Mullen on the Juice

[Noname36]

Always get nostalgic watching highlights of Mullen. Such a shame, became a massive mental midget made worse by being handicapped by a poor spine around him.

His career is done and dusted. He seems to have moved on. At best he'll come back and play in the Newcastle comp.

Mullen being a “mental midget” was always severely over-exaggerated imo.

I’m happy he’s been able to move on and find new directions in life. What he did was wrong but I have zero hard feelings torwards the bloke. A lot of players have done a lot worse and have still somehow been allowed to play on. I’ll be left with a more positive memory of Mullo than negative even with how everything ended put it that way.

 

[mozza91]

Mullen being a “mental midget” was always severely over-exaggerated imo.

Absolutely this. I hate how they use him as a shining example for not picking blokes for Origin young. He was the best option at 5/8 for NSW for several seasons but the selectors just refused to give him a chance and as a result far less talented players who weren’t playing near as well as him got a shot.

 

[Old dog]

I always have nice memories of Mullen, the way he played, the way he ran, his kicking in general play, I hate how he ended up but even if with all the right intentions it cannot be condoned. He should be remembered for the time he was on the field and what he gave us, don't think he will be back but I wish him well with a thank you.

 

[Old dog]

Just a last thought, I hate the title of this thread it shows no respect for him, think it should be changed or deleted. Sorry if it offends anyone just my opinion

 

[Noname36]

Absolutely this. I hate how they use him as a shining example for not picking blokes for Origin young. He was the best option at 5/8 for NSW for several seasons but the selectors just refused to give him a chance and as a result far less talented players who weren’t playing near as well as him got a shot.

Hindsight really is a wonderful thing isn’t it? When Mullen played his Origin game nobody knew at the time that Qld would go onto win almost a decade straight of series and Smith/Thurston/Cronk/Slater would have such a huge influence that it was pretty much impossible for the Blues to win regardless of who was in the halves. Mullen copped a lot of criticism as a 20 year old because we lost game one (somehow his fault for not guiding us to victory up against Smith/Slater/Cronk/Thurston) however surprise surprise no other Blues playmaker could do any better in following series while the key Qld players were at their peak. Ironically out of all the Blues halves used in the past decade, Mullen was probably the only one with the natural talent to individually complete with any of the Qld halves (even including Pearcey in that).

If you look at say how Nathan Cleary played on Wednesday night, also as a 20 year old half, he played no differently or any better than Mullen...but because the Blues won (no coincidence when that golden age Qld spine retired) nothing but praise was given to him. As happy as I was for the Blues victory it made me feel rubbish for Pearce too. He’s been labelled as the “most losing player” in Origin history but I can tell you now that they still would have won with Pearce in the #7 on Wednesday now that Smith, Thurston, Cronk and Slater are gone, just like the Blues would have still lost with Maloney/Cleary in the halves if those 4 were still playing at their peaks.

 

[Yosh]

Put Mullen into the Storm system and not ours, he'd be an immortal already. His running game, long kicking and defense was as good as any 6 in the past decade. His time just coincided with the worst in the clubs history... No excuses for his drug use but as a player, he should have been given a better opportunity. Real pity...

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Put Mullen into the Storm system and not ours, he'd be an immortal already. His running game, long kicking and defense was as good as any 6 in the past decade. His time just coincided with the worst in the clubs history... No excuses for his drug use but as a player, he should have been given a better opportunity. Real pity...

I hate to say it, but i think his biggest career mistake was staying with us....

Even in an equally shitty team, at least he would not have been constantly compared to Joey. Maybe with a bit of freedom from expectations, he could have relaxed and been something great.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

The bloke played over 200 games in an elite sporting competition and was also selected to represent his state which is something most players dream of and will never achieve. So the whole “mental midget” tag that he somehow attracted during the middle of his career was totally unfair and in really poor taste imo.

Sure he didn’t lead us to a premiership or play for Australia or even have a long Origin career like most people expected/wanted him to but I genuinely don’t believe that he was the reason we were so poor for so long. If anything we probably would have collected a few more spoons without him.

As other people have mentioned he probably would have done himself a favour by leaving for greener pastures. He had an incredible rugby league skill set but never really had the luxury of playing with a good team around him unlike some other players who popped up around the same time (JT & Cronk spring to mind here)

At the end of the day it was a really sad way to see him finish at the club but I hope he’s got his life back together and is able to be successful in his next career. While it would be a feel good story to see him make a return in future I think the club needs to move on into a new era and leave the past behind, and that means moving on from Mullen too.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

I think the mental midget tag came from the fact that he couldn’t win us a game in golden point out of heaps of attempts.

Mitchel Pearce was here for 5 minutes and won us a golden point game.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Bump!!!

I was watching some old Youtube videos and started getting a big nostalgic. So, hypothetical question:

Jarrod is halfway through his suspension and 31. He will be 33/34 when he becomes available again and might still have 1 or 2 good years left in him, particularly after this rest.

If he does want to make a comeback and he keeps himself in shape, would you take him?

Personally, I would. Id love to see him pull on the jersey one more time and give us a redemption story....

The fact that his hamstring is in such a bad way that he felt that he needed to take steroids tells me that he won’t be playing league at the top level again.

 

[Mr_Knightside]

I think the mental midget tag came from the fact that he couldn’t win us a game in golden point out of heaps of attempts.

Mitchel Pearce was here for 5 minutes and won us a golden point game.

That may be true but I’d say there were way more games that Mullo won for us than those that he lost for us. His game management during golden point may have been poor but golden point is a bit of a lottery at the best of times so I can forgive him for that that.

 

[Noname36]

I think the mental midget tag came from the fact that he couldn’t win us a game in golden point out of heaps of attempts.

Mitchel Pearce was here for 5 minutes and won us a golden point game.

And ironically Pearce’s record in GP at the Roosters was really bad.

Like Mr_Knightside said, GP is a bit of a lottery and during that period we wouldn’t have even got to GP in those games without Mullen so I can’t be too harsh on him.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

A lottery in a 2 horse race tells me that we should have won plenty. Instead we won SFA. In the close games I don't remember Mullen getting us over the line very often.

Mullen was a terrific player for the knights and we he played a key role in a lot of the wins we had. What I'm saying is that he was a mental midget at the end of a hell of a lot of games when the team needed the big play.

 

[Spot On]

A lottery in a 2 horse race tells me that we should have won plenty. Instead we won SFA. In the close games I don't remember Mullen getting us over the line very often.

Mullen was a terrific player for the knights and we he played a key role in a lot of the wins we had. What I'm saying is that he was a mental midget at the end of a hell of a lot of games when the team needed the big play.

These are my thoughts/recollections exactly and I can clearly remember writing this after many games when in a close contest that needed some smart plays he just couldn't quite conjure up the necessary play or points despite having ample opportunity.

That just wasn't his go.