that's a fair post, nothing like billy's posts.Andymachine wrote:I kind of agree with Billy but am probably just a bit less extreme/ruthless about it.
Croker has been a great servant to the club... yes, and the club has also been a great servant to Jarrod Croker. He's played here for a lot of years, had a hell of a career, been paid handsomely (probably too handsomely for much of it). The club has shown a tonne of loyalty to him as evidenced by his current contract and the fact that he's been given the left centre spot and the kicking duties ever since he established himself as an 18 year old. A lot of people including Gus Gould and including myself have always thought Wighton should have been a gun left centre but while Croker has been here that spot was never available for him. Does anyone believe that Croker is a better left centre than Wighton? The NSW Blues don't. When his goalkicking has had the yips for some quite extended periods and we arguably had a better kicker in the team (Sezer), those duties were never taken away from him. So he's always been our left centre and he's always been our goalkicker through thick and thin for 12 years. The club doesn't owe him any more loyalty than what's already been given.
He's been a solid player for the most part but one who has always divided the fanbase over his level of performance. He's never been a gun player like a Papalii who every Raiders fan loves. There's always been a segment of the fans who haven't rated him and they're not crazy for it. He's just never been a difference maker. When the team goes well he has contributed, scored tries, kicked his goals etc. When the team has been poor, he's never been the guy who can bring the game back our way the way Dugan, Fergo or Campo could, the way Jack did in the grand final or Papa did to get us to the GF. Like Cameron Smith he's had an amazing run with (lack of) injuries across a long time but that's come to an end, the game has passed him and I don't feel sorry for him because he's in a blessed position as a professional athlete and has had an amazing career. He has fame, fortune and is set up for life because of that career and the Canberra Raiders. It's just time for that career to end.
I don't think you'll find many people claiming world best player, what you'll find is people able to say in a 12yr career he's been a more than capable nrl player with a pretty damn good highlights reel and a swag of records. There were seasons where if you didn't escort him he'd take the cross kicks and grubbers to score more times than not, some memorable tries where you wouldn't expect him to get the ball down.
Yes the last 2 seasons have fallen away as his body has let him down.
It shouldn't be too far fetched to show some respect.
Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk