44 replies to this topic

[trakl]

How about Benny Elias - ideally with a picture of blood pouring from his head while cuddling his mum at the end of a brutal Origin game v Queensland - as better than them all?

[1976PMJwires]

Benny Elias, yep best hooker for me. Superb, wonderful and tireless player.

[Marauder]

Benny Elias was a great hooker, always busy and in the thick of the action.

[Lionheart_merged]

Smith over Cunningham for me. Sadly Keiron failed to show his credentials at international level. Smith has done it in the NRL, Origin and at international level. And I'm not one of those that believes that all things Oz are wonderful!

[AndyCapp]

Cam Smith, he will probably go down as the best ever Hooker in the NRL.
Great Captain, controls and reads the game well, has good distribution.
Great tackler with a high rate per game, times his runs from Dummy half smarter than most and kicks both tactically and for Goal.
Pretty complete Hooker and Captain at all levels of the game and has been regarded in the top 3-4 players in the game by most good judges for many years.

[hindle xiii]

Kevin Sinfield has played at hooker...

[oldrover]

Kevin Sinfield has played at hooker...

he couldn't play truant

[terrywebbisgod]

he couldn't play truant

Hence the masters degree.

[Viking Warrior]

he couldn't play truant

plays a good role as the captain of a super league grand final winning team though!!!

[MrPosh]

Cam Smith, he will probably go down as the best ever Hooker in the NRL.
Great Captain, controls and reads the game well, has good distribution.
Great tackler with a high rate per game, times his runs from Dummy half smarter than most and kicks both tactically and for Goal.
Pretty complete Hooker and Captain at all levels of the game and has been regarded in the top 3-4 players in the game by most good judges for many years.

Apart from the 3-4 comment, I agree. It has to be the top 1-2 - he's the best player I've ever seen.

[barrowraiderskid]

Apart from the 3-4 comment, I agree. It has to be the top 1-2 - he's the best player I've ever seen.

I agree with this sentiment. Apparantly Sir Kev is better though.

[terrywebbisgod]

I agree with this sentiment. Apparantly Sir Kev is better though.

This year,voted for by a panel of judges,yes.

[oldrover]

This year,voted for by a panel of judges,yes.

no time for this voting malarky, just look at this government

[Finn]

Stevo was as good as anyone I have seen, done it in both comps and at international level.

[OMEGA]

Stevo was as good as anyone I have seen, done it in both comps and at international level.

Which is a good point!

Its often stated that a good player cant be seen as great until he's proved himself in the NRL but what about the other way around?

Ther've been plenty of top class NRL players whove died on their arses in SL only to return to Aus and play NRL or even rep football again.

Edited by OMEGA, 17 January 2013 - 10:47 PM.

[back to the future]

This year,voted for by a panel of judges,yes.

judges of what though?
certainly not the best RL player in the world,if you could choose any 6,9 or 13 to be in your dream team worldwide,Sir Kev would struggle to get in my 3rd team.
LPL have just made the award a joke for the foreseeable future

[terrywebbisgod]

judges of what though?
certainly not the best RL player in the world,if you could choose any 6,9 or 13 to be in your dream team worldwide,Sir Kev would struggle to get in my 3rd team.
LPL have just made the award a joke for the foreseeable future

It's been done on another thread,he won,we move on.

[AndyCapp]

It's been done on another thread,he won,we move on.

Its been done to death.
Sinfield was voted as the Golden Boot by the anonymous staff of a British Rugby League magazine that can not be named as they may be vilified on social media sites.

Or

Even worse than that the names can not be posted as there was no Panel, just the Staff of the Magazine.

Its all be done to death, the Golden Boot award is a dead event that will have as much credibility as the Exiles Match or the WCC in the future.

[AndyCapp]

Apart from the 3-4 comment, I agree. It has to be the top 1-2 - he's the best player I've ever seen.

Its hard to pick the best 5 in the world though in the past few years.
Until recently Lockyer was in there
Thurston is always around the Mark.
Then you have
Slater
Inglis
Cronk
Gallen
From the Uk
Burgess
Tomkins
Graham

Top five players is always hard to measure from different positions and what their role is at Club and Country.

[Brigg Rover]

Back on topic, while Smith is a truly great player and for what its worth I voted for him as the Golden Boot winner this year. I would take Cunningham, I think people forget very quickly how good a player is after they retire.

One thing that sticks in my mind is from a game about 3 years ago at our place. KC started on the bench with Roby starting. We had a blinding start and were something like 22-0 up in about 27 minutes. They then brought KC on and took Roby off and literally Saints were a different team, he made a half break and pass that lead to a 40m try with his 2nd touch. In the next set he organised a great drive and got a repeat set with a lovely kick into the in goal. They scored off the back of it. In the end we hung on winning the game only after the ref blew for a forward pass after the hooter went as Saints were going in to score. This was his penultimate season it was obvious the guy couldn't play the full 80 anymore due to injury age etc. But what a reminder of his abillity!

Something else to remember is the sheer physcality (bad spelling I know) of his defence. He really did hit hard when he was younger and boy did someone know it. This is something Smith can never do.

One of the earlier posters said it very well, they both have great plus points and in many ways they are both great players. Maybe from a team point of view Smith may be the one to pick. But even though this is a team game there is nothing more exciting than indivual players and to that end KC could do things on his own to win a game that I have not seen any other hooker do in my lifetime.