Esteemed, veteran football journalist Mike Sheahan has outlined the reasons he chose Kevin Bartlett as his No. 1 Richmond player on a list of the 50 best Tigers he’s seen throughout the past 50 years.
Sheahan admitted it was difficult separating the brilliant rover-turned-devastating half-forward, and the Club’s outstanding centre half-forward of the late 1960s-late 1970s, Royce Hart. He was, however, comfortable with his decision to make Bartlett his top Tiger.
“I remember when I started working for ‘The Age’ in the early 70s – and this is an honest recollection – I thought Royce Hart was the best footballer that I’d ever seen.
“But at the end of their careers, I just couldn’t go past Bartlett. I mean the 400 games, the five Best and Fairests, five flags . . . he’s just such a compelling figure.
“Someone said to me today, they would have had Royce there because no-one else could do what Royce did. I said, ‘What about KB’? He said, ‘‘Boomer’ Harvey could do that’. I said, ‘Well, Boomer Harvey couldn’t kick 20-odd goals in a finals series’!
“I think Bartlett was just a freak as a player, and he played twice as many games as Royce.
“That’s not to denigrate Royce, but I just found it compelling that Kevin had to be No. 1.”
Sheahan also explained why he had no qualms about selecting superstar centreman Geoff Raines as high as No. 5 on his list.
“I was a huge Raines fan . . . I think, in particular 1980, when he was kicking the ball to Michael Roach. So, I wanted ‘Rainesy’ there,” Sheahan said.
“He was a three-time Best and Fairest winner, but I think, sadly for Rainesy, there’s an image of him as a mercenary because of what happened after Richmond.
“If he had have stayed at Richmond, he would have been all all-time great of the game, and in the Hall of Fame, which he’s not.”
View the full list of Mike Sheahan's Top 50 Tigers in its entirety
Sheahan placed a premium on those players who excelled in big-occasion matches – especially finals – for the Tigers.
“That’s why Billy Barrot’s in the top 10 (at No. 8) because, even though Billy was erratic in certain ways he played his footy, when it was a big game, when Richmond played Carlton, or played a final, Barrot was assured of being in the best,” Sheahan said.
