Best Kick returner(s) in the NRL

[WarriorDefence]

Vatuvei is the most entertaining- inglis the best

 

[adamkungl]

K-hunt back in the day

 

[RABK]

K-hunt was great to watch, wherever he caught the ball he'd just beeline at 30 miles an hours towards the nearest kickchaser. I remember him doing this even as a 17 year old back in 2004. Tough bastard he was.

 

[RWB]

Gonna say Slater for a few reasons.

1. I wouldn't call his returns 'kamikaze' but he picks a part of the defensive line where a defender is a bit lazy getting into line and absolutely charges at the line making the most metres he can on every return.

2. He's very agile and quick across the field without ball in hand. This is probably my main (very minor) criticism of Ingis is that he can be a bit sluggish getting to the ball and turning around. Slater's agility and urgency to get to the ball is second to none, whether it's on the full or picking it up off the ground.

3. All kick returns are more often than not followed by a dummy half scoot. The key to a good dummy half scoot is a quick play the ball, Slater fights tooth and nail to get a quick play the ball every time.

4. He is not afraid to draw and pass to put his winger away or into more space to make extra metres. Has the ability and is always willing to take the hit.

5. His positioning is near perfect, such an undervalued role of the fullback. Players like Hayne & Barba still struggle with this and get caught out quite often. The amount of times halfbacks find him on the full is amazing. Fullbacks who are getting to the ball as quick as possible are always going to be in a better position to make strong kick returns.

 

[God-King Dean]

Hayne's makes me laugh the hardest. Does that count?

 

[firechild]

Inglis, Uate, Taufua.

 

[dangerousdave]

Darius Boyd
Inglis
Barba
Morris twins
Uate
M Gordon

Add Hoffman and obviously Slater then remove J morris. Thatd be pretty close to my list

 

[Sphagnum]

Luke Philips pioneered the Kamikaze run. He was brilliant to watch from kick returns. He was only 4 foot tall but he'd just grab the ball and run dead straight at 100 miles an hour.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Adam MacDougall before he shifted to the centres and learned how to crab. Still remember a game from a "few years ago" against Parramatta (may have been 2002...) when he was at the height of his powers- the only way he could be stopped on kick returns was by Jason Smith and Daniel Wagon coathangering him.

Both ended up getting suspended for several matches after high tackles in the game.

I'm pretty sure it was in 2000. He was moved to fullback for a while and was unstoppable! Regularly he was beating 3 and 4 players whenever he brought the ball back. Greg Inglis in 2012 was the closest I've seen to the way Macdougall played during that period. For the record there was another game around the same time as the Parramatta game (forget against who) where he kept copping high shots. Such was his form, the players preferred to try and injure him and give away a penalty, rather than to let him constantly creating havoc.

 

[Sphagnum]

I'm pretty sure it was in 2000. He was moved to fullback for a while and was unstoppable! Regularly he was beating 3 and 4 players whenever he brought the ball back. Greg Inglis in 2012 was the closest I've seen to the way Macdougall played during that period. For the record there was another game around the same time as the Parramatta game (forget against who) where he kept copping high shots. Such was his form, the players preferred to try and injure him and give away a penalty, rather than to let him constantly creating havoc.

Its amazing what the roids can do...

 

[tangalife]

Jerome Ropati did the kamikaze when he was at fullback for a few games. Did it every kick return, enough to question his natural position as a centre.

Also Vatuvei, in the early days, was always good to see with 10m+ open space in front of him

Wade McKinnon in his hay day.

 

[Dragonwest]

I'd have Inglis from the kick return with B Morris jumping into Dumby half for the second play ...... deadly

 

[madunit]

Moltzen is so good, the NRL forced him to never do a kick return as the tigers would be at such a massive advantage, that there would be allegations of cheating that would dwarf those directed at the Storm for cheating the cap, east germany & lance armstrong combined & multipled by approximately 9.74

 

[ns7]

Matt Utai 2002-2005. Unstoppable

 

[firechild]

Moltzen is so good, the NRL forced him to never do a kick return as the tigers would be at such a massive advantage, that there would be allegations of cheating that would dwarf those directed at the Storm for cheating the cap, east germany & lance armstrong combined & multipled by approximately 9.74

I can see how that could be true. He was enthusiastically waving his wingers in to take hitups on Thursday night so that he didn't have to embarrass the Manly kick chasers. In fact I think at one point he picked up the ball and ran towards his winger rather than run in the direction of the tryline.

 

[God-King Dean]

Tried the Martin Lang kick-return last night at training.

May, or may not have been smashed....

 

[Frailty]

I'm loving Mick Gordon's kick returns for the Sharks this year, but bias aside...

GI, and Barba for two different reasons. GI has the size and the pure metres that he eats on each kick return. Barba has the x factor that can hit at any time. He isn't nearly as consistent in gaining good metres on returns, but he is always bound to make something happen from nothing at least once a game for the Doggies.

 

[God-King Dean]

I wonder how much Gordon lifts in the weights room.

He doesn't seem to do anything particularly special, but breaks so many tackles.