Your Footscray / Western Bulldogs Team Of Your Time

[Scraggers]

This all came about after a discussion with a mate about our current captain Matthew Boyd. He and I were arguing that he was an average player (at best) and did not deserve the captaincy. I stated that I would have him in my best team of my time.

He asked me who would be in my team ... The criteria was set.


Have to be from Footscray / Western Bulldogs teams that I have seen play (for me 1975-ish onwards)
Have to picked in their position (i.e. Cant pick a forward to play in the backline) But doesn't have to be exact position; but the closer to an exact team the better.
No fence sitting ... no apologies for leaving players out.
Pick a current team (i.e. four interchange) ... four emergencies allowed.

So here is my team ...

Backs Terry Wheeler, Ricky Kennedy, Brian Lake
Half Backs Steve Wallis, Chris Grant, Robert Murphy
Centre Doug Hawkins, Adam Cooney, Matthew Boyd
Half Forwards Steve McPherson, Kelvin Templeton, Jim Edmond
Forwards Brad Johnson, Simon Beasley, Ian Dunstan
Followers Gary Dempsey, Tony Liberatore, Scott West

Bench Brian Royal, Scott Wynd, Brad Hardie, Peter Foster

Emergencies Dale Morris, Rohan Smith, Neil Cordy, Geoff Jennings

This is my team; I picked this team with much (internal) debate. This is by no means a team of the century, and there is not a lot of football prowess to back up my selections (other than I liked the players ability / footy smarts etc)

I would love your feedback on my team choices. I would also love to see your team

[Pickenitup]

Here is My Side from 1990 onwards
B:Morris , Lake Kretiuk
HB Smith Croft Gilbee
C:Johnson West Boyd
HF Hahn Darcy Murphy
F Robbins Grant Kolynuik
R Wynd Cooney Liberatore
I/C Griffen S WallisGiansiracusa Hargrave
Emerg:M Hunter Kellett P Hudson D Cross

[Doggy]

My team from around 1975 onwards

B. Hardie Lake Foster
HB. Cameron Grant Murphy
C. Hawkins West McGuinnes
HF. Johnson Templeton Edmond
F. Delre Beasly Purser

R. Dempsey Royal Libba

IC. Smith Wallace Sewell Cooney

Emerg. Kretiuk Gilbee Hunter Wallis

[SlimPickens]

Great thread love it. (Late 80's onwards)

My team:
B. Kretiuk Lake Morris
HB. Smith Croft S.Wallis
C. Hawkins West Cameron
HF. Johnson Grant P Hudson
FF. Royal Delre N.Brown

Ruck. Wynd Cooney Libba (Snr)

Inter. Griffen Murphy Darcy Macpherson

Em. Boyd, Romero, Kolynuik, MacGuiness

Some tough decisions had to be made, i tried to go back to how i felt when the players were in the red white and blue. Not my feelings after they moved on from the club. Oh and Grey Scotty Welsh can count himself very unlucky ;)

[Prince Imperial]

Mine is from 1979 onwards:

Hardie Lake Kennedy
Wallis Foster Smith
Hawkins West Boyd
Grant Templeton Murphy
Royal Beasley Johnson
Wynd Cooney
Liberatore
Darcy Griffen McGuinness Cross

Morris Dunstan Gilbee Edmond

In relation to your team Scraggers I would be firmly of the view that Smith was a much better player than Macpherson who spent a lot of his career as an inconsistent half forward. Super certainly did play better as a half back later in his career.

[GVGjr]

Hardie - Lake - Morris
Smith - Quinlan - Murphy
Hawkins - West - Thorpe
Grant - Templeton - Brown
Johnson - Beasley - Bamblett
Dempsey - McGuinness - Royal

I/C Purser - Liberatore - Featherby - Cooney
E - McLean - Foster - Cameron - Dunstan

I might have a closer look at this a bit later.

[Greystache]

Great thread Scraggers

Mine is (Late 80's onward)

B: Morris, Lake, Hunter
HB: Smith, Foster, Wallis
C: Griffen, West, Hawkins
HF: Murphy, Grant, Hudson
F: Johnson, Beasley, Brown
R: Wynd, Cooney, Boyd
I/C: Darcy, Liberatore, Cameron, Romero


Some tough decisions had to be made, i tried to go back to how i felt when the players were in the red white and blue. Not my feelings after they moved on from the club. Oh and Grey Scotty Welsh can count himself very unlucky ;)

Yes, very stiff!!

[Sockeye Salmon]

B: Egan - Lake - Foster
HB: Wallis - Grant - Murphy
C: Hawkins - West - Cameron
HF: Johnson - Templeton - McGuiness
F: Edmond - Beasley - Royal
R: Dempsey - Cooney - Liberatore
I: Smith - Boyd - McLean - Darcy

E: Dunstan - Macpherson - Griffen - Gilbee

Surprised about the lack of love for Leon Cameron

[Remi Moses]

B- Egan Lake Morris
Hb- Wallis Foster Murphy
C- Hawkins West Cameron
Hf- Whitten Jnr Grant Johnson
F- Royal Beasley Bamblett

Ruck Wynd Dunstan Libba

Inter McGuiness Dempsey Kennedy
Hardie

[Remi Moses]

Apologies to KT, Griffen, Cooney Gilbee

[w3design]

Was born 1990 so going from when I was old enough to get into footy (mid-late 90's onwards)


FB: Kretiuk (*!*!*!*! I loved him as a kid. Remined me of my dad- big and strong. The first number I ever wore in any team sport was #35), Lake, Dale Morris
B: Gilbee, Chris Grant, Rohan Smith
C: Griffen, Scott West, Tony Liberatore
HF: Nathan Brown, Rob Murphy, Giansiracusa
F: Cooney, Hall, Brad Johnson
R: Darcy, Boyd, Romero
Int: Steve Wallis, Danny Southern, Scott Wynd, ROBBINS

[Dazza]

B:Morris , Lake Kretiuk
HB Smith Croft Gilbee
C:Johnson West Griffen
HF Gia Grant Murphy
F Robbins Hall Kolynuik
R Wynd Cooney Liberatore
I/C Boyd Hudson Hargrave Akermanis

Felt bad putting Aker in there.

[BulldogBelle]

Hardie - D. Darcy - Casey
Smith - Quinlan - Cameron
Hawkins - EJ Whitten - D. Thorpe
Grant - Templeton - N. Brown
Johnson - Beasley - Hobbs
Dempsey - Cooney - Royal
I/C Wynd - Liberatore - Murphy - West

Couln't find a place for greats such as Purser, Bob Spargo, John Jillard, Barry Ion, Luke Darcy, Lake, Morris, Kretiuk, Gilbee, Foster, Kennedy, Bisset, Wallis, Dunstan, Croft, John Hoiles, Ray Baxter, Ian Bryant, Terry Wheeler, Abbey, Neil Cordy and a few others.

Feel a bit guilty about having Judas in there but then again there are others such as Dempsey, Dunstan and Thorpe who went down a similar path and Quinlan, Hawkins, Templeton, Cordy, and Bisset played for other sides, and EJ threatened to.

[Sockeye Salmon]

B- Egan Lake Morris
Hb- Wallis Foster Murphy
C- Hawkins West Cameron
Hf- Whitten Jnr Grant Johnson
F- Royal Beasley Bamblett

Ruck Wynd Dunstan Libba

Inter McGuiness Dempsey Kennedy
Hardie

How can you have Dempsey in there but not Templeton?

[Remi Moses]

How can you have Dempsey in there but not Templeton?

Just didn't want to stick Templeton in a pocket.
Just gave Pieman the nod

[JohnGentStand]

My team:
B. Hardie, Lake, Morris
HB. Smith, Foster, Southern
C. Hawkins, West, Cameron
HF.Edmund, Grant , Hudson
FF. Robbins, Beasley, Johnson

Ruck. Wynd, Cooney, Royal

Inter. Libertore, Murphy, Templeton, S Macpherson

I am in love with this forward line...5 of the 6 with incredibly strong hands (4 in the wet! :) ), with the 6th man possibly the best kicking skills seen in the RW&B

Em. MacGuiness, Kennedy, N. Brown, S Wallis

[strebla]

B Hunter Lake Morris
HB Cameron Foster Glibee
C Hawkins West Griffen
GF Brown Grant Murphy
F Bamblett Beasley Royal
R Wynd Cooney Liberatore
INT Purser Croft Wallis McLean

So hard too many missed so no emergencies

[Dogmatic]

I'm surprised to see that Kingsley hunter made so many people's team. Lol

[LostDoggy]

Hardie - D. Darcy - Casey
Smith - Quinlan - Cameron
Hawkins - EJ Whitten - D. Thorpe
Grant - Templeton - N. Brown
Johnson - Beasley - Hobbs
Dempsey - Cooney - Royal
I/C Wynd - Liberatore - Murphy - West

Couln't find a place for greats such as Purser, Bob Spargo, John Jillard, Barry Ion, Luke Darcy, Lake, Morris, Kretiuk, Gilbee, Foster, Kennedy, Bisset, Wallis, Dunstan, Croft, John Hoiles, Ray Baxter, Ian Bryant, Terry Wheeler, Abbey, Neil Cordy and a few others.

Feel a bit guilty about having Judas in there but then again there are others such as Dempsey, Dunstan and Thorpe who went down a similar path and Quinlan, Hawkins, Templeton, Cordy, and Bisset played for other sides, and EJ threatened to.

Surely you mean Graham!

Abbey a great?? Do you mean Angus?

You feel guilty about picking EJ "because he threatened to go" The greatest Bulldog of them all who was offered huge pounds/dollars at the time and rejected them all and you are crook on him for threateneing to go?

Dear me!

[LostDoggy]

Good read.
You should be throwing in a coach and captains???

[Sockeye Salmon]

Surely you mean Graham!

Abbey a great?? Do you mean Angus?

You feel guilty about picking EJ "because he threatened to go" The greatest Bulldog of them all who was offered huge pounds/dollars at the time and rejected them all and you are crook on him for threateneing to go?

Dear me!

I considered Ross Abbey and Stephen Power, I thought they were both wonderful players.

[Bulldog4life]

B: Walker - Lake - Dempsey
HB: Jillard - Foster - Smith
C: Hawkins - West - Johnson
HF: Grant - Templeton - G.Ion
F: Edmond - Beasley - Bisset
R: Schultz- Whitten - Liberatore
I: Royal - Boyd - Murphy - Quinlan

[LostDoggy]

B: Wallis Lake Morris
HB: Smith Croft Murphy
C: Griffin West Cameron
HF: Johnson Grant McGuiness
F: Akermanis Hall N.Brown
R: Wynd Cooney Atkins
I: Darcy Hawkins Libba Boyd

Not sure its the best line-up in my time but it's the one I'd most like to see. The wings from half-back on just full of flair :). Also not sure Atkins would get a game today but I loved his quick hands in that era.

[BulldogBelle]

Surely you mean Graham!

Abbey a great?? Do you mean Angus?

You feel guilty about picking EJ "because he threatened to go" The greatest Bulldog of them all who was offered huge pounds/dollars at the time and rejected them all and you are crook on him for threateneing to go?

Dear me!

Seems as though you are arguing just for the sake of it. Did I step on your toes one time?

I mean Ross Abbey of course, when he played well we always won. Liked him a lot.

My post does not say that I felt a bit guilty about picking EJ, its just your contorted interpretation.

[always right]

B: Morris, Lake, Gilbee
HB: Wallis, Foster, Murphy
C: Hawkins, West, Cameron
HF: Edmond, Templeton, Grant
F: Royal, Beasley, Johnson

R: Dempsey, Cooney, Liberatore

I: Smith, Wynd, McLean, Boyd

Love having Grant and Foster in the same side. Both interchangeable back and forward.

Was a toss-up between, Boyd, Brown and Griffen on the bench.

Surprised to see some love for Egan and Mark Hunter. Good honest players IMO....nothing more.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

Hardie - D. Darcy - Casey
Smith - Quinlan - Cameron
Hawkins - EJ Whitten - D. Thorpe
Grant - Templeton - N. Brown
Johnson - Beasley - Hobbs
Dempsey - Cooney - Royal
I/C Wynd - Liberatore - Murphy - West

Couln't find a place for greats such as Purser, Bob Spargo, John Jillard, Barry Ion, Luke Darcy, Lake, Morris, Kretiuk, Gilbee, Foster, Kennedy, Bisset, Wallis, Dunstan, Croft, John Hoiles, Ray Baxter, Ian Bryant, Terry Wheeler, Abbey, Neil Cordy and a few others.

Feel a bit guilty about having Judas in there but then again there are others such as Dempsey, Dunstan and Thorpe who went down a similar path and Quinlan, Hawkins, Templeton, Cordy, and Bisset played for other sides, and EJ threatened to.

This team sounds like my vintage:
After careful consideration here is my best 22.
B. Bryant Lake Schultz
Hb. Morris Whitten Murphy
C. Hawkins West Johnson
HF. Grant Templeton G. Ion
F. Brown Beasley Liberatore
R. Dempsey Cooney
R. Bisset
Inter. Wynd Foster Griffen Boyd

[gohardorgohome]

I started going to games in the mid 70s as a young kid. It is a bit hard to rely on my understanding of footy as a young kid but Templeton and Dempsey we stand outs......Dunstan won 3 best and fairests in poor teams...Quinlan was a good player for the Bulldogs and became a great player at Fitzroy....

All in all if have 4 70s players, and 6 players each from the 80s, 90s and 2000s.

B Morris Lake Hardie
HB Smith Grant Wallis
C Hawkins West Griffen
HF Murphy Templeton Johnson
F McGuinness Beasley Royal
R Dempsey Cooney Libba

Inter Wynd Boyd Quinlan Dunstan

[the banker]

Hardie - Lake - Morris
Jillard - Quinlan - Murphy
Hawkins - West - Johnson
Edmund - Whitten - Grant
Templeton - Beasley - N Brown
Dempsey - Cooney - Royal

Interchange: Foster. Wynd Liberatore. Featherby
Emergency : Wallis Schultz. Griffen, Purser.

Apologies. Dunstan. Smith

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

[QUOTE=the banker;255322]Hardie - Lake - Morris
Jillard - Quinlan - Murphy
Hawkins - West - Johnson
Edmund - Whitten - Grant
Templeton - Beasley - N Brown
Dempsey - Cooney - Royal

Interchange: Foster. Wynd Liberatore. Featherby
Emergency : Wallis Schultz. Griffin. Purser.

Apologies. Dunstan. Smith[/
It is hard to believe that you couldn't find a spot for John Schultz in your best 22.
Schultz was arguably our best ruckman in the past 50 years. He is only one of two League players to represent Victoria every year in his first 10 years of League football.
Playing in the era of EJ our finest player,both Whitten and Schultz won 5 Club best and fairest awards each.

[the banker]

[QUOTE=the banker;255322]Hardie - Lake - Morris
Jillard - Quinlan - Murphy
Hawkins - West - Johnson
Edmund - Whitten - Grant
Templeton - Beasley - N Brown
Dempsey - Cooney - Royal

Interchange: Foster. Wynd Liberatore. Featherby
Emergency : Wallis Schultz. Griffen. Purser.

Apologies. Dunstan. Smith[/
It is hard to believe that you couldn't find a spot for John Schultz in your best 22.
Schultz was arguably our best ruckman in the past 50 years. He is only one of two League players to represent Victoria every year in his first 10 years of League football.
Playing in the era of EJ our finest player,both Whitten and Schultz won 5 Club best and fairest awards each.
I was very young when whitten and Schultz were playing and I built this team on how much the players engaged me. Your comments totally legitimate.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

[QUOTE=Nuggety Back Pocket;255330]
I was very young when whitten and Schultz were playing and I built this team on how much the players engaged me. Your comments totally legitimate.

Thank you. Apart from Schultz your own team has much merit and hard to argue with.

[Before I Die]

This is such a hard thing to do for so many reasons. Changing style of the game and changing size of the players. Teddy Whitten, CHB in our club team of the century was 184 cm tall, he wouldn't play there today even if he was in his prime. The same applies to 191 cm John Shultz., Plus there is the challenge of fading memories and the skewed perspective of childhood memories.

I started going to games as a young child in the 60's and my heroes were Ian Bryant, John Jillard, George Bisset and David Thorpe, so they are all automatic selections :)
I also put consistency ahead of shooting stars.

B: Bryant - Lake - Purser
HB: Jillard - Foster - Murphy
C: Hawkins - West - Thorpe
HF: Edmond - Templeton - Grant
F: Bisset - Beasley - Johnson

R: Dempsey - Cooney - Royal

Interchange: Liberatore, Quinlan, Wallis, Cameron

Apologies to oh so many.

[BulldogBelle]

This is such a hard thing to do for so many reasons. Changing style of the game and changing size of the players. Teddy Whitten, CHB in our club team of the century was 184 cm tall, he wouldn't play there today even if he was in his prime. The same applies to 191 cm John Shultz., Plus there is the challenge of fading memories and the skewed perspective of childhood memories.

I started going to games as a young child in the 60's and my heroes were Ian Bryant, John Jillard, George Bisset and David Thorpe, so they are all automatic selections :)
I also put consistency ahead of shooting stars.

B: Bryant - Lake - Purser
HB: Jillard - Foster - Murphy
C: Hawkins - West - Thorpe
HF: Edmond - Templeton - Grant
F: Bisset - Beasley - Johnson

R: Dempsey - Cooney - Royal

Interchange: Liberatore, Quinlan, Wallis, Cameron

Apologies to oh so many.

Looks like we are from a similar era. I like John Jillard being in there. Wasn't David Thorpe fantastic on the wing, the way he used to be able to dodge around the opposition and then scoot away.

I originally had Ian Bryant in the back pocket but changed over to Brad Hardie, close one that. Bryant I remember was originally a centreman and moved to the back pocket for some reason, where he became a star. I always wondered why he was moved to the back pocket, he seemed to do well in the centre.

I thought that Dave Darcy and Gordon Casey were our best back-pocket/full-back combination. I left Jim Edmond out, close again with Nathan Brown.

We both left out John Schultz. Great player of course and really knew how to read the play but I was always frustrated by the number of marks he used to drop.

Its enjoyable reading of all of these older players and how well they were regarded.

[KT31]

B: Lake, Kennedy, Wallis
HB: Murphy, Foster, Smith
C: Hawkins, West, Cooney
HF: Quinlan, Templeton, Grant
F: Edmond, Beasley, Johnson

R: Dempsey,Liberatore Snr, Royal

IC:Cameron, Wynd, Boyd

Emg: Edmond, Purser, McGuinness, S McPherson, Griffen

Once you get past the self selections the others were quite challenging.

[craigsahibee]

B : Wheeler Lake Morris
HB : Gilbee Foster Murphy
C : Hawkins West Cameron
HF : Grant Templeton Whitten (jnr)
F : Johnson Beasley Royal

Rucks : Wynd Cooney Liberatore

Inter : Dempsey Griffen Wallis Kolyniuk

Side is based on players from mid 70's on.

Dempsey was a fantastic Ruckman but Big Scotty shades him as I think he is the best Captain we have had in the last 40 years so he has to start.

Apologies to Matty Boyd. Westy and Libba can do the grunt work. There is plenty of silk around those 2 to polish off their good work.

Loved EJ jnr when I was a kid, and I just reckon his footskills at half forward with a forward line including marking/leading options such as KT, Beasley and the Great One makes us unbeatable.

Majority of players from the 90's onwards which reflects on our more somewhat successful periods.

Great topic.

[Axe Man]

Surprised to see Daryl Griffin getting a run some sides. Apparently his 18 games made quite an impression on some!:rolleyes:

[KT31]

Surprised to see Daryl Griffin getting a run some sides. Apparently his 18 games made quite an impression on some!:rolleyes:

18 more games than most of us.;)

[LostDoggy]

18 more games than most of us.;)

I think Axe Man was referring to people spelling Ryan Griffens name incorrectly. :)

[LostDoggy]

I can't add much more to the sides already put up, so I'll just suggest that an inverse of this thread would also be fun to put together -- ie. a team of the WORST Dogs you've ever seen. I'm sure it would be a lot funnier and provoke a lot more debate than a 'best of' team, which I think has a lot more clear consensus picks. :D

[LostDoggy]

This would be my favourite team of my time - not the best team.

B: Hardie - Croft - Morris
HB: Cameron - Southern - R. Murphy
C: Hawkins - S. West - Griffen
HF: Johnson - C. Grant - Del Re
F: Robbins - Beasley - Royal

R: Purser - Libba snr - Atkins
Int: Darcy -Lake - Curley - Cooney

Coach is T. Wheeler

[BulldogBelle]

I see that you have Danny Del Re in the team. Nice choice for that era. He was our top goal scorer for two years in a row and kicked 8 goals in a final once. Kicked 70 goals one year. Just by the looks of him he seemed to be an unlikely footballer to me, but there you go, he was our best forward for many a year.