The Roar
The Roar

AFL
Advertisement

Who is the most complete player in AFL?

29th July, 2010
Advertisement
Roar Guru
29th July, 2010
33
2315 Reads
Chris Judd of Carlton clears the ball during the AFL Round 07 match between the St Kilda Saints and the Carlton Blues at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images

Chris Judd of Carlton clears the ball during the AFL Round 07 match between the St Kilda Saints and the Carlton Blues at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne. Slattery Images

This month’s edition of Inside Sport features an article which considers whether Carlton midfielder Chris Judd is the most complete player the game has ever seen.

The piece goes on to ponder whether Judd is not only the most complete, but also “the best player to strap on a boot…ever.”

Judd is an absolutely exceptional player – truly phenomenal. But is he the most complete player ever? Not on your life.

In fact, Judd is not even most complete player of his generation.

Calling Judd the most complete AFL player ever is akin to labeling Bradman the most complete cricketer ever. Bradman was an extraordinary batsman without peer, and by all reports an exceptional fieldsman, but throw him the ball and he wasn’t much chop.

The title of most complete cricketer ever surely must go to Sir Garfield Sobers, who could bat, field and bowl pace or spin to a very high standard.

By extension of this logic, the most complete AFL footballer must be someone who has mastered more than one position on the field, and be exceptional at almost all the different skill sets required of an AFL player.

Advertisement

If this is the case, the most complete AFL footballer is Adam Goodes of Sydney.

Need proof? Goodes has won two Brownlow medals as best and fairest in the league. The first in 2003 he won while playing in the ruck, the second in 2006 he won playing as a rover in the Sydney midfield. Goodes has therefore been deemed the best player in the league in two separate years playing very different positions demanding completely different subsets of skills.

It is akin to Andrew Johns having won a Dally M medal as halfback one year and then winning it again as a front rower a few years later. Ever seen that done?

Sadly, the only reason Goodes is not always mentioned in the same breath as Chris Judd or Gary Ablett is that he plays for Sydney, and the Victoria-centric AFL media has a tendency to forget about Goodes’ astounding feats North of the Murray.

His personality is such that this lack of acknowledgement as possibly the most complete AFL footballer in history doesn’t appear to bother him.

To consider now who is the best current AFL player, let’s look back to the summer game and continue the Bradman/Sobers comparison.

One can still justifiably label Bradman as the best cricketer ever by virtue of him being so far ahead of anyone before or since in one of the two basic disciplines of cricket – batting. It is possible to mount an argument that Judd is the best midfielder ever, but he is not miles ahead of the next-best midfielders, as Bradman is when compared with other batsmen.

Advertisement

To make a quantitative analysis, if Judd is rated a ten out of ten as a midfielder, Goodes would be no less than a nine. Put them both in the ruck, and Goodes still rates a nine, while Judd would be pretty ineffective, scoring a six at best.

So Judd may be the best midfielder ever, but there is not enough of a gap between him and the next best midfielders to consider him the best player ever on this basis alone.

Furthermore, the last season or two Goodes has played in the forward line for Sydney (his third positional change), a role he has performed very well. Having said this, Judd would also be a very dangerous forward if ever he was given the chance.

The most complete AFL player? Adam Goodes by the length of a footy field. Best player ever? The jury is still out.

close