My Bulldog-watching journey started in the late 70s, but began in earnest around 1982.
For that reason, Kelvin Templeton is not in my top 10 given I just didn't see enough of him in the flesh.
And given the amount of quality players to filter through The Kennel in the past 44 years, he is not the only Brownlow Medallist to miss out my top 10.
Adam Cooney (still underrated), Brad Hardie (a magical 1985) and the legendary Tony Liberatore are other Brownlow winners to miss out.
Hardie's impact on the club was massive in just two years. Cooney and Liberatore (very underrated for his football ability) were desperately stiff to miss out.
Other special mentions go to Brian Royal (mid and forward dynamo), Stevie Wallis (rock hard), Ryan Griffen (silk), Matty Boyd (flag warrior), Bob Murphy (pure artistry), Brian Lake (was just as good at the Dogs), Daniel Cross (running machine), Rohan Smith (heart n soul half-back surger), Luke Darcy (won an AFLPA MVP) and Liam Picken (the GF performance was the cream).
Hello to some massive favourites not in that grouping: Steve MacPherson (toughness and skill), Stevie Kretiuk (scary hard) and Steve Kolyniuk (flair ahead of his time), Terry Wallace (dual best and fairest/head over ball), Lindsay Gilbee (just about best Dogs' kick I've seen), Jack Macrae (ball-winning machine/clutch prelim goal), Daniel Giansiracusa (versatile) and Ryan Hargrave (dependable cult figure).
Defenders often don't get enough love, and two are in my top 10.
Key forwards also deserve some extra credits and feature high up.
Here we go:
3Chris Grant
Doug Hawkins dubbed "Granty" the Rolls-Royce. He was spot on.
Key position players deserve added credit due to the degree of difficulty, hence the Beasley and Foster calls in this list, and Grant was the obvious choice as the best key in my era. I didn't see enough of Kelvin Templeton for him to qualify.
Grant was pure silk, great off the left and right shoes, and his field kicking exquisite. He could take a pack mark, find space on the lead and crumb cleverly with a snap. There was nothing "Granty" couldn't do, even if like many he copped the yips in front of the big sticks for a year or two.
He could have won two Brownlows, pipped in the final round of 1996 (when James Hird got three and he picked up two) and in 1997 (when he polled the most voted, but was rubbed out for a week).
Grant was just as good at centre half-back as centre half-forward, providing rebound and intercept marking, but he will be remembered as a goalkicker - the youngest ever to kick more than 50 in his debut season. He finished with 554 majors in 341 games.
