With the club celebrating its 90th anniversary on Sunday, I thought I would start a thread to ask Supporters who is the Swans player that they have seen who has inspired them the most. For non Swans fans I guess the question would be who was the Swans player you have seen that you respected or worried about most when Swans were playing your team
I started supporting Swans in the late 60s so I never saw Bunton playing for the club so my first hero as a lad was Billy Walker. Thinking about the 70s through to today I have decided for myself that Phil Narkle was the guy that I would pay any amount of money to go and see. He was called Magic for a reason and his skills and ability to do extraordinary things with the ball made him a great player to watch.
It was a hard choice for me though because there have been so many players that I have loved watching over the years. From Keith Narkle, Walker, Gary Sidebottom, Max George Tom Mullooly and Stan Nowotny in the 70s, Gerard Neesham, Graham Melrose, Murray Rance, Leon Baker, Mike Richardson, Ron Boucher, Don Holmes, Don Langsford, Brad Shine and Simon Beazley from that glorious era in the 80s, then there were players such as Peter Hodyl, Brendan Retzlaff, Travis Edmonds, Kevin Caton, Craig Callahan, Shane Beros and Josh Roberts in the 90s/00 and then more recent players such as Andrew Krakouer, Talan Ames, Ryan Davis and Matt Riggio through to todays team with Tony Notte and Jesse Turner.
Ronny Boucher - had a heart bigger than most and it spurred the 80’s Swans
Stanley Nowotny - he really was the father figure and he glued the 80’s Swans thing together
Garry Sidebottom - this guy was a confidence animal and when he got firing so did Swans
iii. John Cooper - planted the seed , watered it & then took it to market
yes there are a few others that I saw who did some brilliant things - but the three most influential over a fair period of time
For me growing up going to the WAFL footy in the early 80s - I have a fond memory of the WAFL in that time. I Loved the noise of the crowds, the smell of the hamburgers, the colours in the crowd, the banter, the sound of the next keg being speared and the subsequent roar from the crowd along with the high flying, high scoring games we watched prior to the VFL expansion.
I loved watching Leon Baker, Mike Richardson, Don Holmes, Peter Ware, Danny Penny, Kevin Caton, Ron Boucher, Shane Wrenfree, Barry Kimberley, Phil Narkle, Joe Cormack, Brent Hutton and many more..These were the days when the WAFL was at its peak…I loved it and wish my kids got to experince WAFL like that in their backyward not the woke crap SD are dishing up now. We would get autographs, kick the footy after the game until we couldnt see anymore then go get a burger from Flintstones…What a time to be alive!
From an opposition supporters POV, I’m old enough to remember Freddy Castledean, Cyril Litterick, Bill Walker (the best of all of them). More recently, plenty to choose from those incredible early 80’s teams, Leon Baker was an absolute Rolls Royce as was Phil Narkle, Boucher was always interesting, wondering who he was going to snot that day, similar for the Solins and Shiner, wonderful tough players who would push the limits of fair play at times. This century it’s Tallan Aims and Tony Notte, great players and WAFL stalwarts.
Ross Fitzgerald was a favourite of mine for SD back in the day…plus always had a soft spot a few ex EF boys in Neesham, Melrose, Brenton, Hetherington and Broadbridge.
Love them all but especially the key forwards/goalkickers/high flyers-
Simon Beasley, Brent Hutton, Troy Ugle, Don Holmes, Mike Richardson, Kevin Caton, Garry Sidebottom, Scott Cummings, Jason Ball, Peter Sartori etc
And from more recent times Tim Geappen, Ashley Hansen, Chris Yarran, Michael Walters, Nic Naitanui, Dayle Garlett (complete waste of talent), Tony Notte, Tom Edwards…
Would love to have seen the likes of Mark Olsen, Max George, Tom Thorn, Bob Beecroft, Ken Bagley, John Turnbull, Eric Gorman etc in their prime.
The early eighties was the worst period to go to Bongo valley if you were a Royals supporter,but one player who stood out for me was the moustachioed mature aged ACT recruit Ed Blackaby,and he used to really slice us up and was a very highly skilled player.
Billy Walker had retired before i started going to Bombay Valley.The best career player in Swans history.Not interested in VFL footy.
Pre 1987
G+A,Sidebottom.Fogarty,D Holmes,Big Roo,.Just to many to mention 40 good players between 1979-85.
Some players where not just good Wafl players but in the elite of Australian football.
Baker,Beasley,Richardson,Narkle Brother’s, Shine,Rance,Satori
Post Eagles Grasso,Basso,Aimes,Davis,Krakourer,Gault,Notte,Geapon
