Big O’s 15-1 rankings: The Oracle has the sporting answers
Who can rank the best rugby league players of the 90s? Australia’s greatest Test stars? Only one man: the Oracle. Each week he’ll break down the most controversial, difficult rankings of the modern era.
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Each week, The Oracle (@BigOtrivia) will run you through the most controversial and difficult rankings of the modern era.
The best NRL players of the 2010s? Australia’s greatest one-day cricketers? The top indigenous athletes of the past 40 years?
They’re all up for debate, but only The Oracle has the answers.
PLAYERS WHO ARE A SHADOW OF THEIR FORMER SELVES
15. TRENT MERRIN: Played for his country just three years ago, yet finds himself struggling to make the Dragons’ starting side.
14. ANDREW FIFITA: Herculean display in 2016 grand final but since turning 30 the front-rower’s form and durability have dropped significantly.
13. ANTHONY MILFORD: Joined Brisbane in 2015, but in recent seasons he hasn’t warranted his million-dollar price tag.
12. MATT MOYLAN: If finding an injury was an Olympic event, the 29-year-old former Origin five-eighth would be a gold medallist.
11. JOSH REYNOLDS: Key role in NSW’s drought-breaking series win in 2014. Injuries have kept him to 15 matches in three seasons.
10. NATHAN PEATS: Getting dropped by the bottom-placed Titans is a sad indictment of how poorly this former Origin No. 9 has been travelling.
9. JOSH DUGAN: Cronulla didn’t hide their desire to offload the former Test centre during the off-season — with no takers.
8. ISSAC LUKE: There wasn’t a more destructive dummy-half when at Souths. At 34, father time has caught up with the new Bronco.
7. CHRIS McQUEEN: Seems a lifetime ago he churned out six Origin games in a row in 2013-14. A disappointment at the Tigers, playing nine first-grade matches in three years.
6. SHAUN JOHNSON: The former Golden Boot’s days as an influential NRL playmaker are long gone.
5. SHANNON BOYD: Hard to believe he played four Tests for Australia in 2016, such has been his form slump that cost him his Titans spot.
4. KIERAN FORAN: Once touted as the world’s best five-eighth, the injury-plagued Kiwi has made more comebacks than John Farnham, playing at four clubs since 2015.
3. BRYCE CARTWRIGHT: His form decline has been astonishing since relocating to the Gold Coast. No wonder Gus Gould cut him loose from Penrith at the start of 2018.
2. JAMES GRAHAM: Playing 409 matches over 17 seasons has taken a toll on the veteran Englishman, who hung around in the NRL a season too long.
1. DARIUS BOYD: To think he was once an automatic selection for Australia — he’s never been in a losing Kangaroos side in 23 Tests. Has produced countless atrocious defensive efforts since 2017.
GUN PLAYERS WHO BOMBED AS COACHES
Counting down from 1970, the greatest rugby league players who didn’t have the same success as a coach:
15. RUSSELL FAIRFAX: Roosters glamour boy in the ’70s but nothing glamorous about his two years as Easts coach in 1989-90, winning 11 from 36 before getting sacked.
14. TRENT BARRETT: His three years at Manly began poorly and ended with him walking out in 2018 with a 40 per cent success rate.
13. PAUL McGREGOR: The under-siege coach requires divine intervention for him to continue coaching at the Dragons next year.
12. CRAIG YOUNG: Coached the side he captained with distinction for two years in 1989 and 1990. In both seasons, the Red V missed the finals comfortably.
11. RON HILDITCH: His two stints at Illawarra and his former club Parramatta yielded a success rate of 29 per cent over 109 matches.
10. MARK MURRAY: At Origin level, the former Test half had a 17 per cent winning record. Never made finals in six years of coaching Easts and Melbourne.
9. WAYNE PEARCE: The Tigers’ longest-serving coach since 1970 had a wretched run in the ’90s, winning a paltry 66 from 184.
8. TERRY LAMB: Replaced Junior Pearce as Tigers coach and just about replicated his coaching deeds with a 32 per cent win record.
7. STEPHEN KEARNEY: The Warriors coach had two seasons at the Eels in 2011-12, finishing 14th before taking the spoon.
6. BOB McCARTHY: Unenviable task of coaching Gold Coast in their inaugural year in 1988. Won just 15 matches in three seasons before winning one from nine at Souths in 1994 and stepping down.
5. JOHN PEARD: In 1988, he coached NSW to their first 3-0 series defeat, and his three years at Parramatta and Penrith reaped 27 wins from 74 matches.
4. PAUL LANGMACK: His years at Souths in 2003-04 were a disaster. Two years, two wooden spoons and just five wins.
3. JOHN O’NEILL: The former Test enforcer found coaching arduous as his Bunnies took out the wooden spoon in 1975, winning three games.
2. MICK CRONIN: It’s never a happy ending when players end up coaching their former teammates. Between 1990-93, the Eels legend had a success rate of 38 per cent.
1. WALLY LEWIS: The only Immortal on this list had a horrendous time in charge of Gold Coast, winning consecutive wooden spoons in 1992-93. The King also lost both Origin series when Maroons coach.
FROM PLAYER TO COACH
Counting down former rugby league players who had more success as a coach than on the playing field since 1960:
15. GRAHAM MURRAY: Skilful halfback for the Eels and Souths before guiding Illawarra to their inaugural finals appearance in 1992 and the Roosters to their first grand final in 20 years in 2000.
14. MATTHEW ELLIOTT: No-frills backrower for St George who coached Canberra to five finals appearances in 10 seasons.
13. PHIL GOULD: Despite talent as a player, he never reached any great heights. The same can’t be said for his coaching, winning two titles and six Origin series.
12. RON WILLEY: Played more than 200 first-grade games over 17 seasons but will be best remembered for coaching Manly to back-to-back premierships in 1972 and 1973.
11. BRIAN SMITH: Played 17 first-grade matches over six years during the 70s for St George and Souths. Arguably the best coach never to win a premiership.
10. JOHN MONIE: Had three uneventful seasons as a player for Cronulla in the late sixties before succeeding Gibson as Eels coach and winning the 1984 title.
9. SHANE FLANAGAN: Ending Cronulla’s 50-year premiership drought in 2016 easily superseded his 78 matches playing for St George and Parramatta.
8. FRANK STANTON: Having played at the club a decade earlier, he was appointed Manly coach in 1975 as they continued their domination of the 70s, claiming the 1976 and 78 premierships.
7. MICHAEL MAGUIRE: In a seven-year career he played 18 times for Canberra and Adelaide before taking Souths to a memorable 2014 title.
6. CRAIG BELLAMY: No coach in NRL history has a better win/loss percentage than the former Raiders utility, who struggled to hold a first-grade position for more than a decade.
5. TIM SHEENS: In a 13-year career at Penrith he never played finals footy as a player, but made up for that as a coach, winning four titles at Canberra and the Tigers.
4. JACK GIBSON: Was never labelled a ‘’super’’ player during his playing days, but earnt that tag as a coach, winning five premierships at Easts and Parramatta.
3. WARREN RYAN: Spent most of his playing days languishing in reserve grade, which was in stark contrast to the success he had coaching at five clubs, winning two premierships at Canterbury.
2. WAYNE BENNETT: A handy winger who toured with the 1971 Kangaroos, he has won more premierships (seven) than anyone else since 1960.
1. TRENT ROBINSON: The big question remains, can Robbo complete a three-peat this year to make it four premierships, which would equal the number of first-grade matches he played.