It was mentioned earlier in the thread but the whole 'Clyde injured, no club games etc' argument is moot when you consider at the end of 2004 everyone pretty much said Manly were wasting their money on Kennedy because he's never fit.
You can't have it both ways.
There is no doubt Kennedy has been a force this and last year but for mine he's always been a potentially great player who for the most part was very good.
you also have to realise that any comparisons made today weigh heavily in favour of the current player esp in this day and age of access to footage etc. The youngsters (and I'm not exactly old myself) will wrap a player as the best ever with one season, in the olden days you needed to string a few years together of top quality to get a mention as a best ever in a paper or a pub/at the game (the old pre-net place for talking league).
I was fortunate enough to grow up watching Clyde play in the great Canberra team and even though I don't regard him as the best player I've ever seen (although he is mighty close) he was the so far and away the best backrower I've seen play the game. Statistics these days aren't an exact science so don't lend yourself into thinking they define how good a player is - a work rate is vital to any backrower but so is the timing of that work - stats don't tell you that part of the story. A hitup on the 2nd tackle 1m out from your line that gets your team to the 10m line is far more valuable to a side than a 15-20m run from halfway into the opposition half on the back of a couple of good rucks.
Clyde was simply an athlete and don't forget he did his knee twice in 1990 and came back and was a monster in 1991. He was hurt again in 1996 seriously but his three outstanding seasons were 1989, 1990 and 1991 and he was just awesome almost every other year bar 1997 when he seemed a bit overweight and struggling for his role in Mal Meninga's team - was a he a prop was he a lock etc.
The game missed out on his final years because he went to England for 2001 and really he would've been awesome again with the way the game was played from 2001-2003. When rumours surfaced that he might play a club game for Canterbury in early 2005 I almost bought a dogs season ticket - he was that kind of player.
But for the stat junkies here's some food for thought with Bradley Clyde in the three Canberra Grand Finals he played in - the first 2 under the 5m rule.
1989 v Balmain
100mins, 34 of 37 tackles completed, 32 runs for 239 metres gained and 3 offloads.
1991 v Penrith
74mins, 23 of 26 tackles completed, 1 Primary Assist, 1 Line Break, 20 runs (incl 4 dummy half runs) for 158 metres gained, 1 error, 2 offloads.
1994 v Canterbury
80mins, 20 of 20 tackles completed, 18 runs for 145 metres gained and 1 offload.
And if you want consistency this was his tackle/runs/metres count for the entire 1989 Finals Series.
Minor Prelim Semi v Cronulla
27 tackles, 19 runs for 154 metres gained
Minor Semi v Penrith
27 tackles, 19 runs for 162 metres gained
Preliminary Final v Souths
21 tackles, 22 runs and 176 metres gained
Grand Final v Balmain
34 tackles, 32 runs and 239 metres gained...
do the math that is 27 tackles, 23 runs and 183 metres gained per game in the games that truly matter.
But they are stats... so.
