Why Nathan Cleary didn't make the best NRL team since 2000

Sydney Morning Herald

3 days ago

Ihave been tasked with selecting the best team of NRL players over the past quarter-century.
The single restriction is that we only consider a player's deeds over the period from 2000 to 2025. So Joey Johns's grand final heroics in 1997 don't count, but his 2001 triumph does. I have also avoided the temptation to select players out of position – such as moving centre Greg Inglis to wing to accommodate Stephen Crichton, currently the best defensive centre in the NRL. But that's my choice. You can pick GI as fullback, where he played in South Sydney's 2014 premiership team, if you wish.
Why does that matter? Well, as this masthead is an equal opportunity publication, the readers have a choice.
Select your team and send it to us via the form below of the article, and we will update this article with a selection of readers' squads. You can also vote on my team in the poll included in the article.
Fullback
Billy Slater. An easy one to start. Slater was better than anyone during this period and even earlier, back to any fullback not named Clive Churchill or Graeme Langlands – both of whom are rugby league Immortals. One test of greatness is whether the player's dominance led to a rule change, and Billy the Kid did.
Opposition teams were so worried about his ability to return the ball from kicks that they booted it past him. So, the rule-makers introduced a seven-tackle set from the 20-metre mark to punish kicks crossing the dead ball line. Slater sliced through defences with such ease it seemed as if he had a contortionist's body and a cat burglar's feet. He sophisticated the role of organising the defence. Plus he played 311 NRL games – nearly 50 more than the next best No 1, James Tedesco, who, admittedly, ain't finished yet.
Wingers
Brian To'o. The winger's role has changed dramatically over the past quarter-century, from try-scoring to metre-eating. The Penrith winger can do both, plus play both sides of the field in an era when junior coaches bracket backs as left or right. 'Bizza', as he is nicknamed, is certainly busy, making more metres than men nearly twice his size. He plays as if building a flat stretch of highway.
When he returned to the Panthers side after an injury, one commentator quipped that Penrith had acquired another front-rower. He was NSW's best player in the second and third matches of the recent Origin series despite playing on one leg. He has tallied 125 NRL games since starting in 2019, putting him on track to equal the Roosters' Daniel Tupou, who started seven years earlier and is currently on 280 games.
Brett Morris. An NRL decision in 2010 to remove the corner post from the field of play has revolutionised the wing position, with fans treated to acrobatic feats such as Xavier Coates's gyration through the air for a last-second try in 2024. Wingers now need only to avoid the sideline markings. The son of Steve 'Slippery' Morris – himself a top winger – played from 2006-21 but was a strong finisher, irrespective of the corner post. He won premierships with two clubs, the Dragons in 2010 and the Roosters in 2019, playing 215 NRL games and is near the top of the all-time try scorers list.
Centres
Greg Inglis. Big, strong, agile and fast, he was so dominant over a period when the Storm had two other selections in this quarter-century team that coaches were tempted to ask him not to eat fish in case a bone caught in his throat, or shower without a rubber foot mat, or walk under ladders. He had a remarkably quick-play-the ball for such a tall player. He grew up in Bowraville, NSW, but Queensland claimed him for Origin – possibly because his fend was so powerful that they assumed he came from Palm Island.
Mark Gasnier. He was a nightmare for defences with his speed, step and one-handed offload. He played on the right-hand side of the field with the Dragons so would complement GI, whose powerful fend made him a left-side player. Gasnier, a 2010 premiership player, was also chosen in the Dragons' Team of the Century, joining his uncle, Reg, an Immortal.
Five-eighth
Darren Lockyer: He won three NRL grand finals as a fullback before the turn of the century and only one as a five-eighth afterwards, but he's still good enough to make my team as a No.6. He did not have a top halfback at the Broncos after the retirement of Alf Langer, yet still took command of a game. An outstanding leader, he was at the top for Queensland and Australia during a 16-year career in which he was also a dead-eyed goalkicker. He was the definition of a clutch player, scoring a late try in the 2006 Origin series that began Queensland's run of eight successive series. He played in the first six. If you don't like Lockyer, you've got a choice of Kieran Foran, Braith Anasta, James Maloney or Benji Marshall, all of whose careers began after 2000. Cameron Munster's time will come.
Halfback
Andrew 'Joey' Johns: Only half the eighth Immortal's career was played after 2000, yet he did enough in that period to win the key position in my quarter-century team. He won grand finals either side of the cut-off date in his 1993-2007 career and came out of representative retirement to win an Origin decider almost single-handedly in Brisbane in 2004. An honourable mention must go to Nathan Cleary whose 18 minutes of magic in the 2023 NRL grand final is unsurpassed. However, Cooper Cronk is my second choice. He is No.2 on the number of games (339) behind Daly Cherry-Evans; won six grand finals at two clubs and his absence with a broken arm from the 2014 Queensland team helped NSW end the Maroons' run of eight consecutive victories.
Lock
Isaah Yeo. The No.13 is now a middle player who can link the ball. The revolution began with Jake Trbojevic, and now the Penrith co-captain owns the position. When Michael Maguire selected his 2024 NSW team, he had Yeo on the bench, justifying it to me on the basis that the tall Yeo had a slow play-the-ball. That's like criticising a supermodel for having a bent toe. If you prefer granite toughness, Paul Gallen (248 NRL games) is your man; if you want a lightweight under-the-ball defender, it's Dallas Johnson.
Second row
Sonny Bill Williams. He won premierships at two clubs nine years apart, with an interregnum in the All Blacks where he played at centre in Tests. He came back to the NRL when coaches were far more attack-minded than now. Today's 'edge forwards' are primarily defensive players with the task of shutting down the opposition halfback. The Storm's Eli Katoa, with his leap for high balls on the last tackle, seemingly as if he has eyes in the back of his head, offers hope coaches are liberating these players to vary their attack. Sonny Bill was as unstoppable as wrinkles. To say he bothered opponents is like calling a shark in the bathtub a nuisance, with coaches committing extra tacklers to him to try and stop his offloads. He rarely mis-timed with his shoulder charges, which were eventually banned. He was the best defensive back-rower of his era, owning the right edge of the field, but also played a mobile role in attack. He also played the full 80 minutes. It's an indictment on today's straitjacket game that there is no role for a Sonny Bill or a Steve Menzies, whose best football was before 2000.
Sam Burgess. The English international is closer to today's edge back-rower elite, such as Liam Martin and Angus Crichton, than the Sonny Bill/'Beaver' Menzies type. He was inspirational, impactful, tough, highly competitive, with the ability to offload and carry the ball forward like a middle player. The 2014 grand final was his finest moment, inspiring his teammates John Sattler-style after fracturing his cheekbone in the opening tackle.
Hooker
Cameron Smith. No arguments, please. OK, he didn't have to win the ball in scrums, but neither did any of his opponents. He set so many records – for NRL games played, wins, representative games, goals kicked in his position – that 'The Accountant' is the record holder for records broken. He could think his way past defenders, slowing the game down or speeding it up like no-one has done before. He played 408 NRL games during an 18-year period for one club and was as dedicated to the game at the end as much as he was at the beginning. The joy he expressed when scampering to the posts for a rare try was akin to a five-year-old racing to the tree on Christmas morning. Only Danny Buderus, who played half as many NRL games, comes close to him.
Props
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves: Ask any Kangaroo forward from the 1980s who they would like in the front row and they will nominate this grizzled veteran. The last of the true enforcers, he was willing to wear the black hat, intimidating opponents and inspiring teammates. His chest-out bravado was matched by the metres he made and tackles he executed. He played 255 NRL games, behind Petero Civoniceva (259) and Jesse Bromwich (316).
Payne Haas. The prototype of the modern middle. A big, skilful player with a high work rate in defence, he has better footwork and offload ability than JWH. He has some of Sonny Bill's skills inside a giant's body. Importantly, he can play 80 minutes when many middles leave the field after 20. His pain tolerance is off the charts.
Bench
Johnathan Thurston. Who can forget his heroics in the Cowboys' 2015 grand final victory, speeding through the Broncos in the final seconds as if riding a minibike through a herd of drugged elephants. Like Lockyer, he always knew where to be.
Ben Kennedy. I came close to typing in others, but BK was explosive against the unbackable Eels in the first quarter of the 2001 grand final.
Jesse Bromwich. Won Player of the Year competitions at the Storm ahead of other Golden Boot winners at the club at the same time.
Paul Gallen. Led the Sharks to their inaugural premiership. Achieved a delicate balance between what his coach wanted him to do (carry the ball forward) and what he wanted to do (ball-play and offload).
PS. Cameron Munster, Stephen Crichton, Angus Crichton and Nathan Cleary are possibly on the waiting list but another could come along sooner than we think, a player whose brilliance is equal to, say, Joey Johns, or greater in a more nuanced way. The same applies to art and literature, as it does to the great and glorious game of rugby league. So don't forget that Michelangelo was busy sculpting another Pieta days before he died in 1564. And what happened two months later? Shakespeare was born.