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Ranking the wingers

cleary89

Coach
Messages
16,512
Shocked to see non dragons fans agreeing with Morris. Sure, he isn't crazy good like RTS could be, but he does everything you ask of a winger.

Probably the best at club level atm with the jury still out on whether RTS (def top 5, a good season and could take the top ranking).
 

brock0brien

Juniors
Messages
67
I f*cking hate the off-season and am already bored following the conclusion of the RLWC, so following on from the "Ranking the fullbacks" thread i thought i'd give my two cents about the best wingers in the comp.

1. Brett Morris (dragons)
2. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (roosters)
3. Jorge Taufua (sea eagles)
4. Akuila Uate (knights)
5. James McManus (knights)
6. Daniel Tupou (roosters)
7. Kevin Gordon (titans)
8. Jason Nightingale (dragons)
9. Nathan Merritt (rabbitohs)
10. David Williams (sea eagles)
11. Manu Vatuvei (warriors)
12. David Mead (titans)

Being a Titans fan, I think David Mead is better than Kevin Gordon to be honest.
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
26,374
Merritt sadly is well out of the top 10 these days.

Nofoaluma will easily be in the top 10 in 2014.
 

Springs

First Grade
Messages
5,682
In my opinion:
1. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
2. William Hopoate
3. Jorge Taufua
4. Akuila Uate
5. James McManus
6. Jason Nightingale
7. Brett Morris
8. Daniel Tupou
9. David Williams
10. Sam Perrett
11. Nathan Merritt
12. Antonio Winterstein
13. David Simmons
14. Josh Hoffman
15. Manu Vatuvei
16. David Nofoaluma
17. Kevin Naiqama
18. Beau Ryan
19. Justin O’Neill
20. Corey Oates
21. David Mead
22. Kevin Gordon
23. Sisa Waqa
24. Tim Simona
25. Dylan Farrell
26. Mahe Fonua
27. Marika Koroibete
28. Wayne Ulugia
29. Josh Mansour
30. Reece Robinson
31. Mitch Brown
32. Gerard Beale
33. Justin Hunt
34. Ken Sio
35. Edrick Lee
36. Sosaia Feki
37. Travis Robinson
38. Jordan Rapana
39. Matt Duffie
40. Anthony Don
41. Semi Radradra
42. Glen Fisiiahi
43. Kalifa Fai Fai Loa
44. Nathan Stapleton
45. Matt Utai
46. Jordan Kahu
47. Lachlan Maranta
 

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,170
Call me biased if you like, but there arent many wingers in the game id trade Edrick Lee for.
I mean Simmons and James McManus are getting some love here, and rightly so, both really, really good wingers, but i would take Edrick Lee over both of them without even thinking.

To me there is like 3-4 top guys (Taufua, Morris, Uate for example) and the Edrick Lee is as good as any of the rest. It's a cluttered group beyond those guys and you can make a case for a lot of guys to be top 10.
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
Call me biased if you like, but there arent many wingers in the game id trade Edrick Lee for.
I mean Simmons and James McManus are getting some love here, and rightly so, both really, really good wingers, but i would take Edrick Lee over both of them without even thinking.

To me there is like 3-4 top guys (Taufua, Morris, Uate for example) and the Edrick Lee is as good as any of the rest. It's a cluttered group beyond those guys and you can make a case for a lot of guys to be top 10.
With an eye for the future, no doubt. At present though he still has a lot to learn as one would expect for a young kid.

It seems to me as though white dudes get underrated as wingers. Either because they're not flashy enough or don't weigh 105kg.

At present I'd rate Morris, Nightingale and McManus in the top 6-7 wingers in the game easily. At least until those crazy good black fellas like Tupou, Nofo and Lee overtake them!
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
Wolfman has also blown so many easy tries just due to having a wimpy little 12 year old's physique and being tossed over the sideline like a piece of garbage after being set up for a gimme by Lyon. He's blundered more tries than he's scored. Who knows how dominant eagles could have been in recent years if they had a competent winger.

I remember one game last season against souths he blew 4 tries in the first half, deadset blundered them where a decent player would have definitely scored. Souths went on to win by a narrow margin, and were the better team in a lot of ways, but still if wolfman was even vaguely NRL standard the Eagles would have won by 24 + points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAY6wjG7DzQ

Alas he made your hero look rather stupid when it mattered most.
 

Raider_69

Post Whore
Messages
61,170
With an eye for the future, no doubt. At present though he still has a lot to learn as one would expect for a young kid.

It seems to me as though white dudes get underrated as wingers. Either because they're not flashy enough or don't weigh 105kg.

At present I'd rate Morris, Nightingale and McManus in the top 6-7 wingers in the game easily. At least until those crazy good black fellas like Tupou, Nofo and Lee overtake them!

Absolutely. Morris is an absolute star, McManus and Nightingale are maybe as solid a footballers as you'll find and by solid i mean i dont think either of them are Morris or Uate talented enough to pull out 9/10 games. But every week they give you a good 7.5-8/10... they are guns and teams wouldnt trade them for D. Tupou or Edrick Lee, and fair enough, you can make that case but i think you could make a case to say the roosters with Tupou and the Raiders with Edrick Lee are sitting on two of the most potent wingers in the comp aswell.

Essentially i just think you have the very top 3-4 guys, and you have literally 20 guys in the next bracket who you could rank #5 or #20 depending on what you value at the position.

If it's size and athleticism and game breaking X factor ability, IMO Danial Topou and Edrick Lee is right there in the top 10... if it's shut down defense and metres out of hooker, you end up with McManus. If it's all around good play at every point but you dont need the absolute blow them away x-factor, you can take Nightingale at #5. If it's speed and pure finishing, it's Merritt and David Williams.
You got the two kids from the tigers aswell who are incredible at what they do, and i dont recon the tigers would take many over them either.


(FWIW i have not included RTS in this, he's a fullback, has always been a fullback and im assuming this year will be a fullback, and a very good one at that, i recently remarked in another forum that he'd be the Kiwi fullback over Locke for next years ANZAC test)
 
Last edited:

Porkie

Juniors
Messages
152

What's so funny ? You obviously don't watch much football.

Mansour had an injury interrupted year last year, but when he's fit, no one returns the ball stronger or busts tackles like him. He will play for NSW either this year or next...and we'll see who's laughing then.

Tip : watch some footy.
 

firechild

First Grade
Messages
8,097
What's so funny ? You obviously don't watch much football.

Mansour had an injury interrupted year last year, but when he's fit, no one returns the ball stronger or busts tackles like him. He will play for NSW either this year or next...and we'll see who's laughing then.

Tip : watch some footy.

I'd take Taufua's kick returns over pretty much any winger in the comp. It's also a part of Uate's game that gave him a reputation as one of the best wingers in the game in 2011-12. You'll probably be able to throw Hopoate in that group once he returns (provided he plays on the wing which there is a good chance he won't).
 

Red Bear

Referee
Messages
20,882
Winger is a weird position. I think the big try scorers tend to be a tad over rated, usually just the benefit of a strong backline (although still takes talent to finish off movements etc, still of value). I think the solid wingers who make very few mistakes are a little under rated, it's still vital to have a player out there with good positional awareness.

But then alot of rep wingers tend to be centres/fullbacks played out of position anyway (apart from Morris), which probably says something about the position.

FWIW I think RTS was far better at wing than fullback this season, Minichiello's absence was noticeable. RTS doesn't quite have the same defensive awareness and running game just yet (although he might just break out big time if played there this season).
 
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