The Best 1-6-7-9 in the NRL.

[Magic Arrow]

I'm just wondering, who you think has the best 1679 combination in the NRL? I'll try my best to list the teams here, at full strength. Please correct my mistakes.

Brisbane
Hoffman-Lockyear-Wallace-McCullough

Canberra
Dugan-Campese-Orford-Buttriss

Canterbury
Barba-Keating-Hodkinson-Ennis

Cronulla Sharks
Gardner-W.Graham-Kelly-Morris

Titans
Zillman-Bird-Prince-Friend

Manly
Stewart-Foran-Evans-Ballin

Storm
Slater-Widdop-Cronk-Smith

Warriors
Hohaia-Maloney-Seymour-Heremaia

Knights
Gidley-Henry-Mullen-De Gois

Cowboys
Bowen-Thompson?-Thurston-Payne

Eels
Hayne-Mortimer-Robson-Keating

Panthers
Coote-Burns-Walsh-Kingston

Rabbits
Wesser-Sutton-Sandow-Luke

Dragons
Boyd-Soward-Hornby-Fien

Roosters
Minichello-Carney-Pearce-Friend

Tigers
Mckinnon-Marshall-Lui-Farah

How do you rate each combination? They're undoubtedly the most important positions on the field. I'm going to post my opinion on each one below.

Brisbane - 4/10 With the impending retirement of their hero and not much offering elsewhere, they look stuffed.

Canberra - 6/10 Solid combination. Not sold on their hooker yet, but they have a promising fullback and I think it'll be exciting to see Campese and Orford work together

Canterbury - 7/10 I think we have a very good group. The fact that they're all relatively young is just an added bonus. Definitely exciting

Sharks - 3/10 They've got nothing the poor Sharkies. One of the worst in the league imo

Titans - 6/10 Another solid lineup. Nothing to flashy, but they've got good players in the 6,7,9.

Manly - 6/10 Another solid one. Foran looks to be a future superstar and Ballin and Steward are already proven. Evans has a ? though

Storm - 9/10 Superstars in the 1,7,9. and a future one in the 6. Best in the league.

Warriors - 5/10 Nothing to get excited about. Don't rate anyone in their side, but at least their not totally useless

Knights - 7/10 I rate Mullen highly, same with De Gois. Gidley is okay in my opinion and Henry has a way to go.

Cowboys - 5/10 THey rely on their 1 and 7 too much. I think that Roberts going there will do wonders for his career. Payne is solid

Eels - 5/10 Besides the occasional magical Hayne, they offer nothing. Rubbish halves and a fringe hooker.

Panthers - 5/10 Other than Coote and Walsh I don't rate the others. They've got a solid fw pack though.

Rabbitohs - 5/10 Proof that a superstar team is useless without good halves. Luke is the only positive in their combination.

Dragons - 8/10 Hate to say it but I rate the Dragons combination better than ours. They've got a crazy fulback, with two consistent halves and an international hooker. Enough said.

Roosters - 6/10 On their day their halves will destroy a team by themselves. Mini is past it though and Friend doesn't get enough game time.

Tigers - 6/10 Marshall and Farah are the keys here, though Marshall is by far their most important player. They've got fringe first graders in the 1 and 7.

Would like more opinions. Does anyone disagree with my evaluation? Post yours please.

Any corrections to the sides let me know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NSW
Hayne-Barrett-Pearce-Ennis

QLD
Slate-Lockyer-Thurston-Smith

World Champs
Hohaia-Marshall-Fien-Leuluai

Australia
Slater-Carney-Cronk-Smith​

 

[Book]

The Eels should be lower. Seriously, their halves combination is terrible. They should be below the Warriors. Their only saving grace is Hayne.

 

[bLaQDoG..]

Storm for mine.

Slater, Smith and Cronk alone beat all the other 4 combinations.

 

[Magic Arrow]

The Eels should be lower. Seriously, their halves combination is terrible. They should be below the Warriors. Their only saving grace is Hayne.

Hayne can destroy a team on his day. That's why they remain a 5, and you're right, he is their saving grace.

 

[Paint.]

Tongue is the raiders first choice hooker, and mcguire is parras...
Also i would give cronulla a 6... Kelly and graham are two of the sharpest young halves in the comp, same with gardner, and morris isnt too bad... If cronulla just sign a good hooker and centre, theyll be one of the top sides...
I think people are too harsh on them cos of last year... And yet we had a very similar year?

 

[Captain Kickass]

Great thread ....

Can you throw in the NSW, Qld, Aust and NZ combo's too ???
Just so we can compare the strength of some teams to international combo's.

 

[OITENTA-E-NOVE]

New South Wales
?-?-?-?

 

[FaceBreaker]

Storm hands down blow any other team off the park with that combo.

I think you have rated Eels too high, they should be a 2/10.

Sharks perhaps deserve more than a 3/10, young halves combo, fullback has potential aswell and the hooker while not much of an attacking weapon, gets through a pile of work in defence and never gives up.

The warriors at the moment should also be a 2/10.

 

[Magic Arrow]

Tongue is the raiders first choice hooker, and mcguire is parras...
Also i would give cronulla a 6... Kelly and graham are two of the sharpest young halves in the comp, same with gardner, and morris isnt too bad... If cronulla just sign a good hooker and centre, theyll be one of the top sides...
I think people are too harsh on them cos of last year... And yet we had a very similar year?

I think they need time to jell and show some consistency. I don't think I'm being harsh, but each to his own.

@CK You add them to OP though, I gtg school.
NSW/QLD Game three last year.

NSW
Hayne-Barrett-Pearce-Ennis

QLD
Slate-Lockyer-Thurston-Smith

World Champs
Hohaia-Marshall-Fien-Leuluai

Australia
Slater-Carney-Cronk-Smith

 

[Pom_81]

It's not even close as to who the best combination is. If any supporter of any club says they wouldn't swap their 1-6-7-9 for the Storm's, they're lying.

Slater, Cronk and Smith are streets ahead of any other 1-7-9 in the comp and Widdop looks hugely promising (early days, though).

As an Englishman, I'm really hoping Widdop can kick on and take his game to the next level. It's a sad indictment of talent development in the Northern Hemisphere that arguably the most exciting player at a "key" position in the past decade or so has played all his Junior footy down here. It's not that Britain hasn't produced super-talented players at the age 17,18,19 - it's how many of those have kicked on and taken their games to the level level... zero. Kyle Eastwood at St. Helens is a prime example of wasted potential. It's so frustrating and hugely damaging to the code as a credible International game.

It's not lack of ability to compete in the forwards which has held back English Rugby League (and hence credible International games) in the past two decades (Morley, Fielden, Burgess, Graham, Ellis etc). It's the complete lack of talent development at the key decision-making positions.

Seriously - who was the last Northern Hemisphere player to really make it down here playing Fullback, 5/8, Halfback, Hooker (or even a ball-playing Lock)?

Jonathan Davies? Early 90s (and Welsh...)
Ellery Hanley? Late 80s.
Garry Schofield (did he play centre of 5/8 for the Magpies?)? Mid 80s.

NONE in the Super League era. Correct me if I'm wrong. There's certainly a couple who could definitely have made the grade - Shaun Edwards in the 90s and Keiron Cunningham in the 90s/00s but opted not to. That's a shamefully small number.

 

[luke]

change mckinnon for moltzen and tigers are 8 easy

 

[MP4 - Eedz]

Brisbane
Hoffman-Lockyear-Wallace-McCullough - 7/10

Canberra
Dugan-Campese-Orford-Buttriss - 7/10

Canterbury
Barba-Keating-Hodkinson-Ennis - 8/10

Cronulla Sharks
Gardner-W.Graham-Kelly-Morris - 5/10

Titans
Zillman-Bird-Prince-Friend - 8/10

Manly
Stewart-Foran-Evans-Ballin - 8/10

Storm
Slater-Widdop-Cronk-Smith - 8.5/10

Warriors
Hohaia-Maloney-Seymour-Heremaia - 7.5/10

Knights
Gidley-Henry-Mullen-De Gois - 7.5/10

Cowboys
Bowen-Thompson?-Thurston-Payne - 8/10

Eels
Hayne-Mortimer-Robson-Keating - lol/10

Panthers
Coote-Burns-Walsh-Kingston - 7/10

Rabbits
Wesser-Sutton-Sandow-Luke - 7/10

Dragons
Boyd-Soward-Hornby-Fien - 8/10

Roosters
Minichello-Carney-Pearce-Friend - 8/10

Tigers
Mckinnon-Marshall-Lui-Farah - 7.5/10

Melbourne IMHO

However alot of teams evenly matched after them

 

[MP4 - Eedz]

No wonder the comp is soooo tight and games hard to win, all the combinations are fairly well matched IMHO

 

[Book]

LOL at Eels rating.

 

[K E]

LOL at Eels rating.

It made me laugh, too.

Nice, Eedz. Nice.

 

[Gladiator.]

You guys don't know sh*t!

Mortimer has a famous last name, therefore automatically he is Parramatta's saviour.

 

[Book]

You make a compelling point, Mortimer does have a famous last name.

 

[@nchorman]

You make a compelling point, Mortimer does have a famous last name.

That is, until he gets married

 

[Gladiator.]

You make a compelling point, Mortimer does have a famous last name.

Lets fork out 1/2 a million dollars for a last name, only to have him playing reggies weeks later. LOL

 

[Gladiator.]

That is, until he gets married

Men keep their last name. HTH