And it was thrust upon four of this club’s former Premiership players – men of stature who collectively encompass six decades of Carlton history since the Second World War – to fulfil this lofty duty.
Ken Hands, Ian Collins, David McKay and current Carlton director Adrian Gleeson, together with this correspondent as resident historian, convened in the Visy Park boardroom on three separate occasions through the pre-season period to identify the coveted collection.
After much discussion and debate, Carlton’s cream de la crème – its 150 finest since Harry Chadwick first led them out in 1864 – was finally named.
The selection panel operated under the following criteria, that a player, to be eligible for selection, must have played a minimum 50 senior matches over five seasons for Carlton.
The selectors took into account the many and varied individual and team awards at both Club and League in identifying the greatest – from Best and Fairest awards, VFL/AFLPA awards, Premierships, VFL/AFL honours and Australian Rules Hall of Fame inductions through to VFL/AFL Team of the Century representations, Brownlow and Norm Smith Medals and even Champion of the Colony gongs.
In terms of the B & F, it’s worth noting that in the 85 years since Horrie Clover took out the inaugural trophy for Club Champion in 1929, all but five Carlton Best and Fairests – George Gniel, Arthur Hodgson, Bill Milroy, Corey McKernan and David Teague – were named in the coveted 150.
Carlton Hall of Fame representation – in particular Hall of Fame Legend status – was considered of high priority, with 12 greats of the game so-honoured at this club - Craig Bradley, Bert Deacon, Bruce Doull, Ken Hands, Alex Jesaulenko, Wayne Johnston, Stephen Kernahan, John Nicholls, Stephen Silvagni, Geoff Southby, Harry Vallence and Robert Walls.
Established in 1987, the Hall recognises contributions made to the Club by individuals through three eras - 1864 to 1938, 1939 to 1970 and 1971 to present – and acknowledges each candidate’s outstanding service and overall contribution to the Carlton Football Club, as well as his individual record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship and character.
Carlton’s earliest member of the greatest 150 is George Coulthard – the three-time Champion of the Colony and Carlton 140-game Premiership player from 1876-82, whose life was tragically cut short at age 27 with tuberculosis.
Other Champions of the Colony – Jack Conway, Jack Donovan, ‘Bill’ Lacey and George Robertson– did not make the cut as their games tallies for the club in the pre-VFL days are unknown – while Jack Baker can consider himself unlucky.
Conversely, nine current Carlton senior players – in alphabetical order Andrew Carrazzo, Bryce Gibbs, Chris Judd, Matthew Kreuzer, Marc Murphy, Heath Scotland, Kade Simpson, Jarrad Waite and Andrew Walker – make the 150.
David McKay, a member of the 1970, ’72, ’79 and ’81 Premiership teams over 263 games in 13 seasons with the club, described the selection process as “daunting”.
“We put plenty of thought it into it. The only one where there’s conjecture are the older players, the Champions of the Colony, who we couldn’t really pass judgment on,” said McKay, a member of the Spirit of Carlton, which will also be convening a With all The Champions Luncheon to celebrate the club’s Best and Fairests/John Nicholls Medallists on August 8.
“There have been so many good players over so many eras it was really hard to be objective about placement in the illustrious history of the Carlton Football Club.”
While the following list of Carlton¹s Greatest 150 Players appears in alphabetical order, a top 12 in order of merit has been identified from within this core group. This 12 make up the top 1 per cent of Carlton's over 1150 players.
Players 6-12 will be named in reverse order in the lead-up to Carlton's 150th anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 14, with the top 5 to be declared at the function, to be held at The Plenary, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
View Champions of Carlton list
