Forgot the nimble young tank (also forgotten who christened him thus, but the description stayed with me), Moorcroft.
Loved him for more than just that mark.
I liked him from the day he was on front cover of a Bomber mag, third edition 98 I think.
My Mum wouldn't let me get a Gary Moorcroft haircut, I thought it was cool. Mum knew right.
loved solly. fkg devestated when he went to freo. i liked mcphee too. that year he was AA he was brilliant
mark mcveigh is probably my favorite player over the years though. I hope he returns to the club one day
That must've been awkward for all concerned.Roaring Greg Brown fan here. I still remember those raking drop kicks from Full Back. And Russell Blew.
He rarely had much of an impact on the stats sheet, but when he was doing anything, you knew and the opposition definitely knew about it.Forgot the nimble young tank (also forgotten who christened him thus, but the description stayed with me), Moorcroft.
Loved him for more than just that mark.
So many over the years but the following always pumped me up:
TD, Vander, Harvs
Hird, Hardwick, Long
Jobe, Fletch, Hepp
Some of the lesser lights were Duckworth, Neagle, the Johnson’s, Misiti, Wellman, Davey, Hille, Hooker.
my favourite player when I was younger was Paul Salmon. Absolutely loved him.
He was exciting and had amazing skills and talent - if not for the knee injury he could've been anything and who knows how many more Premierships we could've won. I was lucky enough to go into the rooms for my first game and got his signature. I was on cloud 9. He absolutely towered over me - he was a giant (206cm, equal tallest in the comp with Harry Madden for quite a long time).
He kicked 17 goals in the finals series in 93 and was big for us. I was disappointed that he left the club like he did (in our fans that is - not him ... simply disgraceful!), but was really happy when he won B&Fs there and got to play first ruck. His talent was on display in a position he loved. Was happy that he came back to the club even at his creaky old age - simply because there are too many players that leave a club where they were much loved for a time on bad terms and never step foot through the door again.
I'd actually love for those who saw him regularly at the start of his career before he was cut down by the knee injury to share what he was like then. I was pretty young and don't remember much other than highlights was showed he was incredible fast and agile for someone so tall and strong.... could he have been compared to what we're hoping JD will become maybe?
From the little I can remember Wanga in his Essendon days was just a freak of a player, and enjoyed watching him.
MJ, JJ and Solomon from the late 90's and early 00's. Hard, tough uncomprimising players who went at it 100%.
Pity solomon fried his brain in the later stages of his career, well onfield.
Also looking back, I wonder how much that 99-01 period took out of them, both mentally and psyhically, well i guess you could say that about the whole team really. JJ was the only one who really got better after 01, and all three were past their best by about 05 ish.
Harvey was another, but he played mostly before I was into footy cos of being to young at the time.
Now a days I find it hard to have favs, there's just to much that goes on in todays game. Case in point I love the way Howlett goes about playing footy, but also think that for us to improve he should play less and less, as others like Melksham and that develop. Hocking is another.
206cm was insane back then. To put it in context: Hawthorn brought O‘Hallaran in specifically to play on Salmon in the 1985 Grand Final — it was O‘Hallaran‘s first game for the year, and the last game of his career. The reason given was his substantial size.I'd actually love for those who saw him regularly at the start of his career before he was cut down by the knee injury to share what he was like then. I was pretty young and don't remember much other than highlights was showed he was incredible fast and agile for someone so tall and strong.... could he have been compared to what we're hoping JD will become maybe?
My first favourite player was Kevin Walsh. I met him as a kid (dad taught him at Monash Uni). See my last post on heights back then: 193cm was TALL.
Mark Harvey
Wanganeen
Dean Rioli
Fletch
206cm was insane back then. To put it in context: Hawthorn brought O‘Hallaran in specifically to play on Salmon in the 1985 Grand Final — it was O‘Hallaran‘s first game for the year, and the last game of his career. The reason given was his substantial size.I'd actually love for those who saw him regularly at the start of his career before he was cut down by the knee injury to share what he was like then. I was pretty young and don't remember much other than highlights was showed he was incredible fast and agile for someone so tall and strong.... could he have been compared to what we're hoping JD will become maybe?
O‘Hallaran was, depending on the source you use, 185-188cm tall. He was heavy for his height, but still shorter and lighter than, say, Goddard.
[Damn; O‘Halloran died last year.]
l used to like going to see the ressies play a bit before the main game, mainly to watch Salmon. His agility was a stand out in the ruck. Him in tandem with SMadden was indeed a mouth watering prospect and there was no way of knowing how many flags we could have won had he not hurt his knee. l was there that day at Victoria Park when Raines fell across his leg in the centre and l could tell from his reaction, before he even hit the ground that it was a serious injury. Prior to that teams had tried everything to stop him at FF, where he was running rampant. He would have easily kicked 100 goals that season, but for his knee injury. ln one game the Hawks used a ruckman on him at FB, but Salmon was too fast for him, and he was also very strong in the air. Coming back in 1985 l knew the flag was in the bag and having Fish play was just icing on the cake. l knew the Hawks had lost that game the moment they picked O'Halloran. lt was a move that smacked of desperation, rather than inspiration. Salmos tood tall, way to tall for the Hawks that day. The 1985 team is still the strongest team l have seen Essendon put on the field.
206cm was insane back then. To put it in context: Hawthorn brought O‘Hallaran in specifically to play on Salmon in the 1985 Grand Final — it was O‘Hallaran‘s first game for the year, and the last game of his career. The reason given was his substantial size.I'd actually love for those who saw him regularly at the start of his career before he was cut down by the knee injury to share what he was like then. I was pretty young and don't remember much other than highlights was showed he was incredible fast and agile for someone so tall and strong.... could he have been compared to what we're hoping JD will become maybe?
O‘Hallaran was, depending on the source you use, 185-188cm tall. He was heavy for his height, but still shorter and lighter than, say, Goddard.
[Damn; O‘Halloran died last year.]
l used to like going to see the ressies play a bit before the main game, mainly to watch Salmon. His agility was a stand out in the ruck. Him in tandem with SMadden was indeed a mouth watering prospect and there was no way of knowing how many flags we could have won had he not hurt his knee. l was there that day at Victoria Park when Raines fell across his leg in the centre and l could tell from his reaction, before he even hit the ground that it was a serious injury. Prior to that teams had tried everything to stop him at FF, where he was running rampant. He would have easily kicked 100 goals that season, but for his knee injury. ln one game the Hawks used a ruckman on him at FB, but Salmon was too fast for him, and he was also very strong in the air. Coming back in 1985 l knew the flag was in the bag and having Fish play was just icing on the cake. l knew the Hawks had lost that game the moment they picked O'Halloran. lt was a move that smacked of desperation, rather than inspiration. Salmos tood tall, way to tall for the Hawks that day. The 1985 team is still the strongest team l have seen Essendon put on the field.
I was there too, the filth let him have it when they stretchered him off too. The comparisons with Coleman in the press were rampant in 84.The Hawks in the 85 series did not have a clue how to handle the big guns at Essendon. They played around with duds like McCarthy, Byrne, Abbot and I think even a young Langford to compete against Madden, Merrett, Salmon etc. Will not see a more powerful unit going around than 85 and I reckon the Hawks looked a bit sheepish being on the same park.
From the little I can remember Wanga in his Essendon days was just a freak of a player, and enjoyed watching him.
MJ, JJ and Solomon from the late 90's and early 00's. Hard, tough uncomprimising players who went at it 100%.
Pity solomon fried his brain in the later stages of his career, well onfield.
Also looking back, I wonder how much that 99-01 period took out of them, both mentally and psyhically, well i guess you could say that about the whole team really. JJ was the only one who really got better after 01, and all three were past their best by about 05 ish.
Harvey was another, but he played mostly before I was into footy cos of being to young at the time.
Now a days I find it hard to have favs, there's just to much that goes on in todays game. Case in point I love the way Howlett goes about playing footy, but also think that for us to improve he should play less and less, as others like Melksham and that develop. Hocking is another.
I thought MJ was pretty ■■■■■■ good up until about 2005-06.
Does anyone know anything about these past EFC Premiership Captains:
My favourite player when I was a kid was Cupido… Yes I know… But I loved him and was quite disappointed when his career ended.
Dean Rioli
Scotty Lucas
Dimma
Roger
Ezard
I was a massive David Grenvold fan.
Barney too.
I liked David Grenvold. He was very serviceable and dependable. 93 was probably one of his best years.
Top Five List ...
First, second and third: Hird.
Fourth: Wanganeen.
Fifth: Long.
Budgie was the first "favourite". the sky fell in when he shifted to the Bulldogs.
If Leroy doesn't pull his finger out this year, my son is going to learn the same harsh football lesson i did in 1985.