The Roar continues its countdown of the top 50 NRL players, today with 30 throught 21.
30. Valentine Holmes
All you need to know about Valentine Holmes is this: he became the first Australian to score five tries in a Test during a World Cup semi-final last year – and then scored six the following week.
Also, that he has a name that sounds like a Hunter Valley real estate agents.
What wingers can do today, they’ve never been able to do before. They launch themselves skywards to score tries and pull off amazing try-saving tackles and run each other down at warp speed.
And of this breed of greyhounds, Valentine Holmes is arguably the greyest and houndiest. But he actually considers himself a fullback, and will be trying to keep Josh Dugan out of the No.1 shirt at Southern Cross Stadium this year.
Valentine Holmes (AAP Image/Craig Golding)
29. Ben Hunt
When you heard that Ben Hunt and Cameron Munster had been involved in a dust-up around the same time as Holmes scored five tries, you immediately assumed Munster was the aggressor.
Hunt will always get the benefit of the doubt since he dropped the ball at the start of extra time in a grand final, giving the Cowboys the chance – which Johnathan Thurston naturally took – to win their first premiership. A bloke who’s been through that, he’s not going to pick on a younger teammate, is he?
Signed by St George Illawarra for a squillion plus freehold over Mount Kiera, Hunt would appear to have a bit of pressure on him.
But not too much. He’s already seen the worst of things.
Ben Hunt (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
28. Nathan Cleary
Nepotism may have played a role in him getting a job as the Warriors ballboy when he was a kid but everything he’s done since has been off his own bat.
Cleary certainly doesn’t need his dad around anymore and he’s been earmarked as the (latest) Great White Hope to help end Queensland’s State of Origin dominance.
There is no mention of ballboy duties in the Rugby League International Federation qualification rules but Cleary could probably mount a decent argument for playing for the Kiwis as he lived in Auckland while his dad Nathan coached a played for the Warriors.
… or the All Whites, since he started off as a soccer player. Given the way he strikes a Steeden, he’d probably make a fair fist of it.
Nathan Cleary (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
27. David Klemmer
I’m going to view David Klemmer favourably, if only for the reason that a fantastic photo of me interviewing him ended up in my book, Touchstones. Also, he and Aaron Woods listen to the Screaming Jets before Origins – that’s another big tick.
You know how he plays. You know he’s scary. But in an era of aloofness in professional sports, he and Woods actually seem interested in their relationships with media men and women. I think I remember him wrestling NRL.com’s Michael Chammas in the tunnel after a World Cup game!
The NRL needs more players who say and do interesting things. That’s two more boxes ticked.
David Klemmer (Image: NRL)
26. Greg Inglis
Here we are, writing about how good everyone on our list is. And we get to GI and it feels like it’s expected, saying why he ranks so lowly.
Of course, I’m just one person on the panel and without looking, I honestly don’t remember where I had him. But despite denials, GI has been carrying injuries of late. Like, an ACL in Round 1. As they say in the classics, “That’s going to hurt your ranking in The Roar’s top 50.”
But you know what this guy can do; he’s a 21st century Mal Meninga, blessed with size and talent that allow him to dominate a team sport as if it’s an individual sport.
So, for those of you who remember the old paper charts you used to get at something called a record store, let’s call him number 26 with a bullet.
Greg Inglis (Photo: AAP)
25. Darius Boyd
No matter how interesting Darius Boyd is as a footballer, he’s infinitely more intriguing as a person.
Raised by a single mother, Boyd gravitated to coach Wayne Bennett, following him from Brisbane to St George Illawarra, Newcastle and back again. He also followed Bennett’s playbook of media relations, without the manipulation bit.
But as Boyd opened up to the possibility of finding his biological father, he also opened up to the rest of us. Suddenly, a man for whom one-word-answers were an indulgence spoke publicly about private issues that others would never share.
Could the unthinkable happen – a post-career job in the media for the game’s most reluctant interviewee?
AAP Image/Dan Peled
24. Matt Gillett
Gillett’s no longer the budding Bronco with the neat off-load; he’s a regular in Queensland and Australian teams but still essentially the same guy who preferred to play with his mates at Arana Hills in preference to the NRL side’s Colts team at the start of his career.
Now almost 30, he could reach the 200-game mark for the Broncos by the end of the season. Everyone knows by now it’s “Jill-it” not “Jill-ette”.
But during that career, there’s been a curious lack of silverware for a team that usually won the comp every three or four years.
Time’s running out.
Matt Gillett (Photo by Colin Whelan copyright © nrlphotos.com)
23.Will Chambers
Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory has a population of 4000 and only dates back to the 1960s. Although born in Queensland, Storm centre Will Chambers is its most famous export.
All palms and hips, he’s a bigger part of Melbourne’s success than most give him credit for. Cooper Cronk’s former flatmate will retire one of the greats.
Chambers also played a few games with the Queensland Reds and Munster in the other code, but the less said about that, the better.
Like Gillett, he could hit the double century of appearances this season.
Will Chambers (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
22. Jake Trbojevic
There was a wonderful naivety about the Trbojevic brothers at the 2016 Four Nations. Two boys from Sydney’s North Shore thrust out into the big, bad world.
Not only big and bad, but cold. Very cold.
As players they couldn’t be more different but one thing they have in common is politeness. You grab them at fulltime on the radio and they are stoked to be on the air, a big contrast from others who keep you waiting.
No matter how nice they are, though, I find myself hoping they don’t make the Australian side for the 2021 World Cup in England.
Why? So they can play for Serbia, of course!
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21. Gareth Widdop
From warming the bench for England to captaining St George Illawarra, Gareth Widdop’s come a long way since his mother took a teaching job in Melbourne because she was told there were already enough of them in Queensland.
A kid from Halifax who made the England team by going to Melbourne – may never happen again!
All the doubts of his ability have gone now, haven’t they? Yes, he can survive and thrive without Craig Bellamy. Yes, he’s good enough to play in the England starting side. Yes, he can even boss James Graham around.
A wonderful immigrant success story, a boy who went from a hot bed to an outpost with a pastime that was deeply ingrained his culture – and fought his way to the pinnacle of another hotbed.
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