TOPIC:

Ark as good as Yarran was or could of been.You can't pick him over Langdon.Carl could play and was as tough as anyone who played in the modern era.

ArkRoyal wrote: gtr: good point on those players. I would have played Broughton in the backline, possibly in place of Crutchfield, as he was taller; Menagola, would have been fine on a a half back flank or wing. Yarran would have had stiff competition, although, considerring we played a very young Karl Langdon, Yarran could have had his place on the interchange bench as you suggestted,

dg; thanks, for that on Greenwood and Gray. Was Greenwood a local player?

Not sure where Gray was from AR but Greenwood was a tall wingman who came from the Amateurs (Collegians/Old Scotch) as a mature age recruit.

ArkRoyal wrote: gtr: good point on those players. I would have played Broughton in the backline, possibly in place of Crutchfield, as he was taller; Menagola, would have been fine on a a half back flank or wing. Yarran would have had stiff competition, although, considerring we played a very young Karl Langdon, Yarran could have had his place on the interchange bench as you suggestted,

dg; thanks, for that on Greenwood and Gray. Was Greenwood a local player?

I just never rated Langdon. Give me yarran any day. Broughton no doubt a better player than Crutchy, but we would have been up shit creek without him on Bennet

Singha: Bennett kicked a lot of goals on Mick; the poor man got injurred in the grand final and had to go off the ground.

gtr: I am with you on the Langdon thing, throughout his career he played above his weight in the hardest position on the ground against the tough men of the WAFL and VFL. In 1986, he was playing his first game and looked a little out of place -- hurried in his movements.

In my opinion Liam Ryan is a better player than Yarran. The reason being that Ryan gets a lot of his possessions through his skill in the air, yarran, on the other hand, rarely took a pack mark.

The problem for Ryan and Yarran is that, in 1986, they would have been competting against the following for a position in the foward line:

Mort
Dean
Sells
breman
John Georgie
Langdon
Willet
the restting ruckman -- Keene or Scott
the restting rovers

ArkRoyal wrote: Singha: Bennett kicked a lot of goals on Mick; the poor man got injurred in the grand final and had to go off the ground.

Cheers mate. Was that crutchy that got injured? Who played on Bennett?
I recall all the talk after Bennett had smashed us in the semi kicking 10 wasn't it? It didn't worry Bunts at all

Crutchfield for me. He had genuine pace. Don't know how Broughton would have gone against Garry Sidebottom but Crutchy was the only one that I saw who could control him. I really rated Sidey, the thorn that he was. Probably swans best forward in my time of watching. Here is a classic Crutchfield v Sidebottom battle in one of my all time favourite games and the changing of the guard...

DG -- thanks for that post. It is true that Crutchfield had to play on players whom were much bigger and taller than he was almost every week. He did a great job. I chatted with him for a whole double period in my school library in 1986. He was very good with his time and kind. We avoided talking about the 1985 grand final too much, I thanked him, in fact, for helping the club beat the mighty WP at Leederville for the first-time in a decade among other wins. The club owes those 1986 players agreat debt.

Sinha: your welcome -- Crutchfield got injurred in the 1986 grand final. Bennett scarred me a lot as I watched his goals sail over my head at the PMH end of the ground; looking back, I will say that, to their credit, the EF forwards marked everything and kicked very long goals that afternoon; for someone with Bunton's experience, I suspect he may of thought to himself that those same players will not repeat their magnificent performance on grand final day.