Caleb Daniel leading the charge for short players in the AFL

CALEB Daniel is proof being short is no barrier to being an AFL gun. And he’s not the only small man dominating this season. Who's your club’s small wonder?

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 2: Caleb Daniel of the Bulldogs celebrates a goal during the 2016 AFL Round 02 match between the St Kilda Saints and the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne on April 2, 2016. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)

SAM Mitchell found himself in unfamiliar territory when Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge sent Caleb Daniel to him at Etihad Stadium in Round 3.

For a start, nobody seems too interested in tagging Mitchell these days. But more unusual was the fact Mitchell, at 179cm, towered over his direct opponent.

“It was an honour to play on him,” Daniel said. “I’ve looked up to him for a fair while.”

The 168cm Bulldog had 29 disposals, eight tackles and a goal to take the honours over Mitchell — another rarity — in his 13th AFL game. The next week Daniel won an AFL Rising Star nomination.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE YOUR CLUB’S BEST LITTLE MEN

Daniel was a natural ball-winner at junior level but slipped to pick 46 in the 2014 draft — no prizes for guessing why.

But he has never let talk about his stature bother him.

“There’s disadvantages and advantages. I’ve never really thought too negatively about it, it’d be nice to be 6’2” and 80kg but that’s something I won’t be ever,” Daniel said this week.

“Height doesn’t matter, so long as you can win the footy and distribute it.”

Look across the league and you’ll find little men in the best players every week — Eddie Betts, Dayne Zorko, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, and elder statesman Brent Harvey who has been doing it for decades.

Harvey is listed in the official AFL Media Guide as 177cm but we might have to take that with a grain of salt — over his career he has variously appeared as 172cm, 176cm and even 168cm back in 1998.

Regardless, he doesn’t go close to the shortest player ever to appear at VFL-AFL level. Jim ‘Nipper’ Bradford, listed at 152cm + that’s 5’5’’ in the old language — played seven games for Collingwood in 1943 and nine for North Melbourne in 1949. In between he starred in the VFA, and was recently named first rover in Camberwell’s team of the century.

YOUR CLUB’S SMALL WONDERS

ADELAIDE

The shortest man on Adelaide’s list, Eddie Betts, sits fourth on the AFL goalkicking table after four rounds. Defender Rory Laird (178cm) is also having a great season.

BRISBANE

Dayne Zorko is a 175cm jet, averaging 125 SuperCoach points a game. He just edges out Allen Christensen (176cm) for the title of the shortest Lion but they both tower over Doug Nicholls, who stood 157.5cm and played 53 games for Fitzroy in 1930s.

CARLTON

The Blues have the AFL’s shortest list — we’ll leave it to readers to decide if coach Brendon Bolton has had any influence on that. Of the seven players under 180cm, ex-Bulldog Tason Tutt and rookie Andrew Gallucci are equal shortest at 177cm. The Blues’ shortest ever player is Tommy Downs who played 56 games in 1920s and 30s at 159cm.

COLLINGWOOD

Jarryd Blair is clearly the shortest Pie at 174cm. Nipper Bradford has the title of smallest Pie and another well known little man was Kevin ‘Skeeter’ Coughlan, who played for Collingwood and Hawthorn in the 50s and was an ‘around the grounds’ man on radio.

Jarryd Blair gains some extra centimetres with the help of Jack Macrae. Picture: Michael Klein

ESSSENDON

Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is just 171cm but packs a big punch. After being promoted from the rookie list he edged out Travis Colyer (174cm) as the shortest current Bomber. They don’t go close to Charlie Hardy (156cm) who played 36 games in 1920s.

FREMANTLE

It’s no surprise Freo’s goalsneaks Hayden Ballantyne and Michael Walters are the club’s shortest players, at 173cm and 177cm respectively. You may not have realised midfield gun Lachie Neale is the same height as Walters. Dockers champs Peter Bell and Jeff Farmer were both 1cm taller than Ballantyne.

GEELONG

The Cats have the tallest list in the AFL with 13 players listed as 195cm or taller. That’s a long way to look up for Cory Gregson (175cm). Luckily Jack Carney (160cm) retired 80 years ago.

GOLD COAST

The traditional move of putting the little guy in the forward pocket applies at the Suns, with Brandon Matera (174cm) the shortest man on Gold Coast’s list. Midfielder Touk Miller is 177cm and maestro Gary Ablett (182cm) isn’t much bigger.

GWS GIANTS

Only two players under 180cm on the Giants’ list — Devon Smith (175cm) and Jarrod Pickett (178cm).

HAWTHORN

Coach Alastair Clarkson stands 177cm and obviously isn’t worried about recruiting little men, with No.22 pick Kieran Lovell the shortest player taken in last year’s draft. He and Paul Puopolo are both 173cm.

MELBOURNE

Jay Kennedy-Harris (173cm) can’t crack the best 22 this year but Ben Kennedy (175cm) and Jack Viney (178cm) are going OK.

NORTH MELBOURNE

Boomer is the flag-bearer but Robin Nahas (176cm) is 1cm shorter, at least according to this year’s media guide.

PORT ADELAIDE

Port has one of the AFL’s most potent mosquito fleets led by Jake Neade who just clears the 170cm bar. Kane Mitchell is 174cm, Sam Gray is 176cm and Robbie Gray (183cm) isn’t exactly huge.

RICHMOND

Who is Richmond’s shortest player? Who else but Jayden Short. He’s listed as 177cm, 1cm shorter than Kane Lambert and 2cm below Daniel Rioli. The shortest Richmond player in history we could find is Clarrie Hall (160cm), who played 150 games and booted 169 goals in 1920s.

David Rodan gave up 38cm to Aaron Sandilands but had him beaten for pace. Picture: Colleen Petch

ST KILDA

Goalsneak Jack Lonie is listed at 174cm and 71kg — adding 1kg since his debut season. Leigh Montagna (178cm) is still one of the Saints’ best players. We don’t have to go too far back to find a 162cm player in Danny Craven, who played 33 games from 1989-92.

SYDNEY SWANS

Pocket rocket Ben McGlynn is just 172cm. His protege Tom Papley is 5cm taller. Jamie Lawson played 34 games in the 1990s at just 160cm.

WEST COAST

Not many small guys on the Eagles’ list. The shortest, Malcolm Karpany (176cm), is yet to play an AFL game. Chris Masten comes in just under the 180cm mark. Premiership hero David Wirrpanda was just 173cm and Phil Matera was 2cm shorter.

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Caleb Daniel (168cm) has company in the forward line in Mitch Honeychurch (176cm) and Luke Dahlhaus (179cm). But none of them come close to Brownlow medallist Tony Liberatore (163cm).

AVERAGE HEIGHT LADDER

Geelong 189.9cm

GWS Giants 189.4cm

Richmond 188.7cm

Sydney Swans 188.5cm

Port Adelaide 188.5cm

Collingwood 188.4cm

Essendon 188.3cm

Fremantle 188.3cm

North Melbourne 188.2cm

Brisbane Lions 188cm

West Coast 188cm

Adelaide 187.4cm

Gold Coast 188.2cm

Hawthorn 187.9cm

Melbourne 187.9cm

St Kilda 187.8cm

Western Bulldogs 187.2cm

Carlton 187.1cm