30 replies to this topic

[ParisSurtout]

Make your choice and explain why.

[ParisSurtout]

I find it hard to choose, but Jamie Lyon, apart from his outstanding general playing talent, was and is a very good goal kicker. None of the others are.

[1976PMJwires]

Senior, played since the beginning of Super League

Has seen all the others come and go.......... Senior has been devastating for many years, not just on a 2/3 or 4 year contract.


Newlove was great unit, loved to watch him play with the flyer on the wing.


Lyon was the most talented, but that doesn't count as he's a super man

[southstand loiner]

maybe you should put a minimum amount of games or seasons as a reqirement as comparing a player who has played 8 or 9 seasons to a player who only played 2 seasons is not really fair due to only seeing one player at his 2 year peak compared to a longer view of a 9 season player.

lyon and gidley . not long enough in super league to compare with other players.
king a possible contender but as he plays out on the wing should he be included ?.
carmont yet again moved around a bit and not really settled in position but a great player.
senior a great player but with a few flaws in his defensive game.
gleeson a sound player but has not really shone in recent years which is another reason not to compare 2 year players with 10 year players.
newlove do we compare his whole record or only the last few within the last 10 years ?. if it was all his time in rugby league he would be the one for me but as we are limited to a couple of seasons cant pick him.
hape certainly in the mix but were has he been this last few years.

have to go with senior im afraid given his service over 10 years but would have picked newlove if the timescale had been extended to 15 years.

[ParisSurtout]

maybe you should put a minimum amount of games or seasons as a reqirement as comparing a player who has played 8 or 9 seasons to a player who only played 2 seasons is not really fair due to only seeing one player at his 2 year peak compared to a longer view of a 9 season player.

I would think two seasons is long enough to evaluate a player f it is mid-career. Four years would be long enough to evaluate a player at the end of his career. Mal Meninga's last 4 years were 1991-94 and he was great then (of course he played in Britain before Super League).

lyon and gidley . not long enough in super league to compare with other players.

Lyon played in Super League for two seasons mid-career. It was surely enough time to evaluate him at his peak.

king a possible contender but as he plays out on the wing should he be included ?.

King has played a lot at centre.

carmont yet again moved around a bit and not really settled in position but a great player.
senior a great player but with a few flaws in his defensive game.
gleeson a sound player but has not really shone in recent years which is another reason not to compare 2 year players with 10 year players.

If a player has defensive weaknesses, doesn't that rule him out?

newlove do we compare his whole record or only the last few within the last 10 years ?. if it was all his time in rugby league he would be the one for me but as we are limited to a couple of seasons cant pick him.

Newlove had four-five years of the last ten mid- 2001-5

hape certainly in the mix but were has he been this last few years.

Hape switched to the dark side in the middle of 2008. But he was around playing for Bradford 2003-2008.

have to go with senior im afraid given his service over 10 years but would have picked newlove if the timescale had been extended to 15 years.

But he had defensive weaknesses you said. Which of the others were weak in that department? Not Lyon or Gidley.

Edited by ParisSurtout, 17 July 2011 - 08:14 AM.

[HaroldShand]

Sorry, but Matt King should be nowhere near that list IMO.

[Mumby Magic]

The best centre on that list for me is Newlove but you asked last ten years. Went for Hape over Lyon and Senior, Lyon was already established and Hape came from nowhere to international in two codes and a hatful of trophies to boot. His winger broke SL records too.

[Wolford6]

As a Bulls fan, the only one of those who made me nervous every time he got the ball was Jamie Lyon.

[giwildgo]

Jamie Lyon had the biggest impact over a two year period and was different class to the rest.

[southstand loiner]

I would think two seasons is long enough to evaluate a player f it is mid-career. Four years would be long enough to evaluate a player at the end of his career. Mal Meninga's last 4 years were 1991-94 and he was great then (of course he played in Britain before Super League).



Lyon played in Super League for two seasons mid-career. It was surely enough time to evaluate him at his peak.



King has played a lot at centre.



If a player has defensive weaknesses, doesn't that rule him out?



Newlove had four-five years of the last ten mid- 2001-5



Hape switched to the dark side in the middle of 2008. But he was around playing for Bradford 2003-2008.



But he had defensive weaknesses you said. Which of the others were weak in that department? Not Lyon or Gidley.

you start with a premise of who has been the best centre over the last ten years then say lyon has played 2 seasons when he was in his prime.are we then meant to pick out the best 2 seasons from other players we have seen in the last 10 seasons who may have had 2 good years but who have looked pretty average in other years ? in which case why have you not put kirk yeaman on the list for starters.
as for paul newlove his best years were behind him in the years you mention but he is still the best centre to play in super league since it started and indeed a few seasons before then but we cant take his good years into account on your basis.
king has played a lot of centre but more on the wing where of course he has looked better.
hape that a matter of opinion but for me not the best .
yes i know i said senior had defensive weakness which he has but of course his attack outweighed that by far. as for lyon having no defensive weakness are you serious he missed plenty of side on tackles due to his slow turn to the left at pace it did not make him a bad centre of course but it was and still is a weakness in his game in the nrl or at least peter stirling seems to think so.

so i still recon 2 years is not the type of timescale to judge on when you are looking over ten years. indeed could we have not had leon pryce on the list given he played cnetre for bradford for much of that time

[MrPosh]

Jamie Lyon had the biggest impact over a two year period and was different class to the rest.

The only team Lyon didn't ever dominate was Bradford because he was marked by Hape.

I think Hape was the best (I'm biased though) but Newlove followed by Lyon were the best to watch.

[Wolford6]

lyon and gidley . not long enough in super league to compare with other players.

Barry John only played for Wales for four seasons.
Forty years later, he is still the yardstick against which all Welsh stand-offs are judged.

Jamie Lyon and Paul Newlove are, so far ,being nominated as the best centres in the Superleague era. Lyon has done nothing sensational since returning to Oz and can we truly say that either ranks as outstanding in the way that Barry John was?

I suspect that many board members will not have seen a truly great rugby league centre ... Mal Meninga, Gary Schofield and Gene Miles are the nearest thing that I can immediately nominate. I think Schofield did himself a bit of a disservice switching to standoff.

[MrFussy]

It has to be Jamie Lyon for me. After taking a couple of months to get up to speed he was just sensational and frequently got us out of holes and won us games. Even though he was only here for two years I think in terms of talent he's certainly been the best centre to have played in Super League.

[Wolford6]

Sorry to bring RU into this again, but Sonny Bill Williams has shown himself to be a really outstanding centre. Last season, he was the best in Europe and possibly the best in the world.


In 2010, the All Blacks couldn't match the renewal deal on offer from Toulon so offered him a king's ransom contract that expires at the end of this year's RU World Cup.

He's only 25. Maybe one day he'll return to the NRL or Superleague as a centre.

[southstand loiner]

Barry John only played for Wales for four seasons.
Forty years later, he is still the yardstick against which all Welsh stand-offs are judged.

Jamie Lyon and Paul Newlove are, so far ,being nominated as the best centres in the Superleague era. Lyon has done nothing sensational since returning to Oz and can we truly say that either ranks as outstanding in the way that Barry John was?

I suspect that many board members will not have seen a truly great rugby league centre ... Mal Meninga, Gary Schofield and Gene Miles are the nearest thing that I can immediately nominate. I think Schofield did himself a bit of a disservice switching to standoff.

the reason for nominating newlove and lyons is there on the list to vote for and paris only goes back 10 years to when he was in short pants runnning around huddersfield.
i know what you mean about centres of the past as my all time favorite is syd hynes but this thread does not go back that far.

[giwildgo]

I suspect that many board members will not have seen a truly great rugby league centre ... Mal Meninga, Gary Schofield and Gene Miles are the nearest thing that I can immediately nominate. I think Schofield did himself a bit of a disservice switching to standoff.

Steve Renouf? Certainly showed flashes for Wigan in his twilight years and was a match for Miles in terms of performances in the Cherry and White.

Edited by giwildgo, 17 July 2011 - 01:34 PM.

[Trojan]

I would have voted for Newlove, but I don't think he played in the SL era for long enough to count. I voted for Hape - especially with Vainokolo on his wing. I know Keef has played for the entire SL era, but given his size I've always been disappointed with him. Having said that in 2004 at Wigan just as I was shouting "get yer finger out Senior yer puddin'" he scored a brilliant interception try against the Aussies

[MrFussy]

Sorry to bring RU into this again, but Sonny Bill Williams has shown himself to be a really outstanding centre. Last season, he was the best in Europe and possibly the best in the world.


In 2010, the All Blacks couldn't match the renewal deal on offer from Toulon so offered him a king's ransom contract that expires at the end of this year's RU World Cup.

He's only 25. Maybe one day he'll return to the NRL or Superleague as a centre.

He spent some time at centre during his last season at Canterbury (at least I think it was his last season) and I can remember the commentators complaining that it was a waste of his ability as while his size and strength was obviously a threat they felt he should have been more involved in the middle with his big running and offloading game creating gaps (rather than having him stood out wide).

It's brilliant that he's had such a big impact on Union though and he's been a very positive representation of the talent that we have in our game. It'd be great to see him return some day but even with an increased salary cap would NRL teams be able to match what a club like Toulon is offering? My knowledge in terms of Union wages is lacking I'm afraid. Of course it may not all be about money with him but it's hard to believe otherwise given his departure from the Bulldogs.

[Trojan]

I suspect that many board members will not have seen a truly great rugby league centre ... Mal Meninga, Gary Schofield and Gene Miles are the nearest thing that I can immediately nominate. I think Schofield did himself a bit of a disservice switching to standoff.

If we're going back to pre SL, Ellery played centre at both Wigan and Bradford. Indeed if we're going back to the Barry John era then Neil Fox is probably the greatest centre I've seen and possibly the greatest player in any position of either code I've seen too. Plus of course he played in the 50's 60's 70's and nearly into the eighties.

[fieldofclothofgold]

over the last 10 years?then its Senior,he has done all and more than 10 years