Across 325 games, 16 seasons, four Grand Finals and nine preliminary finals, it is safe to say I played in some very good teams. Across those teams I also played with some extremely good players. Many teammates in those teams are in the AFL Hall of Fame.
So naming the best 10 players I've played with across those years, at the Brisbane Lions and Western Bulldogs, is damn tough.
The last spot, in my mind, was down to a choice of Scotty West, Brad Johnson, Barry Hall, Darryl White, Gilbert McAdam, Craig McRae, Jonathan Brown and Dale Morris.
Yes, the squeeze for spots was a lot harder than I initially thought.
For the record, my closest friends when I played the Bears/Lions was Craig "Fly" McRae and at the Bulldogs it was Dale Morris and Mitch Hahn.
These days I see Mitch most weeks, with either helping at the Lions L3 Development program he runs or at our daughters' football training and games.
My teammates I see now the most outside of Mitch, is Simon Black and Clark "Mr September" or "Crackers" Keating. It's mostly Clark actually.
He and I played in the Queensland under 12s team in Darwin back in 1988. We have been mates ever since. We both have three daughters and are always entwined with football work and other business. Football is an interesting place to play and be even after all these years.
8Daniel Bradshaw (Brisbane Lions)
"Big Guns" was such a good player to play with. His versatility and strength overhead had to be seen to be believed.
Off the field, "Big Guns" was quite happy to listen and not to talk a lot if he could help it. Often underrated, he was the best foil and happy to play second fiddle when in the same full forward area with Alastair Lynch.
