Id' certainly have Thurston and Marshall with Langer and Stuart. And Lockyer would be 5/8.
I think in this debate three things are being missed:
- We are judging both groups differently. Example - Prince is playing like a busted at the moment. He will be looked through rose coloured glasses in the future - as he should. As will Kimmorley.
- The 1991 list contained players who hadn't played rep football yet. Who knows what the current crop will have achieved by 2021?
- I haven't said the current crop is better!
What about 2001 - Langer, Stuart, Daley, Lyons, Toovey, Fittler, Kimmorley, Barrett, Hill, Lam, Gower, Ikin, Florimo, and a young rising superstar called Brett Finch.......um I mean Andrew Johns...............
On 1991 form Stuart, Daley and Alexander would. Arguably, the entire QLD spine of 1991 would be replaced by Slater, Heather, Thurston and Smith.
The game has changed so much. Now all halves can throw a spiral 2 man cutout pass left or right - something only Stuart could do in 91.
Toovey,Lyons,Florimo,Simon are all better then the NSW halves and nearly every half at the start of the 1992 was better then Wallace.
Lewis would of played for sure past it or not since 91 was his last series. But i am not arguing about spine's, the hooker position is very different now then it was then.
Fullbacks these days are far superior to those of 20 years ago you will get no argument from me.
It isn't really rose tinted glasses i remember these players being superior to all but the Queensland halves and Marshall.
from about 1983-2005 We had a huge number of brilliant and wonderful halves in the game.
At the moment there are 4 great halves in the NRL
Marshall
Cronk
Lockyer
Thurston
This is basically it. None of the NSW halves are great the likes of Campese and Carney have potential but they haven't proven themselves to be great for any substantial period.
It is a huge problem for the game whilst Fullbacks are better. With the exception of Smith who is unbelievable, are hookers all that much better now ? You still had Elias and the Walters brothers and a few other decent ones.
Fullbacks are far better these days there is no argument.
Halves are far far worse they are less creative in my opinion. Halfback stocks are really low at the moment that is why the likes of Prince and Orford are still able to play first grade.
This is the major difference you could argue the same about Sterling and Kenny but Parramatta were on the slide since 1986. Lewis joined the Gold Coast who were even worse then what Cronulla are.
Prince is the key man for the team which finished 3rd last season. Orford was able to become starting halfback for one of the premiership favourites this year.
It would be very different if Orford was say Souths Halfback and Prince Cronulla half back.
I think the standard of Rugby League has dropped you go back to 2001-2005 period and think of all the classic club matches there were. How many great games have we seen this year ? maybe Parramatta vs St George has been the best all season.
The standard of play and creativity is at a huge low point in my opinion. It might of been worse before i was watching but the standards are lower in terms of creativity and general excitement then at any point of the past 25 years.
This is due to the lack of quality halves. If we could somehow transport the standard of halves 10-20 years ago to the current game the product would be far more exciting.
The game has changed but not for the better in my opinion. For the game to thrive at least 90% of teams should have a quality half.
