The NRL Thread

[???]

NRL All Stars vs Indigenous All Stars is on tonight.

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Who's the better player;

Benji Marshall, Jarryd Hayne or Greg Inglis?

[Dan...]

Originally Posted by Rocks!

Who's the better player;

Benji Marshall, Jarryd Hayne or Greg Inglis?

If I had to choose one of those guys to play day in day out for my club it would be Hayne. In a big game, Inglis.

[???]

Originally Posted by Dan...

If I had to choose one of those guys to play day in day out for my club it would be Hayne. In a big game, Inglis.

What, not Benji Marshall?

[Dan...]

No, not Benji Marshall. He would probably be second in both of those categories I listed though.

[brently1979]

Originally Posted by ???

What, not Benji Marshall?

I would go with Marshall, he seems to be able to pull miracles from nowhere from time to time.

[PEBBLES!]

Souths looked like utter crap in the charity shield.



They're going to be vying for the wooden spoon this season. I hope not, though.

[PEBBLES!]

Originally Posted by Dan...

No, not Benji Marshall. He would probably be second in both of those categories I listed though.

Are Inglis & Hayne really better big-game players than Marshall?

The Tigers lose alot of creativity if Marshall is out injured but the Storm really didn't lose much when Inglis was out. I'd say Marshall had a greater impact on his squad's performance, than say Inglis' overall impact. Storms' had quality in depth and maybe it was really the team as a whole (Israel, Smith, Slater, Cronk etc etc) that made him look like a better big game player.

[PEBBLES!]

As a regular player, to utilise every week, Benji Marshall is not a reliable choice; he's too injury prone. Here are their club stats;

Marshall: 53 tries in 130 games.
Inglis: 78 tries in 117 games.
Hayne: 60 tries in 107 games.

Inglis and Hayne have the higher try-scoring average, but that might have to do more with their positions as Full-backs & Centres.

Marshall's played full-back & halfback, but he's mostly a five-eight. Unlike Hayne & Inglis, he's also a regular goal-kicker. It would be interesting to compare their stats for tackles, missed tackles, hit-ups, off-loads, assists etc

Marshall can also be considered a big-game player; he played well in the 2008 World Cup Final, and also in the 2005 final.

[Dan...]

I'm not rubbishing Marshall, he is top quality.

On a week-to-week basis its clearly Hayne in my view though. He lifts that awful Parra side to wins. Hell, he took what otherwise would have been a losing team within 15 minutes of a premiership. Definitely Hayne if its based on consistent performances every week.

In big games it also isn't overly close in my view. Sure Benji has played well in some big games but nothing like what Inglis has done with the consistency at every level of the game, particularly in origin and in grand finals and big finals. I would go as far to say that Inglis is the best player in the world in big games. He would be the first player I would pick if he was playing for the fate of the planet.

Marshall would place second in both categories for me as I say. Overall, I don't know, he might even come close to getting the nod. It obviously depends on the make up of the rest of my team. If I have a side that can carry Greg when he is being lazy and doing nothing then I will take Greg, because I know my team can get me into those big games and he can get it done. If my team is rubbish (i.e. Parra) I am taking Hayne as I think he is the best week-to-week performer of the three. If I have a team that is somewhere in the middle of those two, Benji would come into consideration.