Russell's Top 25 Saints

[stinger]

http://www.saints.com.au/news/2015-01-0 ... top-25-no4
4. Robert Harvey (17)
Born: August 21, 1971
Debut: Round 19, 1988
Games: 383
Goals: 215
Height: 181cm
Weight: 86kg

The dual Brownlow Medallist was universally regarded as one of the modern game's greats. He covered an amazing amount of territory and opposing sides often alternated taggers on him because no one individual could keep with him for more than a quarter. His twinkle-toed evasion in packs was a great natural talent.

He was a remorseless individual on the training track and coach Stan Alves would tell him to go inside for a rest only to find out that Harvey went for a long run around the streets. Measures of his excellence were club best and fairest awards in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1998 and three E.J. Whitten Medals for Victoria's best player in state games.

His father Jeff was the son of Merv Harvey who played one Test for Australia. Robert was therefore the grand-nephew of Test great Neil Harvey. His father Jeff once said that Robert had the "Harvey waddle".

so are we going with russell's top three in order as

1...stewart
2..,doc
3...plugger..



or will plugger rate higher than 3...????

[bergholt]

Milne is the best small forward in the history of the game. Unless you count Leigh Matthews as a small forward.

Milne's record is unbelievably underrated. I can only imagine it's the personal impression people have of him.

Yep. It's an unbelievable achievement to kick so many goals at his size.

Look at the stats. Most of the guys who kicked 500+ were 190cm or more. Milney was 176cm. How many compare with that? (We'll ignore all the shorter guys from the 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s: Titus, Lee, Moriarty, Harris, Hutchison, Forbes, etc, because they really played as classic full-forwards.)

Leigh Matthews - 178cm: kicked 915 goals in 332 games = 2.76 goals per game
Kevin Bartlett - 177cm: kicked 778 goals in 403 games = 1.93 goals per game
Stephen Milne - 176cm: kicked 574 goals in 275 games = 2.09 goals per game
Richard Osborne - 182cm: kicked 574 goals in 283 games = 2.03 goals per game
Brad Johnson - 182cm: kicked 558 goals in 364 games = 1.53 goals per game
Peter Daicos - 184cm: kicked 549 goals in 250 games = 2.20 goals per game
Jeff Farmer - 174cm: kicked 483 goals in 249 games = 1.94 goals per game

Obviously some of those guys are much taller - Daicos is 8cm bigger. Based on game style, really it's just Bartlett, Johnson and Farmer who compare. He has all of those guys comfortably covered for goal rate.

It's no exaggeration to say that we're not going to see his like again.

[saintbrat]

http://www.saints.com.au/news/2015-01-1 ... top-25-no3
3. Darrel Baldock (3)
Born: September 29, 1938
Died: February 2, 2011
Debut: Round 2, 1975
Games: 119
Goals: 237
Height: 179cm
Weight: 84kg

"The Doc" always will be remembered as captain of St Kilda's 1966 premiership side and one of the greatest figures in the club's history.

The Saints recruited Baldock from Tasmanian club Latrobe. His first game, against Collingwood, created enormous interest as he already was rated a superstar.

Baldock earlier had signed with Melbourne and South Melbourne, the Saints swooping as soon as the Swans' hold on him expired. He did not let any of his judges down and he quickly established a reputation as a freakish champion with the seeming ability to have the ball on a string. His ground skills were phenomenal and his courage legendary.

[bergsone]

Still imo the best I have seen,my father once said he reckon that Doc would have won a brownlow playing in the centre.But we had Stewart

[perfectionist]

The only question that remains is whether the top two stay in the 1995 order. They should.

We probably never saw the best of Darrel since he came to us when he was 24 (having started at 16) and he had already had a knee injury which slowed him a bit. He also took some time to adjust to the tempo of VFL footy - about 2 minutes. I particularly remember his games for the Victorian side. This was the crème de la crème of footballers and he stood out above most of them.

As to the other two, that's really a no contest. Both Stewie and Plugger had exceptional skills on both sides, with both hand and foot. Perhaps Plugger was slightly better. But it was the courage of Ian Stewart that had to be seen to be believed. He would, in every game, back into a pack and better still, take a clean grab with arms fully stretched. He, more than any other player, was responsible for our flag in 1966.

[evertonfc]

I've swayed on this over the years.

For sheer longevity of greatness, will to win, raw talent, individual brilliance and team-lifting again and again, in an era when the game was transformed, I'm getting close to putting Riewoldt at #1.

[Trev from the Bush]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

[stinger]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

[chook23]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

[stinger]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

thanks for that...i was going off his book where he rated the top 100 saints players...or maybe a lesser amount..i forget...

[chook23]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

thanks for that...i was going off his book where he rated the top 100 saints players...or maybe a lesser amouy...i forget...

Is that book ......Heroes with Haloes.....St.kilda's One Hundred Greatest...By Russell Holmesby

article on each 100.............but near front of book names his 1-20

[stinger]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

thanks for that...i was going off his book where he rated the top 100 saints players...or maybe a lesser amouy...i forget...

Is that book ......Heroes with Haloes.....St.kilda's One Hundred Greatest...By Russell Holmesby

article on each 100.............but near front of book names his 1-20

that's the one...i can't find it at the moment....think he had stewart and baldock 1 and 2

[plugger66]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

thanks for that...i was going off his book where he rated the top 100 saints players...or maybe a lesser amouy...i forget...

Is that book ......Heroes with Haloes.....St.kilda's One Hundred Greatest...By Russell Holmesby

article on each 100.............but near front of book names his 1-20

that's the one...i can't find it at the moment....think he had stewart and baldock 1 and 2

No Plugger was 2.

[chook23]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

thanks for that...i was going off his book where he rated the top 100 saints players...or maybe a lesser amouy...i forget...

Is that book ......Heroes with Haloes.....St.kilda's One Hundred Greatest...By Russell Holmesby

article on each 100.............but near front of book names his 1-20

that's the one...i can't find it at the moment....think he had stewart and baldock 1 and 2

No Plugger was 2.

Had mentioned that above BUT stinger seems to not overly noticed it............

[stinger]

Hmm, I got that one wrong. Mistakenly, I overlooked Plugger being #2 in the original Top 20. Given that was a year after he walked from StKilda I don't believe his status will have changed.

Congratulations Stewie on being #1 - again, still and always.

the original top 2 as per russell's book were stewart and then the doc....


....i reckon old russ is going to rate plugger no 1....

status prob wont change sting..............

his original 20 in 1995 WAS

stewart .......1

Lockett.........2

thanks for that...i was going off his book where he rated the top 100 saints players...or maybe a lesser amouy...i forget...

Is that book ......Heroes with Haloes.....St.kilda's One Hundred Greatest...By Russell Holmesby

article on each 100.............but near front of book names his 1-20

that's the one...i can't find it at the moment....think he had stewart and baldock 1 and 2

No Plugger was 2.

Had mentioned that above BUT stinger seems to not overly noticed it............

sorry if i missed that.....

[saintbrat]

http://m.saints.com.au/news/2015-01-14/ ... top-25-no2


2. Tony Lockett (2)
Born: March 9, 1966
Debut: Round 4, 1983
Games: 281 (183 St Kilda, 98 Sydney)
Goals: 1360
Height: 191cm
Weight: 104kg

One of the all-time great full-forwards who had a magnificent career at St Kilda and added another chapter with his feats for Sydney. The son of a country star whom Bob Davis believed was one of the best footballers not to play League football. Tony's family in Ballarat was reluctant to let him move to the city and so was he.

[Vazelos]

I just cant imagine Stewart being better than Plugger. For those who saw both is it possible to decide?
There is no way Stewart would have excited and ripped games apart off his own boot like Plugger did.
The frustrating thing is at his peak 30% of his football 1989-1994 he was either injured or suspended.
He was averaging easy 7 goals a game in this time, he missed around 40 to 50 games in this period
Thats around 350 goals more he would have scored and been a 300 game player.
Plugger stands alone for me, key forward always over a Centre man for mine.

[plugger66]

I just cant imagine Stewart being better than Plugger. For those who saw both is it possible to decide?
There is no way Stewart would have excited and ripped games apart off his own boot like Plugger did.
The frustrating thing is at his peak 30% of his football 1989-1994 he was either injured or suspended.
He was averaging easy 7 goals a game in this time, he missed around 40 to 50 games in this period
Thats around 350 goals more he would have scored and been a 300 game player.
Plugger stands alone for me, key forward always over a Centre man for mine.

I didn't see anywhere near enough of Stewart to have my own opinion but my old man did and he rates Plugger as the greatest player he has ever seen. He actually would have Baldock ahead of Stewart. My dad was just over 50 at Pluggers peak and he had just about had enough of footy back then but he wouldn't miss any games Plugger played in whether they were at Victoria Park ot Moorabbin. He loved him. He gave us supporters hope. I thought he was that good that I hardly even missed a swans game on TV whn he went there. Who will ever forget his 8 against Footscray to get his first 100 or his 10 against the full back of the century to get us over the line against Carlton. Think he also got 7 behinds that day or the day he knocked Cavens nose off but more importantly got us over the line when we were 48 points down with 10 minutes on the clock against the Swans.

[remboy]

I thought he was that good that I hardly even missed a swans game on TV whn he went there.

Same here. I watched every Swans game on tv just to see him. There haven't been too many other non Saints I could say the same thing about.

[stinger]

i watched doc, stewart and plugger from the start of their careers.....nearly impossible to rate one above the other....but if someone held a gun to my head i would go

1...doc

2...plugger

3 stewart...


doc was a saints man through and through.....the other two left.....the reasons don't matter but it takes away from them slightly in my eyes.....

[plugger66]

i watched doc, stewart and plugger from the start of their careers.....nearly impossible to rate one above the other....but if someone held a gun to my head i would go

1...doc

2...plugger

3 stewart...


doc was a saints man through and through.....the other two left.....the reasons don't matter but it takes away from them slightly in my eyes.....

Isnt this about how good they are though. Leaving doesn't change their ability.

[magnifisaint]

i watched doc, stewart and plugger from the start of their careers.....nearly impossible to rate one above the other....but if someone held a gun to my head i would go

1...doc

2...plugger

3 stewart...


doc was a saints man through and through.....the other two left.....the reasons don't matter but it takes away from them slightly in my eyes.....

I was told Stewart got shipped out by Jeans.

[1966]

I have been trying to find info on the Stewart Barrott swap.
Why did Barrott only play two games at St kilda?
Kicked 3 in his first game and was gone 2 weeks later.
Could have been handy in the 71 grand final.

Meanwhile Stewart went on the win another flag and Brownlow.

[stinger]

i watched doc, stewart and plugger from the start of their careers.....nearly impossible to rate one above the other....but if someone held a gun to my head i would go

1...doc

2...plugger

3 stewart...


doc was a saints man through and through.....the other two left.....the reasons don't matter but it takes away from them slightly in my eyes.....

I was told Stewart got shipped out by Jeans.

yeah......i don't know the full story..but jeans was a pretty straight laced copper and didn't approve of some of ian's habits....but in the end we swapped him for billy barrett..who didn't work out.....my dad at the time was mates with ian drake and he knew the full story....dead now....anyway we could have kept stewart ans still got billy....stick by my origial comments..as you can see i still rate stewart the third best sainter of all time....bot to be sneezed at...

[stinger]

I have been trying to find info on the Stewart Barrott swap.
Why did Barrott only play two games at St kilda?
Kicked 3 in his first game and was gone 2 weeks later.
Could have been handy in the 71 grand final.

Meanwhile Stewart went on the win another flag and Brownlow.

he was never happy at the saints..nor carlton...never settled after leaving the tigers...i think his heart was with them....

..someone else will know more...