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Greatest fullback of all time.

Who was the greatest full back of all time?


  • Total voters
    89

Hutty1986

Immortal
Messages
34,034
Inglis not as good as the likes of Slater, Lockyer, Mini, etc. I reckon people also forget a little bit how good Mini was in his prime, he was absolutely sensational. Just bounced off defenders at will, so reliable, fantastic at rep level.

Lockyer probably the best I've seen I think, though the amount of work Slater does off the ball is incredible.
 

Mogsheen Jadwat

Juniors
Messages
2,428
Inglis not as good as the likes of Slater, Lockyer, Mini, etc. I reckon people also forget a little bit how good Mini was in his prime, he was absolutely sensational. Just bounced off defenders at will, so reliable, fantastic at rep level.

Lockyer probably the best I've seen I think, though the amount of work Slater does off the ball is incredible.

Yeah for 2-3 years Mini was incredible, though his pinball style undoubtedly lead to the back issues he suffered later in his career.
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,960
Most here aren't old enough to remember Puig Aubert, but he is easily the best RL player I've ever seen and I only remember him after his days at Carcassonne towards the end of his career, I can only imagine how good he was at his peak.
 

DC_fan

Coach
Messages
11,980
Most here aren't old enough to remember Puig Aubert, but he is easily the best RL player I've ever seen and I only remember him after his days at Carcassonne towards the end of his career, I can only imagine how good he was at his peak.

He couldn't tackle to save himself or anyone else for that matter. Since defence is fifty percent of the game that should cancel him out of any discussion.
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
For what he could do during a half of football, Greg Inglis is the most explosive fullback ive seen. For what he could do over a 12 week period, Jarryd Hayne is the most devastating I've seen.

What Minchiello did for a 3-year period between 2003-2005, prior to his back injury, was the best I've seen over a sustained period.

But for what Billy Slater has done over his whole career I believe he's the best fullback of the modern era. I believe he's easily the best when factoring in all the key qualities - positional play, work rate, professionalism, defence (he's the best at holding players up by a mile), speed, acceleration, support play, ball playing out the back. He has it all does Billy the Kid.
 
Messages
4,370
He couldn't tackle to save himself or anyone else for that matter. Since defence is fifty percent of the game that should cancel him out of any discussion.
I'd never heard of the f**ker until this thread so I decided to read up on him.

Apparently if his team missed an easy tackle or he got fed up with them he'd just stop defending. What a lad.
 

TheDalek079

Bench
Messages
4,432
In the 40 odd years that preceded churchill only a handful of test tries were scored by a fullback, now days thanks to churchills revolution fullback is usually a teams most vital attacking weapon.

odd though, considering Clive never scored a test try :? :?
 

gUt

Coach
Messages
16,935
Bias prompts me to pick Locky but it has to be said Mini rose to be as least as good a fullback as Locky for a bit. Slater is in their class at their best, Hayne and Inglis are sort of freaks who can play anywhere.

Special mention to Matty Bowen too, a match winner at the back for years and years.
 

league

Juniors
Messages
1,643
Mini had a 3 or 4 year period where he was unbelievable. Very tough choice but he was probably the best I've seen in that period.
 

madunit

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
62,358
Like any of these 'greatest of all time' debates, you can't compare different players from different eras. You can only go by the impact each player has had. Although slater has been the best fullback of the last decade, he hasn't really done much different to the guy he took the mantle off, Minichiello. They play a completely similar style of game, slater probably took it to a new level but it wasn't anything revolutionary, and it looks like guys like tedesco will carry that on to the future . The thing in Inglis and Haynes favour is that they can both do things that only inglis and hayne can do, but they are still an evolution of the fullbacks that preceded them.
The thing that puts churchill over the line, is that before he came along fullback was purely a defensive position. In the 40 odd years that preceded churchill only a handful of test tries were scored by a fullback, now days thanks to churchills revolution fullback is usually a teams most vital attacking weapon. With his upbringing as a 5-8th churchill would instigate his team's attack. It could be argued that without churchill being the success he was we may never of seen the likes of langlands, eadie, Jack, Belcher, brasher, Mullins and our modern fullbacks
Yeah no.

Churchill didn't start a revolution of tryscoring fullbacks.

He started a revolution where fullbacks went from being a 3rd winger to being a 3rd half.
 

DiegoNT

First Grade
Messages
9,378
Yeah no.

Churchill didn't start a revolution of tryscoring fullbacks.

He started a revolution where fullbacks went from being a 3rd winger to being a 3rd half.

Nope, before churchill fullback was seen as purely a defensive position to one where it become a position to focus the attack around.
 

DiegoNT

First Grade
Messages
9,378
How many people on here have seen Churchill play ?

Very few, plus it's very hard to judge players from different eras, now days players have the benefit of full time professionalism, better training and conditioning etc, while older players didn't have to come up against the improved defences modern fullbacks have to combat. You can only go on what impact the players left on the game
An award for best on ground in the grand final named after him.
One of the original immortals
A stand named after him at the scg
Fullback in team of the century
Many giving him credit for changing the way fullbacks play the game
Its a pretty big legacy churchill left behind
 
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