Page 4 of 15 FirstFirst 1234567814 ... LastLast
Results 37 to 48 of 180

Thread: Greatest ever Swan?

  1. #37
    Captain of the Side Captain's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Northern Beaches
    Posts
    3,556
    Tony Lockett

  2. #38
    Senior Player Plugger46's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    3,674
    In my time, Lockett clearly.
    Bloods

    "Lockett is the best of all time" - Robert Harvey, Darrel Baldock, Nathan Burke, Kevin Bartlett, Bob Skilton

  3. #39
    Veterans List
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Castlemaine, Vic.
    Posts
    8,177
    Lockett? Peter Caven might disagree.....besides, Plugger misses, with the brief being 'greatest ever'......which, like the Brownlow, would include the 'fairest' bit.

  4. #40
    Quote Originally Posted by stevoswan View Post
    Lockett? Peter Caven might disagree.....besides, Plugger misses, with the brief being 'greatest ever'......which, like the Brownlow, would include the 'fairest' bit.
    Except he actually did win one.

  5. #41
    Veteran Site Admin
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    16,393
    Did Lockett ever get suspended while playing for the Swans? I remember him being reported for assisting a Bomber over the fence - sometime in 1996 maybe. But that charge wasn't sustained against him. I don't remember any other tribunal woes he had in his Sydney days.

  6. #42
    In my view Lockett is definitely in the conversation about who are the greatest players to have played for the Swans, and he is also one of the greatest players ever in AFL/VFL history. But, as per my intro, I don't think he is the greatest Swan because he played most of his career and scored most of his goals for the Saints and played less than 100 games for us. Diesel Williams is in a similar situation in being a great player (perhaps not quite so great as Plugger) but with most of his career played elsewhere so not one of the greatest Swans.

  7. #43
    Paul Kelly is seriously hard done by in this thread. Club captain ( courageous) , Brownlow medallist , multiple AA and B&F winner , seriously tough and a serious player ( brave ,skilful ,hard , quick ). Went at nearly a goal a game too. Bit stiff PK, not much love on RWO for his outstanding contributions.



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  8. #44
    Swans2win graemed's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Randwick, Sydney.
    Posts
    397
    I grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Jacana and didn't really have any affiliation to the Swans until I started attending their matches in 1982. They had just moved to Sydney and the experiment to nationalise AFL had begun.

    I had been playing footy in the SFL but had just retired after knee and ankle surgeries that did not help extend my career. Over the next few years, I began to admire this team that was battling all types of difficulty; poor publicity, poor conditions, no training facilities, public apathy, lack of support from the AFL, being poor and acrimony from their supporter base in Melbourne after deserting their beloved Lake oval.

    Over the next few years, I really starting falling for them as a footy team. The whimsical genius of Warwick Capper, the football genius of Greg Williams, the grace of Mark Bayes, the kicking prowess of Mark Browning, et al.

    But for the most part I was still going out of loyalty to the code rather than as a die hard supporter of the Swans. This changed after watching lose 23 games in a row. They had a captain that was extraordinary and a team that was staring to shine, but it was their captain that changed my mind. Paul Kelly was the catalyst that altered my behavior and my attitude. I became fully invested in this team and this club.

    His courage was thoughtless, I still remember a quote from Dennis Cometti: "...he plays as if he is using somebody else's body...". One incident alone encapsulated his desire, his skill and his leadership. We were playing Essendon at home in a crucial match. We needed to get into the game and there was a contested ball on the Bill O'Reilly wing. Kelly was matched against Allessio and both had a head of steam up, the contested mark led to ground ball and Allessio tried to push both Kelly and the ball out of play, Kelly pushed back and brushed past his bigger opponent, kept the ball in play and set a game changing goal.

    I loved Lockett, he was fantastic for the sport in Sydney. I marvel at the deeds of Skilton and did see him live in a number of matches. I met Laurie Nash at the Victoria Markets and was introduced to him by my father who knew well enough to address him as "the greatest player of all time, just ask him". Yet to me the player that inspired me to be a Swan and love this club was definitely Paul Kelly. Does this make the greatest player?

    I cannot answer that beyond the fact that I came to watch him play.

  9. #45
    Quote Originally Posted by graemed View Post
    I grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Jacana and didn't really have any affiliation to the Swans until I started attending their matches in 1982. They had just moved to Sydney and the experiment to nationalise AFL had begun.

    I had been playing footy in the SFL but had just retired after knee and ankle surgeries that did not help extend my career. Over the next few years, I began to admire this team that was battling all types of difficulty; poor publicity, poor conditions, no training facilities, public apathy, lack of support from the AFL, being poor and acrimony from their supporter base in Melbourne after deserting their beloved Lake oval.

    Over the next few years, I really starting falling for them as a footy team. The whimsical genius of Warwick Capper, the football genius of Greg Williams, the grace of Mark Bayes, the kicking prowess of Mark Browning, et al.

    But for the most part I was still going out of loyalty to the code rather than as a die hard supporter of the Swans. This changed after watching lose 23 games in a row. They had a captain that was extraordinary and a team that was staring to shine, but it was their captain that changed my mind. Paul Kelly was the catalyst that altered my behavior and my attitude. I became fully invested in this team and this club.

    His courage was thoughtless, I still remember a quote from Dennis Cometti: "...he plays as if he is using somebody else's body...". One incident alone encapsulated his desire, his skill and his leadership. We were playing Essendon at home in a crucial match. We needed to get into the game and there was a contested ball on the Bill O'Reilly wing. Kelly was matched against Allessio and both had a head of steam up, the contested mark led to ground ball and Allessio tried to push both Kelly and the ball out of play, Kelly pushed back and brushed past his bigger opponent, kept the ball in play and set a game changing goal.

    I loved Lockett, he was fantastic for the sport in Sydney. I marvel at the deeds of Skilton and did see him live in a number of matches. I met Laurie Nash at the Victoria Markets and was introduced to him by my father who knew well enough to address him as "the greatest player of all time, just ask him". Yet to me the player that inspired me to be a Swan and love this club was definitely Paul Kelly. Does this make the greatest player?

    I cannot answer that beyond the fact that I came to watch him play.
    Great post Graeme.

  10. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Bloods05 View Post
    Great post Graeme.
    I second that. I have been loving the first person accounts of people watching the careers of past players. Especially those before my time. I did get to see Paul Kelly play but it was before I knew anything about football and I didn't properly appreciate his outstanding qualities.

    Love the Dennis Cometti quote too!

  11. #47
    pr. dim-melb; m not f
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Central Coast NSW, Costa Lantana
    Posts
    6,889
    Quote Originally Posted by Bloods05 View Post
    Great post Graeme.
    I third that.

    Engaging lead-in and the growth of a love for the club. And it's a bonus to read a Cometti-ism I hadn't heard before.
    He reminds him of the guys, close-set, slow, and never rattled, who were play-makers on the team. (John Updike, seeing Josh Kennedy in a crystal ball)

  12. #48
    In terms of greatest players , Lockett is a freak .

    He had a career that went 16 years (plus one more crappy comeback year ) and he averaged 4.8 goals per game in teams that were for the most part very very average. Its much harder to be a good forward in an average team than a midfielder. While skilton may have played in average teams , being on the ball meant that he was also in a position to win his own ball. Not so for lockett which I think adds to his freakishness (if such a word exists).

    He kicked 77 goals in just his second year as an 18 year old and over 100 six times and if you look at his record you will see that the only reason he pretty much didnt kick 100 in many other years was lack of games . Obviously his only downfall was his judiciary record (hence the lack of games in some years) but the consistency of his goal scoring was phenomenal.

    I never saw Skilton but his record and demeanour speak volumes for the type of player and person he is and I couldnt argue about him being the greatest swans but I also agree that Kelly was integral to lifting us out of the quagmire of the 80's.

    In more modern times , Goodes is a standout for his ability to win Brownlows from playing ruck to ruck rover . Thats pretty much unheard of and showed how versatile the guy was. Buddy is a player you just want to go to watch and his ability to influence games and do things that no one else can do is unparralleled.

    Roll on 2020 !

Page 4 of 15 FirstFirst 1234567814 ... LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Single Sign On provided by vBSSO