Whatuira, Marshall & Ryles

[TV Ted Ellery]

Heres my two cents...Whatuira is solid but no superstar.

Marshall is good but will eventually end up like K Hunt..all step and no skill.

Ryles...an average player who mouths off more than the ground announcer and should be dropped for his performance.

Marshall and Hunt have no skill????????????????????????????????????????

Or are you implying that currently they possess skill although over time their respective skill levels will regress? By the way I don't see how a player loses skill on the one hand but maintains a step?
Another interpretation of your drivel could be that Marshall's only legacy will be his step. That could be the case if he hadn't set up the grand final with such an audacious flick pass. Then again his only assets are vision, composure, speed, a good passing game and a step. I guess he's just another bum of the game like Bowen, Slater or Hunt?

 

[TV Ted Ellery]

Whatuira is a good honest player nothing more nothing less.

Marshall is pure quality.

Ryles is a bird brain.

I definitely don't put Whatuira on the same plateau as Gasnier, Lyons etc... although I think that its inaccurate to give him the unbecoming title of 'good honest player'.
I initially held this assessment when I saw him playing for Penrith but since joining the Tigers he has exceeded all my expectations. Of course he doesn't possess the athleticism or skill of Gasnier, although in the Tigers team he is not necessarily required to fulfill the Gasnier function. He has an exceptional ability to finish off the lead up work created by Wests' pivotal players; the majority of his 20+ tries for the club have been scored from close range in such circumstances.
On another level he possesses a great amount of maturity for a 24yr old and he has also been able to impart his attitude of proffesionalism onto the younger players. If it all sound like rugby league-speak bullsh*t, just listen to what Sheens says about Whatuira, for he holds him in particularly high regard.

As a digression, who wouldnt want Gasnier at their club? Outside the 1,6,7,9 players he has the potential to change the course of a game more than any other player.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

Cooper is more evasive than gasnier - who just bullocks through tacklers. Cooper has actual footwork.

I can honestly say, I have never seen a centre with better footwork than Gasnier.. His defence can be a bit dodgy but he is far superior imho in other facets of the game.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

I would probably have centres like Vagana, Hodges, Tate & Tahu infront of him also, although very close.

I wouldn't feed Hodges, he is a peaheart, though I agree with you on Tate, when fit, he is in the top 2 centres in the game.

 

[Ghoulies]

I wouldn't feed Hodges, he is a peaheart

At the Roosters, yes, but his form since returning to Brisbane was good enough to force Tate out onto the wing.

 

[BWNB]

i would personally rather Vagas more then Whatuira when he was his age vagana broke the try scoring records for the dogs in two consecutive years. As he come to the sharks you could say he has been an under achiver , when he does get the ball he always looks dangerous

 

[Misty Bee]

I can honestly say, I have never seen a centre with better footwork than Gasnier.. His defence can be a bit dodgy but he is far superior imho in other facets of the game.

Reg, yeah, little doubt he was the best.

Mark, well, you never saw Sludge Rogers. Or Steve Ella.

 

[Big Pete]

I wouldn't feed Hodges, he is a peaheart, though I agree with you on Tate, when fit, he is in the top 2 centres in the game.

Did you watch any of his matches in 2005 while he was at centre? As Ghoulies said he was good enough to push Tate out of his position. I'd agree with you on Shaun Berrigan though, couldn't do anything last year unless Lockyer spoon fed it to him.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

Reg, yeah, little doubt he was the best.

Mark, well, you never saw Sludge Rogers. Or Steve Ella.

Not until he was about 30. Ella was a great centre and his footwork I will concede would have been the equal of Mark Gasnier but I wouldn't rate him above Gasnier as an all round player.

 

[Misty Bee]

You are probably right, because Ella had far better players around him that Gasnier ever will.

 

[super_coach]

1 Fatz is the ultimate team player,dose the little things right,seldom has a bad one
2 Gaz,has talent to burn,would beat most players one on one,but comes into games and drifts out of games.More an individual,but gee i rate him.I think he has heaps more talent than Fats,but week in and week out delivers less
3 Marshall,The kid has to carry the hype of the nrl on his back,he has probably the best skills since Freddie.All the hype on a young fragile body is
a big ask.Put him on the open market,every team in the comp would throw their safe at him.Tim Sheens,is the best thing that has happened to Benji.The head will stay on the shoulders
4 Ryles I like him,at times the Iq seems to go missing,but most of the time he aims up.Tends to live in Baileys shadow,Bailey being the Aussie grafter style of player.Not being a dragons man,iam no expert,my gut feeling their teams needs an old hard head style of coach.Their is so much talent through the grade not to dominate,but they dont do it

 

[God-King Dean]

:lol:
You're just being a precious petal as I had the temerity to question the Raiders' management of the early late 80s/90's ethics in another thread! Settle there princess!

Compare Gasnier's footwork to Cooper's - to Slater's - to Bowen's - to Wesser's - to Willie Tonga's - to Greg Inglis' - to Brent Tate's - Karmichael Hunt's - Hazem el Masri's - Sonny-Bill Williams' - Nigel Vagana's - Milton Thaiday's - Benji Marshall's - Ty Williams' - Jonathon Thurston's - Brett Stewart's - Steven Bell's - John Sutton's - and I could go on and on and on naming players that leave Gasnier for DEAD in that department!

Putting forth Gasnier's footwork as one of his strengths, and as proof that he is 'The best Centre in the World' - is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a mayonnaise jar, I'm afraid! Gasnier's strengths are his upper body & leg strenght, his size in general, his fend and tackle-busting ability and his offloading.

Speed and footwork-wise - SO many other players have him covered.

LOL. I'm quite confident he's taking the p*ss now.

If not, I shouldn't tease geniuss...

 

[salivor]

Marshall
A turnstile. Just like Lockyer. But can Lockyer set up tries like that? Benji's pass to Marshall was only matched by 2 last year: his own to Richards in the GF, and Johns to Buderis in Origin 2.

By the end of the year, Benji Marshall will be worth more on the open market than Lockyer.

Stupid observation.

Lockyer doesn't have the luxery of playing with a halfback like Prince who can completely control the play and kicking game so that Benji can go missing for huge portions of the game and inject himself with pieces of magic every so often.

Lockyer used to have that luxery when he was at fullback playing behind the likes of Langer and Walters, now he's the sole playmaker with only Seymour in support.