Every speccy is lauded as the mark of the year. Each rising talent heralded as the game's next best thing. The crown of football's greatest seems to change hands with each month.

But, for a dual Brownlow medallist, two-time premiership player and champion of racial equality, the prestige of being recognised as one of the AFL's finest seems about right.

In a Wimmera Mail-Times poll, 34 per cent of nearly 400 respondents voted Adam Goodes as the Wimmera's greatest AFL/VFL export of all time.

Close on Goodes' heels was Dimboola's favourite son Tim Watson, who claimed 23 per cent of the votes.

Horsham and Geelong legend Doug Wade (7 per cent) was third, followed by Kaniva's Alastair Clarkson (6 per cent).

Sydney Swans' Jake Lloyd (4 per cent) rounded out the top five.

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Goodes' personal accolades only scratch the surface of his influence on the game.

Over his 17 seasons with the Sydney Swans, Goodes displayed a visceral talent that only seemed to amplify when it was required most.

The four-time All Australian kicked 464 goals in his 372-game career, finishing as the Swans' leading goalkicker in three seasons to sit alongside his three club best-and-fairests.

Goodes' talent was quickly recognised in his limited appearances for Horsham's senior side as a 15-year-old before he joined a premiership-winning North Ballarat Rebels side.

Speaking before the release of two documentaries detailing Goodes' career last year, Horsham Demons chairperson Rod Dumesny said Goodes' ability demanded attention.

"There were blokes coming along just to watch him play. After one of his matches against the Warrack Eagles, my boss went to me 'tell me when that kid plays again, I'm gonna go watch him'," he said at the time.

Goodes' twilight years were marred by relentless booing that eventually forced him out of the game after he took a stand against racial discrimination in both the sport and wider society.

Throughout his career, Goodes proudly served as an ambassador for Indigenous achievement and recognition, and it was this coupled with his community involvement that saw him named the Australian of the Year in 2014.

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"I think people are going to look back in 50 years and see how he single-handedly changed the way a nation sees itself," Barenji Gadjin Land Council executive officer Brett Harrison said before the release of last year's documentaries.

"It was good for Adam to stand up, but another thing for the community too.

"I hope those messages changed the way people think about race."

THE TOP 10

Adam Goodes - 135

Tim Watson - 90

Doug Wade - 27

Alastair Clarkson - 24

Jake Lloyd - 14

Craig Sholl - 13

Glenn Hawker - 12

Clinton Young - 10

Shayne Breuer - 9

Merv Neagle - 8

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