, Cyril Rioli, Stephen Michael. Peter Matera, Jim and Phil Krakouer, Chris Johnson, O'Loughlin and Burgoyne the next group I believe.
Been some other super talents like Adrian McAdam, Michael McLean, Jeff Farmer, Derek Kickett and Andrew Walker that showed glimpses of brilliance but not achieved as much as these others guys.

Winmar for mine excited me closest to Gary Ablett in the late 1980's as a player from other clubs. Was exciting to get home on Saturday nights and see highlights of Saints games from Moorabin to see how Lockett and Winmar went.

 

[The 747]

I'm very new to the game but where does Micky O rate?

Good player. Not a great player.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Fair call, Farmer was my second cab off the rank.

Honestly I was only about 10 years old in Farmer's Melbourne prime, so I can't really recall his peak. I do think that maybe Flash was slightly more consistent for us though.

If the question was about talent or 'X factor' (shudder), Farmer would be my number one (EDIT: in terms of Melbourne players).

His 2000 season was insane, 76 goals from a small forward. His 98 season was pretty good too, round 22 and the first 2 finals he kicked 5/6 goals each game but unfortunately not in the PF.

 

[PeaTea]

McLeod has to be right up there.

 

[GreyCrow]

Wayne Carey easily.

Until Wayne Carey acknowledges his heritage then he cant be mentioned.

 

[Kwality]

God the amount of non traditional AFL footy state/young sounding Crows/SA people on here bleating about Goodes....fair dinkum makes me sick.

The guy was a dirty, staging, soft (zero physical courage, mentally weak) AFL protected campaigner. And he ended up with two brownlows :-( Political brownlows nothing more.

What an utterly vile insult to the likes of Maurice Rioli, Polly Farmer, Barry Cable, Jim Krakouer, Nicky Winmar, Michael Long, Chris Lewis, Stephen Michael, Andrew McLeod and on and on.

Imagine the meltdown from marshmallow soft Goodes if he had played in the eras those brave blokes did.

Real ugly racism. Week in and week out.

On and off the paddock.

And that dog couldn't even handle being booed.

Goodes is an utter disgrace, and utterly unfit to even serve the oranges to any of those names I just mentioned as far as I'm concerned.

Pathetic effort U, I couldn't disagree more strongly.
If booing is the criteria, Goodesy played through much of that, & it was deserved whenever staging was concerned.
To me Goodes at his best was the 2012 GF & on display were all of the mans best footballing skills particularly courage.

You only have to listen to the likes of Tony Shaw & Gary Lyon to know racism was rampant in the 90s & its not something we need today.

Goodes off ground is a different matter, his views can & should be questioned, even criticised if, like me you found them intemperate.

 

[nineteen eighty]

Polly Farmer changed how the game was played. He basically invented the offensive handball. No other indigenous player could claim to have the same lasting effect on the game.

He was a dominant ruck (and I do mean dominant in every sense of the word with his ruck work) who played as a ruck rover (when that possie still existed). I see him as a combination of Simon Madden (ruck work, marking and setting up play) and Jimmy Stynes (mobility). Or to keep to a WA theme, Graham Moss and Dean Cox.

 

[gavaniacono]

God the amount of non traditional AFL footy state/young sounding Crows/SA people on here bleating about Goodes....fair dinkum makes me sick.

The guy was a dirty, staging, soft (zero physical courage, mentally weak) AFL protected campaigner. And he ended up with two brownlows :-( Political brownlows nothing more.

What an utterly vile insult to the likes of Maurice Rioli, Polly Farmer, Barry Cable, Jim Krakouer, Nicky Winmar, Michael Long, Chris Lewis, Stephen Michael, Andrew McLeod and on and on.

Imagine the meltdown from marshmallow soft Goodes if he had played in the eras those brave blokes did.

Real ugly racism. Week in and week out.

On and off the paddock.

And that dog couldn't even handle being booed.

Goodes is an utter disgrace, and utterly unfit to even serve the oranges to any of those names I just mentioned as far as I'm concerned.

Did he do your sister, or brother?

 

[CitizenU]

Did he do your sister, or brother?

Nah too easy.

 

[gavaniacono]

Nah too easy.

You?

 

[madhawksfan]

So many amazing players to choose from: Franklin, Shaun Burgoyne, Polly Farmer, Wanganeen, McLeod, Goodes, Rioli, Winmar, Micky O, Chris Lewis, Matera.

For mine it's Burgoyne, followed by Goodes and Franklin.

 

[Kwality]

He was a dominant ruck (and I do mean dominant in every sense of the word with his ruck work) who played as a ruck rover (when that possie still existed). I see him as a combination of Simon Madden (ruck work, marking and setting up play) and Jimmy Stynes (mobility). Or to keep to a WA theme, Graham Moss and Dean Cox.

Here is an example of Polly, his own man, in his last year playing:
The Cardinals commenced their finals campaign against their 1971 bête noire East Perth on Saturday 18th September. It was a cool, wet day with a squally westerly wind, conditions that most pundits agreed favoured the Royals. Because of the inclement weather the attendance of 25,667 was perhaps 10,000 short of what might otherwise have been expected². The official records for the game will tell you that Farmer won the toss for West Perth and chose to kick to the western end of the ground, thereby conceding the wind advantage in the opening term to the Royals. However, the truth was not quite so simple. When the coin was tossed, East Perth captain-coach Malcolm Brown tried the old ruse of moving away before it had settled and pointing in the direction that he wished to kick, which was with the breeze. Farmer, though, was having none of it. Once it became clear that coin toss had actually been in his favour, he grabbed Brown, and forced him to return and inspect the evidence where, with a boundary umpire as a witness, the matter was speedily, if not perhaps too amicably, resolved. Once justice had been done, Farmer rubbed salt in Brown's wound by mischievously announcing that he wanted to kick into the breeze in the opening term anyway!
See more at: http://australianfootball.com/artic...erth+v+E.+Fremantle/1343#sthash.suIWnnXS.dpuf

 

[CitizenU]

Here is an example of Polly, his own man, in his last year playing:
The Cardinals commenced their finals campaign against their 1971 bête noire East Perth on Saturday 18th September. It was a cool, wet day with a squally westerly wind, conditions that most pundits agreed favoured the Royals. Because of the inclement weather the attendance of 25,667 was perhaps 10,000 short of what might otherwise have been expected². The official records for the game will tell you that Farmer won the toss for West Perth and chose to kick to the western end of the ground, thereby conceding the wind advantage in the opening term to the Royals. However, the truth was not quite so simple. When the coin was tossed, East Perth captain-coach Malcolm Brown tried the old ruse of moving away before it had settled and pointing in the direction that he wished to kick, which was with the breeze. Farmer, though, was having none of it. Once it became clear that coin toss had actually been in his favour, he grabbed Brown, and forced him to return and inspect the evidence where, with a boundary umpire as a witness, the matter was speedily, if not perhaps too amicably, resolved. Once justice had been done, Farmer rubbed salt in Brown's wound by mischievously announcing that he wanted to kick into the breeze in the opening term anyway!
See more at: http://australianfootball.com/articles/view/Cardies+Hang+On+-+West+Perth+v+E.+Fremantle/1343#sthash.suIWnnXS.dpuf

And therein lies the difference between the great Polly and Adam Goodes.

Goodes would of made a race issue out of that.