All Time Fantasy Draft: Eras

[bomberboy0618]

Oss c4 already picked Smith.

[ossie85]

Oss c4 already picked Smith.

Gargh!! I'm so blind at this game

[ossie85]

Jack Sheedy



John Cameron "Jack" Sheedy (born 28 September 1926) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for East Fremantle and East Perth in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL) and South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Sheedy is considered one of the greatest ever footballers from Western Australia, and is a member of both the Australian and West Australian Football Halls of Fame. Overall, he played 360 senior football matches from 1946 to 1962, kicking 528 goals, and coached 272 games, with a winning percentage of 65%

East Fremantle captain 1949â€"50; 1952; 1955
East Fremantle best and fairest 1943, 1948, 1953, 1955
East Fremantle premiership side 1943, 1946
Sydney Naval premiership side 1944
WANFL representative team 1946â€"51, 1953, 1955â€"57
East Perth captain 1956â€"61
East Perth premiership side 1956, 1959
East Perth premiership coach 1956, 1959
WANFL representative coach 1960â€"63
East Fremantle life member
East Perth life member[
East Fremantle Team of the Century
East Perth Team of the Century (post-WW2)
Fremantle Football Hall of Legends inductee 1995
Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee 2001
West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee 2004
West Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend 2005
East Perth Hall of Fame inductee 2010


B: - - -
HB: Jock McHale, Ron Clegg, Wels Eicke
C: Colin Watson - Jack Sheedy
HF: - Dick Lee -
F: - Bob Pratt, Des Fothergil
Foll: Roy Cazaly - Harry Collier
Inter: - - - -

[Boomz]

c4 skipped... Wasn't going to enforce the "time is halved if you have been on" rule but he was skipped last pick and has been on a few times today...

[c4v3m4n]

c4 skipped... Wasn't going to enforce the "time is halved if you have been on" rule but he was skipped last pick and has been on a few times today...

Egh, this is the first time I've been on today...   ???  :-\

Anyway, I choose the legendary Stan Heal.  ;D

Kinda busy, so the write-ups will have to wait...

c4v3m4n's Titans

FB: Bernie Smith, Vic Thorp, Syd Coventry
HB: __________, __________, __________
C: Vic Cumberland, __________, Stan Heal
HF: __________, Albert Thurgood, __________
FF: Jack Titus, __________, Horrie Gorringe
R: __________, Jack Dyer, ___________
INT: Jack Mueller, __________, __________, __________

[Boomz]

Someone else must be going on then :-X  Nice pick though :P

[BratPack]

Well I'm going throw up a curveball. Just like they did back in the day





George "Specka" Moloney

Whereas in modern football versatility on the part of players is regarded almost as a pre-requisite, in days gone by it was very much the exception rather than the rule.  The idiosyncrasies of each playing position were felt to be so distinctive and unique that the overwhelming majority of players tended to be specialists, concentrating on mastering a single position.  A major reason for this was that, to a coach like Jock McHale or Jack Worrall, football tended to be perceived in terms of a multiplicity of individual contests - full back versus full forward, wingman versus wingman, and so forth - with the concomitant desirability of players remaining in position in order to facilitate such contests.  In the eyes of Jock McHale, players who wandered out of position were committing football's cardinal sin - and given that the game at the time was centered on kicking, with handball being predominantly (although not exclusively) used defensively, such a view made eminent sense. In this context, mastery by a single player of more than one position required immeasurably more versatility than would be the case nowadays.  In a real sense, a full forward and a centreman were playing different games, and while the same player might make a decent stab at playing both positions, it was rare indeed to find an individual capable of mastering both, of being both a champion full forward and a champion centreman.
One such individual was George 'Specka' Moloney who, two games from the end of the 1927 season, made his WAFL debut with Claremont-Cottesloe, which was playing in only its second league season.  In return for this privilege, Moloney had to pay 10 shillings club membership, make his own way to the ground on public transport, and pay an admission fee at the turnstiles.  His match fee?  Nothing more nor less than the warm glow of inner satisfaction gleaned from participating in top level football, coupled with multifarious bumps, bruises and cuts courtesy of the opposition.
Given such incentives, what could George Moloney possibly do but come back for more?  The following week, in a sign of things to come, he was best afield, thereby securing a place in the team for 1928, and the longer that 1928 season went on, the clearer it became that Claremont-Cottesloe had unearthed a future champion.  Playing mainly at full forward, he was quick, elusive, strong overhead (despite being only 174cm in height), and a deadly kick for goal, whether from a set shot, or in open play, with some of his snap shots being of the jaw-droppingly spectacular kind.  Moloney topped the club's goal kicking list in 1928 with 56 goals, and the following season saw him lift his performance level still further.  On 10 August 1929 he made his interstate debut for Western Australia at Perth Oval and booted 3 goals in a 5 point win over South Australia.  He went on to top Claremont-Cottesloe's goal kicking once more, this time with 61 goals, and the following year did better still, booting 78 goals for his club, and starring, with 19 goals in 5 games, for Western Australia at the Adelaide carnival. 
Moloney's prowess in Adelaide did not go unnoticed as he was approached by officials from Geelong, who wanted him to transfer to their club in 1931.  Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, a clearance was granted with a minimum of fuss, and in the opening two rounds of the 1931 season George Moloney took the VFL by storm with bags of 7 and 12 goals against Collingwood and St Kilda respectively.  He went on to tally 74 goals for the season, topping the Cats' list, but more importantly, after just over three years at under-achieving Claremont-Cottesloe, he got to play in a premiership side as Geelong beat Richmond in the grand final by 20 points.
Geelong missed the finals in 1932, but Moloney enjoyed a spectacular year, winning his club's best and fairest award and finishing as top goal kicker in the VFL with 109 goals.  He thereby became the first Geelong player to 'top the ton'.
Moloney was an important player for Geelong in 88 games over five seasons.  During his last VFL year, coach Percy Parratt, whether on a hunch or because he had spotted something significant in Moloney's style of play, ventured the apparently audacious experiment of playing him as a centreman, where he proved a revelation. Returning home to Claremont (see footnote 1) in 1936, he continued in the centre with devastating effect, winning both the Sandover Medal and club fairest and best award.  Moreover, Claremont enjoyed easily their best league season to date, not only qualifying for the finals for the first time, but actually making it to the grand final before losing narrowly to East Perth.
George Moloney carried on at Claremont until 1945 (with a break for the war from 1942-4), reverting to his former position of full forward in 1939, and kicking more than a century of goals in 1940-41.  He was a key player, and captain, in Claremont's ground-breaking premiership wins of 1938-39-40.  All told, he played a total of 190 WA(N)FL games, some of them alongside brothers Robert (103 games 1930-36) and Syd (145 games 1934-41).
Arguably the greatest name in the history of the Claremont Football Club, and certainly one of the most uniquely versatile champions ever to have adorned the game, George 'Specka' Moloney rounded off his association with the Tigers by coaching them, sadly without success, from 1948 to 1951. 

Career highlights

   
• Claremont 1927-1930, 1936â€"1941, 1945 (190 games, 647 goals)
• Geelong 1931-1935 (88 games, 303 goals)
• Sandover Medallist 1936
• Leading goalkicker, Western Australia 1940 (113 goals)
• Leading goalkicker, VFL 1932 (109 goals)
• Runner up Brownlow Medal 1932
• Claremont Premiership Captain 1938, 1939, 1940
• Claremont coach 1943-1945, 1948â€"1951
• Geelong Premiership player 1931
• Western Australia representative 11 matches
• Victorian representative 1 match
• Western Australia Coach 1958, 1959

FB: __________, Peter Burns, __________
HB: __________, Tom Fitzmaurice, Walter Scott
C: Bill Hutchinson, _________, Wilfred "Chicken" Smallhorn
HF: __________, _________, George "Specka" Moloney
FF: William "Nipper" Truscott , __________, Jack Moriarty
R: Merv McIntosh, __________, John D. Daly
INT: __________, __________, __________, __________

[Boomz]

Hardly a curveball :P Was going to take him in both the last 2 eras but always changed my mind :-X

[c4v3m4n]

Should BP pick again to kick the next decade off?  :)

[Boomz]

Should BP pick again to kick the next decade off?  :)

Suppose he can but Sid will pick any minute now anyway  :)

[BratPack]

Okay I'll move it right along then. This is probably the toughest era to pick....so many great stars.....so many I KNOW aren't coming back to me. I've thought about this pick a lot but in the end I would never forgive myself if I left this guy on the board knowing I had the first pick...





Graham "Polly" Farmer

The dictionary definition of a 'legend' when applied to an individual human being is "a person having a special place in public esteem because of striking qualities or deeds".  Such a definition arguably applies to very few exponents of any sport (and certainly not to every one of the eighteen individuals so aggrandised by the AFL) but if any player in history is worthy of the accolade it is Western Australia's Graham 'Polly' Farmer. There have been more highly decorated individuals in the history of the game and arguably more gifted all round performers (though not too many of them) but in terms of impact, style and influence one is hard pressed to think of anyone to equal the East Perth, Geelong and West Perth great. As a ruckman during the 1950s and 1960s Farmer was unexcelled, with not even compatriot Jack Clarke or Victorian superstar John Nicholls being capable of living with him when he was fit and focused.  Moreover, with his innovative and incomparably effective use of handball - often over prodigious distances - Farmer almost single-handedly revolutionised the sport.  When you superimpose over all of this a resolute, almost regal demeanour and an unremitting dedication to succeed - albeit without any of the egocentricity all too often associated with such traits - then Farmer's right to be considered a bona fide legend of the game becomes irresistible.
He made his league debut with East Perth in 1953 but it was twelve months before he settled down to become a regular.  By 1955 he was recognised as one of the most effective knock ruckmen in Western Australia, earning state selection for the first time, and running second to South Fremantle's John Todd in the Sandover Medal voting.  At the end of the year he signed for Richmond, and actually crossed to Victoria in order to prepare for the 1956 season with the Tigers.  However, East Perth refused to clear him, and he was forced to return home. 
Graham Farmer's 1956 season was the stuff of legend.  While representing Western Australia at the Perth carnival he won both the Simpson Medal as his state's best in the win over South Australia, and the Tassie Medal as the top player of the series.  Needless to say, All Australian selection also followed.  Later in the year, he won the first of three Sandover Medals (one of which was awarded retrospectively), and helped the Royals to a grand final victory over South Fremantle.  In nine seasons with East Perth Farmer would win the club's fairest and best award no fewer than seven times, besides enjoying premiership success on three occasions.  He won further Simpson Medals while representing Western Australia against the VFL at the 1958 Melbourne carnival, and after East Perth's 1959 grand final defeat of Subiaco.  He continued to represent Western Australia regularly, securing All Australian selection in both 1958 and 1961.  At the 1961 Brisbane carnival he helped his state to an unexpected but wholly meritorious series win.
When Graham Farmer's contract with East Perth expired at the end of the 1961 season he advised the club that he would be moving to Victoria to play with Geelong.  The Royals agreed, on condition that the Cats pay them the then unprecedented fee of £2,000 ($4,000) in order to procure his services.  After witnessing Farmer's stellar form in the club's five pre-season matches, the Geelong hierarchy had no hesitation in agreeing to East Perth's terms.
Farmer's six season stint with Geelong was not all plain sailing, but there were nevertheless numerous highlights, including participation in a premiership team in 1963, representing the VFL, winning two consecutive club best and fairest awards, and captaining the Cats for three seasons.  With plenty of football still left in his legs he returned to Western Australia at the end of a 1967 season that had seen Geelong narrowly lose the grand final against Richmond.  To many people's surprise, however, he did not resume with his former club, East Perth, but accepted the job of playing coach at arch-rivals West Perth.  In four seasons with the Cardinals he oversaw two premierships - both secured with grand final victories over his former club - and added a club fairest and best award in 1969 to boot.  When he retired at the end of the 1971 season, the WANFL organised an eight club interstate 'premiers carnival' (reviewed here) to commemorate and celebrate his playing career.
That playing career saw Farmer play a total 356 club games -176 with East Perth, 101 for Geelong, and 79 for West Perth.  In the interstate arena he played 31 times for Western Australia, including games at four interstate carnival series, and 5 times for the VFL.  While representing his home state at the 1969 Adelaide carnival he won his fourth Simpson Medal.
Graham Farmer's coaching career was less auspicious, but still had its noteworthy moments.  Besides leading West Perth to the 1969 and 1971 WANFL premierships, in October 1977 he was at the helm of Western Australia's team for the first ever state of origin match, in which the sandgropers trounced Victoria 23.13 (151) to 8.9 (57) at Subiaco.  From 1973 to 1975 he coached Geelong with scant success, and although he managed to get East Perth into the finals in both of his seasons (1976-7) in charge he was unable to deliver the premiership the club's fans craved.  Such comparative failures are of scant account, however, when viewed in the context of a two decade playing career that made Graham 'Polly' Farmer, in the view of many, the greatest individual exponent of the sport of Australian football ever known.

Team(s) East Perth (1953â€"1961)
176 games, 157 goals
Geelong (1962â€"1967)
101 games, 65 goals
West Perth (1968â€"1971)
79 games
Coaching career¹ Team(s) West Perth Football Club (1968â€"1971)
Geelong Football Club (1973â€"1975)
East Perth Football Club (1976â€"1977)
¹ Statistics to end of 2005 season Career highlights Career Honours

   
• Australian Football Hall of Fame: Legend (inducted 1996)

Teams of the Century (all as first ruckman)

   
• AFL Team of the Century
• Western Australian Team of the Century (as vice-captain)
• Indigenous Team of the Century (as captain)
• East Perth Football Club Post-War
• Geelong Football Club
• West Perth Football Club

Premierships

   
• East Perth: 1956, 1958, 1959
• Geelong: 1963
• West Perth: 1969, 1971

League Best and Fairests

   
• Sandover Medal 1956, 1957 (ret.), 1960

Club Best and Fairests

   
• East Perth: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961
• Geelong 1963, 1964
• West Perth Football Club: 1969

Simpson Medal 1956, 1959, 1961, 1969 Miscellany

   
• Represented Australia in "The Galahs" Tour 1968

FB: __________, Peter Burns, __________
HB: __________, Tom Fitzmaurice, Walter Scott
C: Bill Hutchinson, , Wilfred "Chicken" Smallhorn
HF: __________, _________, George "Specka" Moloney
FF: William "Nipper" Truscott , __________, Jack Moriarty
R: Graham "Polly" Farmer, __________, John D. Daly
INT: Merv McIntosh, __________, __________, __________

[AFEV]

I was one of the people considering Moloney as well. BP took him so it's a 3 horse-race now. I think I'll go with...


Steve Marsh.
The finest rover in WA throughout the 50s, Marsh achieved everything a man could in football.

• State Captain (19 appearances)
• 6 time Premiership player (all of which were won in a 7 year period)
• 4 time Best and Fairest winner (Equal record for the club)
• Sandover Medallist
• Simpson Medallist
• AFL Hall of Fame member
• WAFL Hall of Fame member (Legend status)
• All Australian selection 1953
• Member of the Western Australian Institute of Sport Hall of Champions

Marsh possessed all of the qualities traditionally associated with good rovers in that he was quick, especially over that vital first 2 or 3 metres, elusive, extremely determined, courageous and highly skilled, with his impeccable drop kicking to position being especially noteworthy.  He was also an excellent motivator, capable of inspiring his team mates to give of their best.

Capable of performing well in a pocket or as a rover, Marsh is an exceptional addition to my squad 8)


FB: Reg Hickey, _______, Tom Mackenzie
HB: _______, Albert Collier, Jack Hamilton
C: Charlie Pannam, _______, _______
HF: _______, Laurie Nash, _______
FF: _______, John Coleman, _______
FOLL: _______, Steve Marsh, Dick Reynolds

I/C: Harold Oliver, _______, _______, _______

Looks like I have my first bench player as well, but my 'Mr. Fixit' would have been jumping all around the ground anyway.

[c4v3m4n]

Very understandable BP. I was certainly going to pick Polly if you didn't.

But will him gone, there was only one other player I had in mind.

The one, the only....Mr. Football.

Ted "EJ" Whitten.



E. J. 'Ted' Whitten played a then-record 321 VFL games for Footscray between 1951 and 1970. With superb all-round skills (including the extraordinary talent of being able to kick efficiently with both his left and right foot), he was able to play out of any position on the field (but preferred either centre-half forward or centre-half back).

During his career he:

• Kicked 360 goals
• Captain-coached his team for 14 seasons
• Was club champion 5 times (1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961)
• Was the club's leading goalkicker 4 times (1961, 1962, 1964, 1968)
  
• Was a member of the Bulldogs' only premiership in 1954
• Polled 112 Brownlow votes in his career but didn't win one (was voted one of the 'greatest player not to win a Brownlow')
  
• Represented Victoria 29 times

A true 'legend' of the game.

c4v3m4n's Titans

FB: Bernie Smith, Vic Thorp, Syd Coventry
HB: __________, Ted Whitten, __________
C: Vic Cumberland, __________, Stan Heal
HF: __________, Albert Thurgood, __________
FF: Jack Titus, __________, Horrie Gorringe
R: __________, Jack Dyer, ___________
INT: Jack Mueller, __________, __________, __________

[ossie85]

Ron Barassi jnr



Barassi unintentionally changed the game without taking to the field. After his father's death at Tobruk in 1941, a group of players and officials at the Melbourne Football Club pledged to support his widow, Elza, and her young son. As a teenager, Barassi was determined to follow in his father's footsteps at the Demons, but the zoning system of the day required him to play for either Collingwood or Carlton.

To ensure he played with the Demons, Melbourne went to the VFL and successfully lobbied for the creation of a Father-Son Rule. When the time came for Barassi to be signed up, Melbourne picked him up from Preston Scouts in 1952 and he became only the second player signed under the new rule. This rule, with some modifications and adapted to the drafting system created in 1986, endures to the present day in the AFL.

The club had gone to great lengths to recruit the young Barassi, and coach Norm Smith took him under his wing after his mother moved to Tasmania. Smith offered the sixteen year-old use of his backyard bungalow. Looking back on the experience, Barassi believes that living with the man who was voted as the coach of the AFL's team of the century had a profound impact on his development. On his website, Barassi had this to say: “Norm Smith loved his footy. That suited me fine. “His ability with young people, his strength of character, his ethics and values, came into my life at the right time.”

Melbourne Football Club was the dominant team of the 1950s. Under the coaching of Norm Smith Barassi developed quickly. Barassi's first game was against Footscray in 1953 in which he was 'flattened' by Footscray's Charlie Sutton. Initially unsure as to Barassi's best position, Smith played him as a second ruckman in 1954, despite his lack of inches for the position. Barassi played more as a second rover, and the term "ruck rover" entered the football lexicon. Within a few years, most teams imitated this structure which ultimately paved the way for a new-style of quicker on-ball play.

Barassi soon proved himself as an influential footballer, and was quickly handed leadership responsibilities. In 1957 he was appointed vice-captain, and as captain three years later. After losing the 1954 Grand Final to a more experienced Footscray football team, the Demons dominated the VFL by winning flags in 1955-56-57 with a team hailed as the best to play the game. The image of Barassi breaking a tackle in the 1957 Grand Final is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport

Career highlights
Melbourne premiership player 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959
Melbourne premiership captain 1960, 1964
Melbourne leading goalkicker 1958 (eq), 1959
Melbourne Captain 1960â€"1964
Melbourne Best and Fairest 1961, 1964
All Australian 1956, 1958, 1961
Playing coach, "The Galahs" 1968
Carlton premiership coach 1968, 1970
North Melbourne premiership coach 1975, 1977
Australian Football Hall of Fame
Sport Australia Hall of Fame (2006)
VFL/AFL Italian Team of the Century (coach) 2007


B: - - -
HB: Jock McHale, Ron Clegg, Wels Eicke
C: Colin Watson - Jack Sheedy
HF: - Dick Lee -
F: - Bob Pratt, Des Fothergil
Foll: Roy Cazaly, Ron Barrasi jnr, Harry Collier
Inter: - - - -

[DazBurg]

well for my pick

Bob Skilton

He is one of only four players to have won the Brownlow Medal three times; in 1959 (when he tied with Verdun Howell), and in 1963 and 1968.

He was rated by Jack Dyer as better than Haydn Bunton, Sr and equal to Dick Reynolds, making him one of the best players in the history of the game.

Skilton made his senior debut at the age of 17 in round five, 1956 and went on to play 237 matches for the 'Bloods' before he retired in 1971, at the time a club record. He scored 412 goals in that time and was the club's leading goalkicker on three occasions. Nicknamed 'Chimp', he showed great grit and determination and became well known for giving maximum effort at all times.

Only 171 cm tall, Skilton was particularly fast and a superb baulker, allowing him to avoid opponents when necessary. He was never shy of attacking the ball, however, and in his 16 year career suffered many injuries, including concussion, a broken nose four times, a broken wrist three times and 12 black eyes.

It was his appearance on the front page of The Sun News-Pictorial in 1968 with two black eyes that earned him the Douglas Wilkie Medal. The black eyes were a consequence of a severe facial injury, which included depressed fractures of his cheekbones, due to collisions in successive weeks from Footscray's Ken Greenwood, his own teammate John Rantall and then Len Thompson.[1]

An extended series of graphic photographs displaying the true extent of Skilton's injury used to be on display at the team's rooms at the Lake Oval, prior to its move to Sydney (it is not on display in Sydney and it is commonly understood that it was first removed from display at the Lake Oval as part of the effort to get Tuddenham to coach South Melbourne in 1978).

He missed the entire 1969 VFL season after snapping an Achilles tendon in a pre-season practice match against SANFL club Port Adelaide.

One of his greatest assets was the ability to kick with both feet, a skill learned at the insistence of his father Bob Skilton senior, a track and field athlete, and developed by spending hours kicking the ball against a wall, collecting it on the rebound and kicking again with the other foot. It was impossible to say whether he was right or left footed, since his left foot gave greater accuracy, but his right greater distance. He had arguably the most accurate stab kick in the game. The stab kick has now all but disappeared.

Chosen to represent his state in 25 games, Skilton captained the Victorian team in 1963 and 1965. The downside of his career was the lack of success of his club. He often said that he would trade any of his three Brownlow Medals for a Premiership or even the chance to play in a Grand Final, and felt the highest point of his career was the one occasion South Melbourne made the finals in 1970 (under the great Norm Smith), finishing fourth after losing the first semi-final against St Kilda.

After 16 years at South Melbourne, including two years as playing coach in 1965â€"1966 and 9 club best and fairest awards, Skilton then played for his boyhood team, Port Melbourne in the VFA and later coached Melbourne from 1974â€"1977, with a best finish of sixth. Since then, Skilton has been honoured by being named captain of the Swans' team of the century, and named in the AFL team of the century. He was also the player featured inside the cover of the booklets of stamps featuring the Swans released by Australia Post to commemorate the centenary of the VFL/AFL

Career highlights

    Nine times club champion
    Brownlow Medallist 1959 (tied with Verdun Howell), 1963 and 1968
    Victorian state representative 25 times