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Who deserves a marquee spot in the NRL?

Roar Guru
1st August, 2013
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Adam Reynolds has re-signed with the Rabbitohs. (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Robb Cox) .
Roar Guru
1st August, 2013
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A fellow league-loving work colleague and I have just been sitting down on a break chewing the fat about the potential marquee system that looks increasingly likely to be proposed as the structure of salary cap come up for an official review.

We both seem to be for the idea of one player at each club being allocated a ‘marquee’ spot where their income doesn’t count against the salary cap.

To us it seems like the best way to keep the most valuable talent in the code until they hang up the boots, while also creating a bit more space under the cap for the rest of the team list to get a bit of pay rise.

While going over the idea it got us thinking: In an open market, who would be the best 16 players to take one of the marquee spots on offer?

What we decided is that it isn’t as simple as picking the best 16 players in the league.

Marketability (obviously individual talent is also an important variable when determining this) is what’s key for the marquee spot.

So there are some players that might not necessarily get near the list of the best 16 in the game (some aren’t even playing the game currently) but are there because of their value and what they can contribute to the game off the field.

So in no particular order, here’s the list we came up with. I’ve included a couple of players that were hard to leave out at the end:

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1. Greg Inglis
2. Johnathan Thurston
3. Billy Slater
4. Cameron Smith
5. Cooper Cronk
6. Sonny Bill Williams
7. Israel Folau
8. Benji Marshall
9. Paul Gallen
10. Jamaal Idris
11. Ben Barba
12. Todd Carney
13. Sam Thaiday
14. Jarryd Hayne
15. Sam Burgess
16. Karmichael Hunt

Worthy mentions: Mitchell Pearce, Justin Hodges, Michael Jennings, Brett Stewart, Daly Cherry Evans, Will Hopoate, Shaun Johnson.

What do you think? Any blaring omissions? Any howlers?

And is marketability the correct way to measure a player’s marquee value or should it come down to pure skill and ability?

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