Top 10 centres today

[Iafeta]

Toopi would be in the bottom 5 centres in the NRL, he is bona fide rubbish.. Fluked a few good games in the Tri-Nations when Wayne Bennett picked an out of form ageing team.. Soliola would run all over Toopi.

He must have played ageing Australian teams a bit then - he seems to make a habit of going through them. Two test hat-tricks against Australia alone.

 

[Renowned League Expert]

9. Lyon (only reason he's down so low is because i havent seen him play as i never get to see the ESL. In form he's close to number 1, and i hear he's still in fine form, but in a comp where defence is secondary)

But is the difference really so great anymore? Is defence not secondary in our comp, now, too? Three of the last five premiers -- Newcastle, Penrith and Wests Tigers -- have been statistically some of the worst defensive premiers in history. In the case of Newcastle and the Tigers, each conceeded around 25 points a game during the season! A decade ago, that wouldn't have been nearly good enough. Now it's good enough to win you the premiership.

Anyway, my top 10:

1. Gasnier
2. Lyon
3. Vagana
4. Cooper
5. Cross
6. King
7. Tonga
8. Whatiura
9. Tate
10. Giidley

Others: Tahu, Hodges, Bell.

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

Interestingly, I have seen no mention of Paul Bowman or Josh Hannay. At all.

Bowman is a current Origin player. By no means am I arguing that either should be there, but for a rep player not even being considered to be in the top 10 in his position is astounding.

 

[Iafeta]

This position is hard to rate... I won't even try on the Poms/ESL players

1 Gasnier
2 King
3 Inglis - I really rate this bloke
4 Cooper
5 Hodges
6 Bowman
7 Whatuira
8 Soliola
9 Tate
10 Toopi

I didn't rate Tonga due to injuries, and Toopi is lucky to make 10, but he had a good Tri Nations series, played well for the winning team. It'll be interesting to see what he does in the NRL again. I didn't rate Vagana in the list, his form over the past few years hasn't been that exceptional since leaving Canterbury at club or international level, Tahu I think is a better winger than centre. The next best off this list for me is Ben Smith.

Greg Inglis is a freak, and will be number by the end of next season in my opinion.

 

[macavity]

needs more Carmont...

 

[The Devil]

lol @ macavity.

Me and my mate were having this discussion before, about NSW centres.

If Cooper and Gasnier were to injure themselves, who would replace them?

We definately did not want to see Cross in the sky blue.

We thought about Grothe to the wing and moving King into the centres if one gets injured. But if two get injured, whats the go?

 

[Nook]

Mine, on top form

1. Lyon
2. Gasnier
3. Hodges
4. Tonga
6. King
5. Cooper
6. Whatuira
7. Tate
8. Vagana
9. Toopi**
10. Gleeson

** please ignore past 3 years

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

If Cooper and Gasnier were to injure themselves, who would replace them?

King & Gidley would (and should) get the nod.

 

[The Devil]

I agree with you on King.

Although with Gidley, he should be given more time to prove himself again.

He's found his flair that he's been missing for the past few seasons and is slowly proving himself to be a troubling centre again. Maybe he just needs a quality player outside of him.