[Pumpetypump]

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Thu Nov 15, 2018 12:24 pm  

Marc Herbert was mesmerisingly slow. I remember watching him against Salford away, and you really had to marvel how a professional athlete in his 20s could run slower than Douglas Bader.

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Thu Nov 15, 2018 4:37 pm  

Didn’t Herbert quit the sport after his season with us?

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Thu Nov 15, 2018 6:53 pm  

dddooommm wrote:

Didn’t Herbert quit the sport after his season with us?

He took a year out travelling I think. Returned to Australia and played in the lower leagues, he was in a final a couple of years back I remember reading, was curious to see what he was up to.

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Fri Nov 16, 2018 3:02 pm  

josefw wrote: He took a year out travelling I think. Returned to Australia and played in the lower leagues, he was in a final a couple of years back I remember reading, was curious to see what he was up to. He is mentioned on the Canberra website as a former legend https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2018/09 ... ity-match/

josefw wrote: He took a year out travelling I think. Returned to Australia and played in the lower leagues, he was in a final a couple of years back I remember reading, was curious to see what he was up to. He is mentioned on the Canberra website as a former legend https://www.raiders.com.au/news/2018/09 ... ity-match/

[Bulliac]

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Fri Nov 16, 2018 5:16 pm  

Not sure you can go on the way Aussies recognise "superstars".

Mario Fenech was also regarded as a big "super rugby player" in Aus and when I read it, I assumed there must be two Mario Fenechs as the description didn't match the useless, bone idle, waste of space who used the name at Odsal. If I remember he only came over to work off a ban he'd received in Australia and you could really tell....

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Sat Nov 17, 2018 12:15 am  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Marc Herbert was mesmerisingly slow. I remember watching him against Salford away, and you really had to marvel how a professional athlete in his 20s could run slower than Douglas Bader.

I have a vague recollection of one game where he played really well. I forget the opposition but think it might have been one of the better teams. It absolutely threw it down and the Odsal pitch was total mess which slowed every player on the pitch down to a snail's pace. Which of course suited Marc Herbert as everyone else was suddenly as slow as he was, which is why I think he played so well. Bringing people down to his level and all that.

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:13 am  

I think the writing was on the wall for Marc Herbert pre-season. They went on warm weather training and bumped in to some Aussie F1 driver he knew from his youth. They invited him to an opposed training session or something, and Marc was reported to have been roundly outplayed.

[Pumpetypump]

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Sat Nov 17, 2018 2:34 pm  

It says on wikipedia that Marc Herbert ended up as a paceman for snail races.

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:05 pm  

Taking some of the suggestions, we have quite a team who never quite made the grade...

1 Oscar Thomas
2 Karl Pryce
3 Dane Nielsen
4 Toa Kohe Love
5 Tame Tupou
6 Marc Herbert
7 Matt Orford
8 Danny Sculthorpe
9 Julian Rinaldi
10 Epalahame Lauaki
11 Glenn Hall
12 Michael Worrincy
13 David Solomona

14 Shawn Edwards
15 Garreth Carvell
16 Jean-Phillipe Baille
17 Dave Halley

I've thrown a few in there myself. The likes of Dane Nielsen, Julian Rinaldi, Lauaki, Gaz Carvell and JP Baille all stand out as players who could have offered much much more (some actually turning out would have been an improvement)!!!

[Bullseye]

Re: players who flattered to deceive? : Mon Nov 19, 2018 2:44 pm  

bullinenemyland wrote:

Taking some of the suggestions, we have quite a team who never quite made the grade...

1 Oscar Thomas
2 Karl Pryce
3 Dane Nielsen
4 Toa Kohe Love
5 Tame Tupou
6 Marc Herbert
7 Matt Orford
8 Danny Sculthorpe
9 Julian Rinaldi
10 Epalahame Lauaki
11 Glenn Hall
12 Michael Worrincy
13 David Solomona

14 Shawn Edwards
15 Garreth Carvell
16 Jean-Phillipe Baille
17 Dave Halley

I've thrown a few in there myself. The likes of Dane Nielsen, Julian Rinaldi, Lauaki, Gaz Carvell and JP Baille all stand out as players who could have offered much much more (some actually turning out would have been an improvement)!!!

Some good shouts there. Oscar Thomas a classic example, very occasionally v good but mostly poor.

Herbert gets a few mentions but despite him being the slowest halfback ever he had more try assists than any other player in the squad that season. A bit of an indictment on the rest!

Some poor recruitment choices there in the likes of Lauaki. Thought Sculthorpe was unlucky with injury. They never even flattered to deceive.