When it comes to Greg Inglis nothing is ever enough for some rugby league fans

GREG Inglis was fine last Friday night. But because he’s Greg Inglis, that’s never going to be good enough for a large chunk of rugby league fans.

GREG Inglis was fine last Friday night.

Really, he was perfectly acceptable in the Rabbitohs’ win over Manly.

Outside of the first 20 minutes his forwards were constantly on the back foot. He ran for more than 100 metres, made a line break, saved a try in the second half with his team under pressure, didn’t make any mistakes and shut down the final Sea Eagles raid with a languid, one-handed pick-up that was more suited to a lazy training sessions than the final minutes of a slugfest and was executed as easily and casually as any move ever could be.

Greg Inglis played a fine game in South Sydney’s win over Manly at Brookvale. Picture: Gregg Porteous

But that wasn’t enough because when it comes to Inglis nothing is ever enough. Look on Twitter, ask cranky Rabbitohs fans or, if you’re brave or crazy enough, venture into a Facebook comments section and you’ll see the same thing — that Inglis is lazy, Inglis went missing, where was Inglis when we needed him?

The expectations on Inglis are huge and have been for the last decade. After all, he might be the most gifted athlete ever to lace up a boot. In his younger days he was lean and powerful and nobody could ever catch him.

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They say that Latrell Mitchell is the next Inglis but with due respect to the young Rooster he’s nowhere near where the Rabbitohs superstar was at the same age.

In 2006, when Inglis was the same age as Mitchell is now, he scored a double on debut for the Maroons in Origin I, grabbed four tries in five Tests for Australia and 18 in 19 games for the Storm to go with 24 line breaks, which is still his career high

Greg Inglis scored a double on his State of Origin debut for Queensland in 2006.

When Inglis got older and spent time at five-eighth before leaving the Storm, he changed. He stayed as quick as ever, but he also got bigger. Always rangy, he packed on size to the point where he didn’t need to go around defenders anymore, he could just go through them or over them with a force and a power that was terrifying.

Since he moved to fullback permanently in 2012 he’s been one of the best in the competition. If Craig Bellamy had chosen to keep him instead of Billy Slater following the salary cap purges of 2010, Inglis might be talked about as the best player of this generation. As it stands, by my reckoning, he’s somewhere near the front of the pack trailing Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith and Slater in the Best Players Of This Era discussion.

Greg Inglis is among the best players of his generation.

But it’s hard to be realistic about what to expect from Inglis because we’ve seen him do so many incredible things. We’ve seen him score more tries than anyone else in Origin history. We’ve seen him single-handedly dominate the opposition.

When you’ve seen his tap back in the Centenary Test and his frightening hit on Dean Young in 2012 and his 133 career tries (the fourth most among active players and the 21st of all time) it’s hard not to wonder why he can have games like Friday’s, where he just does what’s required and nothing more.

Rightly or wrongly, our expectations of Inglis are skewed to expect the extraordinary. His prodigious physical gifts and his imperious history have us expect greatness every time he strides on to the field.

Greg Inglis is a fearsome sight in full flight. Picture: Gregg Porteous

We might see it in a single play or a couple of runs or an entire half, but because we know it’s there we want it all the time and feel let down when we don’t get it.

The expectations of Inglis from week to week have never been level because the expectations for his career are so astronomical.

For Inglis the stakes were never about being a great player, they were to possibly claim the mantle of Best Player of All Time. That was his ceiling.

It stands to reason that Inglis will never hit that ceiling. He might not turn 30 until next January but he’s an old 29 — Inglis has been playing first grade for 11 seasons and the last time he played less than 18 matches was in 2005.

He’s also had the wear and tear of 27 Origin matches and 34 Tests.

Greg Inglis has played 34 Tests, as well as 27 Origins.

It’s safe to say that while Inglis still has a lot good football in front of him his athletic and footballing peak are probably in the rear-view.

Inglis could retire tomorrow and be revered as an all-time great. In the American parlance, he’s a first ballot hall-of-famer.

Despite his incredible ability and wonderful career Inglis has never been able to be extraordinary every time he took the field and for that there are some footy fans who will never forgive him.