Hape in his prime was excellent. Great hands, superb partnership with Les. Defence was rock solid.

As for his partner there's a few decent players to choose from, Naylor was superb in defence and underrated in attack. Pryce's best position was centre IMO. He had flair, good hands, pace and was a good defender.

Going back a bit further Peacock was a handful. He hit a gap like nobody I ever saw before or since. Bradley also deserves a mention for being hated by just about everyone in SL but he did the job.

Shonny proved to be the classiest centre we've had, in my eyes. Easy top selection.

I think that Keith Lulia has bundles of potential and a lot of class, but the only reason I can't put him in is because of the fact he's only been here a while and has yet to fully prove himself in the way others did, but I feel a bit guilty about it.

BUT ... the other two for me just have to be the Peacock and the Penguin.

Hape without a doubt, Matt Calland was pretty unstoppable, remember him using a few opposition centres as doormats, defence was awesome too, so he'd get my vote, Scott Naylor 3rd.

We've had far more quality in the centres overall than on the wing or at full back.

When you compare our worst wingers (lets say Nick Zisti and Tame Tupou for instance) and compare them to some of the weaker centres (Justin Brooker, James Evans, Brandon Costin etc) I think we've been lucky that TV and Les were with us for so long!!!

Hape - absolute class, unstoppable. Both in attack and defence. 2003 Cup Final was a good game for him



Naylor - the best defensive centre we had until Ben Harris came along. Strong as an ox and could break through any line.

Harris - this choice was very hard but after Naylor left we didn't have a good replacement in Kohe-Love. However Harris came along and his defence was magnificent. His attack wasn't as good as Naylor's but it was decent enough.


Have to mention Peacock, Calland, Loughlin, Bradley, Pryce and Lulia as extremely close 3rd choice. Would have picked them all if I could.

Hape my first choice, followed by Lulia and Naylor.

Hape, Peacock and Naylor.

I went Hape - him and Lesley had the best partnership i have ever seen!

Naylor - From what I can remember, he was awesome in defence and attack - And he had big calfs! lol

Lastly - I went Bradley

this. exactly this.

Hape let him self down for me the way he sulked in early 2008 and then engineered his move to union left a bad taste with his old colleagues.

Jape
Keith
Naylor

In that order

Hape is a clear winner, but Nero is well under-rated on here even though he was one of the few backs that flourished during the felt-tip pen tinted Macca years.


Bring back Neromania

Penguin and Hape.

Gone for Hape and Naylor. There has been some quality in the centres though, looking down the list it almost takes the breath away, with such as Ben Harris, Danny Peacock and 'Penguin' Graeme Bradley. Happy with my choices though.

Quite so. For me Lulia could turn out (nearly )as good as Shontayne. I agonised between Naylor Harris Peacock and Bradley for my 3rd choice and finally plumped for the Penguin. However he was such a distinct character with a definite view on everything, I'm not sure how he would interact with some of the other probable selections for the Dream Team!

A lot of overseas talent on that list, although I always rated Naylor during his prime. A shame you could not retain Atkins and Bridge, as Bradford's loss was definitely Warrington's gain.

You never know how things are going to turn out, do you. Atkins was around fifth in line for a spot when he left and TBH, and in the games he did play he hadn't done anything to scream "pick me" at the coach so the move was the best decision. Bridge was a disciplinary thing though so not the same.

Always loved Peacock. The number of times he burst through and was caught just short of the line was ridiculous. But for a teeny tiny bit more pace he'd have scored a bucket-load. So him, the penguin and hape. We've had some talent at our club but Hape was, for a time, world class.

I felt I had to discount Lulia due to his short term of playing so far, even though he may continue hss form and become one of the great players.

Shontayne tops my list -a class act with just about all the skills, power and pace needed as a centre.

My second choice of Scott Naylor could never be accused of being classy. Nor was he particularly fast or having any guile whatsover. His presence in attack and defence was oustandingly brutal and often a game changer. It was an "OOOOH" moment when he was homing in on an unfortunte ball carrier.

Third is a real problem between my next 5 candidates such is the quality of centres on offer.
Peacock by a cockhair

Shontayne Hape and Scott Naylor it is then.

Danny Peacock just about takes third place and will go into the Subs vote.

Easy Hape for sheer class, Scott Naylor for uncompromising brutality. He wins a place for me on his performance in the 2001 Grand Final alone, when he gave Steve Renouf a pasting. Hard for third between Peacock, Calland and Bradley. But for influence in matches I go for Bradley.

no paul newlove?

IIRC he left us the year before SL started

he did, but he did play for the bulls as well as northern

If memory serves, he spent the biggest part of his last season at the club with a 'bad back' and rarely played. Luckily, it cleared up pretty instantly when he got his transfer...