Landmarks: Leo Barry, Alex Jesaulenko head the list of footy’s greatest grabs
GARY Ablett Sr, Gary Moorcroft, Jezza or Leaping Leo? GLENN McFARLANE names the 10 best grabs in VFL-AFL history and crowns his No.1. HAVE YOUR SAY.
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GARY Ablett Sr, Gary Moorcroft, Jezza or Leaping Leo?
Nominating the best grab in VFL-AFL history has been a point of debate for almost as long as players have been taking them.
Today the Herald Sun’s Glenn McFarlane ranks his definitive list, based on five key criteria: lasting impact, significance, courage, degree of difficulty and aesthetics.
Has he got it right? Scroll down to cast your vote and leave a comment on any marks Macca might have missed.
1. Leo Barry (Sydney)
2005 Grand Final, MCG
Has there ever been a more significant mark taken in the context of any match in the 120 years of the VFL-AFL competition? In the dying seconds of the 2005 Grand Final, the Swans led by four points as they tried to unlock football’s longest drought — 72 years. Leo Barry launched himself from the side into a converging pack to take the match-saving — no, make that flag-saving — mark just before the final siren. If he hadn’t done it, Eagle Mark Seaby was waiting with arms outstretched, to gobble up the mark. Was it any wonder Stephen Quartermain screamed: “Leo Barry, you star!”
2. Alex Jesaulenko (Carlton)
1970 Grand Final, MCG
This mark is the equivalent to a hamburger with the lot. Jezza’s grab had everything — exceptional balance, unquestionable grace, a perfect sense of timing, a game-defining context and a perfect dismount. It is arguably the game’s most famous mark, given its place in the pantheon across almost 50 years. Even the man whose back was used as a step ladder, Graeme Jenkin, became immortalised by the moment. It came late in the second term, just as Carlton was looking for a lift after being in a hopeless position. Spurred on by Jezza’s jump, the Blues turned a 44-point halftime deficit into the greatest Grand Final comeback of all-time.
3. Shaun Smith (Melbourne)
Round 22, 1995, Gabba
Ranked as No. 1 in some circles, Shaun Smith’s leap into the stratosphere at the Gabba one September night in 1995 has gone into football folklore. The unusual thing about this mark was that he rose almost vertically on the back of teammate Garry Lyon, who was left rubbing his head after Smith dragged down his spectacular grab. Smith had anticipated David Neitz’s kick falling short, telling the Herald Sun years later that he figured he “might have a crack at a leap”. It was “the perfect ride ... once you get up that high you might as well take it.”
4. Gary Moorcroft (Essendon)
Round 14, 2001, Etihad Stadium
Gary Moorcroft paid a price for his ride into the rarefied air at Docklands in 2001, but he figured it was worth it. He launched himself on the back and shoulders of Brad Johnson and seemed to take off even further as the ride continued, like a slingshot. Just three weeks after Chris Tarrant looked to have the keys to the Mark of the Year car, Moorcroft took them off him. He explained: “You don’t think too much about it when you are up there, but when you come down and you hear the crowd ... I thought I must have done something pretty good.” He suffered a hairline fracture of the hip socket, but it was worth it given his lasting impact in the game.
5. Michael Roach (Richmond)
Round 5, 1979, MCG
They called him ‘Disco’ and his soaring Mark of the Year in 1979 would reached the glitter ball of any nightclub in Melbourne at the time. His mother and father were over from Tasmania for the game, but his mum was suffering a migraine and excused herself for a moment. When she returned a few moments later, her husband said: “You ought to have seen what Mike just did”. Roach took one of the great pack marks of all time, elevating himself over the top of Hawthorn players Terry Moore and Ian Paton. Roach laughed afterwards, saying: “I just got the right ride ... it felt like, ‘Ooh, there’s someone under there.”
6. Gary Ablett (Geelong)
Round 7, 1994, MCG
They called it the ‘Mother’s Day miracle’, even if Magpie fans argue Gary Ablett didn’t hold on to it for long enough. That’s academic, for the umpire paid it. Ablett’s unusual but effective leap over Gary Pert and his one-handed grab was at the high end of the degree of difficulty. He had no thought of his own safety, almost knocking himself out as he crashed back to earth, when the ball slipped from his grasp. The Geelong star had almost the full marking repertoire, but this was his most spectacular. He later told the Herald Sun: “I was caught just behind Perty ... I thought my only hope was to jump around him and stick my legs around his shoulders. So I turned, leaving me with one hand.”
7. Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda)
Round 11, 2004, SCG
A flip of the coin with Jonathan Brown’s effort from two years earlier. These kamikaze marks were off the charts in terms of their courage. Riewoldt made a 25m sprint chasing a skied ball with a pack of players bearing down on him. At no stage did the 21-year-old Saint take his eyes off the ball. Never mind that he ended up catapulting friend and foe alike; he somehow emerged with the ball in his grasp. Swans coach Paul Roos said after the game: “I don’t think I have ever seen a player run that quick, that fast headlong in a situation like that. I watched it and it was an outstanding effort.”
8. Jonathan Brown (Brisbane)
Round 17, 2002, MCG
Unlike Riewoldt, who lost out to Ashley Sampi for Mark of the Year honours, Jonathan Brown’s ‘crazy brave’ mark in 2002 won the official AFL stamp as the best of the season. Brown ran at full stretch towards an oncoming pack with his own welfare secondary to his single-minded desire for the ball. He crashed into Hawk Jade Rawlings but dragged in the mark as if his life depended on it. His coach Leigh Matthews called it “over-the-top courage ... when you are running with the flight of the ball and you have to watch the ball and you don’t know what’s coming, that is the scariest thing on the football field. But Jonathan just keeps his eyes on the ball and ploughs in.” It was a mark that defined Brown’s career and he never deviated from it.
9. Royce Hart (Richmond)
1967 Grand Final, MCG
A classic mark and arguably the most important grab in Richmond’s history. With the Tigers clinging to a one-point lead 20 minutes into the last term, a long kick-in from Roy West gave Geelong supporters hope of a sweep forward. But 19-year-old Royce Hart, sensing the urgency, used Peter Walker as his launching pad to repel the move. Hart recalled: “I wasn’t in a good position to get it, but Peter Walker was there and I just tried to jump on his shoulder.” It was instinctive and inspirational in the one breath. The Tigers held on to win the match, ending the club’s 24-year flag drought and ushering in the most successful period of the club’s history.
10. Dick Lee (Collingwood)
Round 1, 1914, Victoria Park
A landmark mark. The first ‘speckie’ captured on film, this leap came when few players got more than a couple of feet off the ground. Lee was able to hang in the air as those around him looked on with awe and amazement. He timed his leaps “to the second, ... to snatch the ball out of the air just above the other fellow’s fingers.” This mark came in an opening round draw against Carlton and was immortalised in newspapers and on postcards. A generation of Australian kids — among them a young springbean called Ron Todd — grew up wanting to emulate this mark and this most spectacular player of his age.
Originally published as Landmarks: Leo Barry, Alex Jesaulenko head the list of footy’s greatest grabs
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