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How good was Offiah?

madunit

madunit

Super Moderator
Staff member
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62,358
I thought Offiah's 10 tries was in a Challenge Cup game wasn't it? A lot of amateur and lower graded sides participated in that.

To say defence was poor in the UK comp is pretty dopey and only an idiot with supreme ignorance and next to no knowledge at all of games played in England back then would say such a dumbf**k statement.
 
Scarves

Scarves

Juniors
Messages
612
This Question really is determined by what you are looking for in a winger.

From my recollection of Martin, he was a non tackling type of winger and not block busting, tackle busting type of attacker.

Martin was ultra fast, and directly due to his speed was a superb highly polished try scoring finisher. However I can't recall him finishing tries in the hyper athletic manner of many current young wingers of todays NRL, but his speed, longevity and considering the way the game was played in the late 80's early 90's, he was the finest of the speed merchant wingers of his era. I recall him playing against Australia and always looking dangerous, which is a sign of greatness. I still vividly recall Andrew Ettingshausen just fingertip ankle tapping the flying Chariots down a left hand touchline with nothing else between he and the goal line during a Test.

Personally I don't like comparing players of different eras. Wing play is vastly different in today game. Work rate is intense now and defence is often directed down wing corridors. Offiah was also hardly ever subjected to the cross field bomb of today game and rarely had to diffuse something like that. Chariots was not the type to dart from acting half like todays wingers are expected to do in the early count. It just wasn't as fast or as demanding a game back then.

My opinion for his time was that Offiah was a genuine wing great although regarding Englishmen I was more a fan of Jason Robinson.

My personal favourites with wingers during that period were Michael Hancock, a completely different kind of winger who's great strength was his great strength and never say die attitude in tackles... and Noa Nadruku, someone who was both very fast but could also bust through a tackle. Noa however had a flame that shone very bright for only a short period of time.
 
L

LeagueXIII

First Grade
Messages
5,967
Offiah also made a long bust in the 95 World Cup Final and was just pushed into touch which could have changed the whole match in England's favour.

Another exciting match he played in was the 1989 final championship game at Naughton Park between Widnes and Wigan, the winner seals the title. Offiah scored 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoNvtByqSWI&NR=1

Give me Offiah any day.
 
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Manu Vatuvei

Manu Vatuvei

Coach
Messages
16,865
There's a lot of focus on his straight out speed, and that he didn't like the tough stuff, but a lot of the tries he scored were tremendous and involved him getting through a number of tackles....tries where he just runs from dummy half with nothing on and makes the gap himself etc. He clearly had terrific footwork and balance and was a very gifted ball-carrier, not just fast. There have been blokes as fast as Offiah who couldn't play at all.
 
thorson1987

thorson1987

Coach
Messages
16,907
AlwaysGreen said:
How good was the finishing on try 2 and 3? And tries 4 and 10 were two of the best team tries you'll ever see.

I revise my Offiah assessment - he'd make NRL first grade these days in a heart beat.:p
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It looked like in try 10 they were just looking for him to make sure he got the 10.

Incredible feat though.
 
Loudstrat

Loudstrat

Coach
Messages
15,224
Manu Vatuvei said:
There's a lot of focus on his straight out speed, and that he didn't like the tough stuff, but a lot of the tries he scored were tremendous and involved him getting through a number of tackles....tries where he just runs from dummy half with nothing on and makes the gap himself etc. He clearly had terrific footwork and balance and was a very gifted ball-carrier, not just fast. There have been blokes as fast as Offiah who couldn't play at all.
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Good point. Reading most comments here, most people would prefer Daryl Halligan on the end of their backline. If you can score tries like Great Balls, you are allowed to be a turnstile.
 
Mr Fourex

Mr Fourex

Bench
Messages
4,916
Loudstrat said:
Good point. Reading most comments here, most people would prefer Daryl Halligan on the end of their backline. If you can score tries like Great Balls, you are allowed to be a turnstile.
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Turnstiles get found out. Just ask the whole South Sydney team at the moment how that's working out for them.

You cant be considered great if you tackle like a girl IMHO ........
 
A

anjado

Juniors
Messages
1,092
Mr Fourex said:
Turnstiles get found out. Just ask the whole South Sydney team at the moment how that's working out for them.

You cant be considered great if you tackle like a girl IMHO ........
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It makes me laugh this tackled like a girl stuff. When Offiah played he came up against Langer,Stuart,Alexander,Lamb,Sterling,Kenny,Johns,Walters,Fittler.

Basically a who's who of world class halves. These players would of figured him out as a liability defensively.

I honestly don't think you have seen him play because all your opinions to date have basically been completely wrong. He was able to carve up Brisbane and Australia a few times. This whole terrible defence thing is really ridiculous he wasn't the best defender in the world or even good. But people are going on like he was Greg Smith.

The guy was able to play at a high level for years. Against some of the best Australian and NRL teams of all time and some of the greatest back the game has ever seen. If he was as bad as people said they would of exposed him constantly.

Put it this way Australia couldn't expose Martin Offiah's defence when Great Britain played with 12 men for 60+ minutes at Wembley in 1994. Despite the fact Australia had Langer,Fittler,Daley,Stuart,Meninga,Sailor and Mullins in the backline during that match. In the World Cup Final in 1992 Australia scored only one try Offiah played in this game why weren't they just running at his girl like tackling ?

Basically what you are saying is that these players didn't have the ability to work someone out ? If Offiah's defence had been as bad as you were describing. Great Britain,Wigan,St George and Easts wouldn't of won a game when he played.


Fact is he was an integral part of the best Great Britain side for 40 years. An integral part of one of the greatest club sides to ever play the game.

If the guy defended as bad as you said he did he would of been out of the game within a year talented or not.
 
Perth Red

Perth Red

Post Whore
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If the winger scores 4 and concedes 2 every game I'd take him over a winger that scores none and concedes none!
 
Loudstrat

Loudstrat

Coach
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15,224
Mr Fourex said:
Turnstiles get found out. Just ask the whole South Sydney team at the moment how that's working out for them.

You cant be considered great if you tackle like a girl IMHO ........
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You are the gimp that would pick Trevor Gillmeister on the wing so he can tackle.

If you score 10 tries - who many will you tolerate him letting in before you drop him?

Besides, we are not talking of having a team of f*cking Martin Offiahs, just one in a 5 jersey!!
 
Mr Fourex

Mr Fourex

Bench
Messages
4,916
anjado said:
I honestly don't think you have seen him play because all your opinions to date have basically been completely wrong. He was able to carve up Brisbane and Australia a few times. This whole terrible defence thing is really ridiculous he wasn't the best defender in the world or even good.
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My opinions aren't wrong at all. You've even admitted yourself that he can't tackle.

Takes him out of the "great" category for mine.......

He's in the teens in a top 20.

JMO
 
A

anjado

Juniors
Messages
1,092
Mr Fourex said:
My opinions aren't wrong at all. You've even admitted yourself that he can't tackle.

Takes him out of the "great" category for mine.......

He's in the teens in a top 20.

JMO
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okay please name the wingers you have ahead of him. No what i am saying is he wasn't a great defender you have him penned down as the worst defender in the history of the game
 
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