- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
From acerbic, ruthless senator in The Contender to salt-of-the-earth cop in Batman to psychotic street thug in State of Grace, you gotta love Gary Oldman.
Yet the man still flies somewhat under the radar when people list their greatest actors, even though he clearly is one of the finest ever to grace our screens.
Which brings me to the idiotic ‘debate’ over who should play fullback for Queensland in 2013.
Garry Jack, one of the greatest fullbacks of all time, has endorsed Greg Inglis. And Peter Badel, who wrote the article quoting the former Balmain great, tried to assist Mr Jack by suggesting Slater could shift to the wing, with Dane Nielsen coming into the centres.
Garry Jack and Peter Badel are off the mark on this one.
Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit. Phil Gould once said, “you don’t weaken a strength to strengthen a weakness”.
Well, Queensland don’t have a weakness right now. Even if you believe Billy Slater is the No. 2 fullback in the game – which I don’t – why would you replace the best centre in the game with a guy who is no more than a good first-grade player?
Because make no mistake: when Greg Inglis plays in the centres, he becomes the best centre in the game. Just as when Greg Inglis bakes a cake, he becomes the best baker in the game. The man is a freak, already one of the top 20 players to ever lace up a boot.
It doesn’t make any sense. At all. Which is why Laurie Daley will be praying Mal Meninga really looks up to Peter Badel.
But let’s rewind. Greg Inglis is not the best fullback in the game.
Billy Slater is a victim of his own stratospheric standards. I challenge you to watch any game and keep a close eye on how many defenders are eyeing Slater behind the ruck even before he has the ball.
He is the equivalent of the very best players in the NBA: triple-teamed every time he gets near the action. Yet he continues to make breaks, set up and score tries and do absurd things with the football on a weekly basis.
You could say the same about Greg Inglis but one thing is clear: he still does not ask quite as many questions of the defence, in quite as many ways, as Billy Slater.
Which is not a criticism – Inglis is, as I said, right up there with the best of them – but no one ever has in the history of our game.
So enough with this shlock. Give them both an Oscar and be done with it.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.