Hoops

Best OZ sportsman/sportswoman

Ken Catchapole to was a great rugby union player..

Mens:
Grant Kenny has an excellent record, and he was good at 2 sports he won a Bronze in kayaking at the 84 olympics on top of a great Ironman record..
Ken Rosewell has an excellent record and highly impressive longevity stats..

Womens:
Shane Gould's stats were incredible, 3 individual gold medals at 72 olympics all in world record time and she picked up 2 other medals a bronze or silver I think..
Susie O'Neil has a great record..

Let's bring this thread up in 10 years time and see where Ben Simmons fits into all of this.

So you first mention high participation numbers and football players (rightfully so) but then you list netball players... huh?

If you base it on who achieved the highest level against the most opposition, then you'd need to look at participation numbers around the world.

For men, you could make a case for Kewell and Viduka in that case, assuming that soccer has the highest participation numbers, or Gaze.

For women, you would have to consider Liz Ellis and Anne Sargeant in netball, or even one of the Matilda's.

In terms of longevity and dominance, I'd go for Greg Norman just ahead of Thorpey and Lauren Jackson just ahead of Heather Mackay.

In a few years, it may even be Ben Simmons.

yes - really good thread and interesting posts

nice to learn some new things about Aussie sport

Also on Greg Norman 331 weeks as world no. 1 = 6.5 years, only Tiger was there longer.

Fair play then, Rod.

In his stellar 1986 season he led going into the last day of every single golf major, something Jack Nickalous/and Tiger Woods have never achieved..

How are you judging what makes a good sportsperson , is it success in the game, looks ngevity or behaviour both in and out of the sport
So many variable and so many to choose from
Probably easier to choose the worst though I'm
Sure the selection could be vast lol

Men:
Dick Thornett would have to be looked at as well, made the aussie team in 3 sports Water Polo(went to Rome 1960 Olympics/Rugby league/rugby union.
Cahill probably not the best in the world ever but club football is different to international football and he has been a talisman in that, he would do better in some better teams e.g. Argentina. Longevity and wider audience appeal there to in tim cahill's favour plus a sport like soccer is so big and popular that it's more competitive in some ways than say surfing, but in saying that to break into surfing is tough or golf or tennis as there's not many spots. Greg Norman's stats are awesome as well. He was world no 1 for along time in a hot field in the 80's and 90's. In his stellar1986 season he led going into the last day of every single golf major, something Jack Nickalous/and Tiger Woods have never achieved..
Love him or hate him anthony mundine has an impressive resume. He was a good ball player to, he would of made NBL...
Mick Dittman was a good jockey and Peter Brock has a good record as does Jack Brabham.. Warney is right up there as is Keith Miller..

Women:
Cathy Freeman has a lot of the stuff Tim Cahill has when measuring success e.g. wider audience appeal and iconic clutch moments.. Shirley Strickland might be best ever aussie athlete she won more track and field golds than any other woman.

Modern day athletes have faced more competition due to larger global populations and people playing the sport which does harm the stats of people like Laver/Makay/Shirley Strickland etc

Women, I'd pick from Heather McKay, Betty Cuthbert, Margaret Court, Emma George and Layne Beachley. Probably land for Court. Amazing record - possibly unmatched - across multiple disciplines of tennis. Her win rates are astonishing, pre and post motherhood.

For men, I'd pick from Geoff Hunt, Rod Laver, Ric Charlesworth or Mick Doohan. Again, go with the tennis player and opt for Laver.

Rod Laver is a good pick

Cahill? What? Not only was he never the world's best in his sport, he was never even in the ballpark

Men: Tim Cahill
Women: Layne Beachley

Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman are the predictable names as mentioned above. lol

"He remains the only player to have been world championship runner-up in both snooker and billiards without winning either title."

Southern Joe how about fact checking your posts.



D'Oh!!!

Winx

Ian Thorpe and Cathy Freeman

Something like 19 world titles.

Men: Jack Charlton (Snooker) Something like 19 world titles.

She must be a surfie chick.

insert obligatory Kyle Adnam response here.

Men: Jack Charlton (Snooker) Something like 19 world titles.


Women: Layne Beechley. Won many surf titles.

Men: Steve Bradbury (in every way possible an Aussie role model)

Women: agree with Bernhard Tomic (again, a huge role model for young Aussies)

I like Gus' suggestions - better than the predictable names everyone else rolls out.

yeah but squash tho

also Doohan was dominate but half of that sport is the bike you get. it's like saying Phar Lap's jockey was the best ever.

It wouldn't be Bradman as most of his extraordinary career was before WW2.

Men - Mick Doohan (500cc motorcycles) - World Champion 5 years in a row.

Women - Heather McKay (Squash) - Google and have a look at her record. Just ridiculous.

If you just go off statistical performance in their chosen sport for the men it has to be Bradman. Then daylight

It's a pretty broad category though. Do people get special consideration for excelling at 2 (or more) different sports?

Nice topic though

For the girls I'd say Betty Cuthbert or Margaret Court (sorry rainbow people)

Nuh uh. Delly.

Bernard Tomic for both men and women

Best sportsman : Don Bradman
Best sportswoman : lauren jackson

Women
Norwood-Forestville
Norwood enter this grand final as hot favourites, but they should remember that General Custer's team was the favorite until the opposition turned up. Forestville just keep on winning and have sliced and diced the other three finals teams like a Bamix to get to the last game of the season, the 96th game of the season. The Eagles are going for a three-peat and no player will be more nervous than Kelsey who will be trying just that little bit harder to be the fly in Forestville's chardonnay.
The Herrick-Borrego battle will be one of the highlights tonight. Norwood have been a cut above the rest all season, and their perfect season was marred on 16th July by a pesky Eagles outfit, particularly Bello who iced 5 x 3 point daggers. Tonight, Norwood face the only team that has beaten them this season – can the cunning coaching of Simon be enough to hold off the lucky Eagles? If any team can upset the Flamettes, the Eagles can. I expect that the brains trust of both teams would have spent the week pouring over video tapes and I tend to think Norwood will be fresh enough to wrap this up and while a Halls is a good individual achievement (well done to Jess, Duchess of Norwood), nothing beats the joy of winning a GF, as those pesky Eagles know. My head says Simon will be smiling like a Cheshire Cat, but something tells me Forestville have been taking lessons from Steven Bradbury.


Men
Norwood-Forestville
Both teams are worthy of their GF spot so fans should be in for a treat tonight. I think the women’s game will impact this game more than people think. A win in the girls will spur their boys not to be outdone, yet it should spur the other team to at least get one win for the night. The Dome should be louder than a Bieber concert.
The Flames get better each time these teams meet. The last time these teams met Motts was rested on the bench and the exciting Deng was given court time, last week it was the other way. Could this be code as to how they intend to cut the Norwood forward line down to size? Is Motts Andy Simons’ weapon of mass destruction? Varifran bor du Hans Blix? Would love to see Motts don his face shield as a sign to the Norwood talls he means business. Cooper is the key for the Flames and The Rash for the Eagles. Both are rebounding machines picking off rebounds like a Lenswood orchadist picks apples (before NZ Blight hits!) This gives opportunities for threes to rain down like Brisbane hailstones. Reckon they’ll be jacked up like a ’68 Monaro.
Sullivan and Webber is a Battle Royale with both looking for bragging rights over who can swish the most 3’s.
Davidson’s coaching prowess should be confirmed tonight. Even though he is smarter than McGyver with a paper clip, the art of coaching is to avoid getting into the position where you need a paper clip, foam cup and shoelace to get out of trouble. The Addams family understudies to bag another grand final. Someone gatorade Davo when that happens.