Grant Birchall "is one of the underrated all-time great players for the Hawthorn footy club", according to a man that has been a constant factor of his AFL journey.
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Speaking ahead of game 250 for Devonport's Birchall, Brisbane coach and fellow North-West Coast product Chris Fagan [who was with Birchall at the Hawks for the 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015 premierships as head of coaching and development and general manager of football] heaped praise on his new Lion.
"If you look up the statistics for those game, his four grand finals as a half-back flanker he averaged 24 possessions per game in those grand finals and on the big stage he stepped up,'' Fagan said.
"His average in grand finals is better than his career average, which is 22, which is still pretty good as a half-back flanker.
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"So that tells you how good he is and probably when you look at the guys that he played alongside, you know [Lance] Franklin, [Jarryd] Roughead, [Cyril] Rioli, [Sam] Mitchell, [Luke] Hodge [and] [Jordan] Lewis, he probably didn't get the kudos that he really deserved.
"But in those big games he stepped up and was an incredibly reliable player for Hawthorn.
"To reach 250 games, I did the stats the other day, 16,000 people have played AFL/VFL footy since it started 124 years ago and I think he is the 246th guy to play 250 games, so 1.5 per cent get to there, so that's elite."
Birchall will play game 250 against West Coast at the Gabba from 7.40pm Saturday.
Alex Fair
Deputy Editor of The Advocate on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.
Deputy Editor of The Advocate on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.
