Was fun reading this old thread.

Why did Brett Kenny stop playing for Australia at such a relatively young age (26 ish)? Did he retire from internationals or was he just not selected?

He's actually completely accurate & 100% correct

Testament can be found when if there was even a hint of injury or hint of a rumour that Johns might be out of the team, all betting across Australia was suspended, when he played Newcastle were inevitably favourites if he was actually out they'd plummet to long odds at the drop of a hat, he was so dominant

Can i have some???

Interesting that Slater hasn't been mentioned and Smith only fleetingly. 2 brilliant played who when this thread is run again in 5 years will feature more prominently.

Smith may well take the mantle from Johns, he's the only one who can

People are mentioning a lot of players who are pure athletes & incredibly agile

Smith & Johns were / are pure footy players, both incredible students of the game, both have brains as well as all the weapons they need / needed to play their position or turn a game on its head

Thurston is a bees prick away from these two, as a half he hasn't got the strength & defence of Johns

I think Thurston would get a lot more mentions now. Best player i've ever seen.

As was said in the thread, it's a subjective argument. With the WC been one day away, a special mention to the British indomitables team. Fantastic story and the last team to be unbeaten in a test series against Australia. When you see the journey they had, compared to Englands business Emirates flight, be interesting to compare the results. Some great players in that team. Gus Risman, Trevor Foster, Ernest Ward, Willie Horne.

i always though Thurston was very good but not great, but the last 4-5 years i have changed my mind, better than Johns and sterling, best Aussie 7 i have ever seen.

Here's my candidates from SL in the time I've been watching (2001 onwards). I appreciate Lockyer, Johns, Fitler, Thurston etc will be better but I've not watched enough NRL to comment:

Back - Richards
Adds so much value to a team. His strength was a big asset finishing off from close range and driving the ball out of his own 20. His height/aerial ability made him a big target for cross-field kicks, and made them a none-option for the opposition. A very strong defender which seemed to demand opposition teams mainly attacked the other wing. He could kick a drop out 50 metres before it bounced, kick a drop goal from half way, a very accurate goal kicker. The only negative I can think of for Richards is that he wasn't agile, but once he got going, nobody would catch him.

Halfback - Long
He just seemed to run teams ragged, great vision, controlled the game, brilliant field kicker. Man of steel, three time Lance Todd trophy winner. Saints won four Grand Finals, six Challenge Cups and two World Club Challenges with him, once he left they were a spent force. Most importantly, he proved he could do it at the top level by having stormers in the most recent two times we beat the aussies, including on their turf after Mason took him out with an elbow off the ball, Long went on to tear them apart. He did has his negatives, the major one obviously being his significant off-field issues. Also not a great defender and maybe lacking some pace, but I don't see how we can eulogise the aussies, yet ignore a halfback who took them apart twice in an inferior team.

Forward - Peacock
Props are bound to be overlooked in these threads because their job is focused on the tough stuff rather that throwing flashy passes or making full length breaks, yet people commonly say halves can't play behind a beaten pack. Peacock epiitomises that hard graft that goes unnoticed, and is clearly a great leader. No co-incidence that when he was at Bradford we had bullmania, then as soon as he left they went down the pan and the club he joined, Leeds, became the dominant force. Again, he's proved himself against the aussies, playing in our most recent three wins against them, and scoring tries in two of those games. His performance in the 2006 win was outstanding, putting Mason on his backside and dragging four players over the line to score are two of my all time favourite rugby moments. I can't even think of a negative for him really, I suppose if he had better handling skills he could have been even better, but that wasn't his role.

a combination of some niggley injuries, and the no nonsense from is everything approach of Aussie selectors. Players like Peter Jackson emerged as firstly a centre then even usurped wally at 6, pluslikes of mcgaw Et kept kenny out of a centre spot, meninga re emergence as a test centre and captain after a couple of lean years. laurie daley breaking through.

The Australian selectors were pretty ruthless back then and still are to some extent its one of the reasons they are so good they don't d**k about like we do, none of this "he aint international class" if some ones playing well they get a shirt and get given a go. we suffer badly at not having the guts to drop players and pick new players.

slightly off topic but its a shame more stand offs don't start out at centre so many great players started their trade at centre before moving to 6 after a few years learning the game there and gradually expanding there skill set. hopefully Sutcliffe at Leeds will start this way out, too many young halves either struggle to guide a team around or get shunted out to full back.
Daley, Fittler, schofield, jackson, and severel others started at centre,