I too have always been told from being a child that Murphy is the greatest RL player of all time by my Dad and both Grandads. Lockyer is probably the best player i've seen but i'm not particularly old.

Whether or not these older generation players were better than Johns I dont know, not seen them play never even seen clips of them play however, what Johns did to this sport was improve the standards set, kids looked up to him, they wanted to be just like him and the fact he spent longer on the training pitch than most players just so he was the best at what he did shows to me that he was a great player and deserves to be spoken of in the same thread as all these other great players.

As for his indescresions, having worked in a city centre bar I can quite honestly say there are a LARGE percentage of those that go out on a weekend take something that is illegal. Quite obviously these drugs did nothing to stop Johns being one of the greatest ever players to play this sport.

Genius five-eighth.

Probably between him, Bolton and Horne for the all-time best England 5/8th.

the pace of the game is so much faster, you have to run more, make more tackles

the skills of the opposing players is so much better so its much harder to stand out for a star player

the model T ford was the best car in its day but today a ferrari would kill it.

australian commentators all put johns ahead of both the king and bert.

lewis was a fantastic origin player, the best there ever was or will be

his international record was fantastic too

sadly he didnt achieve much in his career in the ARL competition with a star studded broncos side

indeed the broncos won their first premiership after sacking the king

had lewis come down to sydney when he was younger and won a competition he would have achieved it all.

Never mind that-what does that mean?



It means either..

a. Typing error.
b. You can use certain terms used in RL but when someone else does you have a go.
c. You think Sean Long is better than Murphy and Johns and obviously havn't got a clue about the game.

You can't really compare them, just a few points...

Johns - had to be physically fitter as the game is faster, bigger players, more space at the ptb, hand over after 6th tackle, tackling laws to protect players, tactical of substitutions, full time players, lots of sports/nutrition science to support players

Murphy - part time players, a side can keep the ball for eons, (1966) 4 tackles and then a scrum, space is limited at ptb (5 yard rule), very limited substitutions, no/limited sports/nutrition science (probably ate fish 'n chips and had a pint after training), and standard tactic to counter his genius = knock his bloody head off (little protection from referees)!

(And, btw, for someone who mentioned a player smoking being a rebel in Murphy's day... no way, smoking was mainstream!)

Murphy did have a 'tash, always a bonus.

I was undecided until that point!

He and Gene Miles had the opportunity to do that in the 80's, they signed with Manly but QRL offered hem a little more to keep them in Qld.

Frankly DM, that is crap, your earlier post.

Name 6 decent judges who rate Johns ahead of Lewis...

And Lewis won numerous titles - in Queensland (1979, 1984, 1986) - and cleaned up the best NSW had to offer on numerous occasions at State and club level.

No-one can match Lewis's 1984 season in recent times...

7 out of 10 MOM awards in big games.

Wally Lewis, 1984:-

* Captain and winner Brisbane Premiership Wynnum
* Captain and winner Panasonic Cup Final Combined Brisbane (defeating Sydney semi-finalists Souths, Canterbury (Premiers) and Parramatta (Runner up), then Easts in the final) (Man of Series)
* Captain and Winner Queensland 2-1 (2 MOM awards)
* Captain and Winner Australia 3-0 (1 MOM award)

AND he had a 'tash too!

Indeed.

as i was saying to a mate yesterday the nswrl / ARL was the best club competition in the world

sadly lewis didnt perform in this arena. whether it was age or struggling with a much tougher league he didnt excel

johns was the star player in australian RL for at least 5 years, week in, week out over 26 rounds

he played with an average club in newcastle not the broncos like lewis

the mark of johns was how quickly the club fell away when he retired

the broncos won the title after lewis left

had lewis come to manly in 86 my opinion could be different

johns won a grand final with a punctured lung against the club with the best defence in the history of the game and then johns won another grand final with a busted groin against the best attacking team in the game

So you're telling us that every Australian Rugby League commentator rates Johns as a better player than Wally Lewis... that's quite a statement

Best British Halfbacks I ever saw were Murphy and Millward. Best Australian Halfbacks I ever saw were Lewis and Sterling.

tbf maybe 1 in ten would pick lewis.

many of the current commentators have said johns is the best ever.

many players ex and current all referred to johns as the best ever.

heck when austraia beat GB by 40 points in sydney years ago the english players were queing up for his autograph

Johns was voted in the Australian and nsw team of the century at half back, voted the number on player in the last 30 years.

Player of the world cup 1995, player of the series 2001.

Three dally m's, one Clive Churchil, 3 mom at origin, 2 golden boots.

Does anyone know how many times he was the dally m half back of the year?

One of the things I have been told about Murph is that he was responsible for a number of rule changes as a result of his using the existing rules to his advantage!

Drop goals, head and feed at scrums, options for penalty kicks.....

I am sure some of our older posters could add some depth to this.

Sterling ?

i have seen them both play, and for me murphy wa head and shoulders above johns.

Unfortunately, DM, you show the same bias Lewis confronted from Sydney during his entire career. The man was booed by the Sydney crowd as Australian captain in 1984...

It is only with some hindsight - and the lack of fear now that he is long finished playing - that he began to receive the accolades from Sydney. An immortal (which Johns is still not); 5/8th in the Australian Team of the Century etc.

During Lewis's career, Sydney scribes opined that Sterling was a better player. This analysis was shown to be wrong by the celebratory events during the 2008 Centenary in Australia. Again, a long time after the fact...

Johns - 5 years! Lewis was the dominant player in the world for over a decade.

Lewis was still the best player in the world circa 1988-1989, in the Sydney competition: the heavy rep seasons took their toll on the Broncos in this period (1988 Lions tour + Centenary games; 1989 full Kangaroo Tour to NZ mid-year).

He was heavily injured (numerous things including breaks) during 1990.

And he was at the end of a long career that began in First Grade in 1978.

As for competing with injury, Lewis nearly playing out the RLWC Final of 1988 before nearly 50,000 Kiwis in Auckland, with a broken arm, rates fairly highly.

It is patently wrong too.

Name them as I asked for...

Played in the World Cup 1995 at hooker...