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The argument that Johnathan Thurston is the NRL’s so-called “best player” is a common one in certain circles of the Australian rugby league community.
Just recently, Immortal Bob Fulton claimed that Thurston was the equal of another Immortal, Halfback of the Century and Channel Nine personality Andrew Johns. Last year, Andrew’s own brother Matthew, one of the game’s sharpest minds, voiced much the same sentiment, declaring that Thurston would surpass Johns as the game’s best ever halfback within two years.
These are intriguing arguments. They’re also possibly misleading – and not because Thurston is over-rated. True, in terms of natural talent, all-round football skill and ‘completeness’ as a player, it is hard to argue that anyone in the NRL is better than Thurston.
But it is still misleading for two reasons: first, being the ‘best’ doesn’t necessarily make you the ‘most valuable’, and second, there is a clear and quite persuasive argument that Melbourne’s Cooper Cronk actually holds this title of being ‘the most valuable’ – despite not necessarily being ‘the best’.
Bear with me here.
Statistics are useful, but often they obscure more than they reveal. They might tell you who the most dominant players are quantitatively. But you have to go looking for who consistently influences his team’s fortunes in the biggest games, in the crucial moments, over the course of entire seasons. With this in mind, I raise the following:
For four years straight, Cronk has actually outpointed Johnathan Thurston in Dally M voting. What makes this even more remarkable is the fact that Cronk had the ever-present Australian captain Cameron Smith and Kangaroos fullback Billy Slater taking Dally M points from him.
In 2006, his first year starting at halfback for the Storm, Cronk was awarded Dally M Halfback of the Year – an award he won a further three times in 2011, 2012 and 2013. In fact, in 2006, Cronk actually outpointed Andrew Johns for this award.
Cronk’s been to a grand final five times. In 2012, he not only won a premiership legitimately – after all the immense controversy over Melbourne allegedly fielding an ‘illegal’ side in their previous two appearances – but also won the Clive Churchill medal for best on ground. Many good judges maintain he almost single-handedly destroyed the Canterbury Bulldogs on the biggest day of the year.
One of the ‘illegal’ grand finals in 2009 saw Cronk almost single-handedly destroyed Parramatta, with most reasonable judges deeming him incredibly unlucky not to have won best on ground for that game. Interestingly, the eventual Clive Churchill Medalwinner, Billy Slater, actually agreed: the award should have gone to Cronk.
In State of Origin, he’s had only two opportunities at starting halfback over the course of an entire series. In the deciding games of both, he put on the play that won the deciding game – the field goal in 2012 and the try assist to Hodges in 2013.
In 2013, he then won the Dally M medal outright, narrowly edging Thurston and a few others.
Cronk starred in the game before last against the Titans, Cronk had three try assists and one linebreaks – in a losing team.
Last weekend against the Dragons, he was man of the match in a victory that was only secured after the siren had sounded, handling twice in the set that produced the game-winning try.
These are interesting numbers. Equally as interesting though, is a certain school of thought on Cronk compared to Thurston: Thurston is possibly a superior footballer skill-wise with much greater instinct and flair. He’s also much more unpredictable, which makes him such a nightmare for defensive coaches.
However, he also needs certain types of players around him to fully shine: ones who have excellent ‘football brains’ and are calm, can perform at big moments and in big games, and who can lead a team – thus freeing up JT to play his own game and be free of pressure. Think Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith and, well, Cooper Cronk.
This is what we mean by someone being ‘the most valuable’ but not necessarily ‘the best’.
While Thurston is more a natural footballer, it can be argued quite persuasively that Cronk has had to do more with less natural talent simply to reach the same heights.
If Thurston is Roger Federer, then perhaps Cronk is Rafael Nadal. If Thurston is Magic Johnson, then perhaps Cronk is John Stockton.
Metaphors aside, Cronk has had to achieve more in less time, having waited a number of years behind Darren Lockyer to get starts representatively.
So why no love for Cronk? What more can he really do to get the wraps he seems to deserve? What are we missing here?
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