BigMart wrote:No Plugger - that is a ridiculous/dumb reply......seriously.
I will spell it out
I rate sustained excellence over fleeting......and 5 seasons is fleeting (in R.Harvey terms)....
you could split Harves career into three....and he would still be great in all three.
Plugger being the only FF to win a B-low has what to do with it......that means he is arguably the best FF......we he was in 87/91 only two seasons in his Saints career was he the best FF in the AFL.
He was awesome - but games lost in his prime cost him....88/89/90/91/94
the doc actually played for us in the then vfl for 7 seasons...i wouldn't call that fleeting.....
the best three players to have worn the Number 4 (not written by me)
1. Daryl Baldock, 119 games, 1962-68.
The Doc played his first game for the Saints against the Pies in Round 3, 1962 at Victoria Park. We won and I was there. This was a momentous occasion as we rarely won there and a win by 25 points on an Easter Monday was the best Easter present a 12 yr old boy could get. Daryl Baldock went on to lead the Saints to a Premiership in 1966. He won the Saints Best and fairest 3 times in 1962-3 and 1965. From Centre Half Forward he topped the club goal kicking 4 times and was the Saints skipper from 1963 to 1968. In 1987 he took over as coach and lifted us from a dismal 2 wins in 1986 to 9 wins in his first year. Ill health plagued his 3 year tenure as coach and the club did not sustain any improvement. I have chosen Daryl at Centre Half Forward in the Saints Number 4 team of the decades. He is a Saints legend.
2. Tony Lockett, 183 games. 1983-94, No 4 1988-94,
p>Tony Lockett is arguably the greatest Full Forward ever. In 1987 he scored 117 goals and was the first Full Forward to win a Brownlow medal. Injury and suspension prevented further centuries until 1991 when he kicked 127 goals followed by 132 in 1992. Injury prevented him adding to that tally of centuries until he transferred to Sydney where he posted tons in1996 and 1998. Tony Lockett won the Saints Best and Fairest in 1987 and 1991.
There may be some debate over whether Tony Lockett should be regarded as the best number 4 in front of Daryl Baldock but as a supporter who watched them both play, for sheer wizardry and overall talent , Baldock stands alone. I have obviously chosen Tony at Full Forward in this great Number 4 team. He is a member of the Saints Hall of Fame.
3. Barry Breen, 300 games, 1965-82, No 4, 1972-82.
I have chosen Barry Breen as the 3rd best Saints player to pull on the Number 4. Barry Breen won us a premiership when he kicked the winning score in the dying moments of the game. As a 17yr old and still at De La Salle College in Malvern he made his debut for the Saints in 1965. Some time after Baldock left the Saints Breen took over the number 4 and the Centre Half Forward position. He captained the Saints in 1979 playing at Full Back where he played well. He played a then record 300 Games and was a great player for the club. I have chosen Barry at Half Forward in this great Saints team. Barry was elevated to the Saints Hall of Fame in 2007.