Greatest ever school teams: Messenger Community News picks Brighton and Henley high’s all-time best 22s
Which Adelaide school has produced the best footballers? Messenger Community News decided to try to answer this question by picking the greatest ever teams from some of our strongest footy schools. Today are Brighton and Henley high schools.
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It is a question that has been debated in local footy circles for decades.
Which Adelaide school has produced the best footballers?
Messenger Community News decided to try to answer this question by picking eight of Adelaide’s most renowned football schools’ greatest ever teams.
Selecting the 22s was an excruciatingly difficult task.
Who do you leave out?
Who plays where?
How do you compare a modern-day AFL player to a wartime football star?
There were countless discussions over a few months about players and filling positions.
But with the help of the schools, football-mad colleagues and SANFL club historians, particularly Rino Cialini and SANFL Budget editor Peter Cornwall, the squads have been chosen — and Messenger sports editor Matt Turner has made the final call.
The criteria settled on was to pick players based on their post-school football careers, not how they performed for the First XVIII.
Achievements also trumped ability, meaning present-day players at the start of their careers were often overlooked despite the possibility of future stardom.
Extra weight was given to players’ achievements before the formation of the Crows in 1991 but long-serving modern SANFL stars were also considered favourably.
Great careers that were cut short by war, injury or other factors were taken into account.
Team balance was important but not at the expense of reducing the quality of each side.
Ultimately, deciding on the final 22s came down to finding a lot of background information, getting plenty of feedback from footy followers of various vintages and gut feel.
Day two of the five-part series features Brighton and Henley high schools.
BRIGHTON SECONDARY
IT IS no surprise that Glenelg players, including many from the club’s star-studded 1970s and ‘80s teams, make up the bulk of Brighton’s all-time side.
In fact, only two of the 22 — Norwood wingman Duncan Fosdike and Sturt forward Ken Whelan — are not ex-Tigers.
There are eight Bays premiership players in this team and five members of the SA Football Hall of Fame — Stephen Kernahan, Chris McDermott, Tony McGuinness, John Paynter and Fred Phillis.
As the VFL/AFL’s longest-serving captain, Carlton champion Kernahan got the nod as skipper and the team’s centre half-forward.
The Crows’ first two captains, McDermott and McGuinness, would provide further leadership while working tirelessly together again on the ball.
Kernahan, McDermott and McGuinness all began their league careers in 1981 then between them won each of Glenelg’s seven best and fairest awards from 1982-88.
Spearheading the attack with Kernahan is the first full-forward to win a Magarey Medal, Fred Phillis, and former Double Blues high flyer Whelan.
Phillis ended his 275-game career with 869 majors, while Whelan kicked 441 in 126 matches.
Six-time state representative Paynter, a captain and four-time best and fairest at Sturt, is squeezed into a forward pocket.
Having Kernahan, Whelan and Phillis in the same attack forces ex-Glenelg and North Adelaide forward John Sandland onto the bench.
Two-time Norwood premiership winner Duncan Fosdike, who spent two years at Brighton and also attended nearby Sacred Heart, would provide drive off one wing, while 1960 Tigers best and fairest Brian Beal would start on the other.
Brian Colbey, an 11-time state player, and his 1973 premiership teammate Wayne Phillis line up alongside one another at half-back and centre half-back respectively.
Two-time Glenelg flag winner David Kernahan would be tasked with manning the opposition’s full-forward.
The team has a distinct ‘70s and ‘80s flavour but there are some more recent names.
Crows star Bryce Gibbs is the pick of the bunch and the side’s centreman.
James Sellar, who emerged from the same draft class as Gibbs then went on to play 44 games at Adelaide and Melbourne, was chosen to lead the ruck.
Ex-Power and Crows goalsneak Matthew Bode and former Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn utility Simon Cox are on the interchange with Sandland and Peter Johnston.
Those to narrowly miss selection include another of Gibbs’s year level, Mark Austin (Glenelg/Western Bulldogs/Carlton), and recent Tiger Hayden Jolly (also Gold Coast).
All-Australians: 4 — Colbey, Stephen Kernahan, McDermott, Tony McGuinness.
Magarey medallists: 2 — Tony McGuinness, Fred Phillis.
Brownlow medallists: Nil.
SA Football Hall of Famers: 5 — Stephen Kernahan, McDermott, Tony McGuinness, Paynter, Fred Phillis.
HENLEY
FOOTY following millenials will recognise plenty of names in Henley High’s all-time 22.
The school is 60 years old, which is young in comparison to some in this series, and it has produced many of its best footballers during the past two decades.
This is proven by the fact there are a whopping nine current players from either the SANFL or AFL in the team.
Half-back flanker Brodie Smith is arguably the best-credentialed of them after 143 matches and an all-Australian jumper (2014) with the Crows.
On the opposite half-back flank is 101-gamer Brisbane Lion Sam Mayes, who can also switch onto a wing or to half-forward.
Power goalsneak Sam Gray and ex-Crow turned Woodville-West Torrens star Jared Petrenko would be called upon to apply plenty of pressure in attack, while Port’s Jared Polec would offer pace and dash as a wingman.
West Coast big man Scott Lycett will probably end his career as this team’s No. 1 ruck option but for now he offers back-up to Adelaide’s Rhett Biglands, who has almost double the number of AFL games to his name — 69 to 134.
Fellow tall Rhys Stanley, who features at centre half-forward, can lend them a hand.
Petrenko’s Eagles teammate Paul Stewart, a 101-gamer with the Power, and 85-match St Kilda midfielder Luke Dunstan are the others still playing to be named.
The selections that may not be so familiar to Gen Y fans include the side’s skipper, Neville Roberts.
Roberts is a two-time premiership winner at Norwood (1982, ‘84), a former state captain, a Redlegs Team of the Century member and ex-skipper at both The Parade and West Torrens.
He also happens to be this team’s only member of the SA Football Hall of Fame.
Geoff Baynes, Peter Phillipou, Andrew Payze and Bob Loveday are not in the Hall of Fame but their stellar, lengthy SANFL careers during the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s make them easy choices to start on field.
Baynes played 202 games at West Torrens, Woodville and South Adelaide, where he won three consecutive best and fairests (1977-79) and spent four years as skipper, while Phillipou finished after 272 matches for the Eagles, whom he captained for two seasons.
Payze chalked up 308 games for West Torrens and Woodville-West Torrens, as well as 14 for the Crows, five for SA and a premiership, and Loveday was similarly long-serving, notching 263 matches for West Adelaide, including a club record seven seasons as skipper.
Wingman Steven Stretch, the father of Melbourne’s Billy Stretch and a Demons best and fairest winner, was a star of the 1980s.
This team has no Brownlow or Magarey winners but it does have a Norm Smith medallist — three-time Hawthorn premiership full-back Brian Lake, the 2013 recipient.
West Adelaide star Jono Beech was incredibly close to making this side.
North Adelaide 1991 premiership player Steve Barratt and Crow Cam Ellis-Yolmen were others to come under serious consideration.
As for likely 2018 top-six draft picks Jack Lukosius (Eagles) and Izak Rankine (West Adelaide), they may well go on to become superstars at the elite level and they are seriously exciting talents.
But on their achievements to date, the young guns miss out.
All-Australians: 4 — Bock, Lake, Smith, Stretch.
Magarey medallists: Nil
Brownlow medallists: Nil
SA Football Hall of Famers: 1 — Roberts
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