It can be assumed that the term IQ isn’t normally associated with the majority of beefcake running around an AFL ground, either now or in past decades.
Be that as it may, but if you’re a fan you soon realise there are some players who create or instigate team passages of play simply because they can.
These geniuses aren’t necessarily found at the end of a chain of kicks and handballs which might eventuate in a goal. These guys are mostly at the start, and through a combination of natural ability and thousands of hours practice can produce moments so exquisite they are considered works of art.
They aren’t necessarily the best or flashiest player in their time, in fact for many of them you would need a replay to see the subtlety of their execution and how it led to a positive outcome for their team.
Here are my favourites, by club, over my sixty years:
GWS – Toby Greene. An extraordinarily gifted thinker prone to irrational violence, Greene is almost impossible to categorise. He plays a mid-size forward role – which is arguably the most difficult position on the ground – and has made it his own in the AFL.
Hawthorn – Not unlike Greg Williams, Sam Mitchell was slow, lacked endurance, but made up for all of that stuff that recruiters look for by possessing incredible peripheral vision and speed of hands and feet.
Geelong – Apologies to Gary Hocking and the late Paul Couch but it will always be Joel Selwood for me. The complete selfless leader, he arrived and finished with a bang. His first six or seven years were electrifying. I just can’t remember him missing a target to set off a chain.
St Kilda – For my beloved Saints there’s only one. Robert Harvey was a running machine that enabled him to escape opponents and set up hundreds of goals especially for Tony Lockett.
West Coast Eagles – Dean Kemp was my mum’s favourite player and it was hard to argue with her. He often ignited his mates on the wings, Matera and Mainwaring, and was a beautiful kick on both sides.
Brisbane – Apologies to Lachie Neale but the consummate centreman, possibly ever, was Simon Black. There was a certain regal quality about the way he brought his team mates into the game.
Collingwood – Nick Daicos may be the flavour of this next decade but how could you ever leave Scott Pendlebury out of any conversation when it comes to sheer class? He’s slowing up a little now but for about a decade his every movement through the midfield was ‘Matrix-like’. Everything, including his opponents, suddenly slowed up. Like his contemporaries Bontempelli and Petracca, his elite basketball background meant his hands have always been squeaky clean.
Footscray – Apologies to Scott West but Marcus Bontempelli has always played beyond his years. Composed and more than capable on both sides, he knows when to draw tackles and distribute like no other, maybe Cripps at his best. An unbelievably consistent and relied upon member of the Bulldogs.
Port Power – It’s no secret I have a man crush on Travis Boak but Zac Butters has become the player I predicted he would become a couple of years ago. The slightly built midfielder is smart, tough and highly skilled.
Richmond – I loved Dale Weightman when I was younger but the one Tigers player who always terrorised the Saints when he played was Shane ‘Tich’ Edwards. He was seemingly dismissed as a threat by opposition coaches who perhaps thought he was too small to be of any concern. He was a brilliant player! You could guarantee he was the impetus to most forward thrusts in Richmond’s recent 3-peat era. A fantastic decision maker with great skills.
North Melbourne – Having grown up watching Barry Cable in WA then at North he would be my pick if not for recent historical issues that have come to light. Without a doubt my favourite player growing up was Malcolm Blight so I’ll end it there.
Melbourne – Clayton Oliver is a freak. An aerobic monster and contested ball animal. When he’s not playing, it’s a different Demon team. His kicking still needs work but sometimes I think it’s simply fatigue from how hard he runs.
Fremantle – Paul Hasleby was your stereotypical 70’s or 80’s looking centreman. Chunky, a Collingwood six footer and slow. All of that didn’t matter with hands as clean as Hasleby’s and the ability to read the play like him. A natural centreman and enormous accumulator of the footy.
Adelaide – I loved Andrew McLeod but the imbecile Andrew Jarman was my favourite. His brother may have received more accolades and so he should, but this clown prince of The Crows was no schmuck. Highly skilled on both sides and one of the smartest players I’ve ever seen.
Essendon – I was a big fan of Mark Mercuri but how could you go past James Hird? I liken The Bont’s influence on the Dogs to that of Hird’s on The Bombers. Could play anywhere and just possessed that indescribable magic that separates these players from the rest.
Gold Coast – Gary Ablett Junior….any questions? :)
Carlton & Sydney – Greg Williams. My favourite centreman of all time. Rejected twice by Carlton before being taken by Geelong then Sydney, where he won his first Brownlow, then to an apologetic Carlton where he won his second Brownlow, ‘Diesel’ was the best.
As a hack VFA centreman I idolised him, and when former Carlton wingman Tim Rieniets came to my club Werribee, I interrogated him around what Diesel did at training. Because his knees were both ‘shot’, Williams was relegated to a completely different training regime which Tim shared with me. I practiced it religiously after training and it definitely helped.
Williams’s handballing was sublime. He had a head like an owl, wise, and it could swivel in any direction. He saw opportunities like no one else I’d seen. There was one handball I saw him do at Princes Park one day that took my breath away and I promise I won’t exaggerate the sheer beauty of this thing!
Williams was joined at Carlton by his old Sydney mate Barry Mitchell who was on the wing. I don’t remember the opposing team but Diesel suddenly found himself with a bobbling ground ball to negotiate in the centre circle. Three opponents surged at him, frothing at the opportunity to smash the little champ, when in one swoop he picked up the ball and without looking hit a 30m handball with his left hand to Mitchell on the wing, who didn’t have to break stride.
He always came across as intense. He had little tolerance for taggers and gave as good as he got. Perhaps the best example of his single mindedness was when he delivered his speech after accepting his second Brownlow.
“Id like to thank Parkin, Kernahan, Silvagni, Dean and Bradley.” All surnames. It was like he was reading out the teams on Thursday night!
‘Diesel’ was a true artist. Like all the aforementioned players they possess a uniqueness that can often be overlooked by recruiters chasing affirmations on a spreadsheet. As footy becomes more sanitised I hope we see more natural thinkers. Who cares if they’re a bit slow when their thinking is two steps ahead of everyone else.
More from Ian Wilson can be read Here.
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About Ian Wilson
Former army aircraft mechanic, sales manager, VFA footballer and coach. Now mental health worker and blogger. Lifelong St Kilda FC tragic and father to 2 x girls.
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Hi Ian
Good idea for a reflective essay and it will obviously create discussions.
Talking Hawks now, while Sammy is undeniably central to Hawks success from 2008-2015 there was one or two other players more, er, central. Hodgey. And other, Junior. Both possessed footy brains par excellence. Mitchell may have been third in that grouping but I’d probably put Birch ahead of him. Cheers
Thanks Rick no arguments from me especially Hodgys capacity to kick start a chain Cheers
Great idea for an essay Ian and I found myself nodding at most of your selections. Unsurprisingly, many of these are mid-fielders and deservedly so. How would you go compiling a list only picking backmen? I get that this is an outdated and romantic notion but reckon it’d be compelling reading.
excellent idea Mickey. There’s been plenty of smart defenders over the years to choose from. We may need to add a couple of KPIs but it would be a nice challenge cheers
Good one Ian. I only saw late era Kemp and Matera at the Eagles so my list is a bit different. A lot of our attack in recent years stemmed from defence. Jeremy McGovern and Shannon Hurn both masters of time and space and ability to judge and time the drop of the ball. A rare skill. Surprisingly I rate Gov and Lewis Jetta higher for their kicking skills than Hurn. He always took the obvious, but Gov and Lewie had amazing vision to see over players and lines to hit improbable kicks over defence to open up attacks. Lewie got the ball less but hit 90% while Gov got it more and hit 70%. The crowd would groan at his “McClangers” but I always saw it as an inevitable consequence of going for the high risk/high reward option every time.
On another front Dean Cox is the smartest ruckman I’ve seen since the Simon Madden days. Deserves a mention – better palmer than Max Gawn (high praise). Nic Nait and Chris Judd obviously geniuses in their own ways – but had a raw power (like Nat Fyfe and Dusty) that means they didn’t always rely on artistry, evasion and IQ in the way a Scott Pendlebury (with Clayton Oliver the footballer I most like watching now) always does.
My first reaction to “players with high Footy IQs” was ‘flashes of genius’. Acts or passages that no-one else could pull off or would have the audacity to try. In that vein and with my blue and white glasses on, the player that immediately comes to mind is Steve Johnson. The miracle handball, the look-away pass, the freak goal and the cheeky smile, that was Stevie J. In the present team I offer Tom Hawkins and Gryan Miers. Hawk is renowned for his unselfishness. He sees a teammate in a better position and has the skill to deliver on a platter. Gryan, oft-criticised for his unorthodox kicking style, has developed that same peripheral vision and subtlety of delivery that serves the Cats so well.
I’m far from a Collingwood fan, but Pendles is a cut above the rest of the league. I used to go to Carrara and keep my eyes on GAJ all game – his power and poise could only properly be appreciated in person. Not that I’ve seen the Pies live much (and if so, normally barracking hard against them) but Pendlebury’s in the same rare air for mine. Hope he gives 400+ a good nudge.
Nice idea: players with brains. And a nice idea for a metric by which to measure them. Makes me wonder how this might compare with other ball sports like soccer — or the two rugbys, in which there is a designated “playmaker” expected to be the only one playing from the neck up
As a fellow with buggered knees myself however, it was this that most caught my eye: “Because his knees were both ‘shot’, Williams was relegated to a completely different training regime which Tim shared with me. I practiced it religiously after training and it definitely helped.”
I wonder … ahem … if you’d be prepared to share some of that regime?
I think Gryan Miers has enormous Footy IQ.
Great idea Ian. I concur with the other commenters.
Thanks heaps gents.
Pete- agree with MCGovern in particular when it comes to vision but he has dropped off significantly in the past couple of years. I love the fact he has always looked like a country footballer his whole career also. :)
Marcus, absolute natural was Stevie J and pretty much in the same vein as Toby Greene. Loved watching him. I probably was a bit biased using midfielders in this. You and JLH both mentioned Miers. Again his odd kicking style has improved in terms of it’s accuracy as of last year and for a short player, he always seems to find targets inside 50 with ease.
Peter, the regime consisted of what you would probably see at any AFL training session these days where 2 x players have a footy each and face each other. They will then handball the footy simultaneously and then do that over short and longer distances up to approx 5-7m. The exercises were 1. HB down the channels (right then left simultaneously) 2. One direction (HB right hand and aim for just outside the team mate’s left shoulder. After a few minutes then do left hand aiming for outside the team mates right shoulder . The purpose being the team mate has to reach wide to grab the footy then bring it across the body to HB.) 3. Head and groin. (One player aims for the team mate’s head whilst the other aims for the groin. Rotate roles after a few minutes) 4. Half volleys. ( One player gets on their knees with footy. Other player stands and delivers 1/2 volleys and the kneeling player handballs up to his team mate). The more aerobic drill that Williams did because of his knees was to have 2 x cones approx 30m-40m apart and have another 2 x cones parallel approx 10m apart from the other 2. Two players again but with one ball and they shuttle run whilst hand balling one way then return when they get to the end hand balling with the other hand. You can extend the length of both the distance you run and the length between the 2 x players to make the handballs long or short. You need to be able to HB under fatigue, keeping the ball in front of your team mate. It only takes 20 minutes to a half hour to do the lot depending on the variance of distances with all the drills but I can assure you it will help any midfielder. By all reports Williams employed other players in rehab to rotate through the drills and would do it for approx an hour Cheers
Thanks Ian.
Fascinating to see how a genius accommodates learns to weakness/injury by ramping up his abilities in other areas.
An interesting list, Ian. Well done.
Thanks Smoke and yes Pete it says a lot about Diesel’s talent and determination with how he was restricted. Cheers