Opinion: Ashley Browne

What I’m thinking

with Ashley Browne

Lining up the next Legend

There is no shortage of suitable candidates to become the next Legend in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

The ink has barely dried on the 2022 Australian Football Hall of Fame certificates when talk turns to who should be inducted next year.

The selectors have been playing a major catch-up exercise, which explains why the likes of Bill Dempsey, Terry Cashion, Nicky Winmar, Mike Fitzpatrick, Michael Taylor and Ted Tyson were inducted last Tuesday. There is no question that they belong; the bigger issue is why it took so long.

For that reason, establishing who the next batch of inductees will be has become guesswork at best, although of the 2017 retirees who become eligible for the first time next year, Nick Riewoldt, Sam Mitchell and Bob Murphy would seem near certain immediate inductees.

Much more fun is trying to establish who will be the next Legend.

There are many worthy candidates and several impatient supporter bases across the country are expecting good news from the selection panel next year.

There is no set criteria to become a Legend. It is almost a case of, ‘well, of course’ when they are announced.

John Coleman played only 98 games for Essendon before a knee injury prematurely ended his career. But he averaged 5.48 goals a game and won the goalkicking in all but one season he played.

He later coached Essendon to two flags, but his entire involvement in League football lasted a relatively brief 13 years.

Coleman is a Legend, of course, but nobody would argue that he is less worthy of that status than Jock McHale, despite the Collingwood identity enjoying a playing and coaching career that lasted nearly half a century and included eight premierships as coach and one as a player.

Doing plenty of something counts when it comes to Legend status.

Champion full-forwards Tony Lockett (1360) and Gordon Coventry (1299) lead the AFL in all-time goals kicked and are both Legends, but Jason Dunstall (1254) is not. At least, not yet.

Ron Barassi won six flags as a player and another four as coach and was named a Legend in 1996, the year the Hall of Fame was inaugurated.

Like Barassi, Norm Smith was involved in 10 premierships as a player and coach.

Michael Tuck comes in at seven flags – all as a player – but four as captain. He also played 426 games over 20 seasons and for more than a quarter of a century was the AFL’s games record-holder.

Is that Legend worthy? Many believe it is.

Too often, it is forgotten that it is not the ‘AFL Hall of Fame’ but rather the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Equal weight is given to South Australian, West Australian and Tasmanian football, especially from the time before the VFL expanded and became the AFL.

So if longevity and performing to an incredibly high standard are key determinants, then why not Craig Bradley, an eight-time All-Australian who played 98 games for Port Adelaide in the SANFL, before his 375 games for Carlton? He played 22 seasons of senior football. If Tuck gets in, should he?

John Kennedy snr was elevated to Legend status in 2020. Through sheer force of personality, he dragged Hawthorn from the outhouse to the penthouse.

But he actually has just three premierships to his name.

Plenty of others have more premierships and are not Legends.

Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes coached one premiership at Richmond before winning four at Melbourne where he was a similarly transformative figure.

Tom Hafey ended 24 years of mediocrity at Tigerland with the first of his four flags in eight seasons in 1967.

David Parkin (one at Hawthorn, three at Carlton, all while revolutionising the art of coaching) and Allan Jeans (St Kilda’s only flag plus three at Hawthorn) are also coaching giants. John Todd landed six flags at three different WAFL clubs.

And as South Australian students of the game argue, if Jack Oatey’s 10 flags with Norwood and Sturt were good enough for him to become a Legend last year, then Fos Williams, with nine at Port Adelaide, should also be a Legend.

As it is, they believe the selectors have missed the boat by not yet elevating Ken Farmer, the North Adelaide goalkicking machine who kicked 1417 goals.

Collingwood people argue fairly that 707 goals over 230 games between 1906 and 1922, when scoring was not as voluminous as it became, makes Dick Lee also Legend worthy.

He was the game’s first truly great full-forward.

And we could go on. Gary Ablett snr and Wayne Carey are clearly two of the best players of the modern era.

Legend status surely beckons for both, but perhaps not for a while. There is a lengthy queue ahead of them.

The selectors have been playing a major catch-up exercise

HIGHER HONOURS?:

Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall and Port Adelaide icon Fos Williams are among the many deserving of Legend status.