- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It seems some Roarers seemed a little angry that I left Johnathan Thurston out of my Queensland team of the century list.
I saw on NRL 360 the other night a comparison between Bradley Clyde and Sam Burgees about who was the better lock – and of course Clyde won hands down with 77 per cent of the vote.
So with this in mind I have decided to compare a different pair and put to the people who is the better player.
The criteria is simple, and the head-to-head will be decided by games played for club, state and country, goals, tries, awards won and other similar noteworthy achievements.
Club stats
Smith has played 345 games for his Melbourne Storm, which is the second highest total in history and means he will break Lockyer’s record this year. He has 40 tries and just recently broke Jason Taylor’s all-time goal record of 942. His tally currently sits at 949.
Smith has plotted three field goals for the Storm and has been the captain since 2008. He also has 2061 points in the club career.
Thurston, on the other hand, has 298 games between the Bulldogs and the Cowboys, and he will hopefully break 300 this year if he can get fit. He scored 86 tries – double that of Smith – but has only 840 goals, which is 100 fewer than Cam’s total.
He has 16 field goals, including the one that won the 2015 grand final, and 2040 career club points, meaning total points are almost identical for these two.
One defining factor is that Thurston captained the club for only four years before sharing the role win Matt Scott.
State of Origin
Cam Smith has played 39 games for his state – which makes him the most capped player – and has scored five tries and kicked 16 goals. Eighteen of those games he has played as captain.
Johnathan Thurston is the highest points scorer for Queensland, with 226 points made up of five tries, 102 goals and two field goals in his 36 games, again making the stats almosty identical between the two.
Obviously Thurston is the goal-kicker for Queensland, so those 100 fewer goals are made up for at rep level, but he has never captained Queensland.
National performances
Smith has played 50 games for Australia and has scored nine tries and 42 goals. He has captained the team since 2007.
Thurston has played 39 games for Australia, scored 13 tries and kicked 170 goals for the country. These are pretty impressive stats for both players.
Awards
Cam Smith
Dally M Medal: 1.
Dally M Hooker of the Year: 6.
Dally M Rep Player of the Year: 4.
Dally M captain of the Year: 2.
Wally Lewis Award: 4.
Golden Boot: 1.
Johnathan Thurston
Dally M Medal Player of the Year: 4.
Dally M Halfback of the Year: 4.
Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year: 4.
Dally M Captain of the Year: 1.
Golden Boot 3.
Clive Churchill Medal: 1.
So Thurston has won more Dally M Medals than Smith, but Smith has more rep and captain of the year medals – so it’s very close, depending on your point of view.
Premierships
Smith officially has one premiership, but that really should be three with the Storm. Thurston has two with Bulldogs and Cowboys.
The stats show the comaprison is close, and the vote could go either way. Personally I believe Smith is the better player as he has captained Queensland and Australia, whereas Thurston never has. He has the goal count and is soon to be the record-holder for most games, and he is a natural leader.
Thurston is a great player, but Smith is brilliant.
What do you think, Roarers? Who is better: Smith or Thurston?
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.