Cronk v Teflon Smith who is greater?

[The Thracian]

I keep hearing Smith is the man, the Greatest but is he ?

The retirement of Cronk and Thurston showed Smith is vulnerable, he is about himself only, his sudden retirement from rep footy appears to be about his legacy, he knew Qld were no chance without Thurston and Cronk so he quit, Same with the Kangaroos, No Cronk, No Thurston, No Slater his record as captain in jeopardy retire to protect it.

His part in blatantly rotting the cap

His grubby on field tactics

His rooting around on his missus

A couple of simple facts

he has never won a World Cup without the 3 players above
He has never won an Origin series without the 3 players above

and he has never won a premiership without Cronk

His only single achievement is to play one more for to play 400 games something he can finally do without the others.

Cronk does have and should be remembered as a better player and person than Smith

facts don’t lie

[Johnny73]

Cronk was the x-factor, Sunday night proved that. Smith is good, very good, but he's not great.

[ism22]

Smith had the upper hand (i.e. facing an injured Cronk) and failed to exploit it.

Also as an influence, Smith was average. Why? Because he let Munster get kicked off twice. One can say that's Munster's fault (and it is) but Smith SHOULD have calmed him down and controlled his behaviour. Slater as well TBH... his behaviour towards the refs was appalling.

Had Smith been the immortal people are all saying then he woulda been whispering positive vibes in their ears, keeping them calm and by doing so, keeping the Drizzle in the game.

With 20 to go the Storm were down by 2 tries and faced an injured half + an injured winger (both with broken bones). It was 100% within their capacity to score 2 tries and I was shyte scared. However, they p!ssed it all away and have Smith to blame for that. IMO serious questions need to now be asked about why the cool headed professional is amoungst the 'big 3' (and GI, who just got done with mid-range DUI + speeding and has previously pleaded guilty to DV charges, for which he was given a suspended sentence). IMO on and off the field, Cronk tops the other 3 contenders from this generation...

[dice]

Too much smoke being blown up Cronk's butt. This team so good that even Finch could have lead us to a win on Sunday.

[zac]

Too much smoke being blown up Cronk's butt. This team so good that even Finch could have lead us to a win on Sunday.

Because we'd won our previous 3 prelims and went on to win 3 premierships and had always been calm and composed in the big games?

[stsae]

Watching the replay look for Smiffs head when he realises he had just been played for a fool.

About half way thru the second half you can see it in his eyes.

There is also a classic shot of Cronkite holding Smiff around the throat on the ground.

They all all got played.

Robbo called it the double bluff.

Butthurt is in effect.

And we have 363 more days of rubbing their noses in it.

GO EASTS

[Easts75]

Because we'd won our previous 3 prelims and went on to win 3 premierships and had always been calm and composed in the big games?

zac dont talk facts on here mate

Cronk.was the missing piece in our puzzle , i think we can safely say he delivered this year. I loved Pearce for the effort he put in, he is an outstanding & passionate footballer.... Cronk is a great

[mattyh]

i concede that i doubt we would have won that premiership with pearce ...cronk so composed an orchestrater

[Bigchook]

Too much smoke being blown up Cronk's butt. This team so good that even Finch could have lead us to a win on Sunday.

Totally agree mate. A half back barking orders at his team. Who'd have thought?

[Salvatori Grubber]

Forget Cronk. Keary: best on paddock.

[The Thracian]

It just shits me to tears, when they talk about The big 4, the so called experts always rate Cronk at 4, they all speak of Smith, Slater and Inglis as future immortals, rarely do I hear Cronk name mentioned.

Cronk can win without them, can the others without him?

Off field the other 3 could not even tie Cronk shoelace, he is elite and one of a kind.

The burn out there is real

[dice]

Because we'd won our previous 3 prelims and went on to win 3 premierships and had always been calm and composed in the big games?

This team even stronger than 2013, and the first time since 2013 that we went into a prelim final with a week's rest and full-strength side.

I don't subscribe to the theory we only won because Cronk took the field. This is a close knit team, and the other players backed their ability to carry Cronk, and win the premiership together.

[Arties Pie]

With Cronk on the field and used as a decoy at times it took alot of the pressure off Keary, take the field goal for example. Mind you Keary was outstanding in a team where our forwards atleast in the first half dominated the opposition... It was a perfect first half for us.

[eddie]

Smith is not as great as the fawning media likes to make out. Most other players would be penalised out of the game if they played like him. Cronk is certainly a much better influence than the cheating one.

[Arties Pie]

On Smith, he's at the back end of it all and it's showing but years gone by he could do it all the complete dummy half / hooker that also was a very good goal kicker to boot. Not saying he didn't have his flaws but probably right up there with the best Hookers of all time imo.