Best players never to play Origin or Test

[Socnorb]

Ok ,Maybe not 1000, All I'm saying is he is the sort of player QLD has relied on, no fancy hairdo, just spirit. Do you think D. Johnson would have ever made a NSW side ?

 

[Alec]

Ahead of Cameron Smith and other great players in the QLD team? I doubt it. Unfortunatley for Tongue he always had strong competition for spots. He was a very good player in his day though winning the Dally M captain and lock of the year in 2008.

Tongue was at his best playing back row and having terrific defence. All the hooker stuff was really just a fill in.

 

[Sproj]

Sproj's list would be extremely easy

Ben Cross, Brett White, Steve Turner, Anthony Quinn, Antonio Kafusi

NEXT

You forgot the biggest of them all: Jamie Buhrer!! The best part is he openly said he deserved it. Haha

 

[KingWebcke]

Ok ,Maybe not 1000, All I'm saying is he is the sort of player QLD has relied on, no fancy hairdo, just spirit. Do you think D. Johnson would have ever made a NSW side ?

i think us picking players on heart and effort is a bit overstated. its just an image of ourselves that we take pride in. Plenty of players have heart but most of them also have a lot of talent or other qualities that justified their selection.

Johnson is a bit of an exception if you look at most of our teams. I don't honestly think DJ would have made the QLD Origin team if he had started his career 5 years earlier or 5 years later. we could afford to pick him because we had Price and Petro in the team, so we could afford to carry a lock who never did anything other than tackle

 

[Big Pete]

You forgot the biggest of them all: Jamie Buhrer!! The best part is he openly said he deserved it. Haha

Heh, well I did have something of a theme going but Buhrer is definitely a good shout.

As is David Williams, Jason King, Josh Perry & Tony Williams.

 

[Aldo]

Lots of more recent players mentioned but the guy I think was dudded the most in rep football was Mario Fenech. He played twice for NSW but should have played lots more. Was hard as they come and played in an era with some pretty tough hombres. I actually think he played his best football as a prop for North Sydney. There was a stage there where he was probably in the top 3 props running around.

 

[tripletreat]

John Sutton

 

[Broncoman]

I watched the 2008 Grand Final last week and it got me thinking about Michael Robertson and how he would've gone in Origin.

In the grand-final he scored 3 tries and although he was finishing movements he had to react quickly in all the tries as the defence was coming across in cover quickly giving him minimum time and he didn't just score a hatrick he dominated opposing man Anthony Quinn who played all 3 games for NSW that year. He also was versatile as he filled in for Brett Stewart and some point during his stint at Manly and did very well.

 

[KingWebcke]

He also was versatile as he filled in for Brett Stewart and some point during his stint at Manly and did very well.

he was pretty bad at fullback though when he played there. I don't think he was any more versatile than any other winger who occasionally plays fullback (Steve Turner, Sam Perrett etc)

I remember Robertson's name getting tossed around a bit but I think he just falls into that category of players who were never quite good enough. The fact that he never got the opportunity to play works in his favour because while other players tried and failed, he didn't get the chance to be exposed in Origin. I don't think he was that much better than Steve Turner and I don't think he would have been much chop as an Origin player.

was unlucky to miss out though, considering hacks like Monaghan, Wolfman and Quinn got runs.

 

[Alec]

QLD has managed to make almost every NSW winger look terrible at some point in the last 8 years (Michael Gordon is the only exception I can think of, though he only played the 1 game). Robertson got lucky.

 

[KingWebcke]

QLD has managed to make almost every NSW winger look terrible at some point in the last 8 years (Michael Gordon is the only exception I can think of, though he only played the 1 game). Robertson got lucky.

depends what you mean by 'making them look terrible'. I don't think Hayne has been made to look terrible. I think McManus did a passable job and while Brett Morris looked shitty at times I think that was more to do with his own incompetence than QLD pressuring him.

the NSW wingers that have been made to look like utter tits are guys like Turner, Quinn, Monaghan, Williams, Merritt ... and I think the pretty consistent theme there is that NSW just picked wingers who were shit.

 

[Alec]

Hayne has definitely been exposed defensively quite a bit in his first couple of years in Origin on the wing.

 

[KingWebcke]

Hayne has definitely been exposed defensively quite a bit in his first couple of years in Origin on the wing.

if anything, I think Hayne's defence on the winger was better early in his career. he's got a bit sloppy since he started playing fullback all the time (2009 maybe?). but even then I really don't think he is that bad these days. I definitely don't think we have ever made him look terrible; in fact, quite a few times he has been the only NSW player to make our guys look terrible.

I guess my view my be counter to the norm though; I know a few people who think Hayne is really bad defensively on the wing. I have a friend who always bangs on about how horrible Hayne's defence on the wing is but I just don't see it (I mean he's not good defensively but he isn't terrible). he just rushes in a lot, which is a tactic I hate but it seems to be the way wingers are taught to defend in the modern game. To be honest, I thought Hayne has done a decent job defending against Hodges in Origin because Hodges likes to hold onto the ball a little bit longer, so rushing up and in off the wing works pretty well.

 

[Broncoman]

When I watch the Origin game with Ryan O'Hara it makes me wonder how Skandalis would've gone. O'Hara was only on the field for 20 minutes and made very little impact while Skandalis on the other hand was a type that would always lift for big games. Standout performer for a struggling club with a no-nonsense attitude.