Your five most underrated players of the NRL era (1998-2018)

[Dragon_psa]

Wairangi Koopu
Wayne Bartrim
Lance Thompson
Luke Lewis
Nathan Brown

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

1 - Mitch Aubusson - standout for me.
2 - Jarrod Croker
3 - Steve Southern
4 - Paul Rauhihi
5 - Dallas Johnson

No bias in Dragons players there.. but my Dragons top 5 (even though I'd suggest many Dragons fans would rate them highly also) would be

1 - Russell Packer
2 - Kevin Campion
3 - Dean Young
4 - Mark Riddell
5 - Leeson Ah Mau

 

[The Book of Steeden]

1 - Mitch Aubusson - standout for me.
2 - Jarrod Croker
3 - Steve Southern
4 - Paul Rauhihi
5 - Dallas Johnson

No bias in Dragons players there.. but my Dragons top 5 (even though I'd suggest many Dragons fans would rate them highly also) would be

1 - Russell Packer
2 - Kevin Campion
3 - Dean Young
4 - Mark Riddell
5 - Leeson Ah Mau

Great call on Campion, I came here to mention him. Last of a dying breed, almost. I was at his last game, too - was a cracker of a contest.

Ivan Cleary is a bit of a strange one - a wonderful player, & if you mention him, people will agree, but if you’re not the one to bring his name up, nobody else will.

 

[mozza91]

Good call on Ah Mau too. Excellent player who does his job every single week. Was sad we missed out on him.

 

[Southern Rooster]

Mitchell Aubusson
Jason Nightingale
Aiden Tolman
Alan Tongue
Gavin Cooper
Sam Perrett

 

[The Book of Steeden]

Shane Elford, another. Busy in attack & an unusually strong defender among Centres, too.

 

[The Book of Steeden]

Mitchell Aubusson
Jason Nightingale
Aiden Tolman
Alan Tongue
Gavin Cooper
Sam Perrett

Have to disagree on Perrett. Although never highly rated, it was with good cause, IMO. He spent a good 50% of his career as a fringe first grader, eventually only pushing through to the regular 17 by essentially outlasting the stays of more talented backliners at the Roosters.

 

[THE CHAMP]

Andrew McCullough
Tim Mannah
Chad Townsend
Mitchell Aubusson
Blake Green

Andrew McCullough is not underrated

 

[Whip Whitaker]

Ryan James. If he was a Queenslander, he probably would have played 10-15 origins by now.

 

[Albert Rosenfeld]

So underrated he couldn't crack firsts.

Tony Gigot was still learning back then. Now he has evolved into one of the best 12 attacking full backs in the world. He even won the Lance Todd trophy for best player at the 2018 Challenge Cup final. He could easily find a spot in an NRL club, but he wants to stay in France with the Catalans.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Ryan James. If he was a Queenslander, he probably would have played 10-15 origins by now.

He’d be a better option than glasby

 

[Whip Whitaker]

He’d be a better option than glasby

Absolutely. Ryan James is the most underrated forward in the NRL imo. Maybe playing for the Gold Coast means only the most ardent league fans watch your games. That works against him in terms of rep footy.

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Absolutely. Ryan James is the most underrated forward in the NRL imo. Maybe playing for the Gold Coast means only the most ardent league fans watch your games. That works against him in terms of rep footy.

His penalties against are always brought up first and then completely ignore the 70 minutes and 40 tackles he just finished

 

[Bring back John Fifita]

Absolutely. Ryan James is the most underrated forward in the NRL imo. Maybe playing for the Gold Coast means only the most ardent league fans watch your games. That works against him in terms of rep footy.

Is he better with long or short hair?

 

[Rhino_NQ]

Is he better with long or short hair?

Well once upon a time having stupid or extravagant hair alone would have gotten him picked for the blues. No dreds and idris doesn’t get nearly much commentator jizz on him, same with the wolfmans beard

 

[Dingo_dan]

His penalties against are always brought up first and then completely ignore the 70 minutes and 40 tackles he just finished

If your middle forward isn't giving away a few penalties then that's actually a problem. If a middle forward like James makes 40 tackles over 70 minutes each week you sure as hell want him to have a penalty or 2 against his name.

 

[Whip Whitaker]

His penalties against are always brought up first and then completely ignore the 70 minutes and 40 tackles he just finished

He finds the try line quite a lot too. The thing that impresses me most about Ryan James is that he runs and tackles with a lot of venom.

 

[Albert Rosenfeld]

Tony Gigot was still learning back then. Now he has evolved into one of the best 12 attacking full backs in the world. He even won the Lance Todd trophy for best player at the 2018 Challenge Cup final. He could easily find a spot in an NRL club, but he wants to stay in France with the Catalans.

BREAKING NEWS: Tony Gigot has been approached by North Queensland Cowboys to play full back in place of sacked welder Benjamin Barbarous.

 

[Man of Steele]

BREAKING NEWS: Tony Gigot has been approached by North Queensland Cowboys to play full back in place of sacked welder Benjamin Barbarous.

No he hasn’t....lol...heard of Jordan Kahu?

 

[Whip Whitaker]

BREAKING NEWS: Tony Gigot has been approached by North Queensland Cowboys to play full back in place of sacked welder Benjamin Barbarous.

BREAKING NEWS: Tony Gigot has been approached by North Queensland Cowboys to play full back in place of sacked welder Benjamin Barbarous.

Remi's records/legacy is secured. No Tony Gigot to the NRL.....