Glenn McFarlane takes a look at some of the best on-field player rivalries of the AFL era
AHEAD of this week’s Steve Johnson-Ryan Crowley showdown, Glenn McFarlane takes a look at those players who haven’t exactly seen eye to eye when they’ve stepped across the line.
Glenn McFarlane
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WELCOME to the Stevie J and Ryan Crowley show. It’s going to be another cracker.
With the Geelong star rightfully getting off at the tribunal on Tuesday night, it sets the scene for the renewing of hostilities between Johnson and his old Fremantle adversary at Simonds Stadium on Saturday night.
They don’t particularly like each other. That much is certain from looking at them on the field.
And Stevie J is not the only one to have had a tempestuous relationship with Crowley, who is, by all reports, a great bloke off the field, but an annoying pest when he crosses the white line.
Just ask ‘Boomer’ Harvey his thoughts on Crowley. Or Gary Ablett? Or anyone who has had the misfortune of being worn like a glove from him over the past few years.
It got us thinking about some of the best on-field enemies in modern football. So we’ve taken a stab at some of the best of enemies in the AFL era and here’s what we have come up with.
1. PAUL KELLY v TONY LIBERATORE
OK, we know these two famously filmed a television commercial together, promoting how a cup of tea can resolve all differences.
Well, let’s just say that you should see the out-takes.
Paul Kelly and Tony Liberatore will never be the best of mates after an on-field rivalry that was heated as any going around through the 1990s.
The two Brownlow Medal winners came to blows on more than one occasion — mainly because of ‘Libba’s’ questionable tagging tactics — and it did little to promote harmony between the respective sides.
In one game in 1997, all hell seemed to break loose at the Whitten Oval.
Kelly came off the field with scratches on his face, and he was furious, as were several of his teammates. But Liberatore maintained he never scratched his Swans opponent.
The pair fought a running battle and it’s fair to say that some of the feelings are still reasonable strong today.
2. GREG WILLIAMS v SEAN DENHAM
What do you get when you put two fiery, equally feisty footballers together and mix it with an insatiable appetite for success? The simple answer: Trouble.
And add in the pressure of a finals cauldron, and it only maximises the impact.
Their rivalry during the early to mid-1990s was legendary, and it’s fair to say there was no love-lost between the pair.
Just cast your mind back to the 1993 Grand Final, and the early stages of the game, when Denham was assigned to Williams, and it came to blows.
Remember that Williams threw a punch at one stage that broke Denham’s nose, and allegedly played a role in the Bombers tagger losing his sense of smell.
Yet it was Denham who smelt the sweet scent of success that night.
Just to prove how long-lasting this feud was we can recall the time that Williams was suspended for nine weeks for pushing field umpire Andrew Coates.
No prizes for guessing who was he trying to get at when he pushed the umpire away that day. Denham was the man who was shadowing him in that game.
3. DAVID RHYS-JONES v GREG WILLIAMS
This one was an old-style VFL rivalry that transformed into an AFL one.
And it would probably be No.1 if the VFL stuff could be added in.
It’s fair to say that ‘Diesel’ and ‘Rhys’ have had their issues over the years, even though they were teammates for a season at Carlton back in 1992.
Williams, who was with Sydney, famously broke Rhys-Jones jaw at a match in 1989, which prompted some retaliation later in the match.
“I knew I was going to miss about seven or eight weeks and I was going to make sure he missed about the same,” Rhys-Jones said later.
“I went looking for him. The siren blew, they reported me.
In his autobiography, Rhys-Jones said: “I think Greg Williams is a fantastic footballer, but a pretty ordinary bloke.”
The feeling was pretty much mutual.
4. STEVE JOHNSON v RYAN CROWLEY
Geelong’s Steve Johnson rightfully got off at the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night, and his reward will be to run around again with the man who loves to try and put him off his game, Ryan Crowley.
It’s been a long history between these two players, and the previous chapter was when Johnson was banned for a week for making contact with his head with Crowley back in Round 9.
The pair did not start on each other in last year’s qualifying final at Simonds Stadium, but Ross Lyon sent Crowley to him after Johnson made a strong start.
And the two engaged in a personal battle for the rest of the match, with plenty of lip associated with the contest.
5. JOSH CARR v MARK RICCIUTO
Wow, the best clash between these two took place far from the madding crowd, in the car park of the Ramsgate Hotel in Adelaide in 2002.
Thing did not come much more bitter than Port Adelaide and Adelaide Showdowns at the time, even though these two blokes had more than a healthy respect for each other off the field.
Carr maintains he does not hold any grudges with Ricciuto for what might have happened 12 years ago.
“I suppose it’s just one of those things we look back on in the past 10-to-15 years of Showdowns and it goes down in folklore,” Carr once said.
“We look back on it now and probably have a little bit of a laugh. Every time we see each other we have a chat and we do get along well.’’
6. MATTHEW LLOYD v TAKE YOUR PICK OF HAWTHORN PLAYERS
This wasn’t just the Brad Sewell incident; there is a fair bit of history between the former Essendon forward and the Hawthorn Football Club long before that.
It dates way back to 2005 when Lloyd cannoned into the young Hawk with the dreadlocks, with the Bombers forward’s forearm guard resulting in a fractured cheekbone. The Hawthorn players never forgot it.
Later that year, Campbell Brown was suspended for four weeks for striking Lloyd, while Peter Everitt and Danny Jacobs were fined for wrestling with Lloyd.
And in that infamous final round clash between the two sides in 2009, Lloyd ran through Sewell immediately after half-time which inflamed the situation, and saw coach Alastair Clarkson furious from the sidelines and Brown calling for retribution.
7. JASON AKERMANIS v JARED CROUCH
Sydney’s Jared Crouch loved nothing more than to get under the skin of Brisbane’s Jason Akermanis, and he was very good at it.
Aker was so frustrated with Crouch at stages of their on-field rivalry that he called him “a hack”, “a serial pest” and even “a cheat”.
The Brownlow medallist even joked one day that his wife gave him more space on their honeymoon than Crouch ever did on the field.
One of their biggest showdowns came in 2006 when the pair was playing on each other and Akermanis lost the plot. He ended up slapping Crouch on the backside in complete frustration for what was happening in the game.
Crouch said later he knew he had Akermanis’ measure when the Lions star used to sledge him in the media before matches.
8. STEVEN BAKER v STEVE JOHNSON
Who could ever forget the clash between St Kilda’s Steven Baker and Geelong’s Steve Johnson in 2010? Johnson had a broken hand at the time and Baker was suspended for a series of clashes with the star Cat.
Just a look back at the rap sheet says he copped three lots of striking charges (three weeks, two weeks and two weeks) as well as two weeks at the tribunal for “unreasonable and unnecessary contact with an injured player.”
9. BRENT HARVEY v RYAN CROWLEY
This was a toss-up between Brent Harvey-Ryan Crowley or Gary Ablett-Ryan Crowley. In the end, we went with Harvey ahead of Ablett simply because of the “pinching” allegations that were aired at a fiery tribunal hearing involving the two.
In 2013 Harvey alleged at the tribunal that Crowley had pinched him “300 times”. The Dockers tagger copped a $1200 fine, despite denying the allegations.
And few people get under Ablett’s skin, although Crowley clearly does. It has happened on a number of occasions.
When Ablett saw Crowley lock down on Chris Judd one night, he tweeted: “Crowley is a joke! Play the ball, not the man! That’s why Lingy was such a great player he ran both ways! #givejuddafreekick””
10. HAYDEN BALLANTYNE v GEELONG
Let’s just put this one bluntly. Hayden Ballantyne doesn’t like Geelong. And Geelong doesn’t like him back.
It’s been a running battle for many years now and could be on once again on Saturday night.
In 2010 Ballantyne was fined for punching Gary Ablett. And Ballantyne collected Paul Chapman in 2012; he ended up copping Matthew Scarlett’s wrath.
Scarlett turned up the heat when he gave the Freo forward a big whack which earned him three weeks on the sidelines.
Port Adelaide defender Alipate Carlile and Gold Coast’s Trent McKenzie sent supporting tweets on the night. Carlile tweeted: “Matty Scarlett just done what a lot of other footballers would love to do #brilliant.” McKenzie also tweeted: “Matthew Scarlett did a favour for most people #lethimoff”. That only inflamed the debate.
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