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Having discussed the best of the world game and the worst of Australian sport, I thought I would try my hand at tackling (pun anyone?) the topic of the best in rugby league, and see if I could finally get one of these lists right for a change.
The top 10 players (because five was not enough, and 20 was too many) to look out for in the 2014 NRL season:
10. Sam Burgess
You want players who can tackle, gain yards, maybe score tries and play maximum minutes? Sam Burgess is a forward who can do all those things, and he does it every game, which is a testament to what an incredible player he is.
The only Englishman on this list, there really is little wonder why rugby want a piece of him.
He is tough, uncompromising and say what you like about his grubby play (which I hate), he’s a player any club want leading their pack.
You watch last year’s World Cup, big Sam almost single handedly carried his country into the final.
If Souths are smart (granted, a giant ‘if’), they’ll do everything they can to keep him next year, or charge a king-sized transfer fee to let him go.
Sam Burgess is a world-class player. And he is not the type of ‘world class’ player the British media like to make a huge beat-up about. You know, like Kris Radlinski and Andy Farrell. And Leon Price.
No, Burgess is a genuine, world class footballer. If this is going to be his last year in league, nay, if he has indeed played his last game in league, his legacy will be secure.
9. Shaun Johnson
It has to be hard to live across the Tasman and be noticed. Just ask James Maloney.
But whether Shaun Johnson is weaving his way through the iconic, iron-clad defence of the Melbourne Storm or tip-toeing through the wafer thin defence of England, he’s a player that can make magic happen on the field.
Consistency will probably determine whether he ends up being a genuine great of the game. That and whether he is not targeted by rugby union.
But for a player that is fast, skilled, and not the usual hole in defence that is often the difficulty with a player of his size, Shaun Johnson is, like every player on this list, a player you want running out onto the field with you.
8. Paul Gallen
I think Paul Gallen and I think machine. I also think of Nate Myles’ forehead, but an object that big is likely to barge its way into any discussion about rugby league.
Paul Gallen is that player that will bleed every ounce of blood, and possibly anyone else’s, to win for his team.
And in an age of interchange, a genuine 80-minute forward is nothing to sneeze at.
He will get through a truckload of tackles. And not those tackles where he jumps in as the third or fourth player to bump up his stats (you know, like Craig Fitzgibbon used to do), he will try and be the first man in, every time.
A player who makes 200+ metres and 30 tackles? Throw in a couple tries, he’s almost the best forward in the game.
Almost. Unfortunately, he’s only the second best in the world at the moment, but that’ll likely change come year’s end.
7. Billy Slater
Former best player in the world, it’s not entirely unfair to say that age and injuries have slowed him down recently.
But only marginally.
He’s still one of the best backline players in the game, he is one of the better positional fullbacks and, as my esteemed flatmate always says, “Some people just know how to find the tryline.”
Slater knows how to find the tryline.
Now, granted, I have papered over Burgess’ squirrel-grip, and Gallen’s long list of felonious activities, but I don’t know what it is about Slater that makes me just picture him as an even grubbier player.
Every time he slides in feet-first to stop a try, I want to personally drive to Melbourne just to smack him around the head.
Who knows, maybe it’s just the fact he’s from Queensland and I hate him.
But in terms of being one of the best players in the game, no cross-border allegiance can deny: he’s still one of the greats.
6. Jarryd Hayne
Yes, I classify Hayne better than Slater.
Ask yourself this: do you think Slater would do as well for the Eels as Hayne has?
Can you imagine the statistics Hayne would rack up if he weren’t single-handedly breaking his neck, back and knees on a weekly basis carrying the biggest disappointment that league has ever seen since the 1995 grand final pre-game entertainment?
Hayne is a freak. In a lot of ways, that amazing 2009-run has worked against him, such is the expectation that man now has to bear.
He’s still that good, just not for 10 consecutive weeks at that level.
And therein lies the problem: consistency is ultimately where Hayne needs to become a better player.
However, his skill, ability and contribution are still so good that he is a go-to, marquee player.
And he needs to be back at fullback in that sky blue jersey come Origin time.
5. Todd Carney
Dear Lord, please. Can somebody please, please send a highlights tape to Laurie Daley and remind him Todd Carney is the best player in NSW and needs to be back in the halves pairing for NSW?
You know what I never noticed about Carney? He is so strong in defence. He makes big hits, and yet the defensive aspect does not stop his kicking game from being second to none south of the Tweed.
His ability to control a game, coupled with having such wonderful running forwards like Gallen and Fifita, will probably be the only thing that keeps Cronulla competitive in what looks to be a diabolically rubbish year ahead.
I will be harping on about Todd a fair bit this season. He is the best half in NSW. End of story.
No more of this ‘stick and pick’ rubbish, no more ‘giving time to Mitchell Pearce’.
Make Carney five-eighth and let’s be done with this already.
Queensland need NSW to win this year. They’re running out of hands to count the Origin series with.
4. Cameron Smith
I do not like Cameron Smith. He badgers the ref, he talks absolute rubbish come press conference time, and he’s the Queensland captain.
Also, the filth he carries on with in that ruck make me hate what his like have done to the game.
But when it comes to ability and success, I have nothing bad to say about him. Premierships, Origin series, and he’s the captain of Australia who just won a World Cup.
He’s the best hooker in the world. And I may bleed red and blue for the knights, but Danny Buderus did not have Smith’s kicking game.
It is only because of the genuine other freaks in our game in the moment that Smith is not the number one.
That says a lot about the strength of rugby league and genius of Smith.
3. Sonny Bill Williams
You know what I love about predictions? They’re easily forgotten. As long as you don’t publish them.
I have not been this wrong about something since I said Beta tapes were the recording device of the future.
Sonny Bill, contract-breaking, self-promoting narcissist that he is, is the best forward in the game. And I was wrong that he would fail upon returning to the NRL.
He makes metres for fun, he tackles with a ferocity that would keep you up at night and, as he showed in rugby, his ball skills make him a borderline capable five-eighth.
I wondered how he’d go defensively without his shoulder-charge in the ammunition kit, but given he had five years in union to learn to live without, if anything, he’s somehow even more effective in defence now.
I loved watching Burgess steamroll him in Round 1 last year. I highly doubt that’ll be happening again.
Sonny is, in my opinion, the only reason the Roosters are contenders for back-to-back premierships.
2. Greg Inglis
Phil Gould: Wow.
G.I., greatest NSW Origin player since Andrew Johns, is my favourite player in the game at the moment. No man that size should run at the pace he does.
But he does it. Every single game.
As a Knights fan, I’ll never forget him stripping a seemingly certain try-scoring Akuila Uate over the sideline, bumping the ball back into play, re-gathering and keeping possession.
Or his aerial acrobatics in that centenary Test? Phil Gould: Wow.
He’s like Pele, in that even his mistakes would probably be a better highlight real than anything us mere mortals could muster.
He will set try-scoring records that will be broken well after most of us are gone.
I just hope he wins another premiership. A player of his calibre demands it.
1. Jonathan Thurston
He’s been the best player in the game since Johns abdicated the thrown.
A halfback should be the best player in the game. He has to do everything.
He has to kick out of trouble, direct the traffic, read the game better than everyone else.
He has to be the fulcrum of attacking potency and have the ability to make things happen rests 100% on their shoulders.
Also, a quality half in this day and age cannot be hidden in defence.
Thurston knows how to win you a game, as evidenced in Origin three last year.
And sure he has not won anymore premierships since 2004, but the fact he made the mistake (in my opinion) of staying with the Cowboys means were he anywhere else (Brisbane? Melbourne?… Newcastle?), he would have won a handful.
Thurston is always in the running for the Dally M, Golden Boot and International player of the year. Despite playing for the Cowboys.
Why? Because he is the best player in the game.
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