Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell are one of the best combinations the game has seen

LUKE Hodge and Sam Mitchell are both premiership captains, multiple All-Australian and best-and-fairest winners. They’re also one of the best combinations the game has seen.

JON ANDERSON

4 min read

March 27, 2016 - 8:00PM

The 2015 AFL Grand Final at the MCG between the West Coast and Hawthorn AFLGF2015. Luke Hodge of Hawthorn and Sam Mitchell of Hawthorn celebrate. Picture: Michael Klein

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THEY are to the AFL what Joe Montana and Jerry Rice were to gridiron or Dennis Lillee and Rod Marsh to cricket, a sporting “one-two” that had parallel careers of equal brilliance.

For 15 seasons Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell have plied their trade alongside each other in Hawthorn’s midfield, their stellar careers overlapping in 234 games.

Both have been named All-Australian three times, both are premierships captains (Hodge three, Mitchell one), both are four-time premiership players and they share six best-and-fairest awards (Mitchell four, Hodge two).

They also have an uncanny knowledge of each other’s games, and while their on-field connection may not rival that of the Krakouer brothers Jim and Phil in the 1980s, Mitchell and Hodge have a healthy off-field respect since beginning their careers together in 2002.

Last week SEN commentator Tim Watson, who knows a thing or two about combinations given he often lined up in the centre square crumbing to Simon Madden, described Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield as the best one-two pairing in the game today.

Obviously Watson was tongue-in-cheek given the pair have yet to play an AFL game together, but the potential for inside and outside action from a pair skilled in both areas is immense.

Their influence, not just on the field but the footy club as a whole, their influence has been remarkable in their time.

As a one-two pair, they are right up there with the best in any era.

Peter Knights formed his own lethal defensive partnership at Hawthorn with Kelvin Moore in the 1970s and has worked with the club for the entire careers of Mitchell and Hodge.

“In terms of on-field partnerships, Mitchell and Hodge are all about setting levels of excellence, whereas players such as Peter Crimmins and Peter Hudson shared a bond because Crimmins knew where to kick it and Hudson knew where it was going,” Knights said.

“Jason Dunstall would say the same of Darren Jarman, John Platten and Darrin Pritchard.”

Donald McDonald counts himself as lucky to have played in the same North Melbourne teams as Jimmy and Phil Krakouer, a brother act that set the then VFL alight from their opening games in 1982.

“They both played well in their debuts against Richmond in Round 1 but the next week they just went berserk at Arden St (Jimmy 27 possessions and four goals, Phil 25 and three) against Sydney,” recalled McDonald, 53, who played 155 games for North Melbourne between 1982-92.

“Phil was slipping handballs over his shoulder and you thought ‘where’s he going with that’ before Jimmy suddenly emerged from nowhere to be running onto it. It was uncanny but it wasn’t as if they were always looking for each other, more that they read each other so well.

“Early on teams didn’t know how to deal with them. They created havoc and it was amazing to sit back and watch it. It was like playing Gary Ablett Sr except there were two, not one. It’s rare that individuals take your eye during a game, let alone two players.

“Being an older bloke and a mad Collingwood supporter as a kid I remember the unbelievable understanding between Len Thompson in the ruck and Wayne Richardson as rover, with Peter McKenna generally being on the end of it.

“Hodgey and Mitch are a bit different in that they aren’t as obviously connected on the field, but they share a similar ruthless approach to contested possession. And if you are talking purely about great players playing a lot of footy together, then they are right up there.”

Some 35 of Gareth Andrews’s 136 games with Geelong were played between 1965-67 when the classical rucking and roving duo of Graham “Polly” Farmer and Bill Goggin was at its zenith. Andrews admits to bias but says if there has been a better one-two in football over the past 50 years, then he hasn’t seen it.

“It helped that Polly was such a legend but Billy had such fantastic acceleration and crumbing ability that he took full advantage of his captain’s genius. They were an amazing double act,” said Andrews, 69.

“If I try to think of who matched them, there is nobody at Geelong who gets close and that includes the Matthew Scarlett-led backlines where he had such great understanding with players like Corey Enright and Tom Harley.

“Every single bounce, Polly and Bill had a specific plan, or a set play if you like. It was just like a quarterback in the NFL except it worked more often because they were both so good.”

John Kennedy Jr, 56, played 101 of his 241 games with Hawthorn in teams containing a pair of megastar forwards in Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton.

He said it was a credit to both that they made such a lethal partnership work.

“They complemented each other, no doubt. They weren’t interchangeable because Jason would have run out of puff if he was at centre half-forward. Dermott liked to play up the ground and had the running ability to do so,” Kennedy said.

“Early on they probably had to work it out but they became a great forward line partnership. If I think of others, I straight away think of the Krakouers.

“They had something that no others had, passing it without even looking, at least that’s how it seemed.

“Hodge and Mitchell work well together but not as connected as the Krakouers. They are probably more like Leigh Matthews and Michael Tuck, or Don Scott with Matthews and Tuck, partnerships that stood the test of time.”

Great midfield duos:

HAWTHORN: Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge

SYDNEY: Greg Williams, Gerard Healy

BRISBANE: Michael Voss, Simon Black

WEST COAST: Chris Judd, Ben Cousins

FREMANTLE: Nat Fyfe, David Mundy

Around the ground:

GEELONG: Polly Farmer, Bill Goggin

NORTH MELBOURNE: Jim Krakouer, Phil Krakouer

HAWTHORN: Dermott Brereton, Jason Dunstall

WEST COAST: Glenn Jakovich, Guy McKenna

COLLINWOOD: Peter McKenna, Barry Price