Nobody Understands Rugby League Greatness Like Old Punt Understands Rugby League Greatness
Rugby League Week named their thirty greatest players of the last thirty years on Wednesday. A panel of six, five to be respected and the other Mark Geyer, selected the list from one hundred candidates. The list of candidates, by the by, had the odd smattering of disbelief and a tendency to cause the jaw to drop in a rather sharp and painful fashion. Jason Ryles, who is not in the best one hundred players signed to play in the NRL in 2008, was somehow listed as a candidate. If ranking all the players of the last thirty years, Ryles sits just between Col Bentley and Harvey Howard, somewhere well into four digits. Luke O’Donnell was also there, as was rugby league’s greatest whore, Willie Mason. It did make my head spin and not in the fun kind of way. Reading the list of nominees did not make me want to dance and it certainly did not make me want to talk about the hottest member of New Young Pony Club at a dawn after-party.
As hard as it is to believe, Mark Geyer was given an opportunity that some sports writers believed they were more qualified for. This sports writer sits most definitely in that category. Mark Geyer is as qualified as a pig on heat to recognise rugby league greatness. Your modest author, however, understands the fundamental nature of rugby league and what greatness entails.
So here, in black and white, the thirty greatest players of the last thirty years, as judged by your well-qualified correspondent:
- Andrew Johns
- Brad Fittler
- Wally Lewis
- Allan Langer
- Mal Meninga
- Terry Lamb
- Bradley Clyde
- Darren Lockyer
- Steve Mortimer
- Shane Webcke
- Johnathan Thurston
- Peter Sterling
- Laurie Daley
- Brett Kenny
- Cameron Smith
- Ricky Stuart
- Steven Price
- Nathan Hindmarsh
- Steve Walters
- Steve Rogers
- Ben Elias
- Petero Civoniceva
- Mick Cronin
- Steve Menzies
- Ellery Hanley
- Glenn Lazarus
- Gorden Tallis
- Ray Price
- Stacey Jones
- Bob Lindner
Andrew Johns is the best player rugby league has seen and anybody who disagrees is a fool who need to be instituted forthwith. Never mind state pride. I am objective, a bastion of truth and knowledge. And Andrew Johns could do things on the field that no player has been able to accomplish.
And now, for purposes of amusement and nostalgia, thirty players who missed out:
- Glenn Nissan
- Colin Van Der Voort
- Perry Haddock
- Craig Teitzel
- Danny Crnkovich
- Michael Porter
- Russell Wyer
- Bronko Djura
- Eion Crossan
- Henry Raymond
- Stu Galbraith
- Neil Sweeney
- Charlie Saab
- Keith Neller
- Shaun Devine
- Brandon Pearson(/Costin)
- Graeme “The Penguin” Bradley
- Robert Tocco
- Nigel Roy
- Dallas Hood
- Matthew Corkery
- Tony Mestrov
- Barry Berrigan
- Kurt Sherlock
- Joe Picker
- Shannon Donato
- Kris Tassell
- Ronald Prince
- Glenn Coleman
- Steven Boss
Tags: 2008, Rugby League