Personally I now put Jack ahead of Richo. Carried a no-name unconvential forward line to a premiership and now backed it up again on the big stage despite not being fully fit. Plus the 3 Coleman's in both poor and good teams.
No disrespect intended to the great man.
Love Richo, but I also have Jack ahead of him.
Jack is the big game player. Jack has won more games off his own boot than any other player in our side, Rance and Dusty included, if you look over the totality of his career.
It's easy to forget how much personal brilliance Jack has sacrificed for this team. It gets said a lot, but these sort of discussions are where the impact of it is felt.
Go back to 2010, where he kicked 80 goals and won his first Coleman. He was playing with the something akin to the freedom players from previous era's were allowed. He was allowed to cheat forward, never had to tackle, didn't have to press up to the wing as a get out option, and didn't need to chip and handball to others in the side. I mean, he still did a lot of that, particularly the bringing other players in with taps and handballs, he's been doing that his whole career. But it wasn't a requirement. He was a kid, and was allowed to just kick goals and be an old school full forward.
And he was the best in the business at the time. But then his role changed. Because the game changed. Both gradually, and significantly.
This is why it's hard to compare players from different eras. I've heard players like Carey and Dunstall (who were around the Richo era) say that they never tackled, never left the forward 50 etc. Actually, Richo himself has said that he doesn't even know how to tackle. Forget other pressures like congested forward lines, or slow ball movement, the actual responsibilities of a forward have changed dramatically.
Jack would have had multiple 100 goal seasons in decades past. Buddy has been a better player post 2008 but that's when he got his tonne. Got 102 goals that year, and never came near that again. And that was before Jack had even really broken into the side.
Richo is the athletic freak, and I put him in the Buddy mould. But Jack is the pure footballer, with the brain to match. By the way, I have Jack ahead of Buddy too. 3 colemans and 2 premierships vs 4 colemans and 1. Franklin will have more goals, but will have got a lot of them at the end of the Freedom for Forwards era. Across the last ten seasons they've both kicked around 600 goals. Probably another discussion though.
Richo and Jack are different types of players, from different teams, with different roles, different strengths and had different levels of support. It's probably also worth remembering how much of a mentor Richo was and is to Jack. But if you have to compare them, I've got Jack by a nose.
