Some greaat names there guys, Jacin Sinclair - yeah he could do anything on his day. I remember him destroying Brisbane from 5/8 one day at Lang Park and the Tigers still lost I think.
David Woods was a favourite of mine. Of all the youngsters that followed in the footsteps of the gloriously talented Sterling/Kenny/Ella/Grothe era, the likes of Crnkovic (sp), Penna, Bell and so on, he was the only one that I thought could have held his head up in that company. Absolutely electric.
Papworth looked like a freak but a shocking injury run prevented us seeing the best of him. A will-of-the-wisp 5/8.
Good call on Mundine too. He could have been anything but the only thing bigger than his talent was his ego and that prevented him having the chance to actually match the feats of Daley and Fittler instead of just talking about it.
I'll throw up two smokies from the 80s - Mark Ross and Todd Riley. I was only a young man watching ABC on a Saturday afternoon in Mount Isa but it seemed that Ross, a young Bunnies winger had unbelieveable skills that he only rarely used. I remember him scoring one wonderful try from deep in his own half with every skill in the book and some other you just can't coach. Anyone remember him and able to tell me why he never went on with it?
Todd Riley was a young fullback for Easts who had the cheek to field a kick-off against Penrith I think in the early 80s, run it back to the defence, chip over the top, regather and score. He only played about half a season in the top grade and was streeting the Rookie of the Year title when he disappeared off the face of the earth. I searched RLW for years afterwards trying to find out what had happened to him, finally saw a reference to him playing bush football somewhere in NSW. Again, loooked an absolute worldbeater, anyone know why he left all of a sudden?
And one more I just thought of, Les Kiss, the Bundy Bullet. A brilliant winger with sublime pace, skills and football smarts (rare amongst wingers), cruelled by a broken leg on the 86 Roo Tour. My mate and I followed Valleys everywhere in teh Brisbane comp in 86 and 87. Bennett King (current West Indies and ex-Qld cricket coach) and was the next big thing on the wing. One day at Neumann oval, we were watching the reserves when Les Kiss, who was just a kid at the time, chipped and regathered, turned the fullback inside out and streaked away to score. My mate laughed about what a fluke it was when the fellas in front of us turned round and glared at us. Mark Hohn and Steve Day, the Diehards' second row at the time and high on our then list of heroes/gods. My mate pulled his head in pretty quickly, apparently they'd seen him playing 2nds and knew how good he was going to be and were none too happy at us bagging him.
David Woods was a favourite of mine. Of all the youngsters that followed in the footsteps of the gloriously talented Sterling/Kenny/Ella/Grothe era, the likes of Crnkovic (sp), Penna, Bell and so on, he was the only one that I thought could have held his head up in that company. Absolutely electric.
Papworth looked like a freak but a shocking injury run prevented us seeing the best of him. A will-of-the-wisp 5/8.
Good call on Mundine too. He could have been anything but the only thing bigger than his talent was his ego and that prevented him having the chance to actually match the feats of Daley and Fittler instead of just talking about it.
I'll throw up two smokies from the 80s - Mark Ross and Todd Riley. I was only a young man watching ABC on a Saturday afternoon in Mount Isa but it seemed that Ross, a young Bunnies winger had unbelieveable skills that he only rarely used. I remember him scoring one wonderful try from deep in his own half with every skill in the book and some other you just can't coach. Anyone remember him and able to tell me why he never went on with it?
Todd Riley was a young fullback for Easts who had the cheek to field a kick-off against Penrith I think in the early 80s, run it back to the defence, chip over the top, regather and score. He only played about half a season in the top grade and was streeting the Rookie of the Year title when he disappeared off the face of the earth. I searched RLW for years afterwards trying to find out what had happened to him, finally saw a reference to him playing bush football somewhere in NSW. Again, loooked an absolute worldbeater, anyone know why he left all of a sudden?
And one more I just thought of, Les Kiss, the Bundy Bullet. A brilliant winger with sublime pace, skills and football smarts (rare amongst wingers), cruelled by a broken leg on the 86 Roo Tour. My mate and I followed Valleys everywhere in teh Brisbane comp in 86 and 87. Bennett King (current West Indies and ex-Qld cricket coach) and was the next big thing on the wing. One day at Neumann oval, we were watching the reserves when Les Kiss, who was just a kid at the time, chipped and regathered, turned the fullback inside out and streaked away to score. My mate laughed about what a fluke it was when the fellas in front of us turned round and glared at us. Mark Hohn and Steve Day, the Diehards' second row at the time and high on our then list of heroes/gods. My mate pulled his head in pretty quickly, apparently they'd seen him playing 2nds and knew how good he was going to be and were none too happy at us bagging him.
