Wayne Carey named North Melbourne’s greatest player at 150th anniversary celebrations
The man voted the greatest Shinboner in North Melbourne’s 150-year history has credited one coach with shaping the club’s most successful period of the modern era and his own career.
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An emotional Wayne Carey expressed his gratitude to one of the great loves of his life — the North Melbourne Football Club — saying he was humbled to be named the greatest player in the club’s 150 years.
Carey received a standing ovation at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
“These things are subjective but talk about a humbling experience,” Carey said.
“I don’t often get nervous any more, but to sit here and watch everyone else (in the top 10) come up, you just go, ‘Wow’.
“It is very humbling to be standing here and I mean that from the heart.”
Carey, 48, paid special tribute to his premiership coach Denis Pagan for his guidance of the team that won two premierships during the 1990s.
“If it wasn’t for the leadership of Denis Pagan, I honestly don’t believe we would have done anything,” he said.
“Denis drove you. We wouldn’t have been the team we were and I wouldn’t have been the player I was without him.”
The Kangaroos named their greatest 150 players since the club’s inception in 1869, with Keith Greig, David Dench, Allen Aylett, Brent Harvey, Malcolm Blight, Wayne Schimmelbusch, Les Foote, Anthony Stevens and Ross Glendinning rounding out the top 10.
One of the keynote speakers, Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer, paid tribute to the unsung heroes who fought against numerous adversities and adversaries to remain a stand-alone AFL club.
“We’ve had times when we have been broke, been told to merge, or leave (North Melbourne) and find a new home away from Arden St,” Archer said.
“But our people at North have always found a way to never give up and to find a way to say ‘Get stuffed’. And we dig in and we are going nowhere. It takes a lot of courage and a lot of hard work to do that.”
Stevens, who was named the No.9 player in the club’s history, said it was a tremendous honour to be chosen among the top 10.
“We had an amazing era in the ‘90s and won two premierships,” Stevens said.
“The bond and the mateship we had back then was the biggest thing.”
Brent Harvey, the AFL’s games record holder, said: “To be picked No.5 by North people is humbling and something I’m very proud of.”
Malcolm Blight, chosen at No.6, said being a part of North Melbourne was “a treasure of my life.”
No.3 David Dench said: “I would have been happy to be in the top 50 … I’ll treasure this for the rest of my life.”
The selection committee, comprising of Donald McDonald, Frank Goode, Darren Crocker and Greg Ryan, delved deep into club’s history, speaking to a range of past players and administrators before ranking the top 10 players.
CAREY TOP LIST OF NORTH MELBOURNE’S FINEST
He’s carried the nickname throughout most of his football life, but Wayne Carey is now officially the “King” of North Melbourne.
Thirty years on from his debut as a precocious, exceptionally powerful teenager and 17 years since his departure from the club in controversial circumstances, Carey was named the Kangaroos’ greatest player in the club’s 150-year history.
An extensive panel of experts, including past and present administrators and former players, sifted through more than 1000 footballers to have represented North Melbourne since 1869 to select its greatest 150 players.
From that batch of 150, they then undertook the arduous task of ranking the top 10 players in the club’s history.
Carey, 48, was a clear top pick for his extraordinary on-field deeds which almost defined the club’s successful run through the 1990s in which the Kangaroos played off in seven successive preliminary finals as well as three Grand Finals, winning two premierships.
As a dominant forward and inspiring on-field leader, he played 244 games and kicked 671 goals across 13 seasons with the club. He won four best-and-fairests, two AFLPA MVP awards and seven All-Australians in that time, and was twice a premiership captain.
Carey’s elevation to the top spot was hardly a surprise, given his ranking among the greatest players of the modern era.
But there was plenty of conjecture and debate reserved for the order of the next nine players, given how many champions the club has produced in a rich history.
Seven of the top 10 players chosen played in one or more of the Kangaroos’ four VFL/AFL premiership sides — 1975, 1977, 1996 and 1999.
Dual Brownlow medallist Keith Greig, one of the game’s most stylish wingmen, was selected as the second-best player in the club’s history, while the man who helped redefine the fullback position during the 1970s, David Dench, was ranked third.
Allen Aylett, one of the greatest rovers in the game during the 1950s and early 1960s, was chosen at No.4, while North Melbourne star of the 1940s and 1950s, Les Foote, was selected in eighth position.
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Brent Harvey, the AFL’s games record holder, was ranked No.5, with 1978 Brownlow medallist Malcolm Blight one rung behind him.
Wayne Schimmelbusch was picked in seventh spot, Anthony Stevens was ninth, and 1983 Brownlow medallist Ross Glendinning rounded out the top ten.
There were a number of players who narrowly missed the top 10, including Barry Cable and Glenn Archer, who was named the Shinboner of the Century in 2005.
Those eligible had to have played 50 or more games for North in the VFL/AFL, while no games limit applied in the club’s VFA era.
The three primary attributes for selection were on-field achievements, longevity and sustained excellence.
The selection methodology was based on a points system (with particular achievements, accolades and awards attracting a certain amount of points and weighting), eyewitness accounts where past players and administrators were consulted, and third-party commentary across all forms of the media.
The selection criteria was based on playing achievements alone, and did not take into consideration off-field work or other contributions to the club.
THE NORTH 150
1869-1949
Harry Fuhrhop
Joey Tankard
Richard Houston
Harry Todd
William Carroll
Charles Hardy
Syd Barker
George Rawle
Dave Walsh
Johnny Lewis
Leo Dwyer
Charlie Cameron
Johnny Gregory
Wally Carter
Jim Adamson
Charlie Gaudion
Tom Fitzmaurice
Ted Ellis
Charlie Skinner
Jock Cordner
Bill Findlay
Allan Crawford
Don Kemp
George Kennedy
Sel Murray
Sid Dyer
Dally O’Brien
Jock McCorkell
Jack Allister
Les Foote
Kevin Dynon
Don Condon
Keith McKenzie
Ted Jarrard
Pat Kelly
Gerald Marchesi
Vic Lawrence
John Reeves
Jock Spencer
Kevin McMahon
Bob Brooker
1950-1979
Bryan Martyn
Jack Edwards
Neil Oolan
Jack O’Halloran
John Brady
Allen Aylett
Gerald Eastmure
Albert Mantello
John Dugdale
Ken Dean
Noel Teasdale
Laurie Dwyer
Keith Robertson
Michael Gaudion
John Waddington
Daryl O’Brien
Frank Goode
Peter Steward
John Ibrahim
Bernie McCarthy
Tom Allison
Mick Dowdle
Gary Farrant
Denis Pagan
Barry Goodingham
Peter Chisnall
Sam Kekovich
Ken Montgomery
David Dench
Barry Cable
Paul Feltham
Frank Gumbleton
Phil Baker
Gary Cowton
Ross Henshaw
Keith Greig
Arnold Briedis
Darryl Sutton
Barry Davis
John Rantall
Doug Wade
John Burns
Mick Nolan
Wayne Schimmelbusch
Malcolm Blight
Brent Crosswell
Graham Melrose
Steven Icke
John Byrne
Xavier Tanner
John Cassin
Steve McCann
Ross Glendinning
John Law
Gary Dempsey
1980-1999
Kym Hodgeman
Andrew Demetriou
Jim Krakouer
Phil Krakouer
Donald McDonald
Ian Fairley
Matthew Larkin
Peter German
Ross Smith
Paul Spargo
Darren Crocker
Craig Sholl
Brett Allison
John Longmire
Mick Martyn
Wayne Schwass
Anthony Rock
Wayne Carey
Anthony Stevens
Mark Roberts
Glenn Archer
Alex Ishchenko
Corey McKernan
John Blakey
Dean Laidley
Matthew Capuano
David King
Robert Scott
Adam Simpson
Peter Bell
Brent Harvey
Martin Pike
Byron Pickett
Winston Abraham
Shannon Grant
Brady Rawlings
2000-2019
Saverio Rocca
Corey Jones
Drew Petrie
Michael Firrito
Daniel Wells
Andrew Swallow
Lindsay Thomas
Todd Goldstein
Scott Thompson
Jack Ziebell
Ben Cunnington
Jamie MacMillan
Shaun Atley
Robbie Tarrant
Ben Brown
Shaun Higgins
Jarrad Waite
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