Shawry's top 10 Pies.

[thompsoc]

I know the greening incident is bad but I have seen a few given out by us.
Re Banksy on a certain Carlton player.

[Flashman]

True but Banks was retaliating after Rhys-Jones split his eyebrow open with an elbow a minute beforehand. You could call it a heat of the moment incident and Rhys also suffered no lasting damage (probably luckily).

Greening was a ball player and cleanskin who was deliberately targeted unnecessarily behind play, was nearly killed and hardly ever played again and never at the level he once did.

The closest Collingwood incident to the Greening one was the Duncan Wright-John Sommerville incident and Duncan Wright was booted out of our club without playing another game as soon as it happened and good riddance to him.

[Pies4shaw]

That wasn't done on team orders and the target was a known thug and sniper. Every genuine football follower thought that was a good outcome and entirely appropriate. Greening was the ultimate ball player and O'Dea's disgusting act was like shooting Bambi.

Edit: Flashman, I agree. I didn't see your post before I hit "submit".

[piester]

Would have thought Billy Picken would have been in there somewhere. But a top 10 is always going to be a subjective assessment. But on talent alone Greening would have to be there.

[mudlark]

[Bucks2014]

Like this thread, I was born early 70's and can remember the 77 grand finals, but really my best would be 79 onwards.

My list will probably have a couple of favourite players in my early years.

1. Daics, magician wore his number for years.
2. Buckley, we were a rubbish team for years but he made it worthwhile to watch.
3. Pendlebury, never panics my favourite all time Pie.
4. Millane, what couldn't he do.
5. Tony Shaw, captain courageous
6. Micky McGuane, terrific footballer.
7. James Clement, beautiful kick and read the play the same.
8. Dane Swan, unfashionable but just gets it done.
9. Scott Burns, tough as nails.
10. Ricky Barham, yep one of my favourites from the early years. Can still visualise him running along the wing. All those grand finals for zilch.

[Mugwump]

[Bob Sugar]

Can someone remind me what Greening did as a centre man-on baller? how many goals did he kick?

Trying to elevate him above the great one needs explanation, and the vibe won't do, if he was better than Daicos he must have averaged over 3 goals a game.

did he have better skills than Daicos? Lol


Was he more versatile? Lol

Was he more evasive? Oops, try again

Was he more of a match winner? Don't think so

[Presti35]

[Presti35]

[Flashman]

[Mugwump]

[Pies4shaw]

I think the difference between Greening and Daicos is that Daicos was a more limited all-round player - what he did well he probably did better than Greening but Greening was way faster, a brilliant overhead mark and, when he cut loose, quite unstoppable because he simply couldn't be matched up physically. Because he was so gifted in so many ways, if you were previewing a game in which Daicos played on Greening, both at their peak, you'd reasonably expect Greening to win the dual hands down because they both had startling ball skills, read the game like a book and kicked beautifully but Greening was bigger, stronger, faster and better overhead.

I don't recall Greening playing as a permanent forward. He played the wing, ruck-roved (which, in those days, meant resting on the HFF when you weren't on the ball) and, very occasionally, in the centre. Thus, most of Greening's best work was done well away from the goals. So, when he bagged a six or a seven, you knew that it was a reasonable effort because he was doing it in the general run of play, typically bursting away from a pack. Daicos kicked great bags of goals but he never did that whilst also having 40+ kicks, as Greening did.

Some indication of how perfect an all-round player Greening was may be found in what he did when he finally left Collingwood. He turned out at CHB for Port Melbourne for a year or two (in the days when the VFA was a proper competition of a good standard) and starred there in a winning GF or two. Whatever talent Daicos had, it would never have occurred to even the dumbest of coaches to play him as a KPD. Greening did and did it with astonishing ease.

All that said, I'm with Mudlark in the Carman camp - not just as the most talented Collingwood player I've seen but as the most talented player of all. It is a tragedy there isn't more footage. Ultimately, though, I just think of them all as great talents who were a joy to watch when they were up and about - picking a "best" in such company is doing no more than identifying your own personal favourite.

[RudeBoy]

[RudeBoy]