Ranking the best 5 Hawks ever!

Ranking the top 5 Hawthorn players of all time.

No easy task.

A few of them are walk up starts.

Lethal is not just the greatest Hawk of all time, but he might just be the best player of all time.

There is Huddo and Dunstall in the mix. Both incredible goal kickers back when your full forward was actually paid to kick goals, not defend up on a wing.

So really there are two places up for grabs here.

Let's look at the names of the blokes who didn't make the cut.

Graham Arthur.

Sam Mitchell.

Chris Langford.

Lance Franklin.

Dermott Brereton.

Shane Crawford.

Peter Knights.

Any of these guys could easily rank 6th on the list. The quality being left out of this list is incredible. But we are trying to pick 5 people out of 917 who have pulled on the brown and gold and worn the colours with such distinction.

So here we go, my top 5 Hawthorn players of all time, with their stats as Hawthorn players as well as some memories of them.

5. Gary Ayres.

269 games. 70 goals.

5 x Premiership player

2 x Norm Smith Medals

1 x Peter Crimmins Medal

Hawks Team of the Century (back-pocket)

I could easily have put Buddy or Crawf in this list, both would be deserving of it. But Gary Ayres is fully deserving of his place in the top 5 all time Hawthorn players. One of the best defenders of the 1980s. Two Norm Smith Medals, one of only three players in history to achieve this feat. Played in 5 flags, amazing. Still managed 79 goals in his 269 games. A great coach as well, taking the Cats to Grand Finals in the 1990s and also coaching Port Melbourne in the VFL to premierships.

4. Luke Hodge.

305 games. 193 goals.

4 x Premiership player

3 x Premiership Captain

2 x Norm Smith Medal

3 x All-Australian

2 x Peter Crimmins Medal

Bastard. He was finished. He had retired, and now we have to watch this absolute legend of a player pull on the bloody Brisbane Lions jumper for the next 2 years. Hodgie, The General. Words cannot describe the love I have for this country kid from Colac. Taken at pick 1 in the 2001 Super Draft. We ended up with pick 1 after we traded Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin to the Dockers, in exchange for the prized first overall pick, and pick 36 (which we took Sam Mitchell) these guys were the backbone in our resurgence from perennial struggler in the early to mid 2000's back to our rightful place as powerhouse of the competition.

Tough, uncompromising, charismatic. Hodgie is all three of these and more. He was the on field architect, playing behind the ball and using his precise kicking skills to lead the defence and the transition to attack on field. What you would give up to play a game under this bloke, all of his team mates might not realise how good they had it.

Captain of the 3-peat. Two time Norm Smith Medallist, antagonist, hard as nails, skilful. Played any position on the ground and all round legend of a human being.

3. Jason Dunstall.

269 games. 1254 goals.

4 x Premiership player

1 x AFLPA MVP

3 x Coleman Medals

2 x All-Australian

4 x Peter Crimmins Medal

Hawks Team of the Century (forward-pocket)

Bung was my first football hero growing up. The burly full forward was just the greatest in my eyes. His ball skills and agility for a guy his size was amazing. He was the most unselfish full forward of the generation. His last two years were cut down by an ACL and broken collarbone. Overall he played 12 less games than Tony Lockett and was 106 goals short of his all time record. If Bung had have played those 20-odd games he missed in his last two years with injury, he might just have been the greatest goal kicker of all time. An amazing feat, considering all of the goals he actually gave away.

He had great accuracy as well. I will never forget, that infamous 1996 Merger game, my mum was going to drive me down to watch as it might have been the last time the Hawthorn Hawks ever played a game of league footy. The piece of shit car we had, a white Holden Astra was more trouble than it was worth, and was breaking down constantly. I think we made it about as far as Deer Park and by then it was quarter time. I was shattered, but probably not as much as mum was. Tears streaming down this 8 year olds face, we made the treck back home to Ballarat, listening to (I assume the 3AW) radio call of Dunstall kicking 9, (including his 100th for the season) and us getting up by one point in a heart stopper. Luckily for us, the Hawks live on and are as strong as ever, and Dunstall played a key role in getting our messiah Alistair Clarkson to the club.

2. Peter Hudson.

129 games. 727 goals.

1 x VFL Premiership player

4 x League leading goalkicker (pre Coleman Medal days)

2 x All-Australian

Hawks Team of the Century (full-forward)

Though his stats were not as dominant as Dunstall's, sometimes you go on gut feel. Huddo was a superstar, and injuries cost him big time. He also played a lot of League football in Tasmania.

His average of 5.64 goals a game is the highest average of all time. He played more games, kicked more goals and averaged more a game than John Coleman, yet its Coleman who has the league leading goal kicker award named in his honour.

I had the fortunate pleasure of going to a breakfast late last year where Huddo was the guest speaker. After proceedings, I walked up to him and started chatting footy (Hawthorn) and he was lovely enough to ask me to sit down and we just chewed the fat for 15 minutes. It was amazing, he is still so switched on about the modern game and was a great story teller. A great player!

1. Leigh Matthews.

332 games. 915 goals,

4 x VFL Premiership player

8 x Peter Crimmins Medal

1 x AFLPA MVP award

1 x All-Australian

1 x VFL Leading goalkicker

AFL Team of the Century (forward pocket)

Hawks Team of the Century (rover)

Australian Football Hall of Fame- Inaugural Legend

A football resume literally can't get any better than this, the only thing missing is a Brownlow Medal. His best finish was 3rd in 1973 & 1982. He won an AFLPA MVP, which is now named the Leigh Matthews Trophy. A guy who can start in the middle and then go forward, win a Coleman Medal and still dominate is OK in my book, He is regularly compared to Wayne Carey as the greatest player of all time, we know who we would give the vote to.

His coaching career was as dominate as he playing days, unfortunately that wasn't at Hawthorn, so we wont mention any more about this. AFL Hall of Fame Legend. He won 8 Best and Fairest's and 4 premierships. Legend. Superstar. The GOAT.