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Opinion
Here’s a fun side to contemplate: a team of players selected solely on the basis of the points they have scored for Australia in both Test and World Cup matches (excluding Super League).
The criteria are that the player is only eligible for the position that they predominantly played for Australia, and the eligible player who has scored the most points for the Kangaroos in that position makes the team.
1. Keith Barnes
128 points from 64 goals in 17 games
Barnes once kicked ten goals from 14 attempts against France in the second Test at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground in 1960.
2. Michael O’Connor
198 points from 17 tries and 65 goals in 18 games
O’Connor scored 30 points from four tries and seven goals in a World Cup game against PNG in 1988.
3. Michael Cronin
310 points from ten tries and 140 goals in 35 games
His best goal-kicking performance was landing ten goals from 11 attempts against Great Britain in the first Test in 1979, a game won 35-0 by Australia.
4. Mal Meninga
282 points from 22 tries and 99 goals in 46 games
Curiously, although a point-scoring machine, Meninga only ever scored more than one try in a match on two occasions.
5. Noel Pidding
140 points from six tries and 61 goals in 19 games
Pidding failed to get on the scoreboard only twice in his 19 games.
6. Darren Lockyer
196 points from 35 tries, two field goals and 27 goals in 59 games
Scored 18 of his tries from the fullback position.
7. Johnathan Thurston
382 points from 13 tries and 165 goals in 38 games
He enjoyed playing against Fiji, scoring four tries and 21 goals in his three games against the Bati.
Johnathan Thurston (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
8. Frank Burge
41 points from nine tries and seven goals in 15 games
He scored more points when playing in the second row than he did when playing up front.
9. Cameron Smith
170 points from nine tries and 67 goals in 56 games
His biggest points haul was 16, from a try and six goals, against New Zealand in the one-off Test in 2007.
10. Duncan Hall
27 points from nine tries in 23 games
He once scored tries in four consecutive Tests.
11. Craig Fitzgibbon
96 points from one try and 48 goals in 18 games
His stand-out goal-kicking performance was landing 11 from 11 in Australia’s 76-4 flogging of Wales in 2003.
12. Steve Menzies
44 points from 11 tries in 14 games
Ten of his 11 tries came from five try-scoring doubles.
13. Ron Coote
39 points from 13 tries in 24 games
His best effort being two tries against NZ in the first Test in 1969.
That’s an amazing 2053 points between them. I suppose the most difficult decision for the coach is to decide who is going to be the goal kicker.
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