Ricky Dyson has been betrayed this thread.
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Paul Van Der Haar a brilliant kick either foot
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I thought picking the top 5 worst performances was tough, now this…
Nifty Neville Fields
Glen Hawker
Mark Mercuri
Dean Rioli
All silk
oh, and for sentimental reasons, Barry Grinter drop-kicking in from full back at Windy Hill wearing mid-cut boots. I bought a pair after seeing that.
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Hawker was a standout in a very good side.
McKenna and Tippa of today’s crop.
Easily the best is Jack Clarke who could kick both feet, 60 metre kicks to position or goal and the best stab pass ever. Hugh Mitchell was a great exponent of the drop kick.
In the current side, Franga is the best field kick by a mile.
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Two of the best I’ve seen: Glen Hawker and Leon Baker. Of today’s team: Zerrett and Walla.
Neville Fields was a brilliant kick.
40m daisy cutters would hit Blethyn on the chest every time.
And not that this will mean much, but Sticks Kernahan reckons the best kick he ever led out to was Glenn Hawker.
The perfect pass.
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He actually wasn’t that bad a kick, just looked like a really bad kick.
Paul Chapman was elite.
Not sure if serious, he was shocking…
My Grandfather always told me about Jack Clarke. As you said, the stab kick, he always went on about him.
BJ was the best kick league wide for a number of years, dropped a little late in his career but at his best he’s the best kick I have ever seen consistently, Was always a favorite of mine at the saints too.
One that reminds me of BJ on our list currently is Ridley, I think he’s the best kick at the club and we just haven’t seen enough yet.
Some other of us Boomers on Blitz will remember stab passes. As kids we used to practice them all the time and playing kick to kick in the street with a mate trying to make them to hot to handle !
Jack Clarke could do a 30 yard stab kick like lightning that hit the forwards right on the chest.
Players marked the ball into their chests back then with a big hug, not hands out like now. I reckon one of Clarke’s stab passes would break fingers with that technique.
Of the current crop Walla, McKenna, Saad, Ridley fill me with the most confidence.
Franga and Merrett, along with McKenna, are probably our most capable/damaging kicks but it can lead to higher amount of turnovers as they bite off more than they should.
Brayden Ham is also pretty adept at hitting targets when he is in space. Redman will also finish his career as a wonderful user of the ball.
Best kicks I’ve had the privilege of seeing live are definitely Fletcher and Rioli.
What stood out about Rioli’s kicking was the perfect weighting of the ball, none of these spearing drill passes to a player leading at full tilt we see these days; Rioli would just place it perfectly whilst making it as easy as possible to hold onto.
For the bonus round I’d say that Watson and Hooker probably had the best turnaround after being woeful kicks early before becoming surprisingly damaging in their heydays.
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Brent Prismal, I think in his first game
Neville Fields and Barry Davis are great calls. Fields would be an elite player in the modern game (actually Davis would be as well).
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I just have fond memories of him taking a mark 20 metres out and having a run up of 40 metres…classic, those were the days 
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I see a lot of support for Jack Clarke who was a beautiful kick I would agree. Two of his team mates stand out too. Reg Burgess on the wing could always find a target down field. John Birt could kick either foot and his stab passes never missed. (Birt would be my number one of all time.) Billy Hutchinson was an excellent kick too. Hird’s passes to Lloyd most often resulted in a goal, but perhaps that came about more from the understanding between the two of them.
Perhaps the worst kick for goal I saw in red and black was Geoff Leek who I once saw miss from the square. Geoff was a an excellent team man and a very good ruckman, however.
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