Geoff Toovey's standing in the game?

[DeeGan]

Because Johns was good enough to play hooker for Australia. Toovey wasn't; Langer wasn't; Sterling wasn't; Stuart wasn't; Smith wasn't. That's a plus that he can play outside his main position, not a negative.

Wow - didn't expect a Knights fan to get so defensive :roll:

 

[NK Arsenal]

I remember an SOO match (could of been 98 or 99?) when I was a kid and Johns was actually named on the bench and Kimmorely was the halfback and Toovey was the hooker..

 

[Razor]

I remember an SOO match (could of been 98 or 99?) when I was a kid and Johns was actually named on the bench and Kimmorely was the halfback and Toovey was the hooker..

Origin 2 & 3. He missed Origin 1 because of injury.

 

[Razor]

Wow - didn't expect a Knights fan to get so defensive :roll:

The thing that amazes me is that all these QLDers wanted Langer as the best halfback of all-time.

He'll be well down the list. Billy Smith would be 2nd, Stuart 3rd, Sterling 4th, etc.

They keep using the "Johns was picked at hooker" reason. Plenty of times Stuart was picked at halfback (the vast majority of the time when Stuart was fit), and those times Langer wasn't picked out of his club position, he wasn't picked in the team at all.

 

[icewind]

yes because langer only had to displace one Steve Walters. Or Benny Elias if walters wasn't available. I assure you, Johns would not have been picked above these players at hooker either.

 

[NK Arsenal]

Origin 2 & 3. He missed Origin 1 because of injury.

He = Toovey, Johns or Kimmorely? :?

 

[perverse]

I remember an SOO match (could of been 98 or 99?) when I was a kid and Johns was actually named on the bench and Kimmorely was the halfback and Toovey was the hooker..

yeah, johns played in the #14... and if you watch the matches over again you'll find he dominated from there too. in fact before '05 i thought johns coming from the bench in that series was one of his best at origin level. every time he was on the field - NSW were killing it.

but basically what everyone else has said is true - johns could play hooker very well because of his defensive game, and at the time there were other in forms halves too... so the selectors opted for the best of both worlds. kimmorley was red hot at the time and the flat style of footy he likes to play was very effective at that stage too.

 

[Razor]

He = Toovey, Johns or Kimmorely? :?

Johns

 

[bluesbreaker]

No, 96 and 97 saw Toovey (for the majority) play half and Johns hooker at Origin level.

I am sure this was replicated for Australia.

You're wrong. Johns didn't play hooker, he just packed into the scrum on account of Toovey's bad neck. Toovey still played dummy half, Joey still played first reciever. See game 1 96 SOO for reference. It was different for Kimmorley, because he's a sh*t merkin.

 

[DeeGan]

You're wrong. Johns didn't play hooker, he just packed into the scrum on account of Toovey's bad neck. Toovey still played dummy half, Joey still played first reciever. See game 1 96 SOO for reference. It was different for Kimmorley, because he's a sh*t merkin.

Ahh .. ok. I will stand corrected there then.

For the majority, a good discussion here. I think Geoff Toovey is a forgotten man when looking back on the history of the game which is why the thread was created.

Toovey's resume compares favourably with some of the best the game has seen.