Quote ="Roy Haggerty"It's become a cliché - almost a reflex - of RL fans on this side of the world to make statements like "This isn't a classic Australian side", or "This is a sub-standard Kangaroos squad" when the green and golds hove into view. Usually such a statement is made in the context of trying to show just how poor the England/GB side is, because they can't even beat a weakened Roos team. I've certainly heard that this time round, and indeed certainly every tournament since the 1995 World Cup.
I'm here to say that such statements are b@llox. Anyone claiming this isn't a superb Kangaroos side is talking out of their Harris, and has no greater value than an old fella moaning that nothing's as good as Van Vollenhoven/Boston/Huddart etc.
The reason I've heard given for why this set of Aussies are "not a classic side" is because they don't have stand-out players like a Lockyer, a Lewis or a Meninga. Cobblers. The reason they don't have particularly stand-out players is because they are ALL stand-out players. It's like saying that the Louvre's collection of art is weak because none of the works stand out.
Smith, Thurston, Cronk, Inglis, Slater, Thaiday, Gallen : these are astonishing athletes and incredible players. All of them, and their team-mates, would walk into any Aussie side I've seen since I started watching in 1982. Some of the skill on display today was breathtaking, and literally unimaginable from an English perspective. Most of their tries simply couldn't have been scored by an English player - we don't have the men with the fleetness of thought, let alone physical reaction, to do what they did. And that's before we get to a defence which hasn't conceded a single try in 400 minutes of Test rugby, against some very talented professional players.
I'm slightly appalled by the quality of the Aussies because I simply don't see where we can challenge that. This is easily the best Kiwi team in decades, and only the regrettable absence of Marshall weakens it significantly. It's also - controversial, I know - the strongest England side we've put out in decades. Maybe we've had better centres in the past, or craftier halves, but never all at the same time and married to a very strong pack. Yet neither the Kiwis nor England are in the same league as the Kangaroos on this showing.
The World Cup has been a wonderful festival of rugby league, with heart-warming moments and pleasure galore. It's shown again that when two sides of comparable ability come up against each other, then RL is an unmatched sporting spectacle. But it's also shown that the gulf between Australia and the rest remains a chasm. It is hard to see how it can be closed.
Salute the kangaroos, and stand in awe. When you're old men, you'll be able to tell your bored grandchildren that you witnessed possibly the best rugby league side ever to grace a field.'"
All that on one game - you really are a silly old windbag at times.
But hey you're a legend in your own head so how dare a mere mortal question your arrogant assumptions.
Better than us certainly but far from unbeatable, get a grip.
