Where have all the great rovers gone!!

[GWW]

Whilst following footy in the 80's and 90's it was easy to list numerous champion rovers.....rovers in the true sense - pacey, diminutive, in and under players who would always be at the bottom of packs dishing the ball out.....and who would be equally at home resting in the forward pocket and could be relied upon to "crumb" 2 or so goals a game. I'm thinking of players such as Platten, Hodgeman, McGuiness, Naley, Nathan Burke, Weightmann, Bews, Royal, Barry Mitchell, Tony Shaw (probably not so pacey though) etc etc. All rovers in the true sense. Also Liber, although hes not really a favourite with anyone who isn't a Bulldogs supporter. Back in the 70's there was Barry Cable, Leigh Matthews, and i'm sure a few others who i'm not old enough to remember.

How do todays rovers stack up? There are some good ones? Kerr from the Eagles, Brent Harvey (inconsistent), Peter Bell. These are the only real rovers in the true sense i can think of who play today (probably are more i haven't thought of though). Dont get me wrong, there are a lot of good/great players who from time to time play as a rover today - Simon Black, Akermanis, Kane Cornes, Simon Goodwin, sometimes McLeod........but i would say these players are more a traditional centreman/ruck rover type than a rover.

What do other people reckon? Am i being too harsh on today's crop of rovers? Are there any factors in today's footy that have counted against the development of champion rovers, as we've seen in the past? Or am i just simply wrong in my assessment??

[heater31]

the traditional bred of rovers are dying GWW, the style of AFL footy these days does not require the types of Platten, Hodgeman, McGuiness, Naley, Nathan Burke as you mentioned, as we focus on the free flowing style of footy and the possesion game.

[Magpiespower]

Reakon there's no such thing as centreman, rovers or ruck-rovers anymore.

They're all cut from the same cloth - athletic, cut, 6 foot midfielders.

[Punk Rooster]

Reakon there's no such thing as centreman, rovers or ruck-rovers anymore.

They're all cut from the same cloth - athletic, cut, 6 foot midfielders.

add metrosexual to that too... hang on, are we talking about Footy or Big Brother??

[Rik E Boy]

Reakon there's no such thing as centreman, rovers or ruck-rovers anymore.

They're all cut from the same cloth - athletic, cut, 6 foot midfielders.

add metrosexual to that too... hang on, are we talking about Footy or Big Brother??

..or Collingwood?

regards,

REB

[Punk Rooster]

Reakon there's no such thing as centreman, rovers or ruck-rovers anymore.

They're all cut from the same cloth - athletic, cut, 6 foot midfielders.

add metrosexual to that too... hang on, are we talking about Footy or Big Brother??

..or Collingwood?

regards,

REB

Correct.
If we were talking about Geelong, we'd have to remove the word "athletic"

[MW]

Reakon there's no such thing as centreman, rovers or ruck-rovers anymore.

They're all cut from the same cloth - athletic, cut, 6 foot midfielders.

Spot on.

[Booney]

A few,not in the same class as Platten and co. mentioned above,some could lay claims.

Kerr-WCE
Edwards-Adelaide
Pearce-Port
Mitchell-Hawthorn
O'Bree-Collingwood

If a rover is defined by height,then these fall into that category,if a rover is defined by being at the Ruckman's feet all day,some of them do that too.

[sydney-dog]

Rover, not sure if such a creature exists anymore

it was not that long ago when we had traditional rovers, and ruck rovers, now they are followers, midfielders, or even more specific inside or outside midfielders, run with players

not sure if we will see too many traditional rovers come through the system, unfortunately now it seems to be about identifying the perfect athlete and turning him in to a footballer

[Punk Rooster]

not sure if we will see too many traditional rovers come through the system, unfortunately now it seems to be about identifying the perfect athlete and turning him in to a footballer

And that's basically where AFL started going wrong...