Russell Ebert, Barry Robran, Paul Bagshaw?

[mal]

1 ROBRAN
2 EBERT
3 BAGSHAW

I had the privalige to see them all play.

ROBRAN
Tall lanky, senstional mark, fantastic skills.
Played CHF and CENTRE a fair bit
The best memory is him taking a spectacular mark and as he fell to the ground
he would handball it instinctively as a team-mate ran past.

EBERT
Powerfully built, exquisite skills, disposal immaculate, freakish marks,fitness personified.
Played FF at the start-CENTRE nearly all career-FP at the end.
The best memory is this guy with massive hands holding the footy in one hand
when evading tacklers.
And those bullet like drop kicks
The complete package

BAGSHAW
Possibly the most evasive skillful player Ive seen
Played RR most of his career.
Was known as Mr Magic
The best memory I had of this bloke was weaving his way out of packs from
impossible positions.

ROBRAN was the best, goodness knows how many medals he might have won
EBERT just behind him
BAGSHAW well behind the other 2

And not one mention of Grenville Dietrich.....

[MagareyLegend]

Robran

[blueandwhite]

As someone who saw them all play in their prime and from obviously an impartial point of view. I can say that Robran was the best player I've ever seen pull on a boot. I would rank Ebert and Bagshaw a distance behind him.
Ebert was good but obviously did not have the injuries that Robran incurred. He was physically immensely strong and durable with immaculate skills.
Bagshaw was a very good player in a very good team . He had immense strength and talent to burn.I remember later in his career he played full forward with great success. When left with an opponent in a one on one situation he was rarely beaten. he had an uncanny knack of being able to stand still and let no one could make a tackle stick on him. He was a magnificent kick, very proficient with the drop kick early in his career.

[robranosgod]

As someone who saw them all play in their prime and from obviously an impartial point of view. I can say that Robran was the best player I've ever seen pull on a boot. I would rank Ebert and Bagshaw a distance behind him.

As a ise man once said, comparing Ebert to Robran was loke comparing Steve Waugh to Bradman. Waugh may have scored more centuries, Ebert won more medals but there really is no comparison.

North played Port in four consecutive finals in 1971 and 1972. North won all 4, Robran was best afield in all four games. Ebert was a Champ, Robran was in a class above. If you read any newspaper of the day Robran is always referred to as the pre-eminent player. Prior to injury Robran won 7 best and fairest in a row for his club, in his career, Ebert "only" ever won five. Even in 1974 Robran was injured on June 1st, not half way through the season, yet ran third in the medal behind Ebert and the hot favourite Rick Davies.

Baggy was different. He was more loke D Jarman. Brilliant, mercurial but sometimes disinterested. I would be interested in McALmanac's view, but in some of Woodville's darkest days, Robran and Ebert would get 40 kicks against them, Baggy would get 5 kicks in those games that didn't matter. Yet I reckon if they gave medals for Best on ground in Grand Finals in those days, Baggy may have won three of them.

Even Fos Williams and John Cahill both stated that as good as Ebert was, Robran was better. Coming from Ebert's coaches that has to be the ultimate accolade.

[Dissident]

I emailed this thread to my Dad to ask what he thought - he saw them all.

He wrote this :

Best 5 players I’ve seen – at their prime (In order)

Robran
Ebert
Blight
Bagshaw
Head

Don’t rate Cornes in this group – but in the next very good group

[Wedgie]

I emailed this thread to my Dad to ask what he thought - he saw them all.

He wrote this :

Best 5 players I’ve seen – at their prime (In order)

Robran
Ebert
Blight
Bagshaw
Head

Don’t rate Cornes in this group – but in the next very good group

Except for Blight that's pretty well the consensus I get from most people in the older age bracket that saw them all play, even Port supporters Ive talked to (which suprised me).

[McAlmanac]

I emailed this thread to my Dad to ask what he thought - he saw them all.

He wrote this :

Best 5 players I’ve seen – at their prime (In order)

Robran
Ebert
Blight
Bagshaw
Head

Don’t rate Cornes in this group – but in the next very good group

Except for Blight that's pretty well the consensus I get from most people in the older age bracket that saw them all play, even Port supporters Ive talked to (which suprised me).

Where do those older folk rate Blight?

[Adelaide Hawk]

I emailed this thread to my Dad to ask what he thought - he saw them all.

He wrote this :

Best 5 players I’ve seen – at their prime (In order)

Robran
Ebert
Blight
Bagshaw
Head

Don’t rate Cornes in this group – but in the next very good group

Except for Blight that's pretty well the consensus I get from most people in the older age bracket that saw them all play, even Port supporters Ive talked to (which suprised me).

Where do those older folk rate Blight?

Personally, I rate Blight second behind Robran, and well ahead of Ebert.

[Wedgie]

Most older people I talk to wouldn't rate Blight in the top 5.
I must admit I doubt I would have either.
Great player though.

[McAlmanac]

Most older people I talk to wouldn't rate Blight in the top 5.
I must admit I doubt I would have either.
Great player though.

I prefer Adelaide Hawk's assessment - and agree in my own non -biased way.

[Wedgie]

Most older people I talk to wouldn't rate Blight in the top 5.
I must admit I doubt I would have either.
Great player though.

I prefer Adelaide Hawk's assessment - and agree in my own non -biased way.

lol, the man was a pioneer though, going to the VFL when loyal, whoops, I mean others didn't and dominating like he did.

In all seriousness Barrie R has told me that if it wasn't for his knee injury despite many reports he would have given the VFL a go later on in his career and if he was going to play for any club it was Geelong!
I couldn't imagine him and Sam Newman in the same side, 2 more different people you'd never meet!

[McAlmanac]

Geelong being outside of Melbourne, that makes sense.

[Wedgie]

Geelong being outside of Melbourne, that makes sense.

True, good point.

[Adelaide Hawk]

In all seriousness Barrie R has told me that if it wasn't for his knee injury despite many reports he would have given the VFL a go later on in his career and if he was going to play for any club it was Geelong!

At the time I was really pleased with the lack of SANFL players joining the VFL. However, I now wish our champions all had a stint in the VFL to show the footy world what they could do. I still have Victorian supporters tell me Robran has no place as a legend on the AFL Hall of Fame, and this is because they never saw him play.

We had two at Norwood who I was pleased never joined the VFL. These players were Aish and McIntosh. However, I now sit and wonder what they may have achieved. Previous champions like Head, Darley, Kerley, etc would have all been sensations in the VFL. And I certainly wish players such as Ebert, Davies and Cornes had gone earlier in their careers.

All these players mantioned were great players, not only at local level, but also at state level so there's no doubt in my mind each and every one of them would have been VFL greats.

[Leaping Lindner]

In all seriousness Barrie R has told me that if it wasn't for his knee injury despite many reports he would have given the VFL a go later on in his career and if he was going to play for any club it was Geelong!

At the time I was really pleased with the lack of SANFL players joining the VFL. However, I now wish our champions all had a stint in the VFL to show the footy world what they could do. I still have Victorian supporters tell me Robran has no place as a legend on the AFL Hall of Fame, and this is because they never saw him play.
We had two at Norwood who I was pleased never joined the VFL. These players were Aish and McIntosh. However, I now sit and wonder what they may have achieved. Previous champions like Head, Darley, Kerley, etc would have all been sensations in the VFL. And I certainly wish players such as Ebert, Davies and Cornes had gone earlier in their careers.

All these players mantioned were great players, not only at local level, but also at state level so there's no doubt in my mind each and every one of them would have been VFL greats.

I get that a far bit living over here in Victoria. I just say that Coleman, Whitten, Matthews etc have no place as Legends as they never proved themselves at SANFL level.
Usuallly followed by telling the person to have a big cup of "shut the **** up".

[leftlegger]

I didnt see enough of Robran prior to his knee injury.

Bagshaw was a freak!!

Every time i saw Ebert, he was average. Peter Marker used to get the better of him regularly.

[Adelaide Hawk]

I didnt see enough of Robran prior to his knee injury.

Bagshaw was a freak!!

Every time i saw Ebert, he was average. Peter Marker used to get the better of him regularly.

Make no mistake about it, Ebert was a very special player. One of the greats in what was arguably the golden era of SANFL football. I do agree with what you say about Marker though, in my opinoin he was the equal of Ebert in standard, the only thing separating them is 4 Magarey Medals.

Marker missed 2 medals by 1 vote each time, and had he won those medals people would be talking about him as one of the greatest of all time. Neil Kerley has always said Marker had the wood on Ebert each time they played, a very high testimony to the brilliance of Marker.

[am Bays]

Marker to me is like Robran I never really saw the best of him as he had suffered that injury when I first started watching the Bays and Cornesy was our star in'77 hence he became my idol as a kid ....

*Tassie makes mental note to himself to watch all of the 1973 GF DVD on video again tonight*

However i've talked to some of the old timers/trainers at the Bay who say Marker was a gun and one of teh reason we started our golden era. They still talk about that day at the Bay when he suffered that injury (must have been a 25 000 there that day).

They say over the roar of a packed Bay oval you could hear his leg snap, and the crowd just went quiet and all you called here was Markers groans of agony....

[JK]

Never saw Robran or Bagshaw play, and Ebert only toward the end ... My old man is a longtime SANFL follower though and he insists Robran is the best footballer he's ever seen, also rates Ebert and Head well above Bagshaw.

Shouldn't be any bias there either as he is a Norwood fan, but has (and still does) always told me stories of how unbelievably good Robran was.

[GWW]

Never saw Robran or Bagshaw play, and Ebert only toward the end ... My old man is a longtime SANFL follower though and he insists Robran is the best footballer he's ever seen, also rates Ebert and Head well above Bagshaw.

Shouldn't be any bias there either as he is a Norwood fan, but has (and still does) always told me stories of how unbelievably good Robran was.

My dad would prob be a similar age CP. He also says that Robran is the best hes seen, followed by Ebert. He also ranked Head right up there, which is interesting because he generally isn't rated that highly by the broader SANFL community. From what i've been told, Head had unbelievable skills, particularly the ability to evade opposition players. My impression though is that most West Torrens supporters probably rank Bob Hank as their club's best ever player.