RLW 30 greatest players of the past 30 years

[Simon]

Lyons should be in the Top 10, he got robbed.

 

[JBMAC]

Notable Ommissions IMPO:-

Renouf, Boustead, Sironen, Miles, Dowling, Close, Vautin, Belcher, Ribot, Groethe(Snr), Menzies, Beetson.
and there is NO way Johns should be rated higher than Lewis. Lewis was a more complete footballer and could read a game better than Johns

 

[Simon]

Notable Ommissions IMPO:-

Renouf, Boustead, Sironen, Miles, Dowling, Close, Vautin, Belcher, Ribot, Groethe(Snr), Menzies, Beetson.
and there is NO way Johns should be rated higher than Lewis. Lewis was a more complete footballer and could read a game better than Johns

Agree with some of those, Miles and Dowling played most of their best footy in the Qld comp and not the NSWRL so they probably were never going to get picked, Vautin was never outstanding as a player, sure he was good enough to play for Aus, Qld and captain a premiership but probably outside the top 30 of the past 30 years, Id have him more around 50ish in this category. Beetson was past his best by this time, if it was say from 1974 onwards then he'd have claims to be in the top 10. Menzies no way should he be there, he's scored a lot of tries and he plays his guts out but not even close to the top 30.

 

[chaminda_00]

Agree with some of those, Miles and Dowling played most of their best footy in the Qld comp and not the NSWRL so they probably were never going to get picked, Vautin was never outstanding as a player, sure he was good enough to play for Aus, Qld and captain a premiership but probably outside the top 30 of the past 30 years, Id have him more around 50ish in this category. Beetson was past his best by this time, if it was say from 1974 onwards then he'd have claims to be in the top 10. Menzies no way should he be there, he's scored a lot of tries and he plays his guts out but not even close to the top 30.

Clearly you just don't like Manly players.

 

[Simon]

LOL theres that too....

I've come up with my list of top 50 players in this time, my top 20 isnt all that different to that listed by RLW...

Top 50
1 Wally Lewis
2 Andrew Johns
3 Allan Langer
4 Mal Meninga
5 Laurie Daley
6 Darren Lockyer
7 Glenn Lazarus
8 Peter Sterling
9 Brett Kenny
10 Brad Fittler
11 Ricky Stuart
12 Brad Clyde
13 Paul Sironen
14 Steve Walters
15 Terry Lamb
16 Steve Mortimer
17 Shane Webcke
18 Steve Roach
19 Benny Elias
20 Mick Cronin
21 Ray Price
22 Mike Eden
23 Paul Harragon
24 Petero Civoniceva
25 Wayne Pearce
26 Steve Rogers
27 Graeme Eadie
28 Geoff Toovey
29 Steve Renouf
30 Mark Carroll
31 Gavin Miller
32 Cliff Lyons
33 Eric Grothe Snr
34 Gorden Tallis
35 Nathan Hindmarsh
36 Ruben Wiki
37 Gene Miles
38 Michael O'Connor
39 Gary Freeman
40 Greg Brentnall
41 Johnathon Thurston
42 Steve Menzies
43 Danny Buderus
44 Gary Belcher
45 Ian Roberts
46 Andrew Ettingshausen
47 Matthew Ridge
48 Steve Price
49 Paul Vautin
50 Cameron Smith

 

[JBMAC]

Been Thinkin"...Some More Notable Ommissions:-

Lindner, Elias, Ella, Price(R), Backo.

 

[chaminda_00]

If your going to add in Kiwis, Stacey Jones would be in the Top 20 for mine. Would have Kennedy in the Top 50 somewhere as well.

 

[Simon]

ah yeh forgot Jones, Kennedy never did anything for me tbh...

 

[NUFAN]

ah yeh forgot Jones, Kennedy never did anything for me tbh...

And Ian Roberts did?

 

[Simon]

And Ian Roberts did?

pay that

 

[howardj]

LOL theres that too....

I've come up with my list of top 50 players in this time, my top 20 isnt all that different to that listed by RLW...

Top 50
1 Wally Lewis
2 Andrew Johns
3 Allan Langer
4 Mal Meninga
5 Laurie Daley
6 Darren Lockyer
7 Glenn Lazarus
8 Peter Sterling
9 Brett Kenny
10 Brad Fittler

Yeah, I always thought Meninga, although he captained teams that achieved some greats feats, was never in the absolute top shelf of players. To me, he seemed to go missing on occasions- particularly in Orgin. Anyway, good to see you rank Lazzo highly- rightly so. That guy was a premiership magnet.

 

[BoyBrumby]

And Ian Roberts did?

Could fight, the big fella, have to give him that whatever his personal proclivities were. English-born too, IIRC.

 

[Burgey]

Some notable fullbacks not listed. Gary Jack and Gary Belcher were both stand out fullbacks, back in the era when they actually had to tackle, rather than be 2nd receivers in attack and turnstiles in defence.

Tim Brasher was also a great fullback, pretty underrated imo.

Here's a top web site about the old, hard era, with plenty of UK, Aussie and Kiwi input:

http://www.eraofthebiff.com/p43a.html

 

[Simon]

Id have Greg Brentnall in the list before Gary Jack or Tim Brasher, both fine players but not elite imo...

 

[howardj]

Snoz O'Connor was robbed.

No man scared me more in Origin in the late 80s, early 90s.

 

[Simon]

Clearly you just don't like Manly players.

interestingly I'd have thought so myself, but if you look through my top 50 list i have nine players that played for Manly, equal most with Brisbane and then eight for Canberra.

 

[Burgey]

Meninga couldn't get a game in 86 on the Roo tour - thought it was one of the best sides ever:

Jack
O'Connor
Kenny
Miles
Shearer
Lewis
Sterling
Lindner
Cleal
Niebling/ Davidson
Roach/ Dunn (once Roach was injured)
Simmons
Dishhead Dowling
Reserves: Meninga, Lamb, Davidson/ Niebling, Dunn/ Phil Daley/ Bella

Other squad members were Sironen, Elias, Alexander, Les Kiss, Hasler, C Mortimer, Folkes, Langmack, Belcher.

That, fellas, was a great, great side.

 

[chaminda_00]

interestingly I'd have thought so myself, but if you look through my top 50 list i have nine players that played for Manly, equal most with Brisbane and then eight for Canberra.

Just shows you how gun we were in the mid 90s and parts of the 80s. Even the biggest Manly haters can't leave our top players off those lists. If they are true league fans.

There were a few more Parra and Canterbury players froms 80s that I thought should be around this type of list. Can't think of any on the top of my head, but they do seem a bit light in players. Considering they were to top sides of 80s, by a far bit.

 

[The Sean]

Meninga couldn't get a game in 86 on the Roo tour - thought it was one of the best sides ever:

Jack
O'Connor
Kenny
Miles
Shearer
Lewis
Sterling
Lindner
Cleal
Niebling/ Davidson
Roach/ Dunn (once Roach was injured)
Simmons
Dishhead Dowling
Reserves: Meninga, Lamb, Davidson/ Niebling, Dunn/ Phil Daley/ Bella

Other squad members were Sironen, Elias, Alexander, Les Kiss, Hasler, C Mortimer, Folkes, Langmack, Belcher.

That, fellas, was a great, great side.

Jebus that was a phenomenal team. An astonshing backline, and an even more astonishing pair of halves to get the ball to them. They'd see plenty of it too, because who would mess with that forward pack?

 

[Simon]

Yeh that was a gun side, from memory Terry Lamb created a record and played every single match on the tour (24 or so in a few months) huge effort really...