I don’t think there is a single player in our system that could be considered a superstar but that’s just me. Since about the early 2000s the only superstars I have seen come through were:
Anasta
SBW
Thurston
Barba
Everyone knew SBW was very special. Thurston and Barba had their detractors and not everyone thought they would make it. Anasta was always streets ahead of his peers in the lower grades.
In fairness though in that time we produced rep quality footballers (Sorry for whomever I missed):
Elmasri
Utai
Sherwin
Mason
Asotasi
Maitua
To a lesser extent:
Reynolds (he did play for nsw)
Idris (played for australia)
Jackson
Klemmer
That's why i asked the question originally. Its been so long since there has been any excitement whatsover. Usually there has been quite a few players coming through the grades that you thought, hey this player can be something special.
I think it was same time as Barba, when we had Kasiano, finucane, jackson, Idris, Taupau and i thought Wow our future is looking so bright and it was for a bit till Des came and fucked everyone off pretty much.
Besides that as u said last one was SBW, we all knew he was a freak and boy did he deliver.
These days we have absolutely no one to get excited about. It's sad when fans got excited about Okenbur when he has been this useless since i first layed eyes on him years ago.
Unless we do a Newcastle and buy players i honestly can't see us getting back to top anytime soon unless we put all our eggs in 1 basket and develop some champion youngsters to come through the ranks like we did back in the day with Nate Myles, Asotasi, Sbw, Thurston who all came through same time.
And sherwin mason anasta maitua as well.