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Ten best full backs of the NRL era

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
Will Roosters fans ever get over 03?
I got over it fairly quickly.

Only just come to terms with 2004, though...

But tbh when I've seen my team win three comps in the last 17 years you are in a pretty good spot in learning to take the good with the bad.

No need to be greedy.
 

Tommy Smith

Referee
Messages
21,344
However I would argue that Wessers 2003 and Hodgson’s 2001 and 2005 were better years then Tedesco has ever had.
This is why I'm in favour of pill testing. The bad stuff clearly rots the brain. :D

I don’t doubt (injury permitting)Teddy will be better then those guys, and probably be the 2nd best on the list.

I’ll happily post you out my 2005 highlights DVD if you would like a reference :wink:

Teddy’s best year IMO was 2016 where he was close to the best player in the comp. Don’t forget for the first 6-8 weeks of 2018 there were multiple Roosters fans saying they should have kept Gordon at fullback.
Were those Roosters fans the geniused types that post on facebook after a loss?

Hodgson had a couple of very good seasons but please, let's not get too misty eyed.

If you measured them up on every attribute I don't see where Hodgson comes out ahead of Teddy on a single one.

Teddy is the Roos fullback now in an era of great fullbacks and it'll be his jersey for 5 yrs. He's also dominated Origin where as Hodgson is famous in Origin for being a rag doll.

As for Wesser, I know his 2003 season was epic but as a full body of work he's not even close to Teddy. How many Origins did he play?
 

Vic Mackey

Referee
Messages
25,426
This is why I'm in favour of pill testing. The bad stuff clearly rots the brain. :D


Were those Roosters fans the geniused types that post on facebook after a loss?

Hodgson had a couple of very good seasons but please, let's not get too misty eyed.

If you measured them up on every attribute I don't see where Hodgson comes out ahead of Teddy on a single one.

Teddy is the Roos fullback now in an era of great fullbacks and it'll be his jersey for 5 yrs. He's also dominated Origin where as Hodgson is famous in Origin for being a rag doll.

As for Wesser, I know his 2003 season was epic but as a full body of work he's not even close to Teddy. How many Origins did he play?

I'm not saying they are better players, merely that those one off years were better then an individual year he has produced. It's like saying Barba or Hayne are better players then Slater, cause I'd say their 2009 and 2012 were more amazing then any 26 games Billy played in a year, yet clearly they arent.

You can say people remember a one off incident, however Hodgson was NSW's Player Player in the 2006 series. I would say that current hype does a lot more to fuzzy standards then mist eyes.

Attributes, he was certainly a better ball player and general play kicker (not to mention goal kicker) then Teddy. Teddys ball playing consists of looping around a basic second man play which every fullback is capable of. I suppose thats not really his fault as teams play incredibly structured these days whereas back in the early-mid 2000s actual footy players were still relevant. One thing that Hodgson always did very well was straighten the attack. He often jumped into first receiver and got things going through the middle when Prince and Benji were dancing around out the back. It’s kind of like why a guy like Terry Lamb was so good, you couldnt really name a particular attritubute, these guys were just good footy players.

From all of the lists going around who is Teddy up against for the Roos jersey atm? No one. He had to wait until Slater, Boyd and Inglis werent there to get it. I'd say the fullback stocks were much better in the 2000s then today.
 
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Iafeta

Referee
Messages
24,357
Roger needs to have a good few seasons yet after last years excellence. I think he will. It’s his team well and truly now with Coach Killa gone. What I think stood out for me last year was his defence. He had been horrific prior to that defensively.
 

Edwahu

Bench
Messages
3,697
As good as Wesser was in 2003 it's debatable that he was even the best fullback that season. Schifcofske was leading the Dally M when voting went behind doors and would've run second to Gower if it wasn't cancelled, and Schif was better over the 2001 - 2006 period as a whole. He would've been fullback of the year twice in that period when the talent was an at an absolute peak.

Even then I couldn't fit him into the Top 10, he didn't have the rep career to justify it.
 

Dingo_dan

Juniors
Messages
168
There's 2 ways to look at it. You can go by either best overall, or best peak (one season).

With that in mind, overall I'd go

1. Lockyer
2. Slater
3. Inglis
4. Minichiello
5. Stewart
6. Hayne
7. Bowen
8. Tedesco
9. Boyd
10. Hodgson

Peak seasons I'd go

1. Inglis 2014
2. Barba 2012
3. Hayne 2009
4. Minichiello 2005
5. Slater 2012
6. RTS 2015
7. Whesser 2003
8. Bowen 2007
9. Tedesco 2018
10. Lockyer 2000
 
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Dingo_dan

Juniors
Messages
168
As good as Wesser was in 2003 it's debatable that he was even the best fullback that season. Schifcofske was leading the Dally M when voting went behind doors and would've run second to Gower if it wasn't cancelled, and Schif was better over the 2001 - 2006 period as a whole. He would've been fullback of the year twice in that period when the talent was an at an absolute peak.

Even then I couldn't fit him into the Top 10, he didn't have the rep career to justify it.

Being ahead in the dally m pole means nothing.

In 2003 Panthers had Gower, Campbell, Galuavo, Pulatua, Priddis etc plus all the young stars taking dally m points of whesser. Whessee could have had 3 8/10 games in a row and not get a single dally m point because that team was so good. Shifcoski had no real points threats in his team. He could have played 3 7/10 games in a row and still pick up a few dally m points
 

firechild

First Grade
Messages
8,067
Peak seasons I'd go

1. Inglis 2014
2. Barba 2012
3. Hayne 2009
4. Minichiello 2005
5. Slater 2012
6. RTS 2015
7. Whesser 2003
8. Bowen 2007
9. Tedesco 2018
10. Lockyer 2000

Stewart 2008 shits all over any of those. Hayne 2009 only played a good half season for a start. Lockyer 2000, Tedesco 2018 and Slater 2012 are the only ones at the same level.
 
Messages
3,884
In years to come people will look back at Anthony Minichiello, Brett Mullins, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and James Tedesco and ask the question: how could one rugby league club have been adorned by so many brilliant full backs?
 
Messages
711
In years to come people will look back at Anthony Minichiello, Brett Mullins, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and James Tedesco and ask the question: how could one rugby league club have been adorned by so many brilliant full backs?

Brett Mullins tried & failed to unseat Luke Phillips from the no. 1 jersey in 2002.

Where’s Diamond’s mention? & Michael Gordon’s, for that matter?
 
Messages
711
Stewart 2008 shits all over any of those. Hayne 2009 only played a good half season for a start. Lockyer 2000, Tedesco 2018 and Slater 2012 are the only ones at the same level.

LOL. Minichiello 2005 Golden Boot winner, “not on Stewart’s level.”

You are in Disneyland. Stewart couldn’t dream of matching Minichiello’s goal-line defence or outright sprint pace.
 
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