AS THE careers of a handful of the greatest players AFL football has produced draw to their inevitable conclusion, there's some serious thinking to be done.

While the likes of James Hird, Nathan Buckley and Robert Harvey will know exactly the right time to pull the pin, and can probably walk into any post-playing career they choose, football historians need to nut out just where Hird, Buckley and Harvey stand in the pantheon of football greatness.

It's been more than a decade since the AFL, to mark its centenary season, announced a Team of the Century, the greatest composite team of a lifetime of league football. If the exercise provided enough selection headaches then, imagine the nightmare it would present now.

When the team was revealed in September 1996, three current players fought their way into the mix.

There was Geelong's electrifying Gary Ablett, dual Brownlow medallist Greg Williams, and the man whose selection sparked arguably the most debate — Carlton's Stephen Silvagni.

Some pretty handy names missed out. There was no Wayne Carey, who just a few weeks later would lead North Melbourne to its third premiership, a fourth in 1999, and who by his retirement in 2004 was rated by many judges as perhaps the single greatest player football had produced.

No Tony Lockett, who would steer his second club, Sydney, into a grand final against Carey's team three years before he smashed Gordon Coventry's supposedly unbeatable tally of 1299 goals, and finish in 2002 with 1360 to his name.

No Jason Dunstall, Lockett's great goalkicking rival, the Hawthorn champion who retired in 1998 with 1254 goals beside his name.

Then there are the CVs Hird, Buckley, Harvey and Brisbane Lions champion Michael Voss have compiled since. Hird and Voss would share the centenary year Brownlow Medal. St Kilda's Harvey would win the next two. After years of near-misses, Buckley also would win one.

That quartet between them have collected 25 All-Australian nominations and won 19 club best and fairests. The way Hird and Harvey are still going, that could well be 21 by the end of 2007.

Such careers push a strong case for serious revision to the AFL's greatest team. But at whose expense?

Four Age columnists had a stab at naming the line-up this week. The addition of an extra player, via the 1998 expansion of the interchange bench from three to four, gave us a little leeway. But there were still very tough calls to make.

Tony Shaw and I included five players who have starred in the past 11 years, Shaw's inclusion of Essendon's Dustin Fletcher in a back pocket alongside Silvagni a minor surprise.

That relegated former Carlton champion John Nicholls to the bench, Shaw arguing, as does Tim Lane, that the concept of a resting ruckman in the back pocket is an anachronism. More eyebrow-raising is his omission of Ron Barassi from the 22 altogether, Hird taking his spot as ruck-rover.

"He's got more flexibility than Ron did; he can play as a forward where 'Barass' didn't, and his skills are a lot more silky," Shaw says.

Longevity also counts for plenty with the former Collingwood premiership captain and coach, which is why legendary Essendon full-forward John Coleman, another popular choice as "greatest player ever" despite playing only 98 VFL games for 537 goals, has to shove over to a forward pocket to accommodate Lockett.

"Two great goalkickers could play side by side. Obviously, Plugger wasn't as good a high mark as Coleman, but I reckon he might have been more physically intimidating," Shaw says.

It's a decision with which David Parkin, one of the eight selectors of the Team of the Century in 1996, takes issue, though he's not averse to changes to the line-up.

The former Hawthorn and Carlton premiership coach, though a Melbourne fan growing up, can understand the Hird-for-Barassi argument. "Ron was my hero, but in technical terms, Hird is a significantly better footballer," he says. "Voss and Barassi were more alike … but I reckon Hird, in my time, is in another category."

Neither does Parkin have a problem with the unanimous inclusion of Carey at centre half-forward at the expense of Richmond great Royce Hart, nor Buckley replacing North Melbourne dual Brownlow medallist Keith Greig on a wing.

Coleman is a different matter. "I was one of those idiots that went from one end of the ground to the other just to watch him play," he says. "I played with (Peter) Hudson, and Lockett was sensational … but Coleman was just out on his own."

Richmond great Francis Bourke is another to feel The Age selectors' axe. As good as the courageous Tiger was, he spent as much of his career in defence as he did on a wing.

Of course, Ablett, my choice for one wing ahead of Bourke, played plenty of other spots, too. The difference is he could still kick bags of goals from there, like the considerable share of the 14 he booted one memorable afternoon against Richmond in 1989. Even Carey, Coleman and co couldn't do some of the things "Gazza" did.

Geelong's champion back-pocket Bernie Smith has been squeezed out of my team — and Lane's, too.

I shifted Kevin Murray to his spot and Alex Jesaulenko to a half-back flank from half-forward to fit Hird in. Lane has gone for another eyebrow-raiser in Smith's place — recently retired 300-gamer and Brownlow medallist Gavin Wanganeen.

Parkin can understand it, but the memories of Smith's play during a great Geelong era remain vivid. "He was beautifully poised, made the right decisions, and was skilful — not lightning quick, but perfectly balanced," he says. "He … just didn't make errors — like Bruce Doull."

Parkin recalls the agonising over the Team of the Century's full-back, and the ensuing controversy, Silvagni preferred to Collingwood legend Jack Regan, leaving the Magpies without a single representative.

Buckley's inclusion in this revised team takes care of that, and a decade or so on, Silvagni is still a popular choice in the key defensive post.

Silvagni was the "baby" of the Team of the Century, and the modest champion was a little embarrassed by the honour. But his is one great career that has continued to stand the test of time. So good have been so many of his modern contemporaries that in The Age's updated version, SOS would be keeping plenty of relatively young company.