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Opinion
As rugby league celebrated its 100th anniversary in Australia, the cake was decorated with new candles that burned brightly but fizzled fast.
The class of 2008 is defined by players that teased us with potential but never quite delivered, as well as some who climbed to the top of the mountain only to slide down from the summit soon after.
When they clicked, though, some of these stars shone as brightly as any in the NRL — beginning with this team’s most emblematic player.
Fullback: Ben Barba
Brisbane’s Josh Hoffman and Penrith’s Lachlan Coote both played Test footy — Hoffman for New Zealand, Coote for Great Britain — but neither could boast being as irresistibly dominant as the Bulldogs’ Ben Barba was in 2012.
Barba’s demise is sad for all involved, casting a dark shadow over a career that once blazed so brilliantly.
Wingers: Jordan Rapana and Akuila Uate
Canberra ace Jordan Rapana notched five games for the Titans in 2008 before spending five years off the radar on a Mormon mission then playing union and bush footy, eventually reinventing himself at the Green Machine.
Fun fact: Rapana was one of three wingers named Jordan to debut for the Gold Coast club in their second season, alongside 16-year-old Jordan Rankin, the youngest debutant in NRL history, and Jordan Atkins, who bagged four tries in his first game.
Joining Rapana here is Newcastle’s Akuila Uate, clearly the game’s best winger in the early 2010s before he lost some of his touch (although none of his effort).
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
Centres: Jamal Idris and David Williams
Like Barba, Idris exploded at the Bulldogs, and even represented NSW as a teenager. But after high-profile stints at the Titans and Panthers, Idris decided he wanted to do something other than play footy, instead travelling the world and opening an orphanage in Ghana; choices I’m sure plenty of other professionalism-fatigued footballers wish they could make.
With him is a bloke better known as Wolfman, who only featured regularly in Manly’s first-grade side for five years, but in his maiden season picked up two Kangaroos caps and a try in a triumphant grand final. Williams was a winger but fills a breach here.
Five-eighth: Wade Graham
The Sharks stalwart began as a 17-year-old five-eighth at Penrith, and he’s dusting off his number six jersey to plug a hole in this squad.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Parramatta and Canterbury playmaker Kris Keating was the only competition for a halves spot, with another unfulfilled Eel wearing the number seven.
Halfback: Chris Sandow
Souths product Sandow had his off-field issues well documented, and Parra fans are entitled to feel like they didn’t get value for money out of his expensive shift from the Rabbitohs.
But few playmakers of this vintage could compile a highlight reel quite as spectacular as the 2008 Dally M rookie of the year — an inexhaustible source of box-office entertainment, both good and bad.
Props: Ben Matulino and Sam Moa
These props bring a quality this squad desperately needs: reliability. Matulino lined up for the Warriors and Tigers 248 times and would’ve hardly let them down once, while Cronulla one-gamer Sam Moa arrived back from a Super League stint with Hull FC to become a cornerstone of Trent Robinson’s Roosters rebuild.
Hooker: Jake Friend (captain)
Another hard-nosed Chook completes a rock-hard front row. Friend looked destined to wander down the same path as Todd Carney early in his career, but ended up captaining one of the strongest sides of the modern era; a turnaround that evaded some teammates in this side.
Fellow workhorse Queenslander Andrew McCullough is unlucky to sit behind Friend in the pecking order here.
Second-rowers: Tony Williams and Joel Thompson
The man known as T-Rex lost his bite later in his career, but he was a destructive force in Manly’s charge to the 2011 title.
A more dependable yet less explosive Sea Eagles second-rower, Joel Thompson, debuted at Canberra before moving to St George Illawarra then Brookvale and St Helens — another steady contributor on a team sheet that needs them.
Locks: Kevin Proctor
Melbourne first-gamer and current Titan Kevin Proctor teams up with a couple of Kiwi mates in the middle.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Bench: Lachlan Coote, Andrew McCullough, Aiden Tolman, Matt Prior
Coote and McCullough are too good to leave off the bench, while Melbourne debutant Aiden Tolman and Dragons rookie Matt Prior edge the likes of Russell Packer, Sam McKendry and Jayson Bukuya to the last two spots.
In keeping with the ‘what could have been’ theme running through this squad, Dogs debutant and scandal magnet Arana Taumata is the 18th man.
Potential name-based selections Daine Laurie (the original Tigers and Panthers player from Yamba, not the current Tigers and Panthers player from Iluka, just across the Clarence River from Yamba) and Sam Joe (who played one game for the Storm for each of his first names) are unlucky omissions.
Coach: Ian Millward
By this series’ eligibility rules, no one started their top-grade coaching career in the NRL in 2008. But North Queensland interim Ian Millward — who replaced Graham Murray mid-season — was the only man to coach their first NRL game this season, so he gets the nod.
Millward is a controversial figure among the Dragons faithful now, but a cabinet full of silverware from his time at St Helens is a tick.
Verdict
Catch the class of 2008 on a good day, and you’re in for a seriously tough afternoon. Meet them a week later and you might rack up 50, and that inconsistency could stand between them and a top-five berth.
The final rookie team of the decade — which features club and rep combos across the park — represent a more reliable opponent.
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