Lockyer, JT and Cronk are on a whole other level to 06-07 Gower & Orford though.
I wouldn't say the NSW forwards or backs have out-performed Queensland since consistently since 2009 either.
Indeed. If that were the case, the halves would be irrelevant. The forwards would be laying an attacking platform, and the backs would be finishing it off. Instead, NSW is 0 from 4 attempts in that time frame.
Not to say Queensland haven't picked some hopeless cases (Thaiday, PJ Marsh's one-off return) but the results very much attest to Queensland just being better across the park, year in year out.
I think the dearth of genuine talent in halves these days can be attributed to two things; a focus on "athletes" over footballers, and a risk-averse style of play from most teams and coaches. At the development level, few players who would be able to develop into the halves of yester-year even get a go because larger frames are preferred and chancing your hand isn't going to win too many points from your immediate coach or the NRL side your club is a feeder for. By the time you get to NRL level, players with flair and creativity have largely been trained or simply bashed out of the game.
There are exceptions (Thurston, DCE, etc) but they are getting fewer and further between. Even when you do see someone with promise make it to the NRL level they usually don't go on with it.
Watching old games makes it pretty clear we've almost lost the traditional five-eighth entirely, and signs indicate that the traditional halfback is also a dying breed. There will always be a need for 6s and 7s who can kick, but truly creative ones that we used to see are coming up less and less. That a player as hopeless as Pearce in that position is being rated so highly just about says it all. I think he'd be a pretty handy hooker (as would Wallace, really, who should have been moved a while ago), but he doesn't do that well as a half.
Of course, as the role changes him and Wallace are what we've mostly got to look forward to as new players come through.