LU Panthers all time 17 Team. Final Result.

[soc123_au]

What about Ron Clothier? Mick Stephenson or Bill Ashurst and we cannot forget Brohman [ or can we ?]

We will be doing a thread/poll each week for each position, keep an eye out for it and you can make your case for whoever you like.

 

[Frankus]

This would be my team..

1. Dylan Edwards
2. Stephen Crichton
3. Ryan Girdler
4. Brad Fittler
5. Brian To’o
6. Jerome Luai
7. Nathan Cleary
8. Moses Leota
9. Royce Simmons
10. Fisher-Harris
11. Tony Puletua
12. Liam Martin
13. Isaah Yeoweh
14. Greg Alexander
15. Mark Geyer
16. Luke Lewis
17. Luke Priddis

18th. Preston Campbell,
Honourable mentions
Steve Carter,
Rhys Wesser,
John Cartwright,
Scott Sorrenson,
Villiame Kikau.

Nice team. I will assume the omission of Gower was an oversight.

 

[The yak]

The players that miss out would make a great team too.

 

[blue bags]

Nice team. I will assume the omission of Gower was an oversight.

And Civo . and The penguin

 

[MugaB]

Nice team. I will assume the omission of Gower was an oversight.

Nope, Gower is a great halfback, but we have Brandy and Cleary ahead of him, no way to fit them all in especially since the centres were also 5/8ths, along with jerome luai, and an 18th man presto, I wanted to have Steve Carter on the bench too, as a lock/5/8th, but I simply couldn't justify another half there
We have a plethora of great talents, top 50 could name them all, but top17/18 is extremely hard

 

[Goonji]

Nope, Gower is a great halfback, but we have Brandy and Cleary ahead of him, no way to fit them all in especially since the centres were also 5/8ths, along with jerome luai, and an 18th man presto, I wanted to have Steve Carter on the bench too, as a lock/5/8th, but I simply couldn't justify another half there
We have a plethora of great talents, top 50 could name them all, but top17/18 is extremely hard

Gower was our hooker at one stage of his career.

 

[Frankus]

Gower was our hooker at one stage of his career.

And was going to be (at the time) the youngest ever Kangaroo until he told a woman to act like a watchmaker and put a pair of hands on this. Gower had some humdinger off field incidents.

 

[Frankus]

Nope, Gower is a great halfback, but we have Brandy and Cleary ahead of him, no way to fit them all in especially since the centres were also 5/8ths, along with jerome luai, and an 18th man presto, I wanted to have Steve Carter on the bench too, as a lock/5/8th, but I simply couldn't justify another half there
We have a plethora of great talents, top 50 could name them all, but top17/18 is extremely hard

Fair play. Thought you may have included him in honourable mentions.

 

[MugaB]

Gower was our hooker at one stage of his career.

So was romy, doesn't change the fact we have the current guys winning back2back premierships makes just winning one 2 decades ago, look smaller in comparison

 

[Kilkenny]

These polls around our best ever 17 are great talking points but honestly I have been a fan for our entire history well since 1970 anyway and recency bias really plays a huge part in selections. I couldn’t even begin to try and select a top 17 from the hundreds who have worn our jersey. I’ll leave it to others to decide.

What I will say is the toughest competitor to wear our jersey was Craig Gower. Back in the day when sports science, rehab and injury management is not what it is today what he had to overcome to get onto the field week in week is the stuff legends are made of.

 

[MugaB]

These polls around our best ever 17 are great talking points but honestly I have been a fan for our entire history well since 1970 anyway and recency bias really plays a huge part in selections. I couldn’t even begin to try and select a top 17 from the hundreds who have worn our jersey. I’ll leave it to others to decide.

What I will say is the toughest competitor to wear our jersey was Craig Gower. Back in the day when sports science, rehab and injury management is not what it is today what he had to overcome to get onto the field week in week is the stuff legends are made of.

That maybe true, but it still doesn't change the fact that all the recency bias is mostly due to certain individuals in this current team and winning culture they've created plus accumulating 4 premierships rings in a row... you cannot discount that, the recency bias is validated, no other team for over 80 years has achieved this many GFs let alone premierships in a row, it could automatically put them ahead of most of the legends of our club, hence why I stated Nathan and brandy are ahead of Gower in terms of halfback, primarily from their form in the jersey, Gower was an awesome competitor, but only managed one GF, Brandy made 2, Nathan's currently on 5, it's not easy to be consistent enough to get to finals let alone GFs

 

[Kilkenny]

That maybe true, but it still doesn't change the fact that all the recency bias is mostly due to certain individuals in this current team and winning culture they've created plus accumulating 4 premierships rings in a row... you cannot discount that, it could automatically put them ahead of most of the legends of our club, hence why I stated Nathan and brandy are ahead of Gower in terms of halfback, primarily from their form in the jersey, Gower was an awesome competitor, but only managed one GF, brandy made 2, Nathan's currently on 5, it's not easy to be consistent enough to get to finals let alone GFs

It’s just not possible to make objective comparisons around who is better because they only made one GF etc.

The comparisons around our four peat as opposed the the Eels three peat in the 80’s likewise is flawed, you really can’t compare Different eras, rules, salary caps etc etc.

It is just not possible to make any comparisons of our 1991, 2003, and 2021-2024 sides.

I think it is unlikely we will see our recent success replicated anytime soon. I think we will most likely revert to a scenario where there will most likely be seperate winners each season for a significant period of time.

what we have achieved will not be replicated for a very long time. The fact it happened in the first place is truly astonishing And it is possible we could win next season, however unlikely, given we don’t have a home ground.

 

[soc123_au]

These polls around our best ever 17 are great talking points but honestly I have been a fan for our entire history well since 1970 anyway and recency bias really plays a huge part in selections. I couldn’t even begin to try and select a top 17 from the hundreds who have worn our jersey. I’ll leave it to others to decide.

What I will say is the toughest competitor to wear our jersey was Craig Gower. Back in the day when sports science, rehab and injury management is not what it is today what he had to overcome to get onto the field week in week is the stuff legends are made of.

None of it really means anything, it as you say just a good discussion point. Recency bias is going to play a hand in any kind of discussion though, age of those in the discussion and that recent events are easier to recall.

It's good that we have some old merkins in here that can regail us with the feats of Mick Stephenson, Bill Ashurst, Terry Geary and co when their positions come up for review.

A player missing a spot on the vote doesn't mean they weren't a legend either. Royce is probably my all time favorite Panther for a number of reasons. He wont be getting my vote when the Hooker debate rolls around though. Although, an argument could be made....

 

[Munky]

IMO in most professional sports there is an inflection point where the game and players look close enough to their modern equivalents.

NFL: The early 80s with Bill Walsh and the West Coast Offence, Andy Reid is a big proponent of his concepts and is on for a threepeat. Shout out to Dan Marino who put up numbers that were extreme outliers. Edit: Forgot Jerry Rice, who was able to put up a 1,200 yard season in 2002 at the age of 40.

NBA: Again the 80s with the Lakers and Celtics leading into Jordan/Shaq in the 90s.

Soccer: Probably the early 90s when Serie A was the top league. Arsene Wenger brought extreme professionalism and analytics to the EPL. Every time a highlight video of the late 90s/early 00s Arsenal team appears on my feed in amazed at how slick and aesthetically pleasing their play was.

Rugby Union: I don't think it ever happened. f**king abysmal game to watch. That said South Africa seem to play for mid field penalty goals which seems the best way to accumulate points.

Cricket: Steve Waugh's ruthless machine in the field and John Buchanan's analytics brought the next era of professionalism. Cricket is a weird one though where a fat bloke could still be the best batsman in the world.

Rugby League: A hard one, the 90s Broncos had a lot of players who would not look out of place today. Webke, Tallis and Sailor would look right at home in 2024. However I reckon Bellamy arriving at the Storm in 2003 changed the club game, questionable 'innovations' and all.

 

[Chins get the wins]

IMO in most professional sports there is an inflection point where the game and players look close enough to their modern equivalents.

NFL: The early 80s with Bill Walsh and the West Coast Offence, Andy Reid is a big proponent of his concepts and is on for a threepeat. Shout out to Dan Marino who put up numbers that were extreme outliers.

NBA: Again the 80s with the Lakers and Celtics leading into Jordan/Shaq in the 90s.

Soccer: Probably the early 90s when Serie A was the top league. Arsene Wenger brought extreme professionalism and analytics to the EPL. Every time a highlight video of the late 90s/early 00s Arsenal team appears on my feed in amazed at how slick and aesthetically pleasing their play was.

Rugby Union: I don't think it ever happened. f**king abysmal game to watch. That said South Africa seem to play for mid field penalty goals which seems the best way to accumulate points.

Cricket: Steve Waugh's ruthless machine in the field and John Buchanan's analytics brought the next era of professionalism. Cricket is a weird one though where a fat bloke could still be the best batsman in the world.

Rugby League: A hard one, the 90s Broncos had a lot of players who would not look out of place today. Webke, Tallis and Sailor would look right at home in 2024. However I reckon Bellamy arriving at the Storm in 2003 changed the club game, questionable 'innovations' and all.

I can't think of a more individual team sport than cricket. You basically don't even need a coach, just need to look at the opposition players and where to bowl, place the field ect

 

[MugaB]

It’s just not possible to make objective comparisons around who is better because they only made one GF etc.

The comparisons around our four peat as opposed the the Eels three peat in the 80’s likewise is flawed, you really can’t compare Different eras, rules, salary caps etc etc.

It is just not possible to make any comparisons of our 1991, 2003, and 2021-2024 sides.

I think it is unlikely we will see our recent success replicated anytime soon. I think we will most likely revert to a scenario where there will most likely be seperate winners each season for a significant period of time.

what we have achieved will not be replicated for a very long time. The fact it happened in the first place is truly astonishing And it is possible we could win next season, however unlikely, given we don’t have a home ground.

If it's not possible to make comparisons, then we cannot make a top17 all time panthers squad, you'd have to do it by generations... again Gower is our 3rd ranked halfback, you know this is true, why complicate it by throwing up parras 3peat vs our 4peat, it's got zero to do with selecting players for some fantasy roster, and yes we can make objective opinions, due to how poor the Panthers team was before and after 2003 GF, they were a great team that year only, but no where near as consistent as the 90s Panthers or the current gods we are watching
He ain't better than Brandy was in an overall career, and Nathan has already surpassed both by a long stretch, premierships are a pretty good indicator of how good a team has gone, and having a few GFs in succession shows the players form in consistency, I'm sure brandy would have made more of an impact had it not been for the passing of his brother, but we will never know, and injuries could have stifled Gower or any other candidate throughout the years, but at the moment this is where it stands

 

[The Realist]

Speaking of Gower - I have no idea how he doesn't at least make the #14 on peoples list if not the actual #9.

He was a very good #7 for a decent amount of time but that wasn't even his best position - that is just where the team needed him at the time.

I remember a game sometime in 2004/05 where Priddis went down injured and Gower immediately moved to #9 and Presto to #7 - and all of a sudden the team looked a million dollars.

I'd honestly have him as the #9 even ahead of Api. Had Gower been part of a truly competent club under a good coach for the majority of his career - he'd have had a similar career to Cameron Smith.

 

[The Realist]

Sauce was the prototype but he still he too many errors imo

The biggest reason I would definitely not include Sauce was his defensive reads. He was a shocker for the majority of his career. He had a 2-3 year period in his prime where he seemed to have mostly sorted it out but in his late Panthers career the issue came back.

 

[The Realist]

Better bloke? He’s a drug dealer….

My wingers need to do three things.

1.Defend (I’ll always pick on defence 1st)
2.Eat Metres.
3.Finish tries.

In my opinion, Taylan is a better defender and better finisher. By a fair distance as well.

They both eat metres well, but I think Taylan runs harder into contact.

You are Crazy. Mick was the most talented outside back we probably ever had. He was an excellent defender - probably the best defensive winger in the league during his peak. Defensively he could do it all. He stopped the freight train wingers like peak Taniela Tuaiki dead in their tracks, and even ran down a run away Matty Bowen. He made good decisions and his tackling technique was 1st class.

Offensively he was fast AF and was highly elusive. The only player more elusive than him at the time was a young Michael Jennings who is the most elusive player I have ever seen. He could clean break the line without getting touched with foot work and a step but also just as easily take contact, brush through tackles, remain balanced and then accelerate out. He also had the skills and smarts of a half and was dangerous on the edge coming out of dummy half. He had all these attributes and unlike his replacement Mansour - he kept his error rate low.

Eating metres - he was the prototype of the Mansour/To'o winger. Was a great finisher and to top it off was an excellent goal kicker as well.

You put an 2007-2010 Flash in our 2020's team and he'd legit be a Superstar. Lower leg injuries cruelled him badly, I often wonder how he'd have fared with competent modern Strength and conditioning, plus cutting-edge surgery that's now available.

He was a complete footballer in so many ways that Taylan can only ever dream of being.

I can also vouch that Panthers Mick Gordon WAS a top bloke. A really super fella. Not sure how he went off the rails late in his career but when he was with the Panthers he was the most approachable, humble, and well mannered players we had at the time.

 

[Luke Bowden]

You are Crazy. Mick was the most talented outside back we probably ever had. He was an excellent defender - probably the best defensive winger in the league during his peak. Defensively he could do it all. He stopped the freight train wingers like peak Taniela Tuaiki dead in their tracks, and even ran down a run away Matty Bowen. He made good decisions and his tackling technique was 1st class.

Offensively he was fast AF and was highly elusive. The only player more elusive than him at the time was a young Michael Jennings who is the most elusive player I have ever seen. He could clean break the line without getting touched with foot work and a step but also just as easily take contact, brush through tackles, remain balanced and then accelerate out. He also had the skills and smarts of a half and was dangerous on the edge coming out of dummy half. He had all these attributes and unlike his replacement Mansour - he kept his error rate low.

Eating metres - he was the prototype of the Mansour/To'o winger. Was a great finisher and to top it off was an excellent goal kicker as well.

You put an 2007-2010 Flash in our 2020's team and he'd legit be a Superstar. Lower leg injuries cruelled him badly, I often wonder how he'd have fared with competent modern Strength and conditioning, plus cutting-edge surgery that's now available.

He was a complete footballer in so many ways that Taylan can only ever dream of being.

I can also vouch that Panthers Mick Gordon WAS a top bloke. A really super fella. Not sure how he went off the rails late in his career but when he was with the Panthers he was the most approachable, humble, and well mannered players we had at the time.

I was stirring up Chins.

and you as it turns out.

chill Winston