The Best. Position by position.

[Twodogs]

It's offseason so it must be time for another 'the best' threads.



The rules are simple. You have to have seen them play. Having watched them on TV is fine as long as you were a contemporary supporter. If you saw some grainy black and white footage of some old player that doesnt cut it as evidence. You have to have watched them play whilst being emotionally invested in the outcome.

I am going to start with the ruckmen;

Gary Dempsey

Ian Hampshire

Andrew Purser

Scott Wynd

Luke Darcy

Ben Hudson

I didnt see enough of Barry Round so I couldnt include him. Those of you who saw more of him and the guys like Schultz who came before can argue his merits.

I'm going to go for Scott Wynd slightly ahead of Dempsey. Wynd was crucial to us in a fairly successful period. In the late '90s if he didnt play we didnt win, simple as that. Dempsey was a great player and probably had it over Wynd in pure abilty but when you take into account leadership I reckon Wynd is the more effective player.

OK. Pick your best ruckman and in the next couple of days we'll do rovers.

[Twodogs]

Bump.

[LostDoggy]

Wynd for mine. Now, if he had've grown Huddo's beard, we would have won a flag.

[w3design]

I was a little too young to really remember Wynd at his best, So I'll say Darcy.

[The Coon Dog]

Dempsey, still rate him above all others I've seen wear the red, white & blue. Probably because I was so young & he just seemed so much better than everyone else, almost God like in those early 70's days.

Great tap ruckman & made an artform of dropping back into defence to take mark after mark.

Was shattered when he buggered off to North & we got John Moylan, Gary Cowton & Mark Williams in return. I was so glad Demps didn't win a flag.

[LostDoggy]

Andrew Purser. I was a bit young to remember the finer points of his game but he was my first favourite player, he was a lovely bloke & he was picked in Mick Malthouses best 22 a couple of years ago. :)

[gohardorgohome]

Gary Dempsey has the most Brownlow votes of all time... I know players received votes from both umpires for two years in the 70's, but even so he was a regular in the Victorian Side in an ordinary period for the dogs.....


Scotty Wynd comes in a clear second.... very good player.....near enough to the best Ruckman in the AFL in the 90s.


As a true ruckman I would have Purser 3rd of this lot.....He was not a tall player, but he rucked all day without a break....excellent palm work.......huge heart playing against taller opponents.

I think Darcy was a better player than Purser..but he was also a forward for much of his career...

[Dazza]

Wynd was my favourite player growing up. Could take a great grab and fill holes beautifully. Always remember him giving off the handballs instead of kicking it.

[Twodogs]

Wynd was my favourite player growing up. Could take a great grab and fill holes beautifully. Always remember him giving off the handballs instead of kicking it.


And the opposition never cottoned onto it.

[bornadog]

Dempsey - I never seen a player dominate so much as he did a game. Who can forget his game for Victoria v WA.

[Scorlibo]

I'm only really old enough to comment on Huddo, Darce and Wynd, but out of those 3 my vote goes to Luke Darcy. I think he was just about the best player in the AFL circa 2001, won the players' MVP and semi-revolutionised the modern ruck role. I loved the aggression and leadership he brought to the side and I would have thought that it would be more or less a three horse race between him, Scott Wynd and Dempsey as the greatest Bulldogs ruckman. Like I said, I never saw Dempsey, but 7 best and fairests and a Brownlow must count for a fair bit.

[mighty_west]

Dempsey, was pretty young when i saw him play, but like what TCD said, players seem better when your younger, was a shame we lost him along with Templeton & Quinlan, although KT's knee's were buggered by the time he went to the Demons.

Wynd, Purser then Darcy and Huddo probably a little behind those 3.

Then we have Bluey Hampshire, oldest looking bloke to play the game, didn't mind a bit of a dust up.

[Hotdog60]

I started with Bluey but I think Scott Wynd would be my pick, I was following the Dogs when Dempsey was playing and I remember him going to Nt Melb. Also Barry Round but I was only listening to the odd game on the radio during those days.

[Maddog37]

Wynd for me. Love a ruck man that fills the gap so well. So consistent too.

[Bulldog4life]

I was lucky enough to see John Schultz play and I'd have him a smidgen in front of Dempsey. Schultzy played 169 games straight with us starting with his debut game. Fairly certain he represented The Big V over 20 times and won the Club's B & F 5 times as well as the Brownlow too. Never seemed to play a bad game and could ruck all day still going strongly in the last quarter as the first.
Nicholls & Farmer received most of the accolades in those days but Schultzy always played well against those 2 and easy had his share of wins against them.
A true loyal champion.

[Sockeye Salmon]

I was lucky enough to see John Schultz play and I'd have him a smidgen in front of Dempsey. Schultzy played 169 games straight with us starting with his debut game. Fairly certain he represented The Big V over 20 times and won the Club's B & F 5 times as well as the Brownlow too. Never seemed to play a bad game and could ruck all day still going strongly in the last quarter as the first.
Nicholls & Farmer received most of the accolades in those days but Schultzy always played well against those 2 and easy had his share of wins against them.
A true loyal champion.

I'm not old enough to remember Schultz, but of the other:

Dempsey

Daylight

More daylight

Everyone else

[ledge]

Yes Dempsey, he was teaching and beating Wynd at training 20 years on.

[cnmin2]

I have to go with bd4l John Shultz closely followed Garry Dempsey

[Sockeye Salmon]

Yes Dempsey, he was teaching and beating Wynd at training 20 years on.

Demps helped out Carlton a few years back and at boundary throw-ins was holding his own at 60!

[westdog54]

Demps helped out Carlton a few years back and at boundary throw-ins was holding his own at 60!

Also played in the first EJ Whitten Match if memory serves me correctly.

Wynd was the earliest I saw, also the best, followed by Darcy.

[LostDoggy]

I am lucky (?) enough to have seen them all play, albeit, I was only a little tacker watching John Schultz. I think Dempsey would have to be No. 1 on my list, very closely followed by Wynd - I used to call him the General, as when he came on the ground, he could marshall the troops and turn the game around single-handedly! I think the Beard is a little like Scotty too!

[LostDoggy]

Demps helped out Carlton a few years back and at boundary throw-ins was holding his own at 60!

Well, wouldn't be too hard rucking against the likes of Setanta.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Well, wouldn't be too hard rucking against the likes of Setanta.

That's true enough - I think Carlton's no. 1 ruck at the time was Mark Porter - but Dempsey was a grandfather!

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Dempsey's the best, one of his specialties not yet mentioned was packmarks in our forward goalsquare. Shultz was big hearted and had big thick legs and as I remember, could manouvere himself into the best position for throw ins etc Can't remember him losing a contest (childhood memories).

[LostDoggy]

Wynd for mine. Loved his ability to tap the ball out and then take out 1 or 2 players on his way out of the ruck contest.

[LostDoggy]

Dempsey had to be the most talented I saw, although I loved Bluey enough to put his number on my duffel coat.

[Bulldog Joe]

When you consider ruckmen it also highlights some things about the evolution of the game, yet the real strength of ruckmen is to set up play.

We have never had a Dean Cox type but we have had great ruckmen.

Schultz is a childhood memory without the privilege of viewing him in action.

Dempsey was a magnificent player but to me his real strength was his defensive marking in the way that Brian Lake now controls the backline. I don't have stats but my gut feel is that Dempsey took more marks than anyone in his era. Dempsey was responsible for a rule change (although at NMelb) when they looked to change the wrestle after Peter Moore (at Collingwood) simply mauled Dempsey to stop his effectiveness at centre bounces.

Purser was terrific but his career was relatively short and was more of an athletic ruckman who just kept going all day.

Wynd was a great scrapper who could take the marks but really was superb at getting down and dirty for the ground level ball after the ruck contest.

Darcy was a very good player and probably responsible for the rule that now means ruckmen are considered to have had prior opportunity if they take possession in the ruck contest. This was Darcy's best tactic. He was also a very good forward. His position in the ruck was probably held back because of how good Wynd was.

Hudson is almost the poor man's Scott Wynd. A very good scrapper and wins a lot of ground clearance, but does not take the marks that Wynd did.

My vote for the best of them would go to Wynd narrowly from Dempsey.

[KT31]

My vote for the best of them would go to Wynd narrowly from Dempsey.

From a Doggies perspective loved Wynd and a great bloke.
From an AFL perspective Dempsey played so much great footy after he left us and he is the only player (I think) to make two teams of the century.

[BulldogBelle]

John Schultz was a good ruckman, got the taps but dropped too many marks. The ball would just bounce off his hands.

Gary Dempsey had a magnificent physique, took a score of defensive marks per game but didn't seem to win the taps. He also played well for a long time.

Wynd got the taps and took the marks and was a great captain, but wasn't around as long.

The others were not in the same class.

Wynd narrowly for me.