I thought head to head to head referred to Viney, Lynch and Georgiou.
Rioli.
If his knees were fine, he would have been able to probably trained harder, and dropped a bit more.
What vision, what disposal, what class.
I would give up the use of my favourite apendage if I could have have had his talent.
(notsurebutidthinkaboutitifofferedbyagenieinabottle)
That's why his knees were farked...the lack of dedication to training and dropping the kgs. He was his own worst enemy.
I hate to be crude, but who gives a fark?
Lloyd would have been better in the last half of his career if he didn't throw his arm out and beg for a free kick that was never coming.
Does that make him worse than Cummings?
fark, no.
Llyod reached his full potential, Rioli did not.
I am not questioning Rioli's talent. He didn't do himself any justice, he could have been one of the best ever...
Completely disagree.
Rioli played some of the best football I have ever seen.
He did himself justice. He just didn't do it for long enough.
What difference does it make why he was unable to play more than 100 games, maybe 80 of them at his peak?
If I could choose any of the four careers mentioned to happen out of the blue right now for Essendon, I'd choose the hell out Rioli's.
I tend to go with Rioli, a very rare talent.
In any case, it was nice to see this from Bruce Reid today on his induction into the hall of fame.
When l started this thread l looked at it from a different angle. l was thinking more in terms of the difference between what each player achieved / produced and what might have been. Call it an exercise in subtraction. So while Rama's loss borders on the heroic or the tragic depending on how you see his particular struggles with adversity, he also achieved more than any of the others. Rioli too also got to 100 games, so in terms of output, he almost reached the AFL career average, in terms of ability he was anything but average, he was way, way above that.
That left me with two options. When l first thought of putting this thread up a couple of years ago, l didn't even consider Lovett. His inclusion as a worthy addition here only came about over say the last 6 months. That leaves me with Cupido, a seriously good player who could have been the best small forward in the league had he stuck to it. His skills were that good. He was twice the player that Milne ever was. Pace, smarts, he had it all, he could turn games our way in a few minutes of dazzling brilliance, and he was still kicking bags of goals even after he became a fat ■■■■■■■. So in terms of talent wasted, or talent not realized Cupido for me is the winner here.
When l started this thread l looked at it from a different angle. l was thinking more in terms of the difference between what each player achieved / produced and what might have been. Call it an exercise in subtraction. So while Rama's loss borders on the heroic or the tragic depending on how you see his particular struggles with adversity, he also achieved more than any of the others. Rioli too also got to 100 games, so in terms of output, he almost reached the AFL career average, in terms of ability he was anything but average, he was way, way above that.
That left me with two options. When l first thought of putting this thread up a couple of years ago, l didn't even consider Lovett. His inclusion as a worthy addition here only came about over say the last 6 months. That leaves me with Cupido, a seriously good player who could have been the best small forward in the league had he stuck to it. His skills were that good. He was twice the player that Milne ever was. Pace, smarts, he had it all, he could turn games our way in a few minutes of dazzling brilliance, and he was still kicking bags of goals even after he became a fat ■■■■■■■. So in terms of talent wasted, or talent not realized Cupido for me is the winner here.
Yay! I picked the winner! :-p