How good was Cliffy

[midsteyne]

Fox had a good run of Manly games recently and there was plenty of Cliffy weaving his magic.
Question.
Where do you all rate Cliffy in the whole Goat list.
Ive got him second to the goat himself,the mighty Bozo.

 

[Woodsie]

Fox had a good run of Manly games recently and there was plenty of Cliffy weaving his magic.
Question.
Where do you all rate Cliffy in the whole Goat list.
Ive got him second to the goat himself,the mighty Bozo.

Spare a moment .... close your eyes .... and imagine 30m out .... attacking raid ... and Bozo playing centre outside Cliffy .....

PSS ... and then imagine Beaver giving an option by running an inside line ....

 

[kurrieagle]

Cliffy is God

 

[maxta]

Watch the movie "The Matrix"
He just picked the defence apart like it was slow motion....

 

[midsteyne]

Spare a moment .... close your eyes .... and imagine 30m out .... attacking raid ... and Bozo playing centre outside Cliffy .....

PSS ... and then imagine Beaver giving an option by running an inside line ....

I closed my eyes,saw the vision and blew my bolt

 

[hozza]

One of my all time favourite players. Whenever he played, I always thought we’d win. Legend..

 

[BOZO]

Cliffy was a confidence player and on his day he was dominating . You cant do any more than dominate a game . Very skillful , creative and magical . David Copperfield like .
Definitely one of the best and one of a kind .

 

[HappilyManly]

Cliffy is God

So blessed to have cheered Cliffy on in all his Manly games

Cliffy's 300th was the most memorable. He put Beaver through for 4 tries that day

And this
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154745481668074&id=6878248073&_rdr

 

[Shoe1]

Plenty of speed there from torrens.

 

[Cliffymagic]

I forget what year it was but i have memories of so many line breaks from a cliffy pass and seeing menzies kosef or gartner just steaming thru the gap.

 

[Bearfax]

Cliffy is God

Cliffy isn't God. He's just a god. No 1 Fulton, No 2 Lyons, No 3 Eadie

 

[HappilyManly]

I forget what year it was but i have memories of so many line breaks from a cliffy pass and seeing menzies kosef or gartner just steaming thru the gap.

1994 round 14 Manly 61 v Drags 0 😛

 

[Ranga]

I am loving these Cliffy highlights! The thing that is noticeable to me is how many bodies there were in motion. Cliffy was a magician, his timing unmatched, but his teammates were there giving him the options and allowing him to do what he did best.

 

[Cliffy's Jockstrap]

Ahh memmm'ries doobie doobie doobie dooo........

I won't attempt to rank Cliffy against others, but he was my all time favourite Manly player. Which I guess is certainly saying something. Particularly in his younger years he had rather decent strength in the run and speed over about 40 or 50. Always he had superb acceleration and step, always he had a superb dummy pass that could fool opponent after opponent. Always, if you were smart enough to run off his hip you could count on getting a bagful of tries - hello Beaver, another of my alltime faves - because his run and pass game was as good as any I've seen and he was exceptionally unselfish. Like Benji Marshall in his prime, he was an instinct player with an extraordinary instinct for points, you had to be familiar enough with him to have a feeling for what he might do next, but if you did have that familiarity and feeling then you were sure the hell going to get a try or two in your time.

Did I mention I've always thought he was a critical contributor to the development of the modern "targeted kick for try" game? Witness the entirely deliberate kick for Michael O'Connor that O'Connor called for and got in the 1987 GF.

Memoriesssss.........

 

[Spartan Eagle]

My all time favourite player. He's a living legend.

 

[Lyonstomenzies]

My favourite player to watch play the game.

He was the best instructive player I’ve seen. He and Mark Ella in rugby seemed to have so much time to weave their magic.

 

[Dan]

Spare a moment .... close your eyes .... and imagine 30m out .... attacking raid ... and Bozo playing centre outside Cliffy .....

PSS ... and then imagine Beaver giving an option by running an inside line ....

Need to implement a jizz in pants reaction just for this

 

[Ranga]

Need to implement a jizz in pants reaction just for this

If I was technologically advanced, I would link The Lonely Island’s music video, “Jizz in my pants” or a related gif. An absolute classic - Andy Sandberg cracks me up!

 

[PONTIAN SEA EAGLE]

He definitely walked a good Sydney to Melbourne marathon with ease even at his age.

 

[Bearfax]

I am loving these Cliffy highlights! The thing that is noticeable to me is how many bodies there were in motion. Cliffy was a magician, his timing unmatched, but his teammates were there giving him the options and allowing him to do what he did best.

I think Cliffy failed to progress to an established test player (he played two, both won, much because of his brilliance) was that he was much too clever for those who hadn't been trained to anticipate his likely moves. Lewis, who I also consider an outstanding talent was more direct, Foran like, and more predictable and I guess this suited players unfamiliar with the silky moves of The Napper. Always thought the selectors got it wrong, with a far more effective side being with Lewis at lock and Lyons at 5/8. That would have been a lethal combination, with Menzies also roving.