NRL 2021: Experts reveal if Cameron Smith is the Greatest player of all Time

After breaking almost every NRL record, Cameron Smith has been called the greatest of all time, but how does he stack up against the Immortals?

He’s been called the GOAT, but is Cameron Smith really the greatest of all time? Picture: Getty Images.

The greatest of all time — or just the greatest of this time?

It has been rugby league’s burning question all week in the wake of Cameron Smith’s retirement after 19 seasons and a phenomenal 430 NRL games.

But while Smith already owns just about every record in the game’s existence, does he also deserve to be now rated the GOAT — and if not, why not?

So we have canvassed opinions from champions of the past and other respected voices to try resolve the debate once and for all.

From Immortal Wally Lewis to Parramatta’s four-time premiership winner Mick Cronin, we also spoke to Manly’s former Test hooker Max Krilich, veteran recruitment boss Peter Mulholland, and long-time journalists and authors Ian Heads and Neil Cadigan.

While all agreed it was almost impossible to give a definitive answer as to who should be judged best of the best in 113 years of Australian rugby league history, Krilich also offered up a very unique and personal explanation as to why it is just as difficult to even compare players of the same position from different generations.

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He’s been called the GOAT, but is Cameron Smith really the greatest of all time? Picture: Getty Images.

Throughout Smith’s career it almost become the running joke that he was so in control on the field that he often walked off looking like he could have played in a dinner suit.

Yet in Krilich’s day, while playing the same position, it was considered a successful day if he walked off with his head still in one piece given all the punching, biting, head butting and kicking that went on in scrums.

Asked if Smith would have lasted as long had he played during the ‘70s and ‘80s, Krilich took all of about a split second to gather his thoughts.

“With the thuggery and viciousness I would say probably not,” Krilich responded.

And with that he recalled what it was like to pack down against a rival hooker like George Piggins, who he said always had you wondering “if you are even going to finish the game”.

“A nicer bloke you’d never meet, we got on terrific,” Krilich laughed.

“But we had our first blue in 1969 and our last in ’77 and that day when they all started George just said; ‘Let’s have a break’.

“I said, ‘You beauty’.

“But that’s the way the game used to be. Their attitude was violence and if you couldn’t handle it you weren’t there.”

And that’s not to say Smith couldn’t have handle himself in that era, it’s just saying he might not have lasted as long, or have been able to play with such composure.

Which is often the fundamental arguments supporting Smith’s case when this GOAT debate gets started.

Though it is also why Lewis, himself a proud Queenslander, just can’t bring himself to arguing for or against between generations.

Wally Lewis thinks it’s not fair to compare players from different eras of the game.

“How do you say that one player is better from another from a different era,” Lewis questioned.

And with that he rattled off the names of champions who he admired.

From the legendary Johnny Raper to Arthur Beetson, big Mal, Gene Miles, Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny, Brad Fittler and Andrew Johns, little Alfie Langer, where do you stop?

“They didn’t play against each other,” Wally continued, “but they played in different eras under different rules with different responsibilities.

“I am not trying to deny Cam that position.

“He is as good as anybody I have seen.

“But I will put them all on the same platform and say they were all magnificent players who did the game of rugby league proud.”

Mulholland and Cadigan both thought Smith’s longevity and ability to influence results and the biggest moments at every level mounted a solid case.

“Despite having the least spectacular highlights reel of all the GOATS, Cameron Smith stands alone when it comes to historic records and achievements,” Cadigan said.

“But for me, Andrew Johns left a bigger impact if we strip it down to saying ‘the best I ever saw play’.

Ian Heads has seen some of the Immortals in action and says it’s impossible to pick one best player of all time. Picture: Getty Images.

Heads recalled his early years covering the sport when senior colleagues would wax lyrical about Dally Messenger and all the champions of those early years, while remembering those mighty St George sides like it were yesterday.

“I can still picture (Graeme) Langlands, that fabulous sidestep,” Heads said.

“Gasnier, it’s a funny word to use on a football player but he was beautiful to watch. And Raper, just the ultimate competitor.”

Best you ever saw?

“Mate, I think that’s just about the impossible question.”

Which is why Cronin joked from his pub down in Gerringong: “All this debate is good for is selling newspapers.

“Look, I’m not being smart, but I played with Langlands. And I played with Coote. I played with Beetson. I played with Fulton.

“Then at Parramatta Price, Sterling, Kenny and Ella. I played with Wally in his first Test. With Mal in his first Test …

“And this is also what people don’t realise.

“But when I was a young bloke there were no games on TV. And the only games I got to see realistically was when my father used to take me to Test matches from about ’62 on.

“I don’t know how much it used to cost him, but he used to walk into the Sydney Cricket Ground and straight into the bar and come back with a big crate. And he would take me to the back wall of the hill and stand me on that box to watch the game.”

Which Cronin concedes is why it makes it pretty hard for that young bloke to now say definitely, near 60 years on, if he ever saw a player back then better than the bloke who retired this week.

“But what I’m prepared to say is that there has probably never been one who has had a bigger influence over a longer period of time,” Cronin concluded.

Originally published as NRL 2021: Experts reveal if Cameron Smith is the Greatest player of all Time