Comments on: El Masri’s on-field greatness must not be overshadowed

By: Lewie

Lewie — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:53:46 +0000

can i get a side of fries with this course of man-love?

You’re right, El Masri’s on-field greatness must not be overshadowed. So how about not embellishing his legacy with ridiculous assertions such as “one of the game’s finest wingers”, and instead praising him for what he in fact was/is….one of, if not the greatest goal-kicker in Australian Rugby League history, and a bloody fine player to boot…..but let’s resist the hyperbole.

By: sunshinecoaster

sunshinecoaster — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:23:04 +0000

Yea good on him and hes a great bloke

I never agree with the channel nine commentary team saying hes the best kicker of all time,to me Halligan is because he could land them from further out,his long range kicking was better

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:10:06 +0000

Its true, I don’t know him. It’s what he does on the field that is of interest to me.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:17:14 +0000

The man, any winger who scores 154 tries at a strike rate as good as ANY winger in history deserves to be called one of the great wingers, after all, wingers are there to score tries! Lets not forget he did play a heap of city country games, and did end up wearing both the australian and NSW jerseys, and many knowledgable people in the game think there should have been more for him than that.

Saying Hazem wasn’t one of the great wingers is like saying Glenn McGrath wasn’t one of the greatest fast bowlers, just because he wasn’t overly quick and wore loads of bling! He still did what fast bowlers are supposed to do (better than any other in Oz history), as Hazem has done exactly what wingers are there to do. His goalkicking is genius, but it is in addition to his superlative skill as a winger.

By: True Tah

True Tah — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:49:00 +0000

The man

to be fair, Hazem was a better winger than Halligan ever was, Halligan was a liability on the wing.

By: The man

The man — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:39:10 +0000

Hazem should never be classified one of the “games finest wingers”.

As demonstrated by his lack of representative honours or any mention in teams of the century – he is viewed rightly as a goal kicking machine – very similar to the man he replaced in D Halligan.

His achievements in goal kicking are sensational and for that he should be celebrated.

But to call him one of the great wingers of all time would be a mistake. Hazem does not have the electricfying pace of an Irvine or the power of a Grothe – he just isn’t a player that brings a crowd to its feet with the wow factor of a Martin Offiah in full flight.

By: Matthew O'Neill

Matthew O'Neill — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:20:50 +0000

Hello Hoy. Have a look at his partnership with Brent Sherwin over the years. His positional play and ability to read where the ball was going to land was freakish. Terry Lamb’s ability to support the ball carrier and know where the pass would be was beyond freakish, but El Masri in a different way of support play just knew where the ball would land and even bounce. He wasn’t tall, fast or big – he was the quickest between the ears by a mile.

By: Hoy

Hoy — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:05:41 +0000

Still one of the slowest wingers known to man. Who will be the Bulldogs next token winger who can kick?

And i think a lot of people could have scored a lot of his tries. Catch and put down would describe quite a few of them.

Still, good on him. He has done good.