There are only four ways a player can gain immortality in AFL football: make your debut as a player in a club’s first-ever AFL game, play in an AFL club’s last ever game, kick a goal with your first kick or kick a goal after the siren to win the game.
Quenton Leach, who died too young at the age of 47 on 6 April 2020 and is possibly the first Docker top 100 to pass on, achieved two of these.
Drafted to the Fremantle Dockers in the club’s first year in the AFL in 1995, Leach ran out on to the ground with the Dockers in the club’s first game against Richmond on Saturday, 1 April, at the MCG. The Dockers led by four points at quarter-time but eventually lost by five. Leach was not disgraced, laying the equal most tackles with captain Ben Allan and finishing in the top ten in disposals.
However, his greatest moment of individual glory came in his 40th game in the 1997 season against Brisbane at Subiaco when he kicked a goal after the siren to give the Dockers victory by five points.
Leach missed only one game in that season but played only three more games in 1998. His league career was over with 56 games and 26 goals to his credit. These stats are sufficient to rank him in the top 100 game players and goal scorers at Fremantle in 78th and 69th position respectively but not enough to see him ranked as one of the best three players the club has produced in their quarter of a century in the AFL.
The undisputed champion player in terms of both statistics and achievements is Matthew Pavlich, who retired at the end of 2016 having played 353 games and kicked exactly 700 goals.
A South Australian and son of a champion SANFL footballer, Pavlich nominated for the draft in 1998 as a 17-year-old and was strangely overlooked. However, in the 1999 draft he was chosen as No. 4 in the draft, and his career was underway. He debuted in Round 5 of the 2000 season against Melbourne and kicked goals with his first two kicks.
He was not out of the team for the remainder of the year and from then on was the shining light in the Fremantle Football Club, used by successive coaches to plug holes wherever they appeared in the teams make-up. He was used in defence, on the ball and at centre half-forward and full-forward. His ability to play all positions against all players made him possibly the league’s best utility player ever but robbed him of the opportunity to win the Coleman Medal in both 2007 and 2012 when he finished second. He won six best and fairest medals and eight leading goalkicker awards and captained the club for nine years, including the 2013 grand final loss to Hawthorn.
Second to Pavlich in the number of games played is current-day player and former captain David Mundy. Mundy took over the captaincy for one year after Pavlich retired before handing over to Nat Fyfe. He became the second Docker to achieve 30 games and now sits only 37 games behind the great man, but he is the age Pavlich was when he retired (34) and missed the one game played in 2020 so far through injury so may not reach the top of the tree before retiring. Mundy has been a great servant to the club, winning a best and fairest and making the All Australian team in his 16 years at the Dockers.
Aaron Sandilands, at No. 3 on the Docker’s top 100 game players list, is the tallest, heaviest and oldest to ever play for the club. He won two best and fairest medals and made All Australian selection on four occasions.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Shaun McManus a tall poppy?!? Great to see you’re maintaining your sense of humour during these turbulent times, cheers for the chuckle.
ScottyJ
Roar Rookie
I'd actually pick Troy Cook ahead of McManus same era and played a similar role.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
You didn't really follow his career then? Just the popularist, 'knock the tall poppy' fan? So disappointing.
Marty
Roar Rookie
I’d prefer a bloke who could hit a target consistently tbh.
Marty
Roar Rookie
No, he was pretty average the whole way through, see comment above about how he went in the F&B voting. You could never question his work ethic or commitment but his ability to consistently execute skills at the level required for AFL footy was inconsistent, to say the least.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
You might be counting half seasons when he didn't play as times when he struggled. Hard to star when you don't play. When people take a set against someone, be it Ballas, Sandi, Harley, Jesse, Ross...nothing will change that person's mind. It is set beyond reason. I have never understood the urge to condemn achievers. It's just strange, especially in something as fun as sport.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Ballas was excellent in the years that we were strong in, 2012-15, seemed to fall off a bit of a cliff post 2015 and really struggled to play that same pressure role as he did so well. Perhaps not his fault as the supply to the forward line dried up. Was a very different player to Jeff Farmer though, not as talented but perhaps a better work rate.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
It's a fair point.. I only remember Shauny Mac later on in his career, absolute warrior but perhaps his best was past him by then.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Consistently "good" at a leadership level for that many games at a tough time etches him into the top bracket in our history. Give a bloke who bleeds purple any day.
Marty
Roar Rookie
...but not great, and that’s the point.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
5th is good.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Consistently one of the best players? Is that why in his 12 or so seasons at the club his best finish in the Doig Medal was 5th? And that happened once. How many other AFL club captains have never finished in the top 4 of their clubs F&B, at any stage in their career? At least that’s one record he can lay claim too.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
More often than not in the best 5 or 6 players every game. So consistent. You would have been too young to appreciate what he did.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
People forget how good Ballas was.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Walters could easily finish at 3, he's that good.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
I loved Macca and he was an absolute cult hero but there is no way he was in Freos ten best players. Great team man and purple to the core but not one of the greats.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Can't agree with Ballas ahead of Jeffery. Jeffery was something else, some of the things he did on the field were downright sensational. Was one of the best small forwards of his era, people perhaps forget how good he was as he had a few off field issues post playing. As a kid he was one of my favourites, loved going down to the park with my number 33 jersey and doing the signature Jeffery celebration. As for Barlow, I just love the guy, I toyed with putting Neale in there but Micky B was just such a good player who I felt was delisted too soon. Can't imagine how good he would have been if Palmer didn't break his leg
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Fyfe is a gun and may end up a better player than Pav but for me Pav is still our greatest player. Not just for his on field performances but for his leadership and his loyalty. Fyfe may well surpass him by the end of his career but for now I'm still with Pav.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Oh, he could kick...as his 50 metre goal from the boundary after being flattened by Wirrpanda will attest. He had the skill. You don't get to play 200 games and become captain by deing a dud. He did far more than "try". He succeeded.
Marty
Roar Rookie
Well he had to be didn’t he because he certainly wasn’t in the team for his foot skills. This isn’t under 12s, you don’t hand out accolades purely for effort. Is it too much too ask that a professional footballer figure out one of the most basic skills of the game (being able to run and kick at the same time) at some point during a 200+ game career? He was a solid contributor, but top 10? If by fair-weather supporters you mean ones that didn’t happily accept and celebrate mediocrity then I’ll gladly be included amongst them.