Who are the halfbacks??
Dragons (Hornby)- As solid as they come...Those who bag him should look again. When Soward melts, Hornby's the bloke who steps up....Professional.
Roosters (Pearce)- A great player already, and will get better. Solid in defence, a great passing and kicking game. Needs to work on his running a little, but that'll come with confidence.
Tigers (Lui/Moltzen)- Lui thus far has been eratic, however his form in the finals series last year probably saves him from discussion as the worst halfback. He has talent, just yet to harness it consistently....A little like Chris Sandow actually. Moltzen's a great talent. Could be more a 5/8 than a halfback, but when you've got Benji there, you make way....He could be the challenge to the roosters halves for an origin spot in years to come.
Titans (Prince)- Class act. He's come along in later years. His attacking weapons are known, and he's smart enough to organise the defence, rather than to try to do all the tackling himself. In most other eras, would have played far more rep footy.
Raiders (Orford/McRone)- Orford is maligned unfairly because he's paid superstar money, when he's not a superstar per se....He's a step below that...but lack of better halves depth, and a tendency to switch clubs puts him in demand for big bucks. That said, he's Gen Y's Craig Coleman, or Gary Freeman......A very good half. Mcrone is a talented new half, who improved outta sight last season. He's still currently behind the pace a little, and is probably going to be the weakest of all halves mentioned at this point, but he will turn into a quality first grader at the right club.
Panthers (Luke Walsh)- Walsh was plucked from park footy last year to lead Penrith to various point scoring records and achievements. It should be noted that he did so without a dominant 5/8 (although concessions are made for Lewis and Coote). He had a fairytale season last year, however opposition coaches would have had the opportunity of studying him this year.......Make or break year in my book.
Warriors (Seymour)- I don't know what to make of this bloke. Can be brilliant, can be solid, can be diabolical. He's probably a step above the bottom feeders, though not by much........This year will be telling......
Manly (Cherry-Evans)- Haven't seen him.....surely this puts him at the bottom prior to a ball being kicked.
Souths (Sandow)- He's maligned for all the reasons that you love players in your own team....He's grubby, he's tenacious, he's cocky. I made the point earlier that his defensive stats are misleading. Look at the line breaks that he gives away....His greatest weakness in my view is his brain explosion tendency under pressure. I think Sandow will come very good, much like Kimmorley did. I think he's above half of the field.
Brisbane (Wallace)- in a word OVERRATED. Without D. Lockyer this bloke struggles. Is he the worst half though.....umm, no I don't think so. He has skills. they just aren't as good as his resume suggests.
Newcastle (Henry/Gidley/Mullen)- Beau Henry is the latest "next big thing". I keep wondering though, with Hornby in the twilight of his career, why didn't St George do more to keep him??? If I were Rick Stone, I'd have Gidley at half, and move Naqama to fullback, at least in attack. Gidley is the calm influence needed to get the best out of Mullen, who's always been a 5/8. Mullen is still an opion at half so I've included him. More erratic than perhaps anyone on this list, including Seymour. And unlike Sandow, he will give up a line break or 3. I'm surprised his name didn't come up more often in discussion.
Parramatta (Mortimer/Robson)- The 1,2 combination for mine...I've yet to see anything out of young Daniel that suggests he's going to be a star, and as oppositions have worked him out, so too they have worked out Parramatta. Robson is a battler, plain and simple. He's paid according to his talent, and so noone thinks about him. But he's in the bottom three with his team mate.
Canterbury (Hodkinson/KKeating)- Hodkinson, like Smith, Sandow, Mullen etc etc before him, had a great first season. However towards the end, he became guilty of disappearing in and out of games.....He's a strong organiser, but then again, so was Matthew Head and Joe Williams.......make or break year......above the bottom 3, only just. Kris Keating in my view is overrated, and not far above the bottom 3. I think he has speed, and can out manouvere ordinary players, but dogs fans, I'm sorry to say, I don't like what I see from him at all......I could be proven wrong though.....
Cronulla (Smith)- Very good one day, diabolical the next. He'll never fulfil the promise he had as a rookie sadly, and much of that has to do with his temperament.....He just can't get his head right. When pressure is applied, he crumbles. He's not like Sandow, who continues to try, but rather, he just disappears. He's in the bottom 3.
Nth Qld- (Thurston)- The best halfback in the game in my opinion. Has absolutely everything in his arsenal. Can beat you organising, or through a sheer peice of individual brilliance. His defence for a half is as good as it gets. Inspirational on the paddock.......Lets face it, he hasn't really been fit for 3 years. Had he been, the cowboys could have been a far different proposition.
Melbourne (Cronk)- A better organiser than Thurston and Prince (although he gets to work with the best dummy half in the game, and that helps), but not as good individually. Still deserving of his place in the top 3 or 4 halves in the world.
So, on that basis, this is how I have it;
1) Thurston
2) Prince
3) Cronk
4) Pearce
5) Orford
6) Hornby
7) Gidley
8) Walsh
9) Moltzen
10) Sandow
11) Lui
12) Wallace
13) Mullen
14) Hodkinson
15) Seymour
16) McRone
17) Keating.
18) Smith
19) Robson
20) Mortimer
n/a) Cherry Evans
n/a2) Henry.
