Cameron Smith - greatest NRL era player?

[hineyrulz]

Hate the bloke with a passion, but he is so darn good. He will go down as the best player of his generation, he has it all, toughness,leadership, smarts add in his goal kicking and kicking from dummy half and he has it all. Makes Plodders look like world beaters in the same way Joey did and you cant help respect him. Did i say i hate the bloke with a passion????

 

[Shorty]

Cameron Smith


The greatest NRL era player ever?


Sure we hate him, Queenslander - wrestling expert - best ref since Bill Harrigan - salary cap avoidance skills - plays for Melbourne

But

Played well over 300 games for one club so loyal, plays 80 mins nearly every game even at his age, Australian/ Queensland / Melbourne captain, kicked close to 900 goals

Is it about time we stopped hating him and recognised his contribution to our game?

Come on you can't really say "one club so loyal" because he and the rest of the "big 3" cheated the cap.

So I look at him the same as all the other players who are great but have off field personality issues.

 

[Slammin_Saint89]

A player that Karma owes a career ending injury to.....but

The best hooker I've seen, always a step ahead of the rest. Controls the ruck like no other. Plays the refs every week. Hollywood would have sin binned that out of him, but as mentioned, different era now.

Easily the most valuable contributor in the illegally assembled team.

 

[Dave_]

Champion player...yet a dirty grub.

It's how he'll always be remembered. End of.

 

[kal83]

Not my favourite player but sometimes you just have to admire how clinical he is. He and cronk just picked the broncos apart last night once they had them on the back foot - smith,thurston and inglis will be immortals from this era.

 

[Bronco18]

Not my favourite player but sometimes you just have to admire how clinical he is. He and cronk just picked the broncos apart last night once they had them on the back foot - smith,thurston and inglis will be immortals from this era.

Thurston and Smith are good chances... Inglis should be no chance.

 

[Front-Rower]

Cronk is better. Smith is good and best dummy half running around at the moment though I'd rather have Cronk in my team if I had to choose one.

 

[T-Boon]

I find him clinical and boring and I always wonder how he would go without the other stars around him and the structure they have in place. Even Cheyse Blair plays well in Melbourne. I hate him.

 

[TheFrog]

Not my favourite player but sometimes you just have to admire how clinical he is. He and cronk just picked the broncos apart last night once they had them on the back foot - smith,thurston and inglis will be immortals from this era.

The whole immortals thing should be confined to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

 

[T-Boon]

The whole immortals thing should be confined to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

It should certainly be replaced with something News Limited has nothing to do with.

 

[Cranky]

Not my favourite player but sometimes you just have to admire how clinical he is. He and cronk just picked the broncos apart last night once they had them on the back foot - smith,thurston and inglis will be immortals from this era.

Slater before Inglis.

 

[Stagger Lee]

Thurston is better

If he could tackle in the front line for 80 he would be

Agree with Popeye

For Smith to be so influential for 80 minutes after being in the front line tackling monsters is awesome. No last few minutes of the game making half arsed tackles or sloppy passes or missing an attacking opportunity through tiredness. He gets the job done through the whole game.

 

[thorson1987]

The whole immortals thing should be confined to the dustbin of history where it belongs.

Yep.

We have a f**king hall of fame.

More emphasis needs to be placed on it.

 

[Slammin_Saint89]

Slater before Inglis.

Neither of them should get it. Slater arguably isn't even the best fullback of his generation let alone the blokes who are miles ahead of him from bygone eras. Inglis way too lazy. When he's motivated, he's on, the other 80% of the time he bludges.

Could only talk about Smith and Thurston from this era, even though the whole process/ selection is bullshit.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

Hall of Fame is for players that have gone above and beyond in their positions and/ or for their clubs. Immortals have done that and redefined the position they play in...
Smith, Cronk, Thurston AND Slater have done all that in the NRL era

 

[kbw]

Neither of them should get it. Slater arguably isn't even the best fullback of his generation let alone the blokes who are miles ahead of him from bygone eras. Inglis way too lazy. When he's motivated, he's on, the other 80% of the time he bludges.

Could only talk about Smith and Thurston from this era, even though the whole process/ selection is bullshit.

Actually I think Slater is the fullback of the generation. While immortal is stretching it, his impact is huge. For years he has been the backs coach at Melb and without him on the field and off Melb would be struggling

 

[lafai]

This isn't Thurston.

 

[The Beaver]

Hall of Fame is for players that have gone above and beyond in their positions and/ or for their clubs. Immortals have done that and redefined the position they play in...
Smith, Cronk, Thurston AND Slater have done all that in the NRL era

How have any of those guys redifined the position they play in?

Lockyer redifined the fullback role, turning it into a second 5/8 so to speak. Slater's ball playing skills aren't/weren't in the same ballpark as Lockyer's. Slater is very quick and elusive (traits that have existed in fullbacks for years) but his ball playing has never been brilliant, and his kicking game is non-existent. Top player for sure. Redefined fullback? No way.

Cronk, Thurston, great players. But what have they brought to the Halfback position that wasn't already there? Competitiveness on Thurston's part I guess.

Smith's a genius, but again, outside of his gamesmanship, how has he redefined the 9 position? I don't count wrestling, whinging and smugness as positives. He's the only one in your list I'd make an Immortal, even though the concept is silly.

I'm not criticising your choice of future immortals, but you're criteria is very questionable.

 

[sensesmaybenumbed]

Cronk is better. Smith is good and best dummy half running around at the moment though I'd rather have Cronk in my team if I had to choose one.

Cronk feeds off the go forward and direction of Smith.

The durability of Smith is also remarkable. He's one of the best you'll see, even if there will always be a * next to his achievements.

 

[POPEYE]

How have any of those guys redifined the position they play in?

Lockyer redifined the fullback role, turning it into a second 5/8 so to speak. Slater's ball playing skills aren't/weren't in the same ballpark as Lockyer's. Slater is very quick and elusive (traits that have existed in fullbacks for years) but his ball playing has never been brilliant, and his kicking game is non-existent. Top player for sure. Redefined fullback? No way.

Cronk, Thurston, great players. But what have they brought to the Halfback position that wasn't already there? Competitiveness on Thurston's part I guess.

Smith's a genius, but again, outside of his gamesmanship, how has he redefined the 9 position? I don't count wrestling, whinging and smugness as positives. He's the only one in your list I'd make an Immortal, even though the concept is silly.

I'm not criticising your choice of future immortals, but you're criteria is very questionable.

The only player that has redefined his position is Slater, he instituted a Fullback's priority as calling defensive plays, he didn't need to add it to his resume to still be the best Fullback of all time but it makes it unquestionable

Smith and Thurston are the best of their position I've seen in 50+ years of unbiased scrutiny and Cronk/Thurston the best halves combination

Still, most people with half a f**king brain would realise that the use of 'redefine' in this instance is really only pertaining to excellence