ROSS Ried has seen many champions come and go through the gates of the Albury Sportsground. He started as property steward in 1980, before taking over as team manager when Paul Spargo returned to the Tigers in 1994. Today, Ried takes on the impossible job of naming his top-five Tigers of the modern era. “Can I pick 21 with three emergencies,” Ried laughed.
JEREMY MASTERSON
Heaven forbid but if World War III broke out tomorrow, I’d be straight on the phone to ‘Jezza’ asking if I could drop around to his place. He’s the bloke you want to be standing alongside in the trenches. ‘Jezza’ played mainly at centre half-back for Albury and gave away inches in height to his opponents most weeks. But he was hard and mean and that gave incredible confidence to the blokes around him.
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STEPHEN ASH
Some of the mail we received from the Goulburn Valley before we signed Stephen Ash wasn’t flattering. There were people who thought his best was behind him due to injuries. Well, all I can say is that I would have loved to have seen him play earlier in his career because he was an absolute sensation in his two seasons with the Tigers. He was brilliant on both sides of his body and had incredible balance. You would hardly ever see him lose his feet.
GLENN PAGE
‘Pagey’ was an unbelievable player. We always got stuck into him about never picking anyone up, but why would he with the damage he caused running out of the backline. I distinctly remember a comment our chairman of selectors Mark Turner made during a game at Lavington one season. Pagey had just kicked the ball out from full-back and Mark Turner piped up with:‘He’ll kick a goal here for us’. Sure enough, he ran up and took a handball and followed it up again and kicked a goal from about 40 metres.
SHAUN DALY
He’s a ripper. There has never been anything really flash about Shaun, but he just gets the job done. I’ve heard people say he’s not a great kick but he never misses a target. He’s never left anything out on the ground and he’s taken his pre-game preparation to another level with his video analysis, feedback and USB sticks. I think he learnt a lot from Danny Craven in Queensland.
CHRIS HYDE
I was absolutely rapt he won the Morris medal on Monday night because he’s been fantastic on and off the ground at Albury. Some players come out of the AFL with egos and big heads, but not this bloke. You wouldn’t meet a more down to earth person. He arrived at Albury from Richmond in 2009 and just started to enjoy his football again. He’s pretty much done it all in the Ovens and Murray.
