Cameron Smith will be the only one left of the five modern day superstars of rugby league when Cooper Cronk hangs up his boots.
Johnathan Thurston was the first to announce his retirement, followed by Billy Slater and Greg Inglis, and yesterday it was Cronk’s turn.
As it stands all five have already played their last Origin games for Queensland, leaving a massive hole in the side.
This has been an incredible era with Thurston on duty for 17 years, Cronk will join Slater on 16, while Inglis chalked up 14.
JT’s farewell tour has continued. (AAP Image/Darren England)
Smith shows the way on 18, and still has a season to go on contract with the Storm, a side that has also had Cronk, Slater and Inglis on its roster over the years.
Thurston is the only one of the five not to benefit from Craig Bellamy’s brilliant coaching, having been premiership winner with the Bulldogs and later the Cowboys.
And there’s no doubt all five will be Immortalised as among the greatest rugby league players of all time.
It’s been a privilege to write about them throughout their illustrious careers, as it was to watch, and then write about the other big five of the 1950-1960s – Reg Gasnier, Ken Irvine, Johnny Raper, Norm Provan and Graeme Langlands.
The proof of their superstar status was all five were selected in the Australian Team of the Century covering from 1908 to 2008.
The greatest try-scorer in the code’s history, Irvine, is the only one not Immortalised, which continues to be a major blight on the sport.
But it was a dramatically different era in every way.
Most players had jobs, as contract money wasn’t enough to live on.
Games were only played on a Saturday afternoon at suburban home grounds, with the match-of-the-day always at the SCG where the Dragons were virtually a permanent fixture as the best club in the competition during their record 11 successive premiership reign from 1956 to 1966.
In 1967 the unlimited tackle rule from 1908 was changed to the four-tackle rule to try and curb St George – and it did with the Dragons not winning again until 1977.
In 1983 the four-tackle rule became six, and the try lifted from three to four points, that greatly affected the career points of Irvine’s 275, Langlands’ 178 and Gasnier’s 170.
So let’s compare the two eras of legends with games played, tries, goals, drop goals, and total points:
Ken Irvine (1958-1973)
North Sydney – 176 – 171 – 59 – 1 – 633
Manly – 60 – 41 – 11 – 0 – 145
NSW – 24 – 30 – 4 – 0 – 145
Australia – 31 – 33 – 11 – 0 – 121
Reg Gasnier (1957-1969)
St George – 125 – 127 – 20 – 0 – 421
NSW – 16 – 15 0 – 0 – 45
Australia – 39 – 28 – 0 – 0 – 84
Norm Provan (1951-1965)
St George – 256 – 64 – 1 – 0 -194
NSW – 19 – 4 – 0 – 0 – 12
Australia – 14 – 7 – 0 – 0 – 21
Johnny Raper (1957-1969)
Newtown – 37 – 10 – 0 – 0 – 30
St George – 185 – 47 – 4 – 0 -149
NSW – 24 – 5 – 0 – 0 – 15
Australia – 39 – 9 – 0 – 0 – 27
Graeme Langlands (1959-1976)
St George – 227 – 86 – 648 – 0 – 1554
NSW – 33 – 19 – 40 – 0 – 137
Australia – 45 – 21 – 73 – 0 – 206
The modern day legends:
Johnathan Thurston (2002-2018)
Bulldogs – 29 – 10 – 0 – 0 – 40
Cowboys – 294 – 80 – 923 – 16 – 2182
Queensland – 37 – 5 – 99 – 2 – 220
Australia – 38 – 13 – 165 – 0 – 382
Billy Slater (2003-2018)
Storm – 323 – 191 – 0 – 0 -764
Queensland – 31 – 12 – 0 – 0 – 48
Australia – 30 – 27 – 0 – 0 – 108
Billy Slater of the Storm celebrates with team mates after scoring a try (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)
Greg Inglis (2005-2019)
Storm – 118 – 78 – 9 – 3 – 333
South Sydney – 147 – 72 – 0 – 1 – 289
Queensland – 32 – 18 – 0 – 0 – 72
Australia – 39 – 31 – 0 – 0 – 124
Cooper Cronk (2004-current)
Storm – 323 – 92 – 1 – 0 – 390
Roosters – 34 – 7 – 0 – 1 – 29
Queensland – 22 – 3 – 0 – 2 – 14
Australia – 38 – 16 – 0 – 0 – 64
Cameron Smith (2002-current)
Storm – 394 – 43 – 1151 – 4 – 2478
Queensland – 42 – 5 – 19 – 0 – 58
Australia – 56 – 9 – 67 – 0 – 170
So, what about a comparison between the two groups?
The 1950-1960s legends
Games played – 1350
Tries – 769
Goals – 798
Drop goals – 1
Career points – 3892
The modern-day legends
Games played – 2020
Tries – 712
Goals – 2534
Drop goals – 48
Career points – 8165
Nambawan
Guest
Good to read David's comments including players of the 50's and 60's. There were so many wonderful players in those days who are all now but forgotten - particularly by the journos who were not around then. But in terms of natural talent and command of the fundamentals - what about Wally Oconnell, Frank Stanmore, Keith Holman, Duncan Hall, Brian Davies, and Brian Carlson ( who possibly was the code's best and most naturally talented player), just to name a few who come to mind? Clive Churchill remains in my memory as the best of the best - as he had wonderful ball skills, kick off both feet, speed, and great tackling and courage. Imagine what he could have been if he had had the full time opportunities to train and body build, that Billy Slater has had? And then of course Ken Irvine - how many tries would he had scored if the corner posts rule had not existed in his day? But one has also to greatly admire the present day likes of Slater, Cronk, Smith and Thurstone. Not only for their skills but for their consistent presentation as all round 'class acts' - they have been great role models for the code. The NRL competition is an amazing beast - its administration in my view is often inept and lumbers the code with football ignorant rule changes which have unintended consequences - such as excessive interchange, 10 m rule, and the like. But the players keep turning up usually to provide compelling spectacles of speed skill and guts, and maintains the allegiance of its substantial support base. It has probably been like that since about 1908!
Marty
Guest
Will Penfolds come out with a range of "Big 5" ports?
David Lord
Expert
Ask editorial Duncan, it's their headline.
Fish
Guest
I was in a conversation a little while ago comparing these five great players. An older bloke argued a point that four of them had played together for most of their careers and wondered who out of those four would of been brilliant by themselves alone? Inglis was his example, even though he was still good at Souths, he wasn’t his Melbourne self. Perhaps this was due to his position. He stated that Cronk worked really hard and was possibly the most proffesional of those four, and as time has showed he has done alright without the others, but his move came at the back end of his career. Smith is his favourite player but he doubts Smith would of been as effective without the other two at least. A great game manager, but put in a team of also rans and up and comers, would he stand out as amazing? That left Slater, who in his view would of been incredible in any team, such was the way he played the game. He rated Slater the second best of the big five, and the best of the Melbourne four. Leaving Thurston the best of the five, for in his opinion, he was amazing in teams of champions, often eclipsing those other four, and in fledgling and sub par teams. The fact this is a conversation is testament to these five players, who in my opinion have been complete champions. To compare them in a conversation with those other great champions of the past is a testament to all of them.
Adam
Roar Guru
And that's probably not due to happen until 2040
Duncan Smith
Roar Guru
A bit early - it's not end of the era under Smith retires!