Cronk the Immortal

NRL.COM has posed the question, does winning 3 in a row make Cronk an immortal?I say NO.Good player yes , but both Storm and Roosters are cap cheats and he'd have struggled in lesser teams.So what about Sterlo and Kenny 81 82 and 83 does that make them immortal or Price perhaps? I know they is just hyping the big one but making Johns an immortal before a whole bunch of absolute legends of the game was a mistake and now the tag gets thrown around way too much for current or recently retired stars.the Dragons and Roosters won way more than 3 in a row in the 50s and 60s although those teams must have been stacked with the best players poached from all over Country I am sure the likes of Billy Smith would have 4 or five in a row and no immortal status, maybe some of you history buffs or google experts can find some stats on some more deserving players, but if I see JTs wacky head up there receiving it in the next few years I'll puke.Won one premiership as starting half, but struggled mostly in clubland and I could have won 10 series for qld as halfback with the team they had playing against Jamie Soward and Mitchell Pierce, Not saying he's no good but perspective is a funny thing and Cronk and JT and Slater and Smith have been made look way better because of the teams around them.Start from the start for Fcks sake let these blokes wait in line for recognition and give it to some of the old blokes before they kick their last conversion.

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  • I wouldnt know but I think Cronk is the main reason why Roosters are consistently so strong since he joined. I dont think Trent Robinson is an elite coach - very good but not the reason Roosters are the best team the last two years

  • NO... 

    look at the teams and players he has been a part of. Hall of fame for sure, but he isn't a better 7 than sterling, mortimer and not Thurston either

    There was alot of talk about this today on macquarie sports radio, and matt Thomson was taking cronk up big time.  His argument was all based on stats. What a narrow minded way to assesses if someone is the best of the best.

    Media have easy to much influence on these decisions.  

  • even tho I loath the dirty rat, I think Cam Smith will become an immortal but not Cronk. He is a very very good player but to me an immortal is a player tht changes how the game is played, Smith did tht, Cronk didn't 

  • No! Like you've already stated "What about the likes of Kenny, Sterling, Price, Cronin etc.... And Billy Smith and company! If Cronk is listed as an "Immortal" then so should all the rest mentioned.

  • Many players are hall of fame players but the immortals should have been left to extreme brilliance and long lasting legacy.  That can not be decided so close to a playing career but how well they compare against future generations and if they still get talked about.  Billy Slater was brilliant however the new breed of fullbacks such as teddy, RTS and CNK mean he will be quickly forgotten.  Does he really deserve talk as immortal when teddy still young is very capable of surpassing him.  That doesn't really point to a once a generation player or immortal status to me.

    It was only a  year  ago JT retired with talk he was the greatest halfback ever along side or close to Andrew Johns, but now people want to put Cronk there as an immortal due to his success at roosters.  JT and cronk played big chunk of career at the same time and the immortal concept was meant to elevate players of rare skill and ability to a status above the regular hall of fame level.  Having 2 players in the same position from same timeframe doesn't sit as immortal status to me as they were not a level above the other players.

    That said some of cronks stats are great and he is a great of the game. His football knowledge is off the charts and his hard work has paid off.  Time will tell if he is an immortal but I hope not.

    He is attempting to farewell the NRL with a third straight premiership, Cronk can equal St George’s Bob Bugden from the 1950s with the most grand final wins at halfback with six.

    He holds the record for the most finals wins with 26, having played in 15 finals series.

    Sunday’s grand final will be his ninth, the most for any player since Ron Coote in the 1960s and ‘70s.

    Of 11 State of Origin series he played, Queensland won 10. The one loss came when he broke his arm in Game I in 2014 and missed Game II.

     

     

     

  • He has achieved way more than any half in history so yes. Because at the end of the day stats don't mean everything but they mean a lot. But who cares the award is a joke, given that coke sniffer John's got it before Sterlo, Kenny. 

  • What irritates me is Matty Johns on thursday night saying, this is his 9th grand final and will be his 6th win. Actually Matty it'll be his 4th win, two he cheated to get so it does not count. Same with Brent Reid on NRL 360, Kent talking about how they cheated for 2 premierships and Kent called Reid out for giving him looks, in other words saying as if they still won those titles.

    Are we really that desperate for good stories and accomplishments that we give them back those premierships to make champions look even better? 4 premierships is phenominal, why bend your back to make sure it's 6.

    It irritates me that they still count them and nobody brings it up, Finchy constantly states he's won a premiership and nobody says a thing.

    • The only way to stop this kind of thing is to award the premiership to the runner up, yes it is slightly unfair to the other teams but it stops the cheating team/players from claiming a title. 

  • Definitely. Halfback is the most important position on the field. He has guided every team he has played with to success. Sure having good players around him helped but he can only work with what he's got and it's not his fault those around him were good players. Just look at the roosters, he has improved an already suspicious salary cap team and in his first year beat those same players (the storm) that some argue made him look better. hmmmmm

  • What is an immortal?      Take your pick or find another term.

    1:living forever; never dying or decaying. 

    2: an immortal being, especially a god of ancient Greece or Rome.

    3: a member of the French Academy 

    4: the royal bodyguard of ancient Persia.

    When I look at the term, outside of the above ones, I doubt that Cronk even in a relatively secluded game as RL, I say secluded as its not that great in its sphere of influence or following even in Australia, certainly its influence and area of where its played has decreased in size especially in the past 50 years, & in many areas still declining as other codes take over.

    Cronk is without doubt a top player but gee there have been a lot of others over the years, who were not just full time professional players on good coin and got great publicity to promote how good/great they were. Most, if not all had to have full time jobs, train 2/3 times a week and play a game on match day, they had publicity on their side when winning and often losing, and there were great players back then who played under worse conditions than is seen today.  How many of them were as good or better than Cronk and other so called immortals?  Who today remembers them? just like who was the royal bodyguard of ancient Persia.? and who sees him/her today, immortal? no! dead.

    What gets me in this arena and that of the hall of fame is the same thing as I mention above with great players of the past whose names many don't hear about let alone hear anything about them, out of sight, out of mind, not only that but who are the ones who make the call on those to receive the awards?

    Immortals, in their own minds until dead,

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