Greatest ever school teams: Messenger Community News ranks eight Adelaide schools’ all-time best 22s

Which Adelaide school has produced the best footballers? Messenger Community News decided to try and answer this question by picking eight Adelaide schools’ greatest ever teams for Part 1 of an ongoing series. Now we rank them to determine which would win an all-star matchup.

Former Rostrevor students, now Port Adelaide players Tom Jonas (left) and Jack Hombsch (right) with the college’s SA under-18 captain Luke Valente. Picture: Dylan Coker.

• Best ever school teams: Rostrevor, Sacred Heart
• Best ever school teams: PAC, St Peter’s
• Best ever school teams: Brighton, Henley
• Best ever school teams: Immanuel, St Michael’s

Trying to decide which Adelaide school has produced the best footballers has been an arduous and difficult task.

It began by selecting eight schools’ greatest ever teams.

The squads were chosen with the help of the schools, football-mad colleagues and SANFL club historians, particularly Rino Cialini and SANFL Budget editor Peter Cornwall.

The criteria settled on was to pick players based on their post-school football careers, not how they performed for their 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.

St Michael’s old scholar and Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrea.

Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich is Sacred Heart’s all-time team captain.

The all-time best 22s from Rostrevor, Sacred Heart, Brighton, Henley, Immanuel, St Michael’s, Prince Alfred and St Peter’s were revealed this week on advertiser.com.au.

Now it is time to rank them.

They are tough to separate and there are so many talented players.

Everyone will have different opinions on the order and the make-up of each side.

Ultimately, just like picking the teams themselves, the rankings were determined by players’ career achievements, plenty of feedback from footy followers of various vintages and gut feel.

8. IMMANUEL

Being eighth in this series does not mean Immanuel is last — it’s possibly the eighth-best school in Adelaide for producing talented footballers, which is a significant standing.

Choosing the school to rank in eighth spot was arguably more difficult than picking the top team because Immanuel has plenty of talent.

Immanuel captain and centre half-forward Don Lindner is a champion of SA football, Shaun Rehn is one of the state’s best ruckman of the past 25 years and Brad Ottens and Mark Williams join them as all-Australians.

But the Novar Gardens school does not quite have the depth of some of the other schools, which is one of the reasons why it is ranked here.

Immanuel College all-time best 22

7. ST PETER’S

One of the toughest parts of selecting the eight best-of teams and then ranking them was comparing eras.

How does a wartime football star stack up against a current AFL gun?

How much does the standard of the time matter?

St Peter’s has plenty of names that few will recognise because their careers came at the turn of the 20th century.

There is seven-time state representative and Gallipoli casualty Phil Robin, the SANFL’s first Magarey medallist Alby Green, the 1901 winner, Phil Sandland, and three Redlegs stars from the late 1890s and early 1900s, Joseph “Ossie” Bertram, Charles Gwynne and James Gosse.

Their football CVs are excellent and they strengthen this side considerably.

But the college’s modern-day talent is not quite as strong as some of their counterparts, which has cost it a few spots on this list.

St Peter's College's all-time best 22 (2018).

6. ST MICHAEL’S

St Michael’s has plenty of stars from Port Adelaide, Woodville-West Torrens and West Torrens from the past 30 years.

The school is the second-youngest school on this list — at 64 years, compared to Henley High’s 60 — which means they do not have as many eras to draw from as some of the others.

Captain and Port great Warren Tredrea is an Australian Football Hall of Fame member and the headline act, Greg Anderson is a Magarey medallist, while Scott Thompson, Scott Camporeale and Ebony Marinoff are all-Australians.

But the Henley Beach school does not have as many stars as some other teams, nor as much depth.

Still, this would be an entertaining side to watch with a hard-as-nails backline led by Port premiership players Darryl Poole and Michael Wilson.

St Michael's College all-time best 22

5. HENLEY HIGH

This is arguably the team with the most players familiar to younger footy fans.

There are nine current players in the 22, including Crows all-Australian half-back Brodie Smith, in-form Port Adelaide wingman Jared Polec and West Coast ruckman Scott Lycett, as well as quality SANFL players Paul Stewart and Jared Petrenko.

But what boosts Henley’s ranking is the injection of several hard-nosed older guns.

Captain Neville Roberts is an SA Football Hall of Fame member, while Geoff Baynes, Peter Phillipou, Andrew Payze and Bob Loveday were all long-time SANFL stars, and add grit to the line-up.

Henley’s bench is solid without being outstanding but there are few weaknesses across the field.

Apologies too to two-time Geelong premiership player Mathew Stokes who would have definitely landed a spot on the field if it had been known he went to the school while picking the team.

Henley's all-time school team (2018)

4. ROSTREVOR

These rankings do not get any easier.

Rostrevor could easily be named in the top three.

Any school team with Neil Kerley as captain, Peter Marker in the centre and Ben Hart at full-back mounts a strong case to be one of the best ever in Adelaide.

Add to that names like Luke Darcy, Jim Michalanney and Peter Koerner, and there is lots of star quality.

If there is a weak link — and that’s a big if — it may be the defence, but the backline’s standing can still be improved upon because current Power players Tom Jonas and Jack Hombsch are only midway through their careers.

Rostrevor beat Sacred Heart by one point in a thrilling intercol last weekend but sits behind its traditional rival in this list — just.

Rostrevor's all-time greatest team (2018).

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3. BRIGHTON SECONDARY

It was a genuine toss-up between numbers three and two on this list.

Footy fans from the 1970s and ‘80s, particularly Glenelg supporters, may put Brighton higher and they will have a decent argument.

The VFL/AFL’s longest-serving captain Stephen Kernahan is the side’s skipper, it has one of the state’s great on-ball combinations Chris McDermott and Tony McGuinness of the past 40 years, prolific goalkicker Fred Phillis is at full-forward, John Paynter is also an SA Football Hall of Fame member and the centreline — Duncan Fosdike, Bryce Gibbs and Brian Beal — is seriously impressive.

Put this team in a game at the peak of their powers and they will beat most school sides.

But the two ranked above may just have a slight edge.

Brighton’s greatest football team (2018)

2. SACRED HEART

If Brighton’s team played Sacred Heart’s side 100 times, one school would probably win 51 times and the other 49.

Splitting them was very difficult.

Brighton has Stephen Kernahan as captain and centre half-forward, Sacred Heart has Matthew Pavlich.

Brighton have the Phillis and McGuinness brothers, while Hearts have the Cornes siblings and three generations of Gallaghers.

Brian Colbey versus Andrew Mackie at half-back; Chris McDermott battling Mark Naley on the ball.

As mentioned at the start, and as with this entire list, it simply comes down to personal opinion.

But more people sought for feedback on these rankings put Sacred Heart ahead of Brighton and that, and having slightly more bench depth, helped sway putting Hearts in second spot.

Sacred Heart's all-time greatest team (2018).

1. PRINCE ALFRED

Lists like these are bound to cause conjecture and not everyone will agree with the number one choice.

But Prince Alfred’s sheer weight of stars, as evidenced by the team’s lengthy list of collective careers achievements, ensured they were selected in top spot in the search to find Adelaide’s best school football team.

Princes have a staggering eight members of the SA Football Hall of Fame in their 22, including state greats such as Rick Davies, captain Ian McKay and Peter Darley.

There are also five Magarey medallists and four all-Australians.

In all, 13 players of Prince Alfred’s side are either in the SA Hall of Fame, a Magarey winner or all-Australian.

Choosing the Dequetteville Tce college’s 22 also proved the most difficult because former stars like Alan Hickinbotham, George Nicholls and Peter Dalwood missed out.

That shows how much depth Prince Alfred has, as does the quality of its bench, which includes another SA Football Hall of Famer (Ian Day), two VFL/AFL best and fairest winners (John Mossop and Jack Viney) and a Magarey recipient (Stan Malin).

It would be a daunting task taking on this side.

Prince Alfred greatest footy team (2018).