Best halfback

[Class of 96]

Phil Blake was the most exciting halfback I have ever seen. Tooves for me holds the mantle for his sheer guts and will to win. Never buckled under any situation. DCE to me will become our best ever. He has more guts than people give him credit for, and has a massive skillset, and is the most complete halfback. With a few decent players around him, he will lead us to further glory, and he will be dominant for Qld and Australia.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Mayes was the best backer-upperer through the middle I have ever seen .....

Mayes was a decent halfback and good support player but struggled to hold a regular first grade spot at times in his career... and yes he was good for backing up through the middle but hardly in the same ball park as Terry Lamb, who made a career out of that particular caper.
Mayes did have a few top shelf years, including his time with Manly. He played 1 or 3 times for Australia, depending whether you believe wiki or the players project (!)

 

[Shnorky]

Does halves include 5/8?
Ian Martin so underated, although did play lock as well.
Alan thompson- how many games for Australia
Gibbsy freak
Blake best attacking player of all time bigger freak
Toovey best all round
Ox dally m
Dce best to come
It's a hard one but the thought of them all it gives me a hard one

 

[Walter Perolta]

Any half needs good players around them. How long did Thurston play at the Cows and got them nowhere before he finally got quality players around him? From 2008-2010 they finished 15th, 12th and 15th again. That's twice that the Cows came 2nd last with him as captain. And just about everyone is tipping Thurston as a future Immortal.

Any half needs good players around them. How long did Thurston play at the Cows and got them nowhere before he finally got quality players around him? From 2008-2010 they finished 15th, 12th and 15th again. That's twice that the Cows came 2nd last with him as captain. And just about everyone is tipping Thurston as a future Immortal.

Yes but dce is no Thurston.. sure hes out played him in some games but JT owned origin and like you said is a future immortal

 

[HoldenV8]

He was a great little half that had a HoldenV8 engine , but also was a very good 9 . Passes hit the spot , defense around the ruck and was quick out of dummy half. Take him in either position.

We've had some great hooker / dummy halves at Manly. Kevin Schubert, Fred Jones, Max Krilich, Mal Cochrane, Jim Serdaris, Matty Ballin.....but in an all time best Manly team, if I didn't have Tooves at halfback I would be very temped to play him at hooker over any of them. Tooves would have succeeded at hooker even in the rough and tumble days when Fred Jones and Thrower Krilich were there. Small, but he was as tough as they came.

Yes but dce is no Thurston.. sure hes out played him in some games but JT owned origin and like you said is a future immortal

Thurston owned Origin because he had the players around him to get the job done and that made his job so much easier. And no matter what we may think of them personally, players like Smith, Slater, Cronk, 1nglis Matt Scott etc are going to go down in history as some of the greats of rugby league.

But Origin wins don't count for squat when it comes to premierships. It may give individual players more confidence when they win, and win regularly like Qld has done for the past bakers dozen years. My point is that no matter how good a player is individually.....rugby league is a team game and even the best player in the world (which Thurston was for many years), isn't going to win a premiership if they don't have club team mates of quality.

And just for the record, while DCE as captain led Manly to 15th this year when he had team mates like the Turbo's, Kapow, AFB, Thommo, Walks, Api and even Hodko, in those years that Thurston as Cows captain also led them to 15th, he had payers like Matt Bowen, Shannon Hegarty, Matt Scott, James Tamou and Luke O'Donnell alongside, so its not like he played a lone hand either. And they had a couple of good coaches in that time too in Graham Murray and Neil Henry.

 

[Go manly]

In my memory period, say 1975 to today it is quite interesting that we don’t have a halfback that was the best over a long period. Ward and Junee didn’t stand out for me, but rather Alan Thomson was the constant creative spark in the halves throughout the 70s.

Gibbs and Blake are unmatched for attacking brilliance in my mind. Steve martin played for Australia but I’d call him solid rather than brilliant.

Des was really good in the mid 80s. Tooves had an amazing competitive spirit, great defence and good passing. The sort of half who touched the ball 6 times in every set of six.

Ox was solid.

Dce has it all and I’d probably say he is the best all around manly halfback in the past 40 years.

Yeah mate

Alan Thompson was very very good in a different era

 

[manly al]

Can only be regarded as a Manly Great , Alan Thompson . Remember reading an article once with Thommo in his prime and the heading simply saying " Thommo , you have come a long way " and highlighting his rise from a Manly junior to international level . Just making it to the top level with sheer dedication and making the most of his natural ability and could perform well at 6 , 7 or even occasionally as a centre . And again for those who thought that Cliffy was mainly partial to the odd fag , Thommo was a classic also .

 

[Woodsie]

Mayes was a decent halfback and good support player but struggled to hold a regular first grade spot at times in his career... and yes he was good for backing up through the middle but hardly in the same ball park as Terry Lamb, who made a career out of that particular caper.
Mayes did have a few top shelf years, including his time with Manly. He played 1 or 3 times for Australia, depending whether you believe wiki or the players project (!)

All memories are suspect including mine ... but to qoute the Bard ..we can agree to disagree ... I would back Mayes as a support player with daylight second and Lamb third ....

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

You may be right. I scarcely recall him but checked his stats, which suggest he had 3 great years - '73-'75 - but the rest was a bit so-so.

 

[Bearfax]

Manly have had some fine half backs that I can recall

Frank Stanton: In his day before Fulton he was the Manly star and played brilliantly at half and centre.
Dennis Ward: Helped Manly to their first premiership. Under rated. Quick, nimble, tough
John Mayes: Helped Manly to their second premiership. A complete competitor. Solid in attack and defence
Kevin Junee: Manly and Easts did the switcharoo with Mayes returned to Easts and Junee leaving Easts for Manly. Quicker and more exciting than Mays but not as solid and reliable.
Gary Stevens: One of Manly's many Poms during this period. Solid, reliable fairly quick. Needed to get us premiership 1976
John Gibbs: Quicksilver. Could score tries almost a will. Not a great defender but in attack, he and Blake stand out as Manly's finest
Steve Martin: Manly probably needed him in their remarkable finals fight for the crown in '78 grand final win. They needed someone solid, tough, reliable, never say die, and with Gibbs injured, Martin, who usually played 5/8 in those early years was just the man they needed at half during the finals.
Alan Thompson: Very clever ball player second only to Cliff Lyons for creating chances. Not fast, good defender, but he had a wicked pass.
Phil Blake: The Wizard who learned his kicking skills playing Aussie Rules as a kid. Lightning quick, shaky in defence but along with Gibbs, the best attacking half Manly has had.
Geoff Toovey: I remember the day this blond ball boy sized half played against the English test side in a lead up match to the tests. Could not believe how he kept putting down forward after forward, who made the mistake of running at him. In those days he also was quick and had good attacking skills. I know he didn't have much of a kicking game, but for all round effectiveness, he was in my opinion Manly's best half. Moved to hooker, when he was slowing down
Des Hasler: Jack in the box. Had remarkable athleticism. Mainly played 5/8 but filled in just as competently at lock and half. I was reminded a little of Manly 5/8 during the late 60s early 70s in Ian Martin. Tough no nonsense player, perpetual motion, not very fast, but always backing up and defended like Toovey. One of our best all round players
DCE: Potentially our best half but not yet. Has most of the skills. Not a great ball player, but has individual attacking brilliance, a great kicking game (when he's on song), very strong defender (but probably not as damaging as Toovey and Hasler as defenders).

They were the standouts in my mind but I never saw Ken Arthurson, who was apparently quite clever before his serious injury. But other notables were Ed Whiley (OK), Mike Eden (great goal kicker), Bob Hardie (could'a been), Mitchell Cox (a disappointment), Craig Field (a bigger disappointment), Michael Witt (OK), Ben Walker (good player), Michael Monaghan (good player).

 

[TWO DOGS]

Manly have had some fine half backs that I can recall

Frank Stanton: In his day before Fulton he was the Manly star and played brilliantly at half and centre.
Dennis Ward: Helped Manly to their first premiership. Under rated. Quick, nimble, tough
John Mayes: Helped Manly to their second premiership. A complete competitor. Solid in attack and defence
Kevin Junee: Manly and Easts did the switcharoo with Mayes returned to Easts and Junee leaving Easts for Manly. Quicker and more exciting than Mays but not as solid and reliable.
Gary Stevens: One of Manly's many Poms during this period. Solid, reliable fairly quick. Needed to get us premiership 1976
John Gibbs: Quicksilver. Could score tries almost a will. Not a great defender but in attack, he and Blake stand out as Manly's finest
Steve Martin: Manly probably needed him in their remarkable finals fight for the crown in '78 grand final win. They needed someone solid, tough, reliable, never say die, and with Gibbs injured, Martin, who usually played 5/8 in those early years was just the man they needed at half during the finals.
Alan Thompson: Very clever ball player second only to Cliff Lyons for creating chances. Not fast, good defender, but he had a wicked pass.
Phil Blake: The Wizard who learned his kicking skills playing Aussie Rules as a kid. Lightning quick, shaky in defence but along with Gibbs, the best attacking half Manly has had.
Geoff Toovey: I remember the day this blond ball boy sized half played against the English test side in a lead up match to the tests. Could not believe how he kept putting down forward after forward, who made the mistake of running at him. In those days he also was quick and had good attacking skills. I know he didn't have much of a kicking game, but for all round effectiveness, he was in my opinion Manly's best half. Moved to hooker, when he was slowing down
Des Hasler: Jack in the box. Had remarkable athleticism. Mainly played 5/8 but filled in just as competently at lock and half. I was reminded a little of Manly 5/8 during the late 60s early 70s in Ian Martin. Tough no nonsense player, perpetual motion, not very fast, but always backing up and defended like Toovey. One of our best all round players
DCE: Potentially our best half but not yet. Has most of the skills. Not a great ball player, but has individual attacking brilliance, a great kicking game (when he's on song), very strong defender (but probably not as damaging as Toovey and Hasler as defenders).

They were the standouts in my mind but I never saw Ken Arthurson, who was apparently quite clever before his serious injury. But other notables were Ed Whiley (OK), Mike Eden (great goal kicker), Bob Hardie (could'a been), Mitchell Cox (a disappointment), Craig Field (a bigger disappointment), Michael Witt (OK), Ben Walker (good player), Michael Monaghan (good player).

Great summary Bear. l agree too with Thompson's passes as bullet like also Ian Martin had a fantastic pass and was such a tough player. We sure have had some remarkable Sea Eagles over the years.

 

[andyw]

Alan Thompson was a fantastic player. Allan Thomson also went ok. Played in our first ever GF win.

 

[madmax]

Alan Thompson was a fantastic player. Allan Thomson also went ok. Played in our first ever GF win.

Alan Thompson was Manly coach in 1989.........didn't do so well & was replaced by Graham Lowe. Great player though!!!!

 

[BOZO]

Mayes was the best backer-upperer through the middle I have ever seen .....

A question . What was the difference between Mayes and Junee as per their strengths and weaknesses in your opinion ?

 

[Blake A]

I'd just chuck Cliffy in the 7 jeresy with Fulton at 6....

 

[Woodsie]

A question . What was the difference between Mayes and Junee as per their strengths and weaknesses in your opinion ?

Mayes won 3 Premierships ... Junee didn't ...

 

[HoldenV8]

Geoff Toovey: I remember the day this blond ball boy sized half played against the English test side in a lead up match to the tests. Could not believe how he kept putting down forward after forward, who made the mistake of running at him. In those days he also was quick and had good attacking skills. I know he didn't have much of a kicking game, but for all round effectiveness, he was in my opinion Manly's best half. Moved to hooker, when he was slowing down.

Tooves may have been slowing down a bit when he was moved more and more to hooker, but his speed, especially off the mark, was still such that he was lethal out of dummy half and very few in the game at the time could match him over a 20-30 metre sprint from a standing start.

In all the years I have been following rugby league, I have never seen a faster runner out of dummy half than Tooves

 

[manly al]

I don't think so, mate. Matty played under 16's for the Baralaba Panthers. This is back when I (I was our hooker) actually had to strike for the ball. Matty would dummy to feed the scrum, I would immediately start raking the opposition hookers legs/nuts while freeing up an arm for punching/face massaging. Then we'd put on a big push as Matty fed the scrum and bingo! We went two seasons without losing a scrum!! Good times.

Thank you for indulging me!

My pleasure . Actually the Matt Smith half back that i was referring to did play as a regular 7 for Brisbane Norths Devils in the Q cup some years ago . Good player in a then Storm aligned affiliate and a goal kicker but had guys like Cronk ahead of him to limit his N R L opportunities . Ah , the days when the team's hooker [ figuratively speaking ] wore the 12 and when virtually every scrum was a contest to win the ball and a good no 12 rake , such a crucial part of their side:s chances of success in winning enough possession .. Played all of my junior footy and a good part of my senior footy with the serious scrum contests such an integral facet of a match so can certainly relate to your post . Used to play with a former reserve grade A R l hooker and just what he used to relate to with the toughness and hard play that he encounted under the older style scrum contests was pretty revealing but scrum contests at any level in those times was always a struggle to get an edge .

 

[double hoops]

Looking at the pre Xmas training photos, and the half back who looks like he is the leader of the entire group is Hogko. Halfbacks should direct. Great sign IMO.

 

[Ryan]

Looking at the pre Xmas training photos, and the half back who looks like he is the leader of the entire group is Hogko. Halfbacks should direct. Great sign IMO.

Won't make the team.

06. Kane Elgey
07. Daly Cherry-Evans
09. Apisai Koroisou
14. Manase Fainu