20 of the Best: Sydney Roosters

As we wait for season 2011 to get underway, the Making The Nut team will take a look back over the last 20 years to name the 20 best players at all sixteen teams. Merged teams will take account of both clubs pre-merger and the only rule is that a player must have played at least three years post-1990. A player's time at the club is the only time that is taken into account.

Here, Simon Lovett and Nick Tedeschi nut out the Sydney Roosters twenty.

20. Luke Phillips

An exciting fullback whose career was cruelled by injuries, Phillips played three seasons at the Roosters, leading the club to two Grand Finals and their last premiership in 2002. A shoulder injury sustained in the decider finished his career, forcing him to retire at the tender age of 27 at the peak of his career.

19. Matt Sing

One of the most underrated players of the last 20 years, Sing was a natural tryscorer. Not blessed with the natural talent or speed of many of his peers, Sing made up for it was total professionalism. In six seasons with the Roosters, Sing did not have a bad game, scoring 72 tries in his time at the club. Played 13 Origins and a Test while a Rooster.

18. Shaun Kenny-Dowall

Shone in his first year under Brian Smith when moved to centre, having one of the best seasons from a three-quarter in recent memory. He is set to become a very special player.

17. Mitchell Pearce

The son of a rugby league legend, Pearce has lived up to the raps placed on him at a very young age. Selected to play Origin at only 20, Pearce has won the Jack Gibson Medal twice in the Roosters two good seasons in his four years at the club. A great reader of the game with a good short ball and an ability to run, Pearce looks set to become a Roosters great.

16. Peter Cusack

Renowned for his heart and his courage, Cusack was a mule of a prop for his seven years at the Tricolours before defecting to rivals South Sydney. Never shirked the task and started in the front row in three Grand Finals in five seasons.

15. Adrian Lam

Fast and with a great pass and an ability to lead the Roosters around the park, captaining his native Papua New Guinea as well as making 14 appearances for Queensland, Lam probably suffered from the lack of faith shown in him by Phil Gould. Not the most naturally talented halfback but in the late nineties, was one of the premier number seven’s in the game.

14. Ryan Cross

The Roosters Player of the Year in 2005, Cross was a centre of true class. Cross scored 83 tries in 145 appearances, including six tries in 10 finals games, but we never saw the best of the pacey centre with the nice fend and graceful gait before he defected to rugby with injury prematurely ending his season in ’99, ’01 and ’02, leading to him playing only 49 games across four years.

13. Michael Crocker

The crock who has hardly played a game for Melbourne and South Sydney (62 in five seasons) is a legacy of the hardness with which Crocker played when at the Roosters. An enforcer in the true sense of the term, Crocker was one of the most feared forwards in the game while at his peak. Somewhat of a talisman for the Roosters, the club won over 60% of games when the hard-hitting backrower played. Crocker played in three straight deciders as well as seven Origins and four Test matches while residing at Bondi Junction, destroying his body for the club.

12. Brett Finch

The Roosters probably never saw the best of Finch thanks to Ricky Stuart butchering him, as he did so many other players. Finch was their best player in 2004, leading the club to their third straight decider. A nice kick with a sweet pass, Finch was always best playing second-fiddle, something Ricky Stuart never understood.

11. Bryan Fletcher

Fletcher had the natural ability to sit second or third on this list but heart was always a concern with him. A devastating backrower on his day, Fletcher was a born rugby league player. In six seasons with the Roosters, he won 63.2 % of matches he played in and represented New South Wales and Australia on 12 occasions apiece. Fletcher won the Jack Gibson Medal in 1999. His career took a sharp decline once he left for the Bunnies after the 2002 decider.

10. Shannon Hegarty

Hegarty! Before he turned into the punchline of rugby league jokes after fleeing for South Sydney and North Queensland, Hegarty was a talented winger/centre who scored 52 tries over 109 games in six seasons for the Roosters. Such was his form in 2003, Hegarty played for both Queensland and Australia.

9. Simon Bonetti

Not the most talented of rakes, Bonetti made the most of his limited ability with sheer determination and unparalleled heart. The gritty hooker played in two Grand Finals before retiring at the young age of 25. Scored only two tries in 142 appearances for the Tricolours.

8. Jason Cayless

For four seasons, Cayless was the best Roosters prop in an era of quality Roosters bookends. Cayless was tough, physical and mobile with an ability to always get over the advantage line. It came as no coincidence that the Roosters made three Grand Finals in his first three seasons at the club, falling away once he left.

7. Braith Anasta

Far tougher and much more skilful than he is given credit for, his heroics throughout 2010 have seen him pushed up the list. His field goal to tie the qualifying final against the Wests Tigers was one of the greatest ever and his courage to play injured all season was something to behold. His lack of moaning after being shifted from five-eighth also shows what a team player he is.

6. Craig Fitzgibbon

The personification of the term warrior, Fitzgibbon was there for the glory years as well as the rubbish. Fitzgibbon was a tireless worker, a resilient footballer and a reliable goal-kicking forward who never once threw in the towel. Led the Roosters pack in four deciders and played 228 games for the club, retiring as the all-time leading Roosters scorer. Fitzgibbon won the 2002 Churchill Medal and the 2004 Wally Lewis Medal as well as four Jack Gibson Medals and it is tough to recall him ever playing a bad game. Sadly, sent out with a wooden spoon and what appeared to be a fixed match.

5. Craig Wing

It has always been disappointing that Wing was never regarded as a hard nut because he was as tough as teak and probably tougher, rarely missing games through injury and never shirking the task in defence even though he was a halfback thrown into the pack. His versatility made him one of the most valuable players in the game and through the Roosters Grand Final run, Wing was one of the premier players in the game. An Origin and Australian fixture while at the Roosters, Wing can lay claim to being one of the best players of the last decade.

4. Adrian Morley

Forget the suspensions. Forget the send-offs. Morley epitomised hardness and helped make the Roosters pack one of the most feared in the early part of the century. The Pommy enforcer was an absolute brute who was outstanding in his six seasons at the Roosters. You had to see Morley to understand the impact he had on a football team.

3. Luke Ricketson

There is no more pure Rooster than Luke Ricketson. Son of Roosters player Doug, Luke Ricketson racked up 301 games and three Grand Final appearances for the Tricolours. Extraordinarily durable, Ricketson was a gritty defender who could make an impact with the ball in hand. One of the great clubmen.

2. Anthony Minichiello

In an era of great fullbacks, Minichiello was without doubt the leading custodian in the game for a number of years before injury struck him down. A brilliant attacking fullback who was mistake-free under the high-ball and peerless on the counter attack, Minichiello was a delight to watch over six injury free seasons where he did not miss a game, representing New South Wales eight times and Australia on 18 occasions. Minichiello won the Dally M Fullback of the Year in 2004 and was awarded the Golden Boot in 2005. Who knows what would have been had injury not cruelled the latter part of his career.

1. Brad Fittler

With the exception of Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer, Fittler is the greatest footballer of the last two decades. Fittler made his name as a prodigious talent at the Panthers but made an immediate impact when joining the Roosters, taking a team who had not made the playoffs in nine years to nine straight finals appearances including four Grand Finals and the 2002 premiership. The Roosters missed the finals in the three years after he retired. The Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year in 1998, 1999 and 2002 and the Golden Boot winner in 2000 as well as the New South Wales and Australian captain, Fittler was a modern day legend whose powerful running, deft playmaking and rugby league smarts ensured he never played on a bad team.

 

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