Cameron Smith is the greatest rugby league player ever.

If I was starting a new club and had to pick one of them as my marquee player it would be Smith no question about it. On and off the field he is exactly the player you would want to build everything around. The others were probably more game winning influencers but Smith is that foundation upon which success is built. I'd be happy to give him the most influential player of all time label.

 

Cam is the Roger Federer of League.

 

Johns Origin career was patchy at best.

Game 2 2005 and after that it drops off rapidly.

Smith has dominated Origin for a decade.

It's amazing how little is said about the fact the Knights 97 GF winning team had two players later suspended for drugs.

 

Bullshit Joey is one of the greatest Origin players off all time

 

Nah Federer is a good bloke.

 

I think Joey went okay in the very next game from memory. And he was pretty bloody good in 03, game 1 2002..memory gets sketchy around then though.
Its also amazing how little is said about the fact the core of that dominant QLD side were all knowingly cheating the salary cap for over half that streak...

 

What's the salary cap for Origin again??

 

Haha nice troll attempt.

Joey dominated 2000, 2003, 2005.

And was injured for the whole of 2001 and 2004 series.

I can't speak for the 90s as I didn't see them.

But his performances in Games I & II of 2003 and Games II & III of 2005 are the most dominant I've seen by an individual playmaker in Origin.

Smith's performance in Game III this year was definitely in the same echelon though.

 

I guess these things don't matter much when the core of your team consists of four of the biggest protected species of all time-Thurston, Smith, Slater and Cronk.

 

Having players the calibre of Inglis, Cronk, Smith and Slater all playing at the same NRL club together every week is a HUGE advantage in Origin. No doubt they still would have an impact if Smith had gone to the Titans (as was rumoured) and Billy had gone home to NQ- but I doubt they would've had that same level of cohesiveness in the key positions on field, in the same way it's not a surprise Munster slotted in so well despite being an Origin rookie.

We all know how they managed to stay together at the Storm for 5 years too, so it's a fair point...

 

What also goes unnoticed is that the only Australian team in the modern era to let the whole country down and lose a World Cup to the Kiwis was a spine of Slater (Melb/Qld), Lockyer (Bris/ Qld, C), Thurston (NQ, Qld) and Smith (Melb/ Qld).

I was always proud of the fact that the Kangaroos had an unblemished record in series and games that mattered since the 70's (i.e. before origin).

In the meantime this so called great Qld spine were beating sub standard NSW teams which is fair enough but they were soundly beaten by a spine that contained Hohaia, Marshall, Fien and Thomas Leuilai i 2008. Greatness personified.

Joey, Freddie, Alfie, Kevvie, Wally, Sterlo (hell even Cornescu, Elias, S Walters, Buderus) lost the odd test but never when it mattered. Think the same spine ex Lockyer plus Cronk also lost a Tri Nations to an albeit better Kiwi spine.

So how great are these merkins really? History says great but all those out there lauding the pricks as perfection and goat actually conveniently ignore their comparably poor international record.

So stop the circle jerking already...

 

None of us are really in a position to judge, because none of us saw the likes of Dally Messenger, Dave Brown, Clive Churchill, Reg Gasnier, Johnny Raper, Norm Provan, Graeme Langlands, Arthur Beetson, Noel Kelly, Bob Fulton, and Bob McCarthy play (except for Pops, though I doubt even he goes back to Messenger and Brown ). I saw the tail end of Lewis, Sterling, and Meninga. Of those I've seen play, I've always said it's a bee's dick between Lockyer and Johns, and I stand by that. Those two could carry a team on their own. Thurston is next cab off the rank, and for the same reason. Smith is not the sort of player who can do it all himself, but what Pops said is true. He'd be the first player you'd pick in any team.

 

2008 proved that even greatness can't overcome having Ricky Stuart as your coach.

The great NSW spine of Mini, Gower and Buderus where a national embarrassment in the 2005 Tri Nationals final where they got held scoreless.

 

Must be a bee with a massive dick then. Lockyer? Puhlease. He was a turnstyle in defense and had nothing in attack but flatballs. Joey revolutionised parts of the game and carried many bog-standard Knights squad well past where they should have gone. Lockyer spent years with an international club roster, and were it not for a Brett Hodgson pass, his Origin career would have been over in 2006 never to be heard from again.

Smith and Thurston are significantly better than Lockyer.

 

But none of the above are discussed in goat threads. Some perspective is all I ask.

 

Unlike most players Smith has never had to play in a bad team.

 

Lockyer never played in a bad team

 

Any of our resident cousin kissers wish to field this one?

 

Mill Reef and Nijinsky are better than Thurston and Lockyer

 

LaVar Ball is the GOAT