Joey or Thurston, who is GOAT?

[King hit]

You quote all the stats but you never really saw him play did you?

He was my childhood hero thank you very much

 

[Desert Qlder]

He was my childhood hero thank you very much

So you haven't really watched these blokes play?

 

[King hit]

Fittler was very good but always in good teams. Don't recall him ever carrying a side like Johns or JT

- Fittler captained NSW to 2 cleansweeps
- Captained Australia to World Cup wins twice. 1995 against the odds
- Lead the Roosters to a premiership. His performance in that grand final should be remembered as one of the great captains knock.
- The Roosters never missed the finals and developed into a mighty successful team under him after spending many years outside the cut.

Langer spent his entire club career with dominant Broncos teams, Lockyer was always surrounded by good players and JT never lead his state or country,

 

[Desert Qlder]

- Fittler captained NSW to 2 cleansweeps
- Captained Australia to World Cup wins twice. 1995 against the odds
- Lead the Roosters to a premiership. His performance in that grand final should be remembered as one of the great captains knock.
- The Roosters never missed the finals and developed into a mighty successful team under him after spending many years outside the cut.

Langer spent his entire club career with dominant Broncos teams, Lockyer was always surrounded by good players and JT never lead his state or country,

You never saw Langer play yeah? Or the 95 World Cup.

 

[ayatollah_murdoch]

Lebron James

 

[JJ]

Fittler was very good but always in good teams. Don't recall him ever carrying a side like Johns or JT

In all seriousness, who has Thurston carried? He carried mediocre Cowboys teams all the way to mediocrity?

In his two premierships he was an irrelevance in a strong Bulldogs team, and the leader of a very strong Cowboys side...

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Charlie gubb

 

[hindy111]

Smith and Slater never had to single-handedly carry the side, like Thurston did early on. They had an illegally assembled roster around them to pick up the slack for much of their careers.

Both are undoubtedly greats, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's relevant to compare them to Thurston without also comparing the players around them.

When you coming home Bazal?

 

[hindy111]

How can you compare. Johns was great.Slater also.
I was a lockyer fan. Of all players I seen he was top 5.

 

[taipan]

Why do people keep ignoring Ben Pomeroy?

 

[mongoose]

Stuart lol - the guy who despite playing on obviously stronger SOO teams was the backup / understudy to Langer for 5 years? The same Stuart that won a grand final playing for a team that exceeded the salary cap? The same Stuart that was overlooked for the SL tests for young, less rated halves despite his club halves partner being 5/8 and captain?

It always upsets me when fellow NSWelshman either buy into media hype (Johns) or blind, pure hatred (QLD / Langer) and make silly, misinformed and just flat out incorrect statements just to back up a silly opinion.

The whole Johns thing has really gotten out of hand. I get it, the ARL couldn't suspend their face of the game because of his (alleged) PED use, but to take it as far as ramming him down our throats as the GOAT when his resume (and character) is of much lower quality than the players I've already mention is just flat out annoying.

yeah ok bud... Langer was great for sure and i always feared him when the Raiders or NSW played against him but like Stuart he was in a stacked team. Who cares if the Raiders were slightly over the cap in 1990, as if the Broncos weren't over it during their premiership years. Stuart post 95 wasn't the same player as he was 1988 - 1995, too many injuries.

Anyway Johns and JT were better players IMO, because they didn't have the caliber of support players around them Langer and Stuart did for most of their careers.

 

[Lambretta]

The whole Thurston v Joey thing started when Matty Johns said Thurston had the potential to become the greatest HALFBACK of all time, eclipsing his brother

I don't think anyone is calling either the greatest player of all time - merely discussing the greatest halfback of all time

It's too hard to make claims on the greatest as none of us would have seen the original Immortals play nor seen how good those players could have been had they played in the modern game.

 

[Danish]

The correct answer is Ricky Stuart...

 

[Slackboy72]

It's Norm Provan.
10 premierships, 4 as Captain-coach.

 

[Hutty1986]

Hassen Saleh. Sick dancer too.

 

[perverse]

It depends on how you measure greatness. If you want the best player on the field, it's a pretty easy Johns for mine for reasons others have covered. If achievements in the game and character are more important to you, then JT is ahead. Both fantastic players that should be celebrated and deserve to be in this conversation.

 

[beave]

So you haven't really watched these blokes play?

We all know the answer to this mate.

 

[Woody49]

Luke Covell

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Why do people keep ignoring Ben Pomeroy?

The legend that is the special needs penguin

 

[nick87]

Cam Smith is the best to ever play the game, and leaves Johns and JT in his dust

And I don’t think it’s particularly close