Who is the greatest Swan ever?
Depending on how you interpret the question, others in the conversation, apart from Lockett and Franklin, are Bob Pratt and Laurie Nash. They are superstars from another era who we have been lucky enough to have play for us. Lockett, the greatest goalkicker of all time, and Buddy the greatest goalkicker since Lockett will, I imagine, be well known to all of us. Pratt and Nash maybe a little less so. I don't wish to school RWOers who know much more about this than me, but for those who are unfamiliar with them Bob Pratt and Laurie Nash were both incredible players whose careers were cut short by World War II.
Bob Pratt is in the conversation for greatest full forward of all time. He kicked the most goals in a season of anyone ever (now equal with Peter Hudson who repeated the feat in a higher scoring era). He kicked many huge bags of goals. He was famed for his high leaping and spectacular marking. He played in our last premiership before 2005, in 1933. He is a Swans and AFL 'Legend' - super exalted status conferred also on Skilton and Lockett and which I daresay will one day be given to Franklin and, hopefully, also Goodes. Here's a link to his wikipedia entry:
Bob Pratt - Wikipedia.
Laurie Nash was a brilliant centre half back who also played Test cricket. He also played in our 1933 premiership (and was best afield) and later captained the team. In fact he seems to have been extraordinary in just about everything he did (in sport - he was a much less distinguished policeman for a time). Roy Cazaly, who coached Nash, apparently considered Nash to be the greatest footballer ever (including Pratt), although I'm not sure when he said this. However, Nash played only 99 games (coincidentally about the same number as Lockett and Cazaly) and so his contribution must be regarded as less than that of Skilton or Goodes in my book. He was also our leading goalkicker in 1937 and again in 1945 so who knows the career he might have had but for WWII. Here's a link to his wikipedia entry:
Laurie Nash - Wikipedia.
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