Silvertail's team of the half Century ... Lock

[manly al]

Just for the record .. IMO ... the best footballer ever to play for Manly was Mal Reilly .. daylight second ... and third was Bozo a furlong back ..

Was not able to as close to the action so to speak or see Manly matches at the time on a regular basis as others on here but just would have thought that Bob Fulton was the most influential Manly player in a historical sense overall . Do recall reading some of the praises at the time for Reilly like Magnificent Mal when playing for Manly but Fulton must have personally turned many a match and plenty of claim to take top mantle .

 

[Chip and Chase]

I'm not in the photos ...

Are you sure ?

Another tough vote. Didn't see enough of Reilly but don't doubt he was one of the greats. I think Ian Martin is criminally underrated and such a valuable utility player. Maybe he makes the bench as our utility. Problem here is that modern locks are middle forwards who don't ball play much. Gift played all his footy on the right as an edge backrower. BK was good but just not enough games for mine.

I've gone for Gifty so we have a bit of ball playing in the backrow to balance Randalls no nonsense running and Beavers hole hitting.

 

[manlyfan76]

What a bunch of loch's.
All of them were good enough to be in any greatest team.

 

[Woodsie]

Was not able to as close to the action so to speak or see Manly matches at the time on a regular basis as others on here but just would have thought that Bob Fulton was the most influential Manly player in a historical sense overall . Do recall reading some of the praises at the time for Reilly like Magnificent Mal when playing for Manly but Fulton must have personally turned many a match and plenty of claim to take top mantle .

It was Mal first ... daylight second ...

 

[eagleron]

Impossible really to go past Mal BUT I voted BK because IMO he’s the most influential player ever to play for Manly.

We’re there better players , of course , how could you go past Bozo but what he brought to this team in 2005-6 was absolutely immense.

Another hard one @Woodsie

Me too, BK's influence on Manly was certainly the catalyst for our premiership success in 2008 and 2011, I wish we could find another one like him

 

[Freddo]

Saw Reilly in one of his first games at the SCG against Souths. He kicked off (unusual) and the ball went about 12 metres along the ground and Bozo who was chasing it picked it up and ran 40 metres and scored untouched. Mal had all the skills plus the best elbow fend I have ever seen. Walked a bit pigeon toed and at one time he was called "the baby faced assassin".

 

[Mal Cochrane]

How quickly we forgot Nik Kosef, apparently Jake has already shown enough to eclipse him

 

[mickqld]

Has to be Fatty. 204 games, captain 87 premiership, SOO and test player. Tackling machine but could ball play as well.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Saw Reilly in one of his first games at the SCG against Souths. He kicked off (unusual) and the ball went about 12 metres along the ground and Bozo who was chasing it picked it up and ran 40 metres and scored untouched. Mal had all the skills plus the best elbow fend I have ever seen. Walked a bit pigeon toed and at one time he was called "the baby faced assassin".

As a kid I went to Brookie a couple of times when Mal was signed, it was all magic to me back then but he gets my vote. Not many games were televised back then and I couldn't go to all the games so part of my judgment is based on listening to Frank Hyde, reading every newspaper story, and watching Controversy corner! He is one of the greatest players of all time in any position. Good story here from Zorba 🙂

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Just checking, Mal came to Manly in 1971 after starring for Great Britain against Australia in 1970. So Zorba is mixed up in mentioning 1973. Mind you, there is no doubt that Mal Reilly is the sort of player whose deeds are passed down through the ages and are fair game for embellishment in the name of a good anecdote!

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Just for the record .. IMO ... the best footballer ever to play for Manly was Mal Reilly .. daylight second ... and third was Bozo a furlong back ..

I'd put them level pegging, Bozo had a more glittering career only because of Mal's famous knee injury. He may have had the most talked about knee in rugby league history?

 

[BOZO]

Saw Reilly in one of his first games at the SCG against Souths. He kicked off (unusual) and the ball went about 12 metres along the ground and Bozo who was chasing it picked it up and ran 40 metres and scored untouched. Mal had all the skills plus the best elbow fend I have ever seen. Walked a bit pigeon toed and at one time he was called "the baby faced assassin".

What a try that would have been . Would have loved to seen that try .

Bozo ran 40 metres for another untouchable try
The incomparable Immortal was untouchable Indeed

Our Godfather who was the founder of our clubs success and who was the games greatest and shrewdest administrator had an eye for talent and built up plenty of premiership winning teams would be the best qualified in naming the greatest one of all and he was quoted as saying " BOB FULTON WAS THE GEATEST PLAYER THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN "!!!

We all have our opinions and our favourites and all our great players were something special
The one and only Incomparable Immortal Bob Fulton was just that

Mal was our greatest lock ever . He was very skillful very smart and very strong .
Beaver and Kennedy were great but Mal was just another level of brilliance
I wish there was more footage of him to see . I had the pleasure of meeting him at Brighton le sands rsl about 20 years or so ago . He looked slim and fit for his age but when he walked he had a limp .
A real Gentleman was Mal

 

[wombatgc]

BK for me. Dragged us out of the gutter into glory by leading by example. Met him a cpl of times, very humble, and was quick to include team mates in anything that you’d praise him for.

 

[Little Grubber Kick]

It was Mal first ... daylight second ...

yeah yeah, Mal is definitely #1
voted for Gift anyway because he should have been on the bench ahead of What Now in the 2nd Row voting anyway. 😎

 

[40 years an eagle]

Mal Reilly...daylight to Wautin, Gift, BK, Ian Martin etc, etc, etc. What a forward pack we have continuously had over the half century...except for the last few years.

 

[Woodsie]

Again, the tribe has spoken and have installed Mal Reilly into the lock position ...

 

[globaleagle]

Again, the tribe has spoken and have installed Mal Reilly into the lock position ...

Well I dunno much about the guy under Kik Kosef, but it's a tragedy he's been there for 5 days and only got one vote!

 

[Woodsie]

Well I dunno much about the guy under Kik Kosef, but it's a tragedy he's been there for 5 days and only got one vote!

Might go better in the dummy half poll ...