Best Bulldogs Fullback of All Time

[zappa]

Well before my time but my old man reckons Les Johns was one of the best he's ever seen. Dowling and Brentnall would have to be up there, and while Ewan McGrady was one of the most naturally gifted players i've seen go around, he won the Rothmans and played his best footy in the halves. Patten is my pick, and while there have undoubtedly been more talented and 'credentialed' fullbacks for the Dogs, he's the one that has stood out to me in my adult years for his stability, commitment and consistency at the back. As somebody else pointed out, plenty of similarities to Silva. As a side note, I often wonder how good Alchin could have been if not for injury, although I know many wound tend to disagree.

 

[Allan]

Les Johns was by far the best fullback I have ever seen and that includes comparison to Clive Churchill. In yesterday's game I felt like I was a kid again watching Les Johns play. If you watch Ben Barba you can see so many glimpses of Johns.

Johns' hallmark for me was that whenever he got the ball he was looking to do something with it. He had the agility to swerve through the defence rather than step it. If you watch Barba he does the same thing. Johns was a better ball handler than Barba and at times looked like he had superglue on his hands. If Barba goes on like he is at the moment he will not only be our best ever fullback but one of the legends of the game.

As an aside isn't it peculiar how whenever an almost legendary talent appears (in this case Billy Slater) another sensational player also comes along and they live in the shadow of that player for some time. I am thinking of Raudonikis and Mortimer but lots of others.

 

[the Coyote]

This thread is massively deja-vu. I'm sure there is another just like this posted somewhere.

I always loved watching Brentnall play as a kid.

In the days of kicking duels ... Greg was the king ... he could torpedo punt with the best of them =) ......

Greg played a few years as fullback for Australia .... yet, he played a fair bit of centre for the Doggies, with Stan Cutler
taking the fullback position....

Mick Potter won a Dally M with us from fullback in 84... so he could play a bit =P ...

Patten was pretty solid .... McGrady.... ahh , great attacker, couldn't tackle to save his life =(

 

[the Coyote]

Well before my time but my old man reckons Les Johns was one of the best he's ever seen. Dowling and Brentnall would have to be up there, and while Ewan McGrady was one of the most naturally gifted players i've seen go around, he won the Rothmans and played his best footy in the halves. Patten is my pick, and while there have undoubtedly been more talented and 'credentialed' fullbacks for the Dogs, he's the one that has stood out to me in my adult years for his stability, commitment and consistency at the back. As somebody else pointed out, plenty of similarities to Silva. As a side note, I often wonder how good Alchin could have been if not for injury, although I know many wound tend to disagree.

Alchin went well for us in 88 ... I guess you could compare him to a player like Tim Moltzen these days, ala
a half back moved into the No.1 position....

He played a lot of dummy half, which allowed Joey Thomas to be another running forward... has there
ever been a hooker that hits as hard as Joey did ????

Injuries...and the mass defection to the Magpies in the early 90's to hook up with the Wok , killed his career =( ...

 

[zappa]

Alchin went well for us in 88 ... I guess you could compare him to a player like Tim Moltzen these days, ala
a half back moved into the No.1 position....

He played a lot of dummy half, which allowed Joey Thomas to be another running forward... has there
ever been a hooker that hits as hard as Joey did ????

Injuries...and the mass defection to the Magpies in the early 90's to hook up with the Wok , killed his career =( ...

Ahhh, Joe Thomas. Tough hombre and a good bloke.

 

[Özil]

1 - Les Johns
2 - Mick Potter
3 - Rod Silva
4 - Luke Patten
5 - Ewen McGrady

This is Barba's 2nd season at fb and would be quite unfair to put him against the top 5

 

[Doga]

Scott Wilson?

 

[polecat]

rod silva! are you guys serious? the bloke absolutely refused to tackle
in the 95 Gf he was quite prepared to let cliff lyons score rather than puit his body on the line,
luckily terry lamb was there to save the day for us and from memory gave silva an almighty spray.

of the players i have seen play fullback for us, i would go
1 potter
2 cutler (brentnall always played centre when stan was fit)
3 brentnall
4 jonothan davies

 

[Janice]

Les Johns!!!

 

[immortalbulldog]

Patten is the best we've had in my time IMO. To tell you the truth I'd rather have a prime patten then Barba.

Barba still seems very hesitant under the high ball and when a grubber is put through. He is one of the most exciting around though and hopefully he'll become a more rounded player. I hope for his sake anyway. Hasler is the type of coach that would see 2 or more dropped balls a game as not being worth a bit of brilliance every 2-3 games.

 

[vietorious]

Trent Cutler.

 

[CeeEss]

The previous posts show just how lucky we've been to have so many talented Bulldogs wearing blue and white.

Patten for mine, unbelievably solid in defense and very under-rated in attack. He was very unlucky not to play rep footy in my opinion.

Notable mentions to Ewan McGrady (created the same excitement as Barba is at the moment), Greg Bretnall (the best I've ever seen under a high ball) and Mick Potter (injury prone but had a magical few years in blue and white)

My Dad reckons Les Johns is the best player he's ever seen play for Canterbury - including Mortimer and Lamb. High praise indeed.

 

[Captain Kickass]

I love this thread ... there's hardly anyone under 25 in it !!!

 

[dogstragic]

Comparing eras is very difficult as we all know,so i will only comment on one.Being at belmore oval on a sunday afternoon sometime in the late 60's and seeing les johns chime into a very deep "berries" backline was just heaven to watch.Like somebody mentioned earlier he was short in stature but extremely elusive to any opposition.Just brilliant to watch him run with those trademark 'SHOULDER PADS" are firmly etched in my memory!!!

 

[Old Bulldog]

The previous posts show just how lucky we've been to have so many talented Bulldogs wearing blue and white.

Patten for mine, unbelievably solid in defense and very under-rated in attack. He was very unlucky not to play rep footy in my opinion.

Notable mentions to Ewan McGrady (created the same excitement as Barba is at the moment), Greg Bretnall (the best I've ever seen under a high ball) and Mick Potter (injury prone but had a magical few years in blue and white)

My Dad reckons Les Johns is the best player he's ever seen play for Canterbury - including Mortimer and Lamb. High praise indeed.

Your dad is spot on.

 

[bulldogs2010]

Patten is the best we've had in my time IMO. To tell you the truth I'd rather have a prime patten then Barba.

Barba still seems very hesitant under the high ball and when a grubber is put through. He is one of the most exciting around though and hopefully he'll become a more rounded player. I hope for his sake anyway. Hasler is the type of coach that would see 2 or more dropped balls a game as not being worth a bit of brilliance every 2-3 games.

You are hilarious. Are you forgetting Barba is 22 years of age?

Wait till Barba hits his prime. With all due respects to the General, Barba will be a much more complete player.

 

[Freakzilla]

Though not the best I loved watching Johnathon Davies and Gary Connolly when they played fullback as well.

 

[Izzy Forreal]

Trent Cutler.

Trent's father Stan was a lot better.

 

[Guardog]

I got to see Les Johns play when I was a kid, and as time progressed, I got to watch Mick Potter. Garry Dowling was a beauty. Silva was sensational while Luke Patton was the most stable and a real team player. Barba is brilliant and will get better. We are all watching something special at the moment. His game has gone up a level this year. He has a mistake or two in him, but he makes up for that with his running game.

We have been blessed with some of the games best No: 1's. I remember Greg Brentall's over the shoulder kick from a penalty tap into the ingoal for the Doggies to score. He was another of the greats.

 

[chipandchase]

You are hilarious. Are you forgetting Barba is 22 years of age?

Wait till Barba hits his prime. With all due respects to the General, Barba will be a much more complete player.

Barba is better than patten right now IMO
Patten was very very good in his day but he can't do what barba does