The Greatest Rugby League Player of All Time

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, Allora said:

Unless NSW played Brett Kenny in his Club position of 5/8 instead of moving him to the Centres.

 

I have met Wally a few times, great bloke.

Brett Kenny was my favourite player. He was soooo damn good!

[Szymala]

12 hours ago, Pulga said:

I can't comment on the others but Lewis' inclusion is interesting.

He would be scraping into a top 5 Australian players at best.

Smith, Lockyer, Thurston and Johns all ahead of him comfortably.

Then players like Slater, Langer, Meninga are around his level.

And Brett Kenny is the greatest five-eighth. 

[aj1908]

1 hour ago, Szymala said:

And Brett Kenny is the greatest five-eighth. 

no way.

kenny was a good player but he was part of a team full of stars when there was no salary cap.

lewis, fittler, daley ahead of him.

[Pulga]

6 hours ago, aj1908 said:

no way.

kenny was a good player but he was part of a team full of stars when there was no salary cap.

lewis, fittler, daley ahead of him.

And Lockyer ahead of them.

[johnmatrix]

Scunthorpe, Schofield, Gregory, farrell ,Burgess all better than sinfield.

Always thought sinfield was a good player but not great. 

[Padge]

The minute you see Sinfield in that list, you just know that those who are picking the players haven't got a clue.

[DC77]

19 hours ago, Celt said:

To put it mildly....

The greatest Rugby League player ever.... and the RFL have nominated 4 Brits and 1 Australian.  

It’s aimed at a UK audience. Natural most people answering the poll will only have seen players from here. They have thrown in a token Aussie in the five. Few people here know RL players from here, even far fewer people here know RL players from Australia. If you are a RL anorak and watch extensive footage of old games from here and Oz, then you will have a much more broadened view, but you would be in a tiny minority that would have such knowledge, and a poll such as this is not specifically aimed at those people.

My top five would all be from the UK. You cannot assess the five best players just from hearsay. If you do that then your view is null and void, as it isn’t your view. 

I’d have Hanley at #1. Two reasons. 1.Superior athlete. Players of African descent are much quicker than Caucasians, it’s a mismatch in a sprint, and so much of RL is just evading players on the run. Don’t think I’ve ever seen an Aussie even make a sprint final. Offiah would be ahead of them too in this category as he leaves them in his wake. 2.Hanley had the skills to go along with his athleticism. Jason Robinson was awesome in league too. That side step could leave anyone for dead.

[sentoffagain2]

I have been watching R.L. for over 65years and it is unfair to pick out teams from different eras.But i will say Reg Gasnier is the best centre i have seen,he was complimented in the Australian team i saw by his centre partner Harry Wells who was built like a young  Billy Boston but had pace and tackled like a back row forward.

[aj1908]

6 hours ago, Pulga said:

And Lockyer ahead of them.

He was a good full back too. I'd put him.behind Lewis maybe ahead of fittler.

[frank]

I've been involved with league for a h-ll of a long time but  would not pick  a best player because  I never new the ones  who preceded me.

[johnmatrix]

4 hours ago, Celt said:

Liam Farrell?  Can't say I agree mate - a bit small for an international 2nd rower (similar issue to Sinfield at that level in fact).

Joe Burgess - granted... big, fast, strong, try scorer, done it in the NRL - but has hardly played any tests and is now 25.  Not a great in the same way as Gregory etc.  A good club winger.

Scunthorpe?  Not a heartland of the game as far as I know - sits just outside the main catchment areas.  Probably has produced the odd decent player - but nobody I can think of.

 

 

Sinfield?  Yeah - I can give you that one... he was bang average at international level, but was inspirational at the Rhinos.

Typos eh, andy Farrell,  paul sculthorpe, sam Burgess 

 

[aj1908]

13 minutes ago, johnmatrix said:

Typos eh, andy Farrell,  paul sculthorpe, sam Burgess 

 

Yes I worked them out funny he picked those other randoms 

[Rhinoferg]

11 hours ago, Padge said:

The minute you see Sinfield in that list, you just know that those who are picking the players haven't got a clue.

Yes, especially when there have been better players than him at Leeds,not even mentioning the rest of the world.

 

[Colin James]

Sinfield one of those whose high water mark maybe not as high as others but for consistency over a long period he's up there in the British game. I suppose it depends what you are picking things on.

[aj1908]

https://www.nrl.com/hall-of-fame/immortals/

 

[Dunbar]

6 minutes ago, aj1908 said:

https://www.nrl.com/hall-of-fame/immortals/

 

I only saw three of those play but all three are in my top 5 players I saw play in the UK competition earlier in the thread...

1. Hanley 

2. Lewis

3. Johns

4. Meninga 

I had Miles as my 5th but I would choose another if it were my all time top 5... Smith, Thurston or Lockyer would be in the mix.

[aj1908]

4 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I only saw three of those play but all three are in my top 5 players I saw play in the UK competition earlier in the thread...

1. Hanley 

2. Lewis

3. Johns

4. Meninga 

I had Miles as my 5th but I would choose another if it were my all time top 5... Smith, Thurston or Lockyer would be in the mix.

Yes that covers all the modern players from 1980 to today that I would pick too except I wouldn't pick miles 

Obviously I didn't see the older guys play but from what I've read they were amazing.

That list above covers them all except burge 

Look how many immortals from the dragons team of 55 to 66.  Amazing 

As much as I hate him Smith is the best 9 ever imo 

 

[aj1908]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Rugby_League's_Team_of_the_Century

 

[Dunbar]

2 minutes ago, aj1908 said:

Yes that covers all the modern players from 1980 to today that I would pick too except I wouldn't pick miles 

Obviously I didn't see the older guys play but from what I've read they were amazing.

That list above covers them all except burge 

Look how many immortals from the dragons team of 55 to 66.  Amazing 

As much as I hate him Smith is the best 9 ever imo 

 

I agree that Smith is the best ever 9.

I put Miles in the list for top 5 players in the UK comp but on reflection I also think some British players would also be in the mix... Offiah, Schofield and a player that the Aussies would perhaps never consider but was an outstanding centre... Paul Newlove.

[aj1908]

4 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

I agree that Smith is the best ever 9.

I put Miles in the list for top 5 players in the UK comp but on reflection I also think some British players would also be in the mix... Offiah, Schofield and a player that the Aussies would perhaps never consider but was an outstanding centre... Paul Newlove.

I don't know about schofield he was good for sure but up there with the best I dunno 

If you are talking English players then from 1980 on Hanley is the clear standout for sure

If you go back to say up to the 60s.then I'm sure loads more English players would make it 

Remember back then the English league was the dominant one 

Around 1960 is when it turned imo 

And the reason was Harry bath returned from England (Warrington? )

And taught Aussie forwards how to actually play the game 

[Dunbar]

19 minutes ago, aj1908 said:

I don't know about schofield he was good for sure but up there with the best I dunno 

If you are talking English players then from 1980 on Hanley is the clear standout for sure

If you go back to say up to the 60s.then I'm sure loads more English players would make it 

Remember back then the English league was the dominant one 

Around 1960 is when it turned imo 

And the reason was Harry bath returned from England (Warrington? )

And taught Aussie forwards how to actually play the game 

The shift came a little later. In the 1960's the British and Australian teams were remarkably well matched.

From 1960 to 1970 there were 6 ashes series played with Great Britain winning three and Australia three while the games were split 9 each and every series finishes 2:1.

Even in the 1970's, despite the Kangaroos winning the three series in '73, '74 & '78 the games were tight and all finished 2:1.

It wasn't until 1979 and then through the 1980's that the gap emerged between the two with the Kangaroos winning these series 3-0 with some blowout scores. 

[aj1908]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

The shift came a little later. In the 1960's the British and Australian teams were remarkably well matched.

From 1960 to 1970 there were 6 ashes series played with Great Britain winning three and Australia three while the games were split 9 each and every series finishes 2:1.

Even in the 1970's, despite the Kangaroos winning the three series in '73, '74 & '78 the games were tight and all finished 2:1.

It wasn't until 1979 and then through the 1980's that the gap emerged between the two with the Kangaroos winning these series 3-0 with some blowout scores. 

Poker machines turned it for Australia.

Also in England Thatcher killed the mining communities 

Also the valley parade and the other soccer tragedy meant grounds had to be upgraded.  Soccer had the money to do so league didnt 

And so many wonderful grounds were lost and clubs became football club tennants 

Blackpool had a wonderful ground they owned for example 

[Dunbar]

1 minute ago, aj1908 said:

Poker machines turned it for Australia.

Also in England Thatcher killed the mining communities 

Also the valley parade and the other soccer tragedy meant grounds had to be upgraded.  Soccer had the money to do so league didnt 

And so many wonderful grounds were lost and clubs became football club tennants 

Blackpool had a wonderful ground they owned for example 

I would have perhaps chosen other reasons than the above.

[Rupert Prince]

On 08/02/2020 at 11:58, Dunbar said:

I didn't get the chance to see Bevan or Sullivan play so I can't really comment. 

I think there is a very decent argument for either Hanley or Lewis to be the best of all time.

I think that covers all of them!

Lots of people will not have seen Sullivan or Bevan play, or Boston or several others. This is because many who did see them are dead and there is little archive footage.

No middle forwards suggested.  These sort of compilations are ahh... hmmm... somewhat spurious. 

[Dunbar]

With Cooper Cronk now retired, who is the best number 7 in the game today?

Cherry-Evans is the incumbent for Queensland and Australia while Pearce and Clearly were used by NSW last year and Hastings is the Great Britain half and resurgent Benji Marshall for New Zealand. Meanwhile Kotoni Staggs filled in for Tonga in their win over the Kangaroos.

I would say the quality of the top level half backs is as low as I can remember for a long time.