Western Bulldogs skipper Bob Murphy has revealed the top five sledges he has heard on the playing field over the course of his career...
5. Nick Riewoldt – St Kilda
“I wrote an article in The Age the week before we played the Saints. I wrote up my list of my favourite players in the league, my best 22 and they were all in position. I left Nick out," the veteran half-back said.
“Halfway through the second quarter we cross paths and Nick sort of turned to me and said ‘You. I’m right off you.’ He had real passion in his voice. He said ‘How I didn’t make that 22 is beyond me.’ I was sort of left stunned. As he turned to run away, I could hear him in say under his breath “Jack F’n Gunston!” He wasn’t happy with Jack taking his sport at centre half-forward.”
4. Justin Koschitzke – St Kilda
“At one point we were standing next to each other and he was mouthing off to a younger player," Murphy said.
"I said ‘Mate, you should be the last bloke who is giving blokes a bit of lip.’ As quick as a Robby Muir punch, he just turned to me and said ‘Murph, you’ve got the head the size of a mintie.'
"It was almost the speed that jelly-legged me and then a minute later the ball got kicked out and then I heard over my shoulder 'Someone get Mintie!' That was quite distracting and I think that is the essence of a good sledge."
3. Jesse Hogan - Melbourne
"Jesse was having a set shot and I said something to do with him being the great white hope, really highbrow stuff to try to put him off his kick," Murphy said.
“Of course he put it straight through and he ran right past me and said, ‘There’s your great white hope’ (pointing to million-dollar recruit Tom Boyd). Unfortunately, Tom wasn’t going so well and he was being subbed off at the time.”
2. Steve Johnson - Geelong/GWS
"He gave me the full Stevie J show”, said the Bulldogs leader.
“At one point he walked around boundary line and hid behind the point post. He walked up to me afterwards and said, ‘Did you see me sneak on?’. I said, ‘Well, clearly not’ and he just looked at me with a wink and said, ‘It was quite rascallish, wasn’t it?”
1. Ben Hudson - Adelaide/Western Bulldogs/Brisbane Lions/Collingwood
“Ben Hudson was the greatest sledger I ever played with," Murphy said.
“We played Richmond one night and Ben was prolific, he was constant and pretty harsh, and he picked on some young Richmond kid, who shall remain nameless ... about being ugly, basically.
“He just kept at him and at him and within earshot of me and the umpire Huddo said, ‘Mate you’re so ugly, you’re almost as ugly as Murph’.
“The Richmond player looked at me, I looked at him, the umpire looked at both of us and we all started laughing, it was a bit of a fiasco.”