Hall of Fame throws puzzles

IT might have been the most difficult meeting for the Australian Football Hall of Fame selectors since the inaugural year of 1996.

This year, the selectors have had the capacity to name five first-year eligible champions to be among the inclusions in the Hall of Fame at a gala dinner on June 14.

The eligible players include Matthew Pavlich, Brent Harvey, Jimmy Bartel, Corey Enright and Dane Swan — all champions of the sport.

The question is: How many will be included?

Will it be all of them? Will it be four of them?

It promises to be another splendid ceremony because the Hall of Fame will also elevate another player to Legend status.

Last year, deceased players, Merv McIntosh, a three-time Sandover medallist from Western Australia, and Jack Oatey, the legendary coach from South Australia, were elevated to Legend status for their contributions to the game. The most obvious Legend candidate this year is Jason Dunstall, who kicked 1254 goals and sits third behind Tony Lockett and Gordon Coventry on the all-time goals kicked list.

Both Lockett (2017) and Coventry (1996) are already Legends. There is no set number of yearly inclusions for the Hall of Fame, but it’s generally about six players plus the Legend.

The AFL announced at its season launch that Bill Dempsey, who is the Sir Doug Nicholls

Round honouree this weekend, is one of the inductees.

Dempsey was a superstar ruckman from the Northern Territory who ventured to West Perth and became one of the greats. His story is inspiring.

He said he was born under a tree and grew up in a mission.

Dempsey then went on to play 343 games in the WAFL and won the Simpson Medal for being the best player in the 1969 WAFL Grand Final.

That medal was lost when Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in 1974. Incredibly, Dempsey said it was found again by prospectors in the opal fields in South Australia and was returned to him many years later.

Dempsey will be one inductee and another confirmed inductee will come from either the media, umpiring or administration fraternities.

So it is possible the selectors will include all five of Harvey, Enright, Bartel, Swan and Pavlich.

But it’s possible only four, or three of them make the cut this year — because selectors in recent years have made a point of recognising champions of the past, alive or deceased, from all over Australia.

If four were inducted, I’d select Pavlich, Harvey, Bartel and Swan, leaving Corey Enright to wait for another year or two.

The selectors have extremely difficult decisions to make. The basic criteria for selecting a player to go straight into the Hall of Fame is the player must have a high-level record and be out of the game a minimum of five years.