Finding the ‘priority list’ of South Australians to enter the Australian Football Hall of Fame is a challenging task

SA football has been blessed with so many great champions — and grand leaders off the field. But honouring them in the Australian Football Hall of Fame is not always easy.

• Why SA deserves greater recognition at Hall of Fame?

Australian football is loaded with thankless tasks — and challenges that seem to draw more critics than praise.

Selecting inductees to the Australian Football Hall of Fame is one of those.

The inaugural selection panel in 1996 opened with 136 inductees to the greatest pantheon of Australian football greats. And they left out the SANFL’s greatest goalkicker — Ken Farmer, despite his record of 11 consecutive seasons of kicking the ton and never going without a goal in his 224 league games with North Adelaide.

For an SA football great — who is among the four with a statue at Adelaide Oval — to miss the first call to the Hall highlights how demanding selection can be.

South Australia’s greatest goalkicker Ken Farmer in full flight.

When Hall of Famer Graham Cornes last month wrote in The Advertiser of the South Australians who deserve recognition in the national Hall his priority list was Tim Evans, Garry McIntosh, Chris McDermott, Michael Aish, Michael Taylor, Jim Deane, Tony McGuinness and Andrew Jarman.

All of them have great records in football.

But the feedback from the readers highlighted Cornes had left out one of SA football’s greatest modern defenders — Port Adelaide and Collingwood centre half-back Greg Phillips.

Phillips’ record is — 447 senior games (343 with Port Adelaide in the SANFL, 84 with Collingwod in the VFL and 20 in the SA state team); eight SANFL premierships with the Magpies (1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1992); All-Australian in 1980; best-afield for SA with the Fos Williams Medal in the state game against WA in Perth in 1982; Port Adelaide’s best-and-fairest in 1988 and Magpies captain from 1991-1993.

Phillips was an inaugural inductee to the SA Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Port Adelaide captain Greg Phillips, right, and vice-captain Tim Ginever, left, hoist aloft the Thomas Seymour Hill premiership cup after their win against Glenelg in the 1992 SANFL grand final.

Greg Phillips tackles Greg Williams while playing for Collingwood in 1987.

It is no easy task putting together short-lists for Hall of Fame honours.

The Australian Football Hall of Fame selection panel — that is not dominated by Victorians, as was once the case — is now allowed to induct up to eight greats each year.

The charter declares the Hall will recognise “players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives who have made significant contributions to Australian football — at any level — since the game’s inception in 1858”.

Every second year — with the next opportunity in 2020 — the Hall can elevate a great to the “Legends” status, as has been the honour for South Australians, Malcolm Blight and Barrie Robran.

To be recognised as a “Legend”, the Hall is noting this great “caused the game to change significantly for the better”.

Clearly, SA football has more than two champions who fit the “Legends” criteria. Finding the next legend is even more challenging than declaring the next SA football great who deserves to be honoured in the Hall of Fame.

Former AFL Commission chairman Ron Evans noted more than a decade ago that those who deserve to be in the Hall ultimately do make it.

Deciding the order of entry is the difficult task.

Michelangelo Rucci has been an Australian Football Hall of Fame selector since 2011.