FOLLOWING last week's Australian Football Hall of Fame ceremony, there has been talk of a greater desire to include more inductees from outside Victoria in the list the recognises the biggest contributors in the Australian game.
We've trawled the quantified records (and some more emotive sentiments) at Alberton to find seven blokes who deserve consideration for the Australian Football Hall of Fame...
Russell Ebert – Legend
OK, so he’s already in the Hall of Fame but we reckon this bloke had been too long overlooked in the annals of Australia’s great footy honour roll for its highest honour – legend status.
Just look at his record: 392 games – the most of any Port Adelaide player in first class footy – and three premierships as a player is a start. He also won six best and fairest awards for the club, coached for five years, successfully coached the state side between 1996 and 1998, and holds the unbeaten record of four Magarey Medals.
The father of Brett and uncle of Brad comes from a proud footballing family (his brothers also played league footy for the club) but it’s his continuing service to the game as the manager of Port Adelaide’s lauded community youth program that shows his true value to the world beyond football’s borders – service that warrants 'legend'status.
Record
Games: 391 games for Port Adelaide (1968-1978, 1980-1985), 25 for North Melbourne (1979)
Goals: 295 for Port Adelaide, 14 for North Melbourne
Premierships: 3 - 1977, 1980, 1981
Magareys: 4 - 1971, 1974, 1976, 1980
Captain: 1974-1978, 1983-1985)
State caps: 29
State captaincies: 3 - 1975, 1977, 1983
Best and fairests: 6 – 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981
Leading goal kicker: 1 – 1968
Jack Oatey Medals: 1 – 1981
Coaching: Port Adelaide (1983-1987), Woodville (1988-1989), SA State of Origin (1996 – 1998)
Order of Australia
Halls of Fame: Australian Football (1996) , Port Adelaide (1998), South Australian Football (2002)
Davy Boyd
Boyd is a name little known in younger generations, but he was one of many giants of the game during his successful career in the 1950s. The 1956 Magarey Medallist is a seven-time premiership player and member of the group that set a record six consecutive premiership victories. His 222-game career saw him become just one of a handful of men to play in an Australian record six consecutive flags. Boyd is named at left-half forward in Port Adelaide’s greatest ever team.
Record
Games: 222 games for Port Adelaide (1948-1960)
Goals: 183
Premierships: 7 – 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959
Magareys: 1 - 1956
State caps: 19
State best on ground: 1956
Selector: 25 years for Port Adelaide, former SA chairman of selectors, former league director
Halls of Fame: Port Adelaide (1998), South Australian Football (2002)
Greg Phillips
Is he the greatest centre half-back in the final days of the SANFL? Port Adelaide fans would of course offer up a resounding YES! Phillips is one of Port Adelaide’s big players, having clocked the second-most games for Port Adelaide (343, behind Ebert), Phillips is an eight-time premiership player, three-year captain and the club’s 1988 best and fairest. Throw in the 84 games played at Collingwood in four seasons from 1983 to 1986, his All-Australian selection as a Port Adelaide player in 1980 and winning the Fos Williams Medal for SA in 1982, Phillips remains a high class candidate for the national Hall of Fame.
Record
Games: 343 games for Port Adelaide (1976-1982, 1987-1993), 84 for Collingwood (1983 – 1986)
Goals: 93 for Port Adelaide, 12 for Collingwood
Premierships: 8 – 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
Captain: 1991-1993
All-Australian: 1 - 1980
State caps: 20
Fos Williams Medallist: 1 - 1982
Best and fairests: 1 – 1988
Halls of Fame: Port Adelaide (1998), South Australian Football (2002)
‘Shine’ Hosking
As time ticks on, the heroes of a century ago fade into the background, but Shine Hosking is an incredible oversight in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. In South Australian footy, few are greater than Samson Hosking. SA’s oldest player wore Port’s guernsey at the age of 48 in 1936, and was a member of four premierships as a coach of Port, and three solely as a player. As coach of West Torrens he took the Eagles to the 1933 premiership, and also coached South and West Adelaide, eventually retiring in 1944. A dual Magarey Medallist and vice-captain for South Australia, Hosking is truly worthy.
Record
Games: 163 games for Port Adelaide (1907-1921, 1927, 1936)
Goals: 41 for Port Adelaide
Premierships: 4 – 1910, 1913, 1914, 1921; 3 as coach – 1928, 1936, 1937 (for Port Adelaide), 2 – 1916, 1917 (Patriotic League), 1 as coach – 1933 (for West Torrens)
Magareys: 2 – 1910, 1915
State caps: 10
Best and fairests: 1 – 1910
Coaching: Port Adelaide (1921, 1927-1931, 1936-1938), West Adelaide (1922-1925), South Adelaide (1926), West Torrens (1932-1934, 1940-1941), Port-Torrens (1942-1944)
Halls of Fame: South Australian Football (2002)
Mark Williams
‘Choco’ would warrant an elevation to the hall of fame, but the question is whether it will be as a player or coach. A member of the Williams dynasty, Mark is Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFL premiership coach, but has a compelling record across two clubs. For Port, he won four premierships, played 11 games and represented SA nine times. He played 135 games for Collingwood and captained Victoria’s Magpies between 1983 and 1986. Throw in his stints coaching Glenelg and assisting at Essendon, GWS and Richmond, Choc’s life in footy spanning 39 years since debuting for Westies in 1976 is worthy of the game’s most significant tip-of-the-cap.
Record
Games: 111 games for Port Adelaide (1979-1980, 1990-1992), 65 for West Adelaide (1976-1978), 135 for Collingwood (1981-1986), 66 for Brisbane (1987-1990)
Goals: 104 for Port Adelaide, 37 for West Adelaide, 178 for Collingwood, 58 for Brisbane
Premierships: 4 – 1979, 1980, 1990, 1992; 1 as coach - 2004
Captain: of Collingwood (1983-1986)
All-Australian: 1 – 1980
State caps: 9 for South Australia, 1 for Victoria
Best and fairests: 2 – 1981, 1985 for Collingwood
Leading goal kicker: 1 – 1984 for Collingwood
Coaching: Port Adelaide (1999-2010), Glenelg (1993-1994), assistant at Essendon (1995-1996), GWS (2012-2013), Richmond (2014-present)
Halls of Fame: South Australian Football (2003)
Tim Evans
Considering this bloke has kicked the second-most goals in the SANFL (behind legendary Ken Farmer), Evans was a big-time player for Port Adelaide, a six-time league leading goal kicker, 10 times for the Magpies and the club’s greatest ever full forward. Arguably he makes the greatest ever SA representative team, too. Simply put, this bloke is well worthy of an upgrade to national recognition.
Record
Games: 246 games for Port Adelaide (1975-1986), 59 for Geelong (1971-1974)
Goals: 1041 for Port Adelaide, 26 for Geelong
Premierships: 4 – 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981
State caps: 10
Leading goal kicker: 10 – 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985 (Port Adelaide), 6 – 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984 (SANFL)
Halls of Fame: Port Adelaide (1998), South Australian Football (2002), Tasmanian Football (2008)
Scott Hodges
Can big Scotty scrape in? It depends on how national footy is recognised, because there will be those that say the transitionary years of the VFL to the AFL are when state level achievements begin to fade in the eyes of the Hall of Fame committee. Still, we reckon Scotty H is a worthy consideration in anyone’s book. After all, he booted 693 goals in a career spanning 12 seasons from 1987 to 1998. He also won the Magarey Medal in 1990, two Port Adelaide best and fairest medals before the club stepped into the AFL and played in eight flags – including two starring performances under the cosh of injury. For the Crows he also clocked 38 games and kicked 100 goals in three seasons.
Record
Games: 183 games for Port Adelaide (1987-1990, 1992-1998), 38 for Adelaide Crows (1991-1993)
Goals: 690 for Port Adelaide, 100 for Adelaide Crows
Premierships: 8 – 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998
Magareys: 1 - 1990
State caps: 3
Best and fairests: 2 – 1990, 1996
Leading goal kicker: 5 – 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996 (Port Adelaide), 3 – 1990, 1994, 1996 (SANFL), 1 – 1992 (Adelaide Crows)
Record holder: 153 goals, 1990 – most goals in an SANFL season
Halls of Fame: Port Adelaide (2002), South Australian Football (2007)
Kane Cornes
A premiership player, double All-Australian and four-time club best and fairest weighs heavily in Cornes’s favour. Then there’s the subjective honours – widely regarded as one of the modern game’s best (if not most significant) tagger. As a 300-gamer and the first Port Adelaide player to reach that mark in the national comp, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ Cornes will be elevated among the greats.
Record
Games: 300 games for Port Adelaide (2001-2015)
Goals: 93 for Port Adelaide
Premierships: 1 – 2004
Pre-season premierships: 2 – 2001, 2002
Representative football: 1 – Dream Team (2008)
All-Australian: 2 -2005, 2007
Best and fairests: 4 – 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012
