It does indeed go on. Remember how we used to torture Freo's star small forwards?Its a pretty good side to keep out Andrew Welsh.. Dean Solomon was pretty handy in his day too. We were spoilt.I reckon Sheedy's era produced the best small backs/half backs of just about any team, ever. ODonnell, Hardwick, MJ, Solly, Wanga, Harves, Bomba - list goes on.Grenvold was pretty damn solid, too.
ODonnell, Hardwick, MJ, Solly, Wanga, Harves, Bomba…
McVeigh, Grenvold, Chris Daniher, Welsh.
Tons of 'em.
Ryder played more than one great season. I think his potential may have caused us to judge him harshly (I know I did) as he could dominate matches and win them on his own. This would be my order of rucks 1) Salmon 2) Ryder 3) Hille 4) Alessio 5) Somerville 6) Barnes 7) Nicnat 88) Ambrose 
You've got Salmon in on the basis of three seasons. Dean is not only one of the best Essendon players I've ever seen, he's one of the best players I've ever seen.I do.Are you dropping Bewick, Hird or Mercuri for Rioli?
We just haven’t had that many good big men.
I’m probably moving Bewick to the wing.
You've got Salmon in on the basis of three seasons. Dean is not only one of the best Essendon players I've ever seen, he's one of the best players I've ever seen.Walks into that side.
limps you mean
here’s a tidbit - 1992 Brownlow leading votegetter for us was Derek Kickett with 13. Next was actually Gavin Wangeneen with 11 - all polled from round 12 onwards.
Then obviously 1993 Gavin won with 18 votes with the next best Essendon player only polling 6 votes!
Ryder played more than one great season. I think his potential may have caused us to judge him harshly (I know I did) as he could dominate matches and win them on his own. This would be my order of rucks 1) Salmon 2) Ryder 3) Hille 4) Alessio 5) Somerville 6) Barnes 7) Nicnat 88) Ambrose :)I agree that Salmon is probably up there, overall. But he (like Ses) barely played #1 ruck with us, at least not until he came back.
Ses you couldn’t pick on either basis, he didn’t play #1 ruck very much and he wasn’t all that flash when he did - 20 or more hitouts a whole 7 times in his career. A competent player, but the perfect example of a very good side covering a number of sins. Well down the list.
For mine you either pick Salmon first ruck despite not playing first ruck, or Hille. Hille was a good player, and led the ruck for a long long time, and did a manful job. Ryder after that.
Harvs was a bustling winger wasn't he?.. i'm confused.
No.
And yes you are confused.
Harvs was a fearless forward flanker, who was too fearless, and hence ended up injured a lot (he was our leading goal kicker in 85). He went behind the ball in 93 to play as an undersized CHB and was all-Australian. (He also won the Crichton in 92, I assume that was at CHB, but the memory of a non premiership year is a little hazy)
And bustling…no, that is so not the correct work for Mark Harvey!!
And bustling....no, that is so not the correct work for Mark Harvey!!
Smooth but hard at it.
Bustling implies, to me, bulk and changes of direction – Harvey was slight and just ran straight at the ball and the man.
Can't T.Watson be technically counted here?No. Needs 100 games from 1990.
You could have a really good argument about Hille vs Ryder.
Hille was a servicable Ruckman for a long time. Then had 2 years where he should have been All Australian. He was elite at nullifying the opposition Ruckman. He was also pretty handy up forward. Ended up breaking down with injury late his career.
Ryder was shuffled around every position on the ground before becoming a Ruckman. His tap work was Elite. He didn’t get a lot of the ball around the ground, but was very handy when he had the ball in his hands.
If you’re going on pure talent, Ryder is ahead.
But Hille was a magnificent Essendon man. Played with heart and sole. And always smashed Cox when we played West Coast.
You've got Salmon in on the basis of three seasons. Dean is not only one of the best Essendon players I've ever seen, he's one of the best players I've ever seen.Walks into that side.
Well you wouldn’t want him running, he’d ping a damn hamstring again.
Harvs was a bustling winger wasn't he?.. i'm confused.
I thought he was a baby faced half forward
B: Wanganeen Hooker Fletcher
HB: Solomon Wellman Hardwick
C: M Long, J Watson, Lovett
HF: Hird Lucas Caracella
F: Salmon, Lloyd, Bewick
R: Ryder, J johnson Mercuri
I: M Johnson, Dyson Heppell, Dean Rioli, M Hurley
Coach: Kevin Sheedy
Harvs was a bustling winger wasn't he?.. i'm confused.I thought he was a baby faced half forward
I used the wrong word with bustling, maybe tough… I wasn’t serious when calling him a wingman. His last game coming off the wing was entertaining though.
B: Wanganeen Hooker Fletcher HB: Solomon Wellman Hardwick C: M Long, J Watson, Lovett HF: Hird Lucas Caracella F: Salmon, Lloyd, Bewick R: Ryder, J johnson Mercuri I: M Johnson, Dyson Heppell, Dean Rioli, M Hurley Coach: Kevin Sheedy
I don’t hate that. You’d want to hope Ryder doesn’t turn an ankle though.
You could have a really good argument about Hille vs Ryder.Hille was a servicable Ruckman for a long time. Then had 2 years where he should have been All Australian. He was elite at nullifying the opposition Ruckman. He was also pretty handy up forward. Ended up breaking down with injury late his career.
Ryder was shuffled around every position on the ground before becoming a Ruckman. His tap work was Elite. He didn’t get a lot of the ball around the ground, but was very handy when he had the ball in his hands.
If you’re going on pure talent, Ryder is ahead.
But Hille was a magnificent Essendon man. Played with heart and sole. And always smashed Cox when we played West Coast.
Ryder’s coming of age, as I remember it, was ANZAC day 2009 where Dempsey kicked it a few metres over Hille’s head, who was 25 metres in the clear, Hille jumped futilely, did his knee and Ryder stepped up and won the ANZAC medal. Now he’s just another ■■■■■■■■ from Port Adelaide. Funny how things turn out.
You could have a really good argument about Hille vs Ryder.Hille was a servicable Ruckman for a long time. Then had 2 years where he should have been All Australian. He was elite at nullifying the opposition Ruckman. He was also pretty handy up forward. Ended up breaking down with injury late his career.
Ryder was shuffled around every position on the ground before becoming a Ruckman. His tap work was Elite. He didn’t get a lot of the ball around the ground, but was very handy when he had the ball in his hands.
If you’re going on pure talent, Ryder is ahead.
But Hille was a magnificent Essendon man. Played with heart and sole. And always smashed Cox when we played West Coast.Ryder’s coming of age, as I remember it, was ANZAC day 2009 where Dempsey kicked it a few metres over Hille’s head, who was 25 metres in the clear, Hille jumped futilely, did his knee and Ryder stepped up and won the ANZAC medal. Now he’s just another ■■■■■■■■ from Port Adelaide. Funny how things turn out.
Except he’d played zero great games up up until then, and took 5 years to play another one
The also rans… a much harder team to put together. Hasnt been a great last 15 years
B – Henry Slattery - Sam Hunt – Jay Nash
HB – Ty Zantuck – Ariel Steinberg – Richard Cole
C – Ben Jolley – Tom Hislop – Michael Quinn
HF – Mark Williams – Aaron Henneman – James Davies
F – Courtney Johns – Jay Neagle – Shane Harvey
R – Tristan Cartledge – Kurt Aylett – Joel Reynolds
Int – Judd Lalich – Darren Walsh – Justin Murphy – Jordan Bannister