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There’s athletes who aren’t gifted. They have worked themselves harder than anyone else, despite their peers being more natural. There’s also the ones who are blessed with time, power, precision, seemingly without trying. Six Australian athletes that should have been all-time greats
Ian Harvey
The man was nicknamed ‘The Freak’ because his teammates regularly witnessed him do things on a cricket field that most players wouldn’t even dream of attempting.
Some of his freakish talents included: possessing arguably the best slower ball in cricket; slog sweeping quick bowlers for six; and fielding/throwing with either hand.
He was the first player to score a hundred in a Twenty/20 match, and is revered in English County cricket after winning numerous limited-over titles, almost single-handedly.
Steve Waugh said he had ‘too many natural gifts to choose from’ and called him ‘the most slumbering cricket talent in the world’. He was even named one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year in 2004.
And yet, he never came close to maximising all that talent.
He holds the record for most one day appearances for a country without ever playing Test cricket. In his 73 one day internationals for Australia, he averaged just 17.87 with the bat, and never scored a half century. And despite being an excellent bowler ‘at the death’, his bowling average of 30 is hardly eye-popping.
For all of his ability and potential, he was more ‘useful’ than ‘vital’ for the Australian one-day team, and you can’t help but wonder what could have been.
Matt Giteau
It seems both harsh and premature to put ‘Gits’ on this list, considering he’s still playing top-level rugby and is just 28 years of age.
But considering he’s off to France to play for Toulon when the World Cup is over, you’d have to agree that he’ll need to play the best 6 months of rugby in the history of the game in order to be named in anyone’s all-time greats list.
In fact, it’s hard to believe ‘Kid Dynamite’ is already 28. It seems like just yesterday that he burst onto international rugby, aged 19, as the new Wallaby whiz kid.
Able to play halfback, five-eighth and inside centre, kick goals, defend, burst through tackles, and armed with just a little bit of unpredictable magic, it seemed he was destined to be the next Wallaby superstar and all-time great.
He did become a superstar, and was named one of the five best players in the world in 2004, neck-to-neck with Dan Carter as the best five-eight in rugby. But then Carter seemed to lift a notch, and Giteau started to fade a little.
The 2011 World Cup could be his last chance to be considered an all-time great. And thus leave egg all over my face. But his start to the Super Rugby season would indicate that I may be safe.
Dane Carlaw
Queensland State of Origin great Greg Dowling once said of Carlaw: “Looks like Tarzan; plays like Jane”. As you can imagine, it wasn’t a compliment.
Carlaw had it all: size, speed and skill. The majority of the NRL lay in fear that this monster was going to wreck havoc, week-in and week-out.
Yet it never happened.
He’d have a dominating game, consistently breaking through 4 or 5 tacklers like they were little kids, or out-running fullbacks to score tries from 30 metres out. And then he would go completely missing the next game.
He played for Queensland and Australia, but never went close to cementing a spot amongst the league’s elite players, despite having all the tools to do so.
For the 2011 NRL season, he has returned to the Brisbane Broncos after three years playing for the Catalans Dragons in France. But at age 31, it’s hard to imagine that his best football is ahead of him.
Aaron Trahair
Don’t remember Aaron Trahair? Never even heard of him? Well, it’s certainly not your fault, but you really should.
In 1995, he was named one of the five best under-20 basketball players in the world, and won an NBL championship whilst starting for the Perth Wildcats (in just his second year in the NBL).
In 1997, he signed a massive contract with the Sydney Kings, and then shot Australia to a gold medal at the Under-23 World Championships.
The world was his oyster, and some pundits even thought he had the talent to make it to the NBA. He was anointed the next Andrew Gaze/Shane Heal.
Needless to say, he never went close to approaching the lofty heights of those two basketball greats.
Showing flashes of brilliance, he was in-and-out of the Australian team, and never went to an Olympics or World Championships. Regularly dropping 30 points one night and literally zero the next, even non-basketball fans can surmise that consistency was an issue.
He played for 8 different NBL teams, all of them hoping that he might finally shed the ‘potential’ tag.
But he never really did.
Trent Croad
Croad played 222 games, earned All-Australian honours, played State of Origin for Victoria, represented Australia in International Rules, and won an AFL premiership.
Anyway you measure it, that’s fantastic career.
But like just everyone else on this list, you feel it could have been much, much more.
As an 18-year-old, he nominated for the 1997 AFL draft, and whilst in camp, set the record for a standing jump (83cm). He was then selected third in the draft by Hawthorn, and began a career in which he teased fans, coaches and teammates with his ability.
Athletic and versatile, it was massive news in AFL circles when the Hawks traded him to the Fremantle Dockers at the end of 2001. He was asked to be the focal point upfront for Freo, but after delivering a solid 42 goals in his debut season out west, he struggled in 2003 with just 18 goals.
Ending two disappointing seasons, Croad told the Dockers he was homesick and wanted to return home to Melbourne. He was traded back to the Hawks, and reinvented himself as strong, consistent and reliable defender, and helped the Hawks win the 2008 flag.
However, he broke his foot in that game, and never fully recovered, failing to play another AFL game and retiring in 2010.
And thus ended a very good career, but one many AFL fans felt could have been all-time great career.
Harry Kewell
This was a tough one. Surely Harry is an all-time great, I hear you ask? He is, but only if you put a ceiling of ‘Australian’ before ‘all-time’ – and there is no question that he is certainly that. In fact, he’s probably Australia’s all-time best football player.
But blessed with exquisite skills, speed to burn, and a confidence that only the greats carry themselves with, the sky seemed the limit for a young Harry Kewell.
Many English Premier League fans couldn’t care less whether or not he was anointed an Australian all-time great – they believed he had the chance to be a football all-time great.
But injuries ripped the prime of his career away from him, ruling him out of too many games to count, and robbing fans of witnessing a potentially great career.
Whilst the curtain is yet to fall on his illustrious career, you get the feeling Kewell will leave the game with a polarising legacy. Rightly or wrongly, he has been at the forefront of numerous controversies and debates.
What is not for debate is the fact he’ll be considered an all-time great for the Socceroos’s, but never mentioned as an all-time great of the world game.