Andrew Johns-Greatest Ever?

[Holla]

I've been a spectator of league for 50 years. Read a lot of the history of different so called greats and that is what they are "Greats".
But, the "Greatest" is Andrew JOHNS.
His greatness being that he was a master of ALL facets of the game, not just a master of defence or attack.
He could & did it all for most of his 15 years in the game.
Someday someone might come along and be classed as a better player, but that wouldn't have happened if Andrew JOHNS hadn't laid out the groundwork on how to achieve that goal.
Polls are not the way to determine a persons worth. That is all in the mind of each and every fan of the game.
In my mind Andrew Johns is the greatest player to have played the game.

 

[Ant]

Certainly the greatest i've ever seen. i thought he finally silenced his critics in '05.

i like to subscribe to meltiger's theory - you can't compare players of different eras. johns has been the greatest of his era. i voted yes on the poll merely because he's the best i've seen.

Yeah I'd agree with Meltiger too, its very hard to compare eras, particularly as the game is very different. 5m rule, unlimited tackles etc, that is very different to the modern game. And people have talked about proffessionalism too.

I don't think you can use professionalism as a reason why the others could have been better than joey, if they had the same resources. Because all of joey's opponents had those resources, no opponent of clive churchill spent 3 hours dissecting him on video.

You can just look at what they did in their era. You can also look at all the aspects of a good player and for mine Johns had it all and deserves to be ranked with the greatest. Like I said I think the only thing Johns lacked was great speed, but he still make breaks and his running game was always a threat. He was the complete package and his defence puts him above the other halfbacks I've seen. Oh and to top it off he kicks goals and has scored more points than any other player. He was just the complete package, and yes he had the odd bad game, but so did every other player mentioned on that list. But overall his performances were awesome.

 

[The Engineers Room]

He's not even the best halfback. If Johns gets to be an immortal before Peter Sterling then that will do me.

 

[simon says]

He's not even the best halfback. If Johns gets to be an immortal before Peter Sterling then that will do me.

Sterlo was the best half Ive seen until Johnsy.......

Sterlo was the equal of Johnsy in his attacking and kicking game

But Johns' defense,and tackle busting ablility close to the line lands the killer blow IMO.

 

[meltiger]

Oh there are so many variables you can throw in mate, not just profesionalism in training. I mean look at the quality of the pitches we play on these days, for the most part, they are significantly better than older eras. We all know rain and mud is a leveller, how much does that help the naturally gifted types.



For mine, I've seen 3 truly 'great' footballers in my time that stand above everyone else, Johns, Lewis and Mundine. All achieving obviously different levels of success (Choc wasted his talent). That doesn't mean they were any better than some of the players my old man likes to tell me about that he watched when he was younger - For example, all my life he's always been happy to wax on about Gasnier's sheer pace off the mark, how do you judge these guys up against each other unless they take the park together?

 

[meltiger]

He's not even the best halfback. If Johns gets to be an immortal before Peter Sterling then that will do me.

Looking at the last 30 or so posts in your history ... Parramatta supporter?

 

[simon says]

Mundine.....you have to be kidding me.

There arent enough laughter emoticons to describe my feelings,but Ill chuck in a few for good measure.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[marshall stalin]

It is hard to say as you can only surely compare Johns with modern day halfbacks (i.e 1980 onwards) as how could you compare him to other former halfbacks from the past or to other greats such as Arthur Beetson for example.

I didn't see Arthur Beetson play but have seen lots of video of him - there was no ball playing forward better than him and this isn't just my opinion.

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

For mine, I've seen 3 truly 'great' footballers in my time, Johns, Lewis and Mundine. All achieving obviously different levels of success. That doesn't mean they were any better than some of the players my old man likes to tell me about that he watched when he was younger -

Get in there Melti!!

Simpletons will always despise Mundine coz of his words, but indeed he was a great footballer with skills that were unfounded up til his time in the game. However on a consistency level I believe there a few fellas I'd place above him.

As a gamebreaker, he was one of the greatest.

To confirm my previous post, I believe Johns was the Greatest because he do everything in the game - and brilliantly. Attack, Defend, Short-kicks, Long Kicks, Goal Kicks. I cannot think of any other player who could do all of these with any quality that comes close to A Johns.

 

[marshall stalin]

Sterlo was the best half Ive seen until Johnsy.......

Sterlo was the equal of Johnsy in his attacking and kicking game

But Johns' defense,and tackle busting ablility close to the line lands the killer blow IMO.

you can compare these two and Johns would get my vote as being the better half from what i have seen of sterling on video and Johns live. the other point from those your mentioned in Johns favour is his goal kicking skills too.

 

[meltiger]

Mundine.....you have to be kidding me.

There arent enough laughter emoticons to describe my feelings,but Ill chuck in a few for good measure.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

lol

Let me guess, you're one of the smarties who sign up to watch Choc get beaten on Pay per View :thumn ... If Choc had kept his mouth shut and wasn't kept out of the Australian side by a racist, we may have seen his best...


Go back and watch the prelim of 1999 for what I'm talking about.


Besides which, I did say Choc wasted his talent.

 

[simon says]

When I think of Choc.......I think of him hogging it in the GF and losing it for Saints and against the Storm.

You can have all the skills in the world,but league is a team game and the best 13 usually win.

Not the flashiest one.

 

[The Preacher]

... If Choc had kept his mouth shut and wasn't kept out of the Australian side by a racist, we may have seen his best...

.

Melt, that is absolute, unadulterated bullsiht. he was NEVER kept out of the Aussie side because of his race. That is absolute DRIBBLE !!

You've gone this far, and sound so sure of your "facts", so, name the selector or selectors that were racist toward Choc !!! :?

 

[simon says]

To even mention Mundine in the same breath as Johns and Lewis is bizarre.

Credibilty zero after that one IMO.

 

[mongoose]

LOL @ people saying langer is the best ever. He got dropped from 2 consecutive kangaroo tours for Stuart to pick up the peices.

 

[meltiger]

Melt, that is absolute, unadulterated bullsiht. he was NEVER kept out of the Aussie side because of his race. That is absolute DRIBBLE !!

You've gone this far, and sound so sure of your "facts", so, name the selector or selectors that were racist toward Choc !!! :?

The one who used to throw schooner glasses at my old man in Carlton after he told the silly alcoholic he'd already had too many.

People can believe what they like about why Choc was never selected, I don't care lol

Personally, I'll listen to the opinions of someone who spent significant time around the silly old drunk.


*Edit I must add, I'm bordering on slander here, given it's abundantly clear who I am talking about. I don't expect my post will last too long lol

 

[meltiger]

To even mention Mundine in the same breath as Johns and Lewis is bizarre.

Credibilty zero after that one IMO.

Rubbish.

Mundine had as much natural ability as those two, he just wasted it. You can selectively read whatever you like into what I said, I don't know how many times I have to say Choc wasted his talent though before the light goes on.

& yes, Choc should have thrown the pass in the Grand Final. Would they have been playing in a GF if it wasn't for him though? It may be a team game, but you tell me how many of the other 16 players in the St George team in that Prelim were the reason Saints knocked off Cronulla...

 

[Noa]

I wouldnt go as far to say he wasted his abilty Meltiger (but i do agree about his talent, top 3 in my time easily).

If your just refering to the years afer he left then yes, but I think he got the most out of his ability while he was playing and was only 26 when he left.

 

[Shorty]

It's incrediably insulting to put Mundine in the same boat as Johns or Lewis.

 

[meltiger]

If your just refering to the years afer he left then yes, but I think he got the most out of his ability while he was playing and was only 26 when he left.

Mostly referring to him walking away, although I actually don't blame him when even your own clubs fans want you to leave for a bloke who only ever had half the talent he had.


However, how many Origins/Tests did he play? There was so much more he could have achieved in his time in the game than he did, and I for one am sorry we never did get to see him on those bigger stages, for whatver reason that may have been ;-)