The Rugby League Ranga All Stars 1990-2012

Rugby League has had its fair share of red headed stars over the years. Here is a side choc full or red headed talent that would surely challenge any ‘best of’ side in the last twenty years.

Fullback Kris Radlinski

Poor bloke had to be a Pom and a redhead but that’s not held against him here. One of few Englishman, particularly in the backs to improve his reputation at International level, Radlinski was always dependable.

Wing Brett Dallas

First player picked in the Ranga All Stars. Brett Dallas was a part of a strong red headed contingent during the mid 90s at the North Sydney Bears and provides the side with try scoring ability.

Centre Michael Buettner

Decorated career at the top level Buet’s would have been the sides five eighth if it weren’t for the obvious lack of quality out wide. More than capable of playing an integral role out wider though.

Centre Jack Reed

The second Englishman in the side Reed has at least proven himself at NRL level. Like all red heads he is tough and hard working, and withhis career still ahead of him, he could go down in history as Rugby League’s Greatest Red Headed centre three quarter

Wing Joel Monaghan

What can you say about Joel Monaghan that hasn’t already been said? Multi-talented!

Five Eighth Greg Florimo

What was in the water at North Sydney during the 1990's? Big, strong, fast and with silky skills 'Flo' was only the second player to receive a '10' from Rugby League Week. Absolute Hall of Fame Ranga!

Halfback Peter Wallace

Falls over the line without much competition Wallace is a State of Origin representative that hasn’t ever really been the same since he suffered a dislocation in a particularly painful area.

Front Row Keith Galloway

‘Big Keiffy’ is as soft as he is red, but his main competition for this spot was another noted powder puff in Brad Meyers, so Galloway gets the nod. John Hopoate is still serving a suspension for a hit on Galloway in 2005

Hooker Allan Tongue

Your stereo typical red head. Very little natural ability but a hard worker and 100% committed to whatever he came up against each week.A true competitor that laboured between lock and hooker he has landed at 9 more for necessity than anything else.

Front Row James Graham

It’s very rare that you pick of ‘Best of’ Rugby League side and include three Englishman but James Graham has shown his quality in his debut season with the Canterbury Bulldogs this year. Tough and uncompromising as you would expect, Graham has a bit of skill to go with his red locks.

Second Row Lance Thompson

Carried the flag for red heads in the late 1990’s and early2000’s Thompson is synonymous with the Rugby League Ranga.

Second Row Gary Larson

Rounding out the North Sydney contingent is Gary Larson.Tough as teak and feared by many Larson is another uncompromising red head not afraid to get his hands dirty

Lock Paul Vautin (c)

Undisputed King of Rugby League Red Heads is Paul The Fat Man Vautin. Originally Nick Graham was pencilled in at lock but on discovering Vautin spent two largely fruitless years at Easts in the early 90’s you simply couldn’t leave him out of the side. It’s a tough ask to take out the 'Worstlooking' gong in a red headed side but Fatty manages to do it with the consummate ease with which he made tackle after tackle on the footy field.

The Most Improved Player in the NRL

 

There is no greater demonstration of the influence of quality NRL coaching then the career of John Sutton. It is well known that Michael Maguire's appointment in 2012 awakened the NRL's underachieving sleeping giants. The emergence of a slew of young guns in the forward pack and across the backline along with the much heralded move of Greg Inglis to fullback have dominated column inches in Maguire's three years in charge of the Cardinal and Myrtle. Often glazed over however has been the improvement of a then 150 game established NRL player that personified the Redfern club after readmission. Under Michael Maguire however, John Sutton is the most improved player in the NRL

A player maligned so often by his own fans not to mention the media and wider public, John Sutton totally revolutionised his game in 2012. There were no shortage of eyebrows raised when South Sydney announced Sutton as part of their five man leadership group and even more when he became the stand alone skipper of a side including the likes of Sam Burgess and Greg Inglis. A first grader since 2004 with 150 plus games to his name, the powerful ball player had always threatened a good performance but rarely delivered consistently on his significant talents. Sutton’s size and talent meant people expected him to drag South’s up the ladder without any support and his inability to do so made him an easy target for criticism. Under Maguire and without the pressure of covering for the deficiencies of others the wheel started to turn for Sutton in 2012.

John Sutton may not have entirely silenced the critics in 2012, indeed they’re still out there  in 2014 (hey Cahill!) hanging onto a dead and buried line of argument, but his performances over the last three seasons have undoubtedly addressed the most significant criticism levelled against him. John Sutton is no longer a 'soft' footballer wasting his considerable talents.

The area of Sutton’s game that he doesn’t get enough credit for is his football IQ.  Former Souths and newly appointed Wests coach Jason Taylor detailed in 2012 that Sutton’s greatest asset is his game intelligence. The example he used was Sutton going to the line to put Nathan Merritt away down the sideline on tackle four forcing the winger who had dropped back to come forward and make the tackle on Merritt. Sensing opportunity Sutton pushed Nathan Peats out of the way and took the ball down the blind side where he put a perfectly placed kick into the sport where the winger in question was supposed to be. As Taylor has said Sutton is a 'born footballer'.

While Adam Reynolds might capture all the praise and plaudits for South’s improved run in 2012 and 2013 don’t undersell the contribution of John Sutton. Sutton did a lot of the talking and directing on the park taking the responsibility his senior status afforded him and allowing Reynolds to ease his way into the NRL.

While Chris Sandow might have been the darling of South Sydney supporters it was injuries to Sutton towards the close of the 2010 and 2011 seasons that cruelled their semi final chances. In fact without Sutton, South Sydney routinely looked the way Parramatta did in 2012-13, directionless and without structure. The reintroduction from injury of Sutton as an edge backrower in 2014, straightened South Sydney's attack and directly contributed to their two best performances of the year in the dismantlings of Manly and the Roosters in the finals series. It wasn't until Sutton returned to the side that the Keary-Reynolds partnership seemed a success.

So confident am I in Sutton’s new found consistency that before you fire off your clichéd criticisms in response, I’ll ask you to sit down and judge Sutton in the Grand Final on Sunday night. The result of the game is immaterial to my argument. Just watch the way he takes the ball to the line straight and at pace. Watch his clever pass selection when previously he would have looked to thread the needle on an impossible miracle ball. Count the amount of times he makes it back for the first tough hit up after a Canterbury kick into his corner. Check the number of missed tackles he finishes the game with and more importantly then all of this, look at the way in which Sutton leads the competitions most star studded roster around the park. In a side with future Immortal Greg Inglis and the peerless Sam Burgess, it is John Sutton that is the undisputed King, the standalone skipper.

Twenty four hours from the biggest game of his career John Sutton is undoubtedly one of only three genuine chances at being South Sydney's next Clive Churchill Medalist. Because when you compare the 2004-2011 John Sutton to the Michael Maguire vintage there is only one label that fits the South Sydney junior...

The Most Improved Player in the NRL

The Daily Telegraph does its best Sandra Sully impersonation with the 'Late News' a full year after AVFTT

Alessandro Del Piero - The A League's David Beckham?

Alessandro Del Piero. Why He Doesn’t have the Beckham Factor A-League

The Hyundai A League has its newest marquee man. Amongst much fanfare Sydney FC unveiled their new signing Alessandro Del Piero last week. The Turin legend is a worldwide superstar and the football community were immediately scrambling over themselves to anoint him the A-League’s saviour and predicting to rival that of David Beckham in the USA’s MLS. Unfortunately for Sydney FC and the A-League they’re about to learn there is only one David Beckham in football.

Alessandro Del Piero is undoubtedly the best footballer to grace Australian shores. Period. His ability on the pitch is unmatched by any player to touch down on these shores at any stage in history. Sydney FC have signed a man with over 200 Serie A goal, an incredible statistic for a player not recognised as an out and out striker. With goals against both powerhouse Milan clubs and Lazio last season Del Piero is a player still capable of hitting the dead ball sweetly and expertly finishing off chances. In fending off advances from Greek side Olympiakos and a last ditch move from Liverpool, the prized coup was incredibly splashed all over the Daily Telegraph’s back page in the week before the NRL finals. Those in the football media will have you believe that this points to an imminent explosion in football’s standing in the Australian sporting landscape. Sydney FC are bringing the Beckham effect to Australia and they’ve bet $4 million it’s going to succeed.

The way AVFTT sees it though, Sydney FC and the FFA are going to be severely underwhelmed by the off field impact Del Piero has on the wider sporting community. The only way a sportsman will have a David Beckham scale impact on a sport in Australia is if an A League club lures him down under. Alternatively the Sydney Kings could sign Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods could spend a season playing the Australia circuit. In football there is no ‘other’ David Beckham. There is no one who matches his celebrity or media appeal and in an Anglo centric English speaking media environment the gloss will fade from Sydney FC’s newest marquee man quickly. While a much better footballer, I would expect Del Piero to match the on and off field exploits of ‘All Night’ Dwight in the Harbour city. Coming from a background in the English Premier League, which is the only domestic soccer competition popular in Australia, the Australian public was already familiar with Yorke from his Manchester United days. People and not just ‘football people’ immediately resonated with the star power of Yorke, they didn’t have to be told he was a big deal. People outside the insular footballing community and particularly those without an interest in Serie A aren’t quite sure exactly who he is or where he’s from. Of course some people might remember him from 2006 but even then Fabio Grosso holds a bigger profile in Australia. Quite simply the signing generated more interest in Turin than it did in Sydney, with blanket coverage afforded in the major newspapers and on television. By the weekend in Sydney we had articles in both major papers in which the authors admitted to having no idea who he was, now remember this is sports reporters. In a city saturated with sporting superstars, Greg Inglis, Ben Barba, David Warner and Adam Goodes amongst the many others Del Piero is not a big enough star to catapult Sydney FC to the top of the sporting landscape in the way David Beckham was able to at LA Galaxy.

Of course key indicators of Sydney’s FC success will go up. But then again, could they really go down? Afflicted with a win at all costs Waratah like mentality Sydney FC have struggled for points on the park and people in the stands over the last 12 months and Del Piero’s signing will be a massive boost in these areas. But to suggest Del Piero will have a League wide impact on the way Australians and foreigners think about the A League is laughable. Over the year plenty of people will venture out to watch Sydney play so they can tell their grandkids they watched Del Piero live but do you seriously think they will keep coming back in  numbers. While Beckham’s capture has seen the MLS flooded with quality overseas talent, Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, Rafa Marquez and our own Tim Cahill amongst them there is simply not enough commercial support in Australia to fund such an expansion of the game. With a population of only 21 million or so there just isn’t the economics to support radical sponsorship expansion or a market for lucrative TV deals. And there is very little that a footballer from Italy can do to change that.

A View From the Top congratulates Sydney FC and its fans on Austraian soccer’s greatest signing and having never even watched a full A League game let alone attended one, I can honestly say my interest has been piqued and I have thought about getting out to the SFS. Time will tell what that leads too, but let’s not kid ourselves here, Alessandro Del Piero is no David Beckham.

Review of Early NRL Season Views

Responding to Wests Tigers Wankers Dirty on their Pathetic Club

Recently A View from the Top was attacked for reminding a distraught Wests Tigers fan about his Early Season views and opinions on ‘Teflon’ Tim Sheens. Considering the unwarranted and unsubstantiated nature of the claims AVFTT has decided to fire back by addressing the claims and definitely pointing out just how accurate the Round 2 views on the unfolding of the NRL season.

"I question whether the Warriors are capable of such football and tip them to finish in the bottom half of the top eight again this year."

At the time of print the New Zealand Warriors were on the fourth line of betting at $9 and tipped by many a pundit to take on the mighty Wests Tigers in this year’s Grand Final. A View from the Top has gone against the popular belief at the time and tipped a bottom half of the eight finish for NZ, which they were on track for until going winless in a disgraceful last 8 weeks.

"Canterbury at least twelve months from a title challenge."

A statement A View from the Top continues to stand by. If you take away Canterbury’s stunning 12 game winning streak their record stands at six wins and six losses. They enjoyed a spectacular run on the back of the brilliance of Barba and Reynolds but were underwhelming in the opening 10 rounds of the competition and inept against Canberra a fortnight ago. Expect Manly to edge them in week one.

"The Roosters have a powerful forward pack and youthful exuberance and will struggle at stages this season. Will probably scrape into the eight and be one of those sides that the top sides fear most, struggling with consistency but capable of brilliance."

In flogging Wests Tigers in round 25 with the Tigers season on the line, the Roosters showed just what they are capable of. Against a side jam packed with stars and representative players the Roosters forwards bashed the Tigers through the middle and put 40 points on a side not only playing for the two points but for points differential as well. Add that to a record that reads WLWLWWLLWLLWLLLLWLDLLLWLLWL including victories at various stages over top 4  and top 8 sides and declarations of a struggle with consistency certainly hold weight. The biggest problem for Easts was not week to week consistency as I expected but set to set and half to half consistency for the young side. Have definitely underachieved but the loss of Braith Anasta will surely aid their recovery in 2013.

"The Cronulla Sharks have recruited wisely this season but are still two quality centres short of the top eight."

Made the eight by a point, purely because Wests, St George, Gold Coast and Newcastle couldn’t string wins together in the last month. Making up the numbers, due mainly to their weak backling

Just some pearls of wisdom from your FIGJAM blog.

Stating that three of the top four favourites at the time were making up the numbers and couldn’t win the title AND then that happening, not a bad record. To refresh your memory on the 12^th of March, at the time of print Wests were $6 favourites, Newcastle and New Zealand both on the third line at $9. AVFTT stated these teams could not win the comp and all three teams have gone on to miss the semis. I certainly welcome any constructive feedback or discussion, but only if you can present an argument with some sort of credence and not motivated entirely by a case of sever sour grapes.