Best Bulldogs Team of YOUR lifetime.

[bulldogtragic]

Obviously age will play a fair part, as previously stated in only mid twenties, so here goes nothing:

Back: Southern - Croft - Kretiuk

HB: Cameron - Foster - Gilbee

Centre: Hawkins - West - Eagleton

HF: R. Smith - Grant - R. Murphy

Forward: B. Johnson - Darcy - Royal

Ruck: Wynd - Libba - Romero

I/Change From: Dent - Wallis - McPherson - Hudson - N. Brown (Spit) - *Akermanis (Hasn't played yet, but will be in it)

[Sockeye Salmon]

B: Macpherson, Kennedy, Foster
HB: Wallis, Grant, Smith
C: Hawkins, West, Cameron
HF: Johnson, Templeton, McGuinness
F: Edmond, Beasley, Royal
R: Dempsey, Dunstan, Liberatore
I: Darcy, McLean, Kretiuk, Romero.


BP - A few here to pick from. Wheeler, Egan, Hardie, Macpherson. Hardie was probably the best, I just didn't think two years at the club was enough to get chosen.

FB - only two in it. Tits or Crofty. Tits was meaner.

BP - few standouts play tall BP. Krusher perhaps. I put Fossie here because a) he could do it easy b) he is easily in our best team since I've been watching footy and c) the best CHB our club has had since Whitten is at CHB.

HBF - Wally, Bubba, Krusher or Magic. Wally and Bubba a fair way ahead of the other two. I considered Krusher because he played taller.

CHB - Fossie or Chris. With KT @ CHF it was always going to be Chris.

Wing - Hawk gets one, Baker or Johnno on the other.

C - No contest. I only considered Scooter.

HFF - A bit of a dumping ground for those who deserve a spot who didn't get somewhere else. Johnno and Tony McGuinness deserved their spots.

CHF - Another easy choice. Chris was a chance but he could play anywhere. KT was only a forward (only, ha!) and Beaser was FF.

FP - Jock and Choco were pretty easy choices, really.

FF - Beaser, Chris and KT all deserved to be in and Beaser could only play FF.

R - Demps was my first favorite player (along with Sockeye). Head and shoulders above our other rucks. Darce, Scotty Wynd and Polly Purser were all top class rucks, though.

RR/Rov - We didn't really have heaps of top on-ballers to pick from. Libba, Choco, Jose Romero, Mocca Dunstan, McGuinness. I expected there to be more. Mocca wasn't much of a team man but don't forget he won 3 B & F's.

I - just about the hardest to pick. I went for Darce as the back-up ruck rather than Scotty because Darce is more versatile and Scotty is too much like Demps. Krusher is a different HB to Wally or Bubba. Jose and Magic were unlucky to miss out of the 18.

I didn't put in Bernie Quinlan because I hardly remember him (weird, Demps left just one year later and I remember Demps clear as day).

Brown wasn't considered because he is a ****.

[southerncross]

I'm going to do this a little bit differently and only have players that have retired from the game. The players I have selected also must need to have been able to play the more modern game we see today.

B:.....Hardie......Kennedy.....Croft
HB:...Cameron....Quinlan.....Smith
C:.....Hawkins.....Atkins.....Thorpe
HF:...Dunstan...Templeton...Hudson
FF:....McLean.....Beasley....Osborne

RK:....Dempsey...McGuinness...Royal

Int:...Libertore...Romero...McPherson...Foster...E dmonds...Wynd

The full back line is a combination of nastiness, smarts and attack. I couldn't overlook Hardie who made a huge impression on me in his two seasons. Kennedy wasn't brilliant but made them earn it. Against the games best full forwards he would have struggled. Croft was a very smart and even though he was often injured he was a quality player.

The half back line with Cameron is probably a surprise. But I thought he played some good football there. Quinlan was a sensation and probably the most complete footballer to have played for us. Smith represented Victoria as a HBF.
This is a very attacking line and all players are long an accurate kicks.

Centre: Hawkins, you just can't pass him. Atkins cops a fair bit from our supporters but with the midfield I have I want someone who is prepared to pump out the hand balls. Thorpe was a great player albeit selfish.

Half forward: Hudson is underrated, Templeton a champion and Dunstan could also kick goals as well as playing on opposition taller midfielders if needed. Like Thorpe he wasn't a great team player.

Full forward. McLean could crumb goals with the best of them, Beasley would have been an even better footballer in todays game and Osborne edges out Edmonds just because he was quicker and a more deadly kick. Edmond would have been handy to keep Dunstan in order ;)

Rucks/Rovers Dempsey could control a game, McGuinness was a brilliant runner and a fantastic kick to drive the ball into the forward line and Royal before the injuries caught up with him had no peer as a rover in my opinion.

The Interchange bench has a great combination of versatility.

Players unlucky to miss out include Sandilands, Wallis and Kretiuk
I ned to have a bit more of a think of this because I am sure I am missing a few players.