Amazing lack of Superstars emerging in the last 8 years

  • We had an issue with background services between march 10th and 15th or there about. This meant the payment services were not linking to automatic upgrades. If you paid for premium membership and are still seeing ads please let me know and the email you used against PayPal and I cam manually verify and upgrade your account.

Enigma

Reserve Grader
I have followed NRL since the early 70s and have always enjoyed the emergence of a potential Superstar and the development of some into a recognized great. The list is endless until you look at almost anyone who has started in the last 8 years.Where are this eras players like Fittler , Johns , Smith , Cronk , Stewart, Menzies, Thurston who by their mid twenties were Superstars. I am not criticizing the current crop as maybe it is much harder now but I have no answer. Brett Stewart was amazing at 21 and better at 25 like so many from the past. The lack of representative halves and five eights from NSW is incredible. Where are the 25 to 30 year old future immortal nominees ?
 
Perhaps it may be that player development within clubs has gone backwards. We used to have a good system of developing juniors and plenty of top players came through it into first grade. Seems to me if you have a young superstar coming through, you train him up only to be poached away by a huge offer from elsewhere. Maybe money is to blame. Too much on offer taking the hunger out of the game. The salary cap is a joke with rich clubs and TPA's draw cards too much for any player to resist.
No answers sorry.
 
I have followed NRL since the early 70s and have always enjoyed the emergence of a potential Superstar and the development of some into a recognized great. The list is endless until you look at almost anyone who has started in the last 8 years.Where are this eras players like Fittler , Johns , Smith , Cronk , Stewart, Menzies, Thurston who by their mid twenties were Superstars. I am not criticizing the current crop as maybe it is much harder now but I have no answer. Brett Stewart was amazing at 21 and better at 25 like so many from the past. The lack of representative halves and five eights from NSW is incredible. Where are the 25 to 30 year old future immortal nominees ?
Here's a question how many of the immortals would be as good in today's game?
 
Milf, Oates, Holmes, Moylan, Cartwright, Munster, Moses, Klemmer,Mbye, Taumalolo, Lolohea,Johnson are pretty good kids

Manly may have Jake,Tommy,Walker, Tom Wright stay around long enough to develop into genuine stars.

I believe that the large number of Polynesian kids in NSW league, bashes the potential NSW future halves out of the comps. The physical difference in builds,is a deterrent to the smaller, agile junior players.

Qld has a different demographic and their comps do produce the half backs
 
The intuitive, instinctive players are being coached out of the game in favour of massive athletic robots. You just rarely see real talent any more.... It's just not what the NRL product requires anymore. They want 10 Semi Radradradrarads, rather than 1 Phil Blake..
 
Gallen,Cronk, smith ,slater,Boyd,Inglis,bird,sonny bill,Lyon,Thurston,I'm sure there's more
Maybe my wording is a bit hard to follow, I agree with these players but as far as I know they are all 30 plus or pretty close. They all started more than eight years ago basically. These players were superstars at 25 years of age in general but who today is 23 to 28 ,say who is a superstar. Some really top players for sure I think it is unique in NRL history but I stand corrected
 
Anthony Milford, Michael Morgan, Kyle feldt, James Roberts, Bryce Cartwright, Valentine Holmes, Cameron Munster
 
Maybe my wording is a bit hard to follow, I agree with these players but as far as I know they are all 30 plus or pretty close. They all started more than eight years ago basically. These players were superstars at 25 years of age in general but who today is 23 to 28 ,say who is a superstar. Some really top players for sure I think it is unique in NRL history but I stand corrected
It's hard to determine to the current stock of superstar generation moves on then you will see which potential super stars shine dominate the game or more importantly the media focus
 
Anthony Milford, Michael Morgan, Kyle feldt, James Roberts, Bryce Cartwright, Valentine Holmes, Cameron Munster
I would love to have any of these at Manly but I think it is strange that no players in this age group are considered better even by the selectors than the 30 plus group
 
Maybe my wording is a bit hard to follow, I agree with these players but as far as I know they are all 30 plus or pretty close. They all started more than eight years ago basically. These players were superstars at 25 years of age in general but who today is 23 to 28 ,say who is a superstar. Some really top players for sure I think it is unique in NRL history but I stand corrected
The games not what it was that's for sure ole mate
 
I would love to have any of these at Manly but I think it is strange that no players in this age group are considered better even by the selectors than the 30 plus group
Rep football selectors like to be safe and prefer players that have been there and done it before.. These list of players will be blooded slowly into transition and more than likely will be in the same boat as Thurston etc now when they are older you would think
 
It's hard to determine to the current stock of superstar generation moves on then you will see which potential super stars shine dominate the game or more importantly the media focus
You make a good point in that players would retire much earlier than this current crop
 
Perhaps it may be that player development within clubs has gone backwards. We used to have a good system of developing juniors and plenty of top players came through it into first grade. Seems to me if you have a young superstar coming through, you train him up only to be poached away by a huge offer from elsewhere. Maybe money is to blame. Too much on offer taking the hunger out of the game. The salary cap is a joke with rich clubs and TPA's draw cards too much for any player to resist.
No answers sorry.
Boom..... Mate you've just hit the nail right on the head. Money has taken the hunger out of the game. It's so blindingly obvious. They don't give a fark if they win or lose. Once they're tied up on a long term deal it's all rainbows and unicorns.
 
Milf, Oates, Holmes, Moylan, Cartwright, Munster, Moses, Klemmer,Mbye, Taumalolo, Lolohea,Johnson are pretty good kids

Manly may have Jake,Tommy,Walker, Tom Wright stay around long enough to develop into genuine stars.

I believe that the large number of Polynesian kids in NSW league, bashes the potential NSW future halves out of the comps. The physical difference in builds,is a deterrent to the smaller, agile junior players.

Qld has a different demographic and their comps do produce the half backs
The talent is there for sure and in my humble mind the most gifted player I have seen is Shaun Johnson and is good enough to single handeldy win the comp for the wobblers but wether he does is another thing.
 
I suppose another way of expressing my point would be to ask , who is the best NSW half , five eight and winger for starters of the last 8 years.
 

Latest posts

Team P W L PD Pts
3 3 0 48 6
4 3 1 28 6
3 2 1 10 6
4 2 2 39 4
3 2 1 28 4
3 2 1 15 4
3 2 1 14 4
2 1 1 13 4
2 1 1 6 4
3 2 1 -3 4
3 1 2 0 2
3 1 2 -5 2
3 1 2 -15 2
3 1 2 -22 2
3 1 2 -36 2
2 0 2 -56 2
3 0 3 -64 0
Back
Top Bottom