I excluded Petero on the basis that he's still playing at a level below the NRL and is a chance of playing in the World Cup.

Of the others you list, some came very close but some of them didn't have great club careers, especially compared to some of those you would exclude.

Most of the list had a good ten years of high performance. Cronin still had seven years in the 80s, going out a Grand Final winner in 1986, his fourth success of the 80s. Boustead played no rep football after 1984 but didn't have the club career Cronin did. Similarly Broadhurst, who was in my original list, played his last Test in 1983. Although Cronin also finished at a similar time at that level, what he did for the Eels makes the difference.

Ridge and Gill were very close. Possibly in positions 101 and 102!

Indeed, and I'm certainly of the opinion those two ought to be residing comfortably within a Top 100 player list over the past 33 years. As was alluded to earlier in the thread though, I do believe that... all parochial bias pushed aside... most who have been in touch with the game from 1980 onwards, they'd probably conclude that up to 75 players are obvious nailed-on selections. It's the remaining 25 which would attract the most debate and differences of opinion.

Me too, but I still wanted club performances to be of a certain level. In a toss-up like Lewis/Johns, it ultimately went on rep performances (Origin in this case), but I left a couple of players out who I felt played at their best in 1-2 rep games a year but rarely other than that.


Re Super League, I totally agree and I think when you've read the book you'll see I'm on the same page as you on this and as for the top 100, I left out some players who were regarded as absolute stars in our comp. But it has been proved that there is a significant overlap between the NRL and SL and when our Test players have gone there they have nearly always excelled, so I didn't want to draw a line and rule out those who didn't go to the NRL, but try and ascertain which might have done well.

I agree that Bella and Lindner should be in there, especially Lindner given he was around origin and internationals for a good 8 years even with plenty of competition in the backrow. Bella was a top forward who was great in origin and ARL but always seemed to be on the losing side vs GB.

I was surprised Ridge wasn't in there. He had a long career at the top of the game and was easily NZ's best fullback. I think may be he didn't rate highly in the ratings was that he wasn't everyone's cup of tea personality wise. Equally the same could be said for McCracken.

I was surprised that Darryl Powell isn't in yet Senior is. Powell had excellent series in 90 vs NZ over there and Australia here playing a key role in a winning side and in 92 he was very steady in defence against Meninga and Daley. Senior had the odd decent game but never stood out like Powell IMO.

Newton was a tough player and did ok at test level but I'd say he had less impact internationally than others like Dixon, Jackson or even Martin Dermott in 1992.

Sean Long? Pffft! One decent game followed by a hissy fit for GB.

Agree with you on those. However as we agreed once you go over 75 players some lesser lights start to have a case.



Petero doesn't qualify but of the others they do have more of a case than many above. I'm not so sure about Gill, he was great in 88 but wasn't that the last time he played for GB. He didn't get chance to do much in 86 so that doesn't leave much to go on. Tamati? He was good for the biff but I was never really convinced he was much other than just a hardman.

The international ban was only lifted in 83/84 and we signed Dean Bell and Joe Ropati (who ended up not coming for some reason), after that NZ made it difficult to sign players on long term contracts for a while - hence Bell couldn't complete his 2 year deal. Greame Lowe was NZ coach at the time I believe and didn't want younger internationals playing in Britain - only players with more than a certain number of caps could sign for British clubs.
As I remember, and older Hull fans may correct me, but the money they paid to sign the awesome foursome - Kemble, Leuleui, O'Hara and Fred "Ahkoui" (sorry, no idea how to spell it) pretty much bankrupted them.

We did sign some crap, but the list of players we went after was pretty impressive, Meninga, Sterling, Wayne Pearce. Shame clubs like Wigan were signing the likes of Adrian Shelford and Widnes were signing the Sorensens long term rather than just for off season.