Just who is Carlton’s greatest player? It’s a question that has forever and a day provoked heated discussion amongst any Blue believers blessed with an opinion.
And in this the 150th anniversary of its hallowed existence, the Carlton Football Club has seen fit to settle the debate by naming Numero Uno and the cream de la crème of its senior playing ranks – the top 12 Carlton players of all time – in order of merit.
Number 3: Bruce Doull
Universally respected and endearingly remembered, he was a man of few words who made his game talk like no other.
In 356 senior appearances, Alexander Bruce Doull was Carlton’s architect across half-back. Wearing the trademark headband, he would perfect the art of defensive play, taking Royce Hart as his prized scalp in the 1972 Grand Final – the first of four Premierships in 18 seasons in the No.11 dark Navy Blue guernsey.
A former teammate, Brent Crosswell, perhaps put it best when he so eloquently wrote of Doull that his game “has a moral purity about it, and that is why opponents have always found it extremely difficult to be unfair to him”. Carlton Coach of the Century David Parkin was equally complimentary, unhesitatingly declaring the boy from Jacana “the best team player I ever coached”.
A four-time Carlton Best and Fairest and Norm Smith Medallist, the unflappable Doull was elevated to the Carlton Hall of Fame just one year after his retirement.
Named on a half-back flank in the AFL’s Team of the 20th Century, Bruce filled the same place in Carlton’s Team of the Century, and remains firmly entrenched amongst the game’s greats.
