AFL’s best ever sledges

Hawthorn superstar Sam Mitchell hasn’t ruled out sledging Kieran Jackwhen the they face the Swans in a Thursday night blockbuster.

Jack has been embroiled in a family dispute that was made public last week when his mum took to Twitter to have a crack at Kieran for dishing out his free tickets for his 200th game to his girlfriend and her parents.

When quizzed on whether the family dispute would be ‘’off limits’’, Mitchell said that while “the line” is clear, he wouldn’t be put off trying to unsettle opponents.

“There’s still some room for some humour and heckling, but if it goes over the line, everyone knows where that is at the moment”.

Seriously though, who doesn’t love a good sledge? And Mitch is an absolute guru when it comes to the dirty stuff, so you can bet your right arm that he’ll have a dig at Jack at some point throughout the night.

A good sledge can do many things; it can cause your opponent to be off their game, it can give you a mental superiority over your opponent, and it can give your teammates (and opponents) a good laugh.

Here are some of the ALL TIME great sledges from the AFL:

“They both sleep with the light on and in bunk beds”

Following the Brisbane Lions defeat at the hands of Port Adelaide in the 2004 Grand Final, Shane Wakelin was not impressed with AlastairLynch’s attempted roundhouse punches to brother Daryl in their infamous dust up in the goal square. Lynch’s premiership teammate Martin Pike was having none of it, and decided to make this famous jibe towards the Wakelin twins.

“My dad fucked your mum last night”

Sticking with the Lions, this legendary sledge came from their then captain Michael Voss and was directed towards his younger brother Brett, then playing with the Saints. This sledge would usually get your head belted sideways, but when it’s between brothers it’s just banter, and probably true…

Justin Leppitsch

Again sticking with the Lions (geez these guys knew how to dish it out!), except this one’s a little bit different.

After winning their third consecutive flag in 2003, Justin Leppitsch smugly turned to coach Leigh Matthews in a lift and asked: “What would you be without us, Leigh?”

Without missing a beat, the great man responded with, “All I’d be is the player of the century!”

Leppitsch then went straight to the kitchen of the Crown Casino and applied some frozen peas to his massive burn.

Juddy’s return to West Coast

Everyone knows this gem.

In his return game against West Coast following his trade to Carlton, Chris Judd was having a day out when Eagles on-baller Brett Jonesstupidly decided to stoke the fire by asking the great man why he had so much tape holding his shoulders together.

Juddy just looked back and said: “It’s because I’ve been carrying you guys for five years.”

Ouch.

Dale Thomas

At the time, then-Magpie Daisy Thomas was arguably one of the best players in the competition.

Never one to shy away from the lip service, Thomas was being tagged by Scott Selwood when the Pies were facing the Eagles in Perth.

Daisy looked Selwood up and down and said: “Oh well mate, four brothers, one of them had to be the worst.”

Don’t know if Daisy will be dishing out jibes like this these days…

Michael Voss (again)

The Lions legend was a seriously lethal sledger. You could write an article just highlighting his greatest sledges.

Brisbane were taking on a young Geelong side in the early 2000s before they reached their peak. There was set to be a boundary throw-in during the third quarter, but before the ball was brought back in to play, Voss yelled “STOP!” to the field umpire, who duly halted play.

Voss then pointed to Geelong’s midfield/forward Shannon Byrnes and said: “They left an Auskick kid on the ground after halftime”, referring to Byrne’s physical stature.

All players, and umpires, in the vicinity were in stiches.

Jesse Hogan

The Demons big man was making a splash in his first year in the AFL. And after only a handful of games, Hogan’s Demons were playing the Western Bulldogs.

The story goes, Hogan was lining up for goal in the third quarter when Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy jibed, “the pressure is on, Great White Hope”, referencing Hogan’s standing within the game and with the Demons faithful.

Hogan slotted the goal, then pointed to the Bulldogs bench where TomBoyd was sitting after being subbed out of the match earlier and said: “And there’s your Great White Hope”.

That’s cold blooded.

And finally…

Sam Mitchell

Sometimes you don’t even have to say anything to make a great sledge. And that’ts exactly what Sam Mitchell did against the Bombers last year.

Everyone was thinking it.