Billy Slater reality check

[Dee Why Eagle]

Agree with all this...
But one scummo I would exclude from the vitriol is Cooper Cronk.
Only decent person in their core group

 

[Loobs]

Agree with all this...
But one scummo I would exclude from the vitriol is Cooper Cronk.
Only decent person in their core group

I have no issue with Cronk.

 

[Pablo]

Channel 9 have probably reserved a spot for him as a commentator when he retires. Add that to the long list of reasons to avoid that dribble of a coverage.

 

[yokahontas]

Agree with all this...
But one scummo I would exclude from the vitriol is Cooper Cronk.
Only decent person in their core group

Although - for all his squeaky clean image, don't forget he had his own public urination charge, while out on the piss with Michael Crocker. For some strange reason, it was never made into a big deal the way Anthony Watmough's drunken wall-peeing was though...how odd.

 

[midsteyne]

Sterlo had the same injury as the grub and reckons he will not recover,too scared to risk another op,that has got to be omen from an ex star,heres hoping

 

[Woodsie]

Sterlo had the same injury as the grub and reckons he will not recover,too scared to risk another op,that has got to be omen from an ex star,heres hoping

Surgical and medical procedures have advanced a fair bit since since Yoda Sterling played.

 

[Killer03]

@Dee Why Eagle 100 percent. Go back to 07. The only dignified winner (on the day) who went around commiserating with the Sea Eagles players. I've never forgotten that. And he had never gone on like a knob in games against us.

Now onto Sir Billy. Great player, let's not let our hatred blind us to that. On his day his electrifying play out of fullback was brilliant. Defensively......hmmmm whilst not bad, he resorted to absolutely rubbish illegal tactics which were poor to the extreme. The fact that he has been beyond reproach (along with Sir Cameron) is pathetic. The way the media vilify say Jamie Lyon or Brett Stewart when they have never employed such disgraceful dirty nigglign tactics that the Storm have is pathetic.

Attacking I would put snake and slater about on a par, although snake would have set up more tries in his day. Defensively snake has to be superior, some of the tackles he used to pull off against steamrolling forwards or giant backs (inglis) would have earned him a lordship if he played for the scum or cows.

 

[Shoe1]

I have no issue with Cronk.

Cronk's former "inspirational" website suggests he has a Paltrow-esque grip on reality.

 

[Shoe1]

Sterlo had the same injury as the grub and reckons he will not recover,too scared to risk another op,that has got to be omen from an ex star,heres hoping

I remember cement ironed sterol out when he returned from the injury. Perhaps a little bit of lateness about the hit that banished sterol into retirement.

 

[andyeagle]

Good to read everyone's opinion on this. I agree with the credit where credit is due comments. Slater can produce magic on his day. Fair call too on the Wolfman incident. But overall, I just find him very hard to cop. Same too with "Cam" Smith. Obviously a great player, but also has a history of some very ordinary behaviour. His carry on after the McKinnon incident was a disgrace. Someone once asked my if the 2008 GF felt empty cause "Cam" Smith didn't play. You just have to laugh and remind people they were about $1 million over the cap that day. I also told them to go back and look on youtube and watch the incident he was suspended for. The only thing that feels empty is being passionate about a code where Crocker can knock someone out without punishment, where Slater can lead feet first into tackles without punishment, and Cam Smith gets just 2 weeks for nearly ripping a blokes neck off. The potential for injury in what the did is beyond belief. Anyhow, my anti-Storm rant is over. Thanks everyone for your insights.

 

[Normie]

They will always be the cheating Purple Pricks to me

 

[ALinda]

Well said @andyeagle - whilst I give Slater credit for the Wolfman incident, that's as far as it goes as I dislike his needless, dirty tactics, along with his cohort Smith.

Reading the thread title, I thought the 'reality check' would be referring to Slater not playing in the first few rounds this year and, despite all the hype about his return, he's still out injured. Quite possibly the reality is he might not return or last the whole season.

 

[Wombat Legacy]

You idiots hating are off your head. Billy Slater is a champion footballer...probably one of the best fullbacks of all time.
Absolute gun!

 

[Wombat Legacy]

@Dee Why Eagle 100 percent. Go back to 07. The only dignified winner (on the day) who went around commiserating with the Sea Eagles players. I've never forgotten that. And he had never gone on like a knob in games against us.

Now onto Sir Billy. Great player, let's not let our hatred blind us to that. On his day his electrifying play out of fullback was brilliant. Defensively......hmmmm whilst not bad, he resorted to absolutely rubbish illegal tactics which were poor to the extreme. The fact that he has been beyond reproach (along with Sir Cameron) is pathetic. The way the media vilify say Jamie Lyon or Brett Stewart when they have never employed such disgraceful dirty nigglign tactics that the Storm have is pathetic.

Attacking I would put snake and slater about on a par, although snake would have set up more tries in his day. Defensively snake has to be superior, some of the tackles he used to pull off against steamrolling forwards or giant backs (inglis) would have earned him a lordship if he played for the scum or cows.

Bull****...Billy Slater will always be remembered as superior to Stewart. FACT
Unfortunately snake just didnt have the opportunity to challenge

 

[HoldenV8]

Here is a hypothetical question for you all.

Just for the sake of argument, lets assume that Billy Slater had come to Manly instead of going to Melbourne back in 2003. Where would you have played him assuming that we still would have had or picked up the likes of Snake, Skivy, Killer, Robbo etc.

Personally, I'd still have had Snake as a fullback and played Slater either on the wing or in the centres (Killer would have still been one of the greats even if he played most of his career at 5/8). Slater was a bit more versatile than Snake in that respect so playing him in the three-quarters would still have worked well.

Whether you like Slater or not, I think you'd have to admit that a backline that looked something like:- Snake, Robbo, Slater, Skivy, Hicks, Killer and either Monoghan or Orford would have arguably been the best in the comp and would rival Brisbane's almost all Kangaroos test backline of the early 90's when they had Hauff (O'Neill), Hancock, Renouf, Johns, Carne, Kevin Walters and Langer (damn, looking at that backline, then adding players like Lazarus, Kerrod Walters, Gillmeister etc its a wonder they never got done for being over the cap.....but that's another story lol).

As I said though, its just a hypothetical question. I think we did ok without him

 

[Killer03]

Bull****...Billy Slater will always be remembered as superior to Stewart. FACT
Unfortunately snake just didnt have the opportunity to challenge

I think Slater will be remembered as the more superior player among the majority of fans, but I am assessing the two based on my opinion of their skills, and personally I believe it's defence that separates them as Snake had the better defence.

You can't always discount the medias role in portraying a player as great or otherwise. I think 09 tarnished Snake forever and he was never given his dues as a result.

 

[yokahontas]

I think Slater will be remembered as the more superior player among the majority of fans, but I am assessing the two based on my opinion of their skills, and personally I believe it's defence that separates them as Snake had the better defence.

You can't always discount the medias role in portraying a player as great or otherwise. I think 09 tarnished Snake forever and he was never given his dues as a result.

Slater always had more clangers in him as well - might've been able to pull off something that looked spectacular, but follow it up by knocking the ball on in front of his own posts. I think Brett always had his measure on reliability/consistency as well as defence.

 

[Killer03]

Slater always had more clangers in him as well - might've been able to pull off something that looked spectacular, but follow it up by knocking the ball on in front of his own posts. I think Brett always had his measure on reliability/consistency as well as defence.

Yeh I can't recall Snake having too many brain explosions. The most famous for Slater being the pass back infield in the 08 test v NZ ( was that the 4 nations final?).

 

[yokahontas]

Yeh I can't recall Snake having too many brain explosions. The most famous for Slater being the pass back infield in the 08 test v NZ ( was that the 4 nations final?).

Yep, that was one of the big clangers I was thinking of!

 

[EaglesDontTweet]

I hate this incident being used to show what a great guy Slater is. It's total BS.
It's called common decency, and he reacted the same way that the majority of people would have in that situation.
All it proved was that he's human, it's doesn't change the fact he's a **** wit

I wasn't going to comment as you make a fair point but as you've quoted my post there @Pablo, I'll point out I didn't say that that incident made him a great guy, in fact I don't know many great guys that would require a redeeming quality (as I had suggested).
A lot of people have medals for, quoting them, "doing just what anyone else would have done", but I do think if one young footy player watching that night remembers what Slater did and does the same (if put in a similar situation), then that is a positive legacy.
I agree with you that it doesn't make him a great guy (Wolfman might disagree) and it's up to each league fan how they balance up all his legacies, good or bad, to form their own opinion (of which I have one but have not expressed).