Dean Ritchie: Nathan Cleary isn’t in GOAT debate, don’t let recency bias denigrate the past
Don’t let recency bias denigrate past greats – grand final star Nathan Cleary is barely in the top 10 halfbacks of the past 50 years, writes DEAN RITCHIE.
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He is the hero of Penrith, a colossal, God-like figure who, on a football field, is irreproachable.
An Immortal-in-waiting who has guided Penrith to four successive grand finals, winning three and claiming two Clive Churchill Medals.
While astonished at his grand final theatre last weekend, described as the greatest 20-minute period of any player ever in a decider, I can’t allow today’s emotion to supersede the legends of the past.
I’m told it’s called recency bias.
We should all take a deep, slow breath before excitedly and boldly anointing Cleary as the greatest player of all time.
Just because former champions of yesteryear have finished, it shouldn’t mean they’re forgotten.
Too often we neglect the exploits of ex-players amid the euphoria of today’s game.
In ranking my top 10 halfbacks of the past 50 years, I could only place Cleary at number eight.
I feel like the Christmas Grinch three months early because it seems no-one has, wants to or will dare to downgrade Cleary, perhaps rightly so. Before the lynch mob move in, let’s analyse and dissect those ahead of Cleary.
They are: Andrew Johns, Johnathan Thurston, Ricky Stuart, Allan Langer, Cooper Cronk and Peter Sterling and Steve Mortimer.
Immortal Jones remains the best player I have seen. When in a menacing mood, Johns could do anything and everything on the footy field. He was a genius.
Gus Gould once said of Johns: “The greatest rugby league player of his generation and arguably the greatest of all time.”
Thurston was a Rolls-Royce halfback while three-time premiership-winner Stuart possessed a magical passing and kicking game along with a will-to-win rarely seen in the game.
In 2018, the late North Queensland coach Paul Green labelled Thurston a “great” while Stuart’s ex-teammate Laurie Daley once said: “Ricky had all the skills and an iron will to win.”
Cronk, incredibly, won six grand finals but two were deducted through Melbourne’s salary cap cheating.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson once described Cronk as “the greatest thinker to ever play rugby league.”
Sterling and Langer won four premierships each, one more than Cleary.
In the NRL Hall of Fame, Wayne Bennett said of Langer: “He can do so much with seemingly so little effort – score the vital try or pull off the vital tackle.”
Bulldogs champion Mortimer said of Sterling: “His kicking and his creative organising ended up controlling games as if he was doing it all with a joystick.”
When discussing Mortimer, Canterbury’s top dog, ex-Bulldogs coach Warren Ryan once said: “He’s up there with the best of them…the Phar Lap of football.”
This isn’t a knock on Cleary, who clearly developed into the finest player of his era, but I wanted to remind punters how great other halfbacks have been.
He comes eighth ahead of Daly Cherry-Evans and the one-and-only Greg Alexander.
It broke my heart having omitting Kevin ‘Horrie’ Hastings, my childhood idol.
Tom Raudonikis, Stacey Jones, Brett Kimmorley and the great Geoff Toovey have irresistible claims but you can’t fit 15 into 10. Every player in the top 10 could present a case for being ranked higher.
Cleary is essentially yet to play in an average club side. His Panthers have been roaring for almost the entire time he has been in first grade – his presence is probably behind that.
It will be interesting to see how Cleary goes when, eventually, Penrith fall away. Lifting an average side behind an inferior set of forwards can be mighty challenging.
Cleary is only 25 years old. He could, potentially, play in the NRL for another eight years.
Imagine what he could achieve by 2031? Surely, by then he will have surpassed all those before him.
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