Rank the 300-game players

[X_box_X]

62 players have the honour of being in the 300 game club.

Rank the top twenty in order. Some are obviously very difficult considering a fair chunk of those players played before the 1980s, and I'm guessing close to half of the BigFooty posters were born after then. In this case you can make your own judgement using statistics if you wish to do so.

Only rank them as a player (i.e. not as a coach).

My top 20:

1) Leigh Matthews (332 games, 915 goals for Hawthorn)
Hall of Fame Legend, Player of the Century, FP in T.O.C., Four premierships, Eight Best and Fairests

2) Ted Whitten (321 games, 360 goals for Footscray)
Hall of Fame Legend, Captain of T.O.C., Five club champion awards, Premiership player

3) Dick Reynolds (320 games, 442 goals for Essendon)
Hall of Fame Legend, Three Brownlows, Four premierships, Seven Best and Fairests, HFF in T.O.C.

4) Gordon Coventry (306 games, 1299 goals for Collingwood)
Hall of Fame Legend, Sixteen-time club leading Goal-Kicker, Second most goals all-time, Five premierships

5) Robert Harvey (383 games, 215 goals for St. Kilda)
Two Brownlows, League MVP, three EJ Whitten Medals, Eight All-Australians, Six Best and Fairest, St. Kilda T.O.C.

6) John Nicholls (328 games, 307 goals for Carlton)
Hall of Fame Legend, BP in T.O.C., Three premierships, Five Best and Fairest, All-Time Games Record Holder for Victoria (31)

7) Jack Dyer (312 games, 443 goals for Richmond)
Hall of Fame Legend, Interchange Bench in T.O.C., Two premierships, Six Best and Fairest, Richmond Immortal

8) Kevin Murray (333 games, 51 goals for Fitzroy)
Hall of Fame member, Brownlow Medal, Nine Best and Fairest, HFF in T.O.C

9) Kevin Bartlett (403 games, 778 goals for Richmond)
Hall of Fame Legend, Five premierships, Five Best and Fairest, Richmond T.O.C., Norm Smith Medalist

10) Simon Madden (378 games, 575 goals for Essendon)
Hall of Fame member, Two premierships, four Best and Fairest, Three All-Australians, Norm Smith Medalist

11) Paul Roos (356 games, 289 goals for Fitzroy and Sydney)
Hall of Fame member, Five Fitzroy Best and Fairest, Seven All-Australians (two as captain), Two EJ Whitten Medals, League MVP

12) Bruce Doull (356 games, 22 goals for Carlton)
Hall of Fame member, Four premierships, Four Best and Fairest, HBF in AFL and Carlton T.O.C., Norm Smith Medalist

13) Stephen Silvagni (312 games, 212 goals for Carlton)
Hall of Fame member, two premierships, FB in AFL T.O.C., Five All-Australians, Two Best and Fairest

14) Craig Bradley (375 games, 247 goals for Carlton)
Hall of Fame member, Carlton F.C. Legend, Seven All-Australians, Two premierships, Three Best and Fairest, Michael Tuck Medalist

15) Andrew McLeod (328 games, 266 goals for Adelaide)*
One of two current players on this list. His current career highlights include:
Two premierships, Two Norm Smith Medals, Five All-Australians (one as captain), Three Best and Fairest, League MVP, Michael Tuck Medalist

16) Mark Ricciuto (312 games, 292 goals for Adelaide)
Eight All-Australians (twice captain), Premiership Player, Three Best and Fairest, Adelaide Player of the Decade, Brownlow Medalist (four times top five)

17) Brad Johnson (349 games, 549 goals for Western Bulldogs)*
The second active player on the list. Some of his career highlights include:
Six All-Australians, Three Best and Fairest, Most Career twenty-possession + four-goal games (29), Future Premiership Player

18) Michael Tuck (426 games, 320 goals for Hawthorn)
Hall of Fame member, Most Career Games, Seven premierships, Six-Time runner-up in Best and Fairest

19) Shane Crawford (305 games, 224 goals for Hawthorn)
Four Best and Fairest, Brownlow Medalist, League MVP, Four All-Australians, Multiple World Record Holder

20)Francis Bourke (300 games, 71 goals for Richmond)
Hall of Fame member, Five premierships, Wing in AFL T.O.C., Best and Fairest (Four-Time runner-up), Richmond Immortal

Apologies to Chris Grant, Wayne Schimmelbusch, Glenn Archer, Scott West, Len Thompson.

 

[Riggy1]

can you put all 62 up, so we know who else we can put in our list

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Leigh Matthews : Premierships as a player in '71, '76, '78 and '83 = 4.

 

[X_box_X]

Leigh Matthews : Premierships as a player in '71, '76, '78 and '83 = 4.

Will edit

List can be found here:
stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/alltime/highs.html

 

[invinciBlues]

can you put all 62 up, so we know who else we can put in our list

Full list

 

[Full Wingspan]

17) Brad Johnson (349 games, 549 goals for Western Bulldogs)*
The second active player on the list. Some of his career highlights include:
Six All-Australians, Three Best and Fairest, Most Career twenty-possession + four-goal games (29), Future Premiership Player

I don't think so matey

 

[Bartram_Class]

Pretty illustrious list of names.

 

[tribey]

14) Craig Bradley (375 games, 247 goals for Carlton)
Hall of Fame member, Carlton F.C. Legend, Seven All-Australians, Two premierships, Three Best and Fairest, Michael Tuck Medalist.

If you're counting things like games for Victoria and EJ Whitten Medals then add four Fos Williams Medals (B.O.G. for SA), 19 SA appearances for Bradley.

Irrelevant to a thread about VFL/AFL 300 gamers, but also worth noting that in his pre-Carlton Port Adelaide career he won Three Best and Fairests, a Premiership and made the PAFC Greatest Team (1870-2000) in just 97 games.

 

[X_box_X]

That is certainly not an easy effort. Looking at some of the players I left out, I'm gonna cop plenty of criticism. You're not gonna find a dud who played 300 games, so it is expected that everyone will have their personal favourites.

But when you make lists like these, you are meant to welcome criticism.

It's a much harder task when I have only seen less than 25% of players in that list play.

 

[X_box_X]

If you're counting things like games for Victoria and EJ Whitten Medals then add four Fos Williams Medals (B.O.G. for SA), 19 SA appearances for Bradley.

Irrelevant to a thread about VFL/AFL 300 gamers, but also worth noting that in his pre-Carlton Port Adelaide career he won Three Best and Fairests, a Premiership and made the PAFC Greatest Team (1870-2000) in just 97 games.

Absolutely nothing wrong with adding that. I didn't want to add every single achievement, but really you can only make the list based purely on AFL/VFL games. Otherwise I'm sure the likes of Peter Hudson and Blight would have been included.

 

[invinciBlues]

If you're counting things like games for Victoria and EJ Whitten Medals then add four Fos Williams Medals (B.O.G. for SA), 19 SA appearances for Bradley.

Irrelevant to a thread about VFL/AFL 300 gamers, but also worth noting that in his pre-Carlton Port Adelaide career he won Three Best and Fairests, a Premiership and made the PAFC Greatest Team (1870-2000) in just 97 games.

Plus he played cricket at state level, and he's clocked over 500 senior footy games all up

I was disappointed that he wasn't given the opportunity to join the 400 club. He's certainly earnt his right to be in there, and his footy was still top class even in his twilight years. A damn shame in my opinion.

 

[Full Wingspan]

Great job btw...

 

[dickballsack]

great list!! i'm going through the full list of names thinking 'he should be in there' then looking at your top 20 and thinking ' who do i take out?'........... so i'm not touching it. well done!

 

[BigBadCam]

Sam Newman will be after you.

 

[Zagg]

Harvey only won 4 B&Fs for us (Riewoldt overtook him with 5 this year)

 

[Bosk]

17) Brad Johnson (349 games, 549 goals for Western Bulldogs)*
The second active player on the list. Some of his career highlights include:
Six All-Australians, Three Best and Fairest, Most Career twenty-possession + four-goal games (29), Future Premiership Player

Nice one there, Nostradumus.

Oh, and Michael Tuck is ranked too low on your list.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

That is certainly not an easy effort. Looking at some of the players I left out, I'm gonna cop plenty of criticism. You're not gonna find a dud who played 300 games, so it is expected that everyone will have their personal favourites.

Duds maybe not - but there are a few that are good honest players, nought more and nought less; not exactly elite.

 

[Tulip]

Neitz is a bit stiff, broke pretty much all the clubs record (in their 150 year history) that matter

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Neitz is a bit stiff, broke pretty much all the clubs record (in their 150 year history) that matter

TBH, that says something about your club more than Neitz's quality.

Just a battler for mine.

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Harvey too high. Tuck too low.

 

[Trav 20]

TBH, that says something about your club more than Neitz's quality.

Just a battler for mine.

It says that our best players were in the semi-professional era and that we've been crap in the modern era.

Neitz isn't a champion of the game, but he is a champion of the MFC. And certainly no "battler". Not a superstar, but far from a "battler".

 

[Trav 20]

Harvey too high. Tuck too low.

You're either a little too young or a little too biased. Tuck's longevity is incredible, but he wasn't quite in the upper echelon of the players I've seen. In fact I'd say he's become slightly overrated due to his durability.

Nicholls is too high, as is Bulldog Murray. I'd have Bartlett, Bourke and Madden higher. Doull should be ahead of Roos. I wouldn't have Crawford in the top 20 as there's no way he was as good as Tim Watson or Schimma.

It's tough, subjective and opinion based. Good effort from the OP.

 

[Wally Carter]

I will have a crack, but I will only nominate players I have seen play.



1) Matthews - Best player I have ever seen.

2) Bartlett - Champion that maintained the highest standard for longer than any other player.

3) Greig - Yeah, I know the list states 294 games, but he retired as a 300 game player before the AFL wrongfully deleted his 6 Victorian appearances. Superstar, wingman in the TOTC, and the most skillful player I have ever seen. Chris Judd looks like a clumsy oaf by comparison.

4) Doull - Best HBF I have ever seen.

5) Madden - Best Ruckman I have ever seen.

6) Harvey - Possession winning machine that maintained a standard of excellence right up until retirement.

7) Bourke - Tough, Courageous, Skillful. Second best HBF I have ever seen.

8) Schimmelbusch - Ultra consistent and severely underrated. Rated by Barrassi as one of the best 20 footballers he has seen.

9) Dempsey - The second best ruckman I have seen, and the best defensive ruckman I have seen. A marking machine that accumulated 246 career Brownlow votes.

10) Silvagni - The best full back of his generation.

11) Tuck - Courageous leader and the most resilient player I have seen.

12) Rantall - Rarely beaten and very underrated. Has the scalp of the great Leigh Matthews among many. Would be a monty for the first HBF spot in a second AFL team of the century.

13) Murray - The very definition of determination.

14) Thompson - Polly Farmer may have pioneered mobile ruck play, but Thompson seared it in to the football psyche after Farmer went back West.

15) Chris Grant - The second best CHF/CHB in an era when the greatest CHF played.

16) Riccuito

17) Neitz

18) Bradley

19) Wanganeen

20) McLeod

 

[Z_K]

If you're counting things like games for Victoria and EJ Whitten Medals then add four Fos Williams Medals (B.O.G. for SA), 19 SA appearances for Bradley.

Irrelevant to a thread about VFL/AFL 300 gamers, but also worth noting that in his pre-Carlton Port Adelaide career he won Three Best and Fairests, a Premiership and made the PAFC Greatest Team (1870-2000) in just 97 games.

And he did it all without testicles or a heart, which, IMO, makes it one of the great sporting careers in history.

 

[Wally Carter]

And he did it all without testicles or a heart, which, IMO, makes it one of the great sporting careers in history.

Aint that true!

Bradley was the template of the modern footballer.