Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk to me should be the template for every half. Sure, it is stating the bleeding obvious choosing two future immortals, but here is how I see it.
Johnathan Thurston had all the skill and instinct to win games, but wasn't the best game manager. Cooper Cronk had all the structure, but not enough play it as he sees it.
Towards the end of their careers, JT had to learn and play a bit better structure. He was losing his speed, lost Matty Bowen, and he desperately needed a plan B. It was tiring for him to try and win every game every week off his individual ability. Structure enabled the Cowboys to win in more ways than one.
As defences started to figure out Melbourne a bit better, Cronk had to take on the line more, use his running game more and then utilise the skills of the backline that Bellamy had put around him (culminating in the 2017 premiership). The Sharks in 2016 did a serious job on the old Cronk, and so he evolved and won three more premierships in a row.
Cronk and JT were never going to have the abilities of each other, but they worked really hard to add more to their games, and the 2015 and 2017 premierships are probably the best testaments to their evolution as footy players.
