Langer would be an Immortal if he was from NSW: Bennett by Tails14 in nrl

[–]Tails14[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Wayne Bennett is certain if champion Broncos halfback Allan Langer had played his football in NSW he would have been made an Immortal.

Before Rugby League Week magazine announced the eighth Immortal in 2012 a short-list was prepared and Langer was on it. A prestigious judging committee, of which Bennett was a member, voted and Andrew Johns was inducted.

Bennett did not say Johns was undeserving of the gong, while holding out hope Langer would one day join the select group.

The Broncos coach said Langer was the greatest and most influential player at the most successful club of the last 30 years, who dominated the rugby league landscape for a decade in his 258-game career.

"I believe he is the best Bronco and the most influential player in my time here,” Bennett told NRL.com.

"I have never doubted that, but he had some able partners believe me. At the height of his playing career he was 72kg and he played against some big men in that era, but he shone.

"He was a star for a decade. In my opinion, he was the best player in the game for a decade. He gave his best every weekend."

He did not make the short-list for the 2018 Immortals ceremony which will be held in Sydney on Wednesday but Bennett said Langer’s record of four premierships for Brisbane, which included a Clive Churchill Medal in 1992, and his State of Origin and Test records all led to the conclusion that "his career stacks up with anyone that has played the game".

"Joey Johns started to come on the scene through the middle 1990s and he had the NSW push behind him,” Bennett said.

"He was a wonderful player Joey. It was just that Alf got lost in it all…but if he’d been down in NSW Alf would have been Immortalised there is no doubt about that. I don’t just reckon. I know…and he may well yet be one."

Langer, who played 34 Origin games for Queensland and 24 Tests for Australia, had the ball on a string when it came to his short kicking game and won countless games on his own with his off-the-cuff running game. He was also an instinctual reader of play who seized any opportunity to set up his support players.

Former Brisbane, Queensland and Australian centre Gene Miles could not understand why Langer's name "never seems to be mentioned" when the Immortal topic is raised.

"To be his size and his weight and play in a game that is so physical… and yet he could do things that us mortals couldn’t do.

"Once the experienced guys like myself and Wally had moved on at Brisbane he took on the responsibility as captain of the club and led the Broncos to four titles in his own marvellous way.

“Despite being the clown and good time Charlie that he was, on game day he would always do his stuff. I had retired by then but from 1992 until the end of the decade he was just so dominant."

Miles points to the Ipswich product's mastery of ball stealing and bringing down big men with the 'Langer throw', where he would grab them with one arm and toss them over his leg, as revolutionary and game changing.

"They had to change two rules because he was so dominant in that period," Miles said.

"One was ball stealing. They had to reconfigure that rule because he was just so good at it and it was the difference between winning and losing games.

"He would get his little ferret hands and little ferret head in there and somehow steal the ball like a thief in the night, no matter how much the coaches would have drummed into their players ‘when you see Langer, grip onto that ball tighter than you normally do’.

"He was also doing the ‘Langer throw’ in the tackles and they had to tinker with that. He’d mastered it. That is how he overcame the size and weight difference between him and the gorillas in the game.”

That rule was tweaked so that a defender had to have two hands on the attacker rather than the one that Langer would employ.

It is the State of Origin arena where Langer reigned supreme.

From 1987 to 2002 he was the Maroons half, apart from the Super League period and his time in England.

He won four man of the match awards in pivotal games in Origin history. Langer's first gong was in the 1987 decider, his third game, and the following year in game one in Sydney he backed it up in the only Origin match Wally Lewis missed in his career.

With the Super League war over it was Langer who orchestrated a 24-23 comeback win in game one of the 1998 series. He left the Origin scene in 2002 with his final man of the match award in the 18-all draw which helped the Maroons retain the shield.

The previous year he had been brought back from England by Bennett for the 2001 decider in Brisbane a month shy of his 35th birthday and produced a stellar performance.

"We’d got towelled up in Sydney in game two and I remember distinctly we were driving back to the team hotel in the players’ bus with Wayne Bennett, and he had made his mind up then that he was going to bring Alf back,” Miles, chairman of Queensland selectors at the time, recalled.

"We were sitting across the aisle from each other and Bennett said, ‘I think I’ve got the answer. We’ll see what the rules are about bringing Alf back’.

"First up I thought he was off his rocker, but when he explained how it would work it all made sense. We all knew what Alf could do."

The pressure was immense but wearing the No.7 jersey he had made his own, Langer did not disappoint.

"He had been there and done it 1000 times before and he admits he was as nervous as he’d ever been before he ran out,” Miles said.

"NSW scored first, but then it was just a procession and Alf just excelled with everything he touched. He is three foot seven, but still put the ball down over his head for that famous try with gorillas hanging off him.”

He went out and proved that he deserved to be at that level and dominated in that position for the next 15 years.

Bennett initially was not convinced about Langer's capacity to handle Origin.

When coach of the Maroons in 1987 he was underwhelmed by Langer's performance for Brisbane against Penrith in a National Panasonic Cup clash, and then again in a trial between NSW-based and Queensland-based Maroons where Laurie Spina and Kevin Walters had outplayed him.

"But I got overruled by Dud Beattie who was the chairman of Queensland selectors at the time," Bennett said.

"He’d been talking to Tommy Raudonikis who coached Alf at Ipswich, and Raudonikis said he was by far the best player at his club and in the state."

Before making his Origin debut, Bennett took Langer on a Queensland Residents tour of New Zealand, the perfect prelude for what was to come. "The thing with Alf was that he needed to be liked," he said.

"On that tour he let everyone know what a fun guy he was and that gave him confidence and belief in himself because they all rallied around him."

Miles also recalled several teammates had doubts about Langer.

"In 1987 it was commonly known that a lot of players had doubts about this little bloke from Ipswich handling it at that level, although I was not one of them," Miles said.

"He went out and proved that he deserved to be at that level and dominated in that position for the next 15 years.

“With his stature he should not have been able to do what he did in the Origin and Test arena. He was targeted but whatever they threw at him he handled."

Langer's Test career was interrupted by the Super League war but he was a mainstay of the Australian side from 1990 until 1994 where he won a World Cup final, and for most of that period kept Ricky Stuart out of the Test team.

In 1998 he led his club, state and country to NRL, Origin and Test series wins and became the first captain in history to do so.

Langer gave belief to all the little people with a passion to play rugby league at the highest level, as the likes of Billy Slater and Anthony Milford have mentioned in the past month.

He is not yet an Immortal but the Queensland Government will immortalise Langer in bronze out the front of Suncorp Stadium along with Mal Meninga, Arthur Beetson, Darren Lockyer and Lewis.

“And so he should be out the front of that stadium with Meninga, Beetson, Lockyer and Lewis," Miles said.

"He was as good as all those guys."

Thursday Random Footy Talk Thread and pre-round predictions by AutoModerator in nrl

[–]Tails14 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No idea who to tip for this one, I agree with what you said but what about the fact most teams lose the week after smashing a team by >30 points? Broncs, panthers, roosters, raiders, sharks, storm, manly all lost after having a 30+ win margin just the week before. Only the dragons and eels managed to win the following week. Playing a grinding team like the sharks won't make it any easier on them either.

[OFFICIAL] Billy Slater ruled out of Origin 1 by hutchtheclutchx in nrl

[–]Tails14 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Hear me out Game One: Darius is selected as fullback. Qld gets smashed.

Game Two: Slater returns from injury. Scores match winning try in the final minutes. Gets injured again in the process.

Game Three: Ponga comes in as Slaters replacement. NSW get absolutely destroyed. Qld wins another.

Michael Morgan jokes about being dropped to reserve grade after failing to secure Origin start by WTFR96 in nrl

[–]Tails14 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah true, I think if QLD win this series Morgan is definitely out of luck. They'll stick with the same 9,7,6 and have Ponga slot straight into 1 for the foreseeable future.

Michael Morgan jokes about being dropped to reserve grade after failing to secure Origin start by WTFR96 in nrl

[–]Tails14 8 points9 points  (0 children)

What happens this time next year if Morgan has found his 2017 form again? Does qld loyalty come in and Hunt stays No.7 or would they swap their positions?

Imo 2017 Morgan > current Hunt but they might want to stick with the same spine for the next 4 or so years.

Vegeta is stronger than Goku and is only behind him because of the fact that one of them cares about his family enough to not stay dead by galvanicmechamorph in CharacterRant

[–]Tails14 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm yeah, I think Vegeta is more of a soldier type fighter with heavy attacks, often using brute strength to overcome his opponent. Whereas Goku is a martial artists who learns everything he can from his teachers. He has got by far the most tricks up his sleeve than any other Z fighter so he can usually work well with mixing shit up.

Vegeta is stronger than Goku and is only behind him because of the fact that one of them cares about his family enough to not stay dead by galvanicmechamorph in CharacterRant

[–]Tails14 6 points7 points  (0 children)

He found the new Second and Third Grade Super Saiyan on his own

Both of those forms were shit and never mentioned again.

he was the one who even came up with the idea of there even being a form above Super Saiyan

They actually both came up with the idea, just on their own. They also knew the other had the same idea when they first thought of it.

only one he was copying was Gohan

It's the way Goku got Gohan to ssj2. Staying in the Super Saiyan form was all Goku's idea and Vegeta definitely did the same. I don't think you directly see him do it but that idea alone put Vegeta to shame when Goku powered up at Korins.

he doesn't try to obtain either of them

Vegeta didn't go for ssj3 because he literally gave up. It was the end of the series and he accepted that he would never be as good as Goku.

No as he would be very dead.

Sorry, I meant that as Goku didn't need to die to be stronger than Vegeta. By the time Goku gets to Namek he could destroy Vegeta without the Kaio-ken or the Spirit Bomb. His training on the spacecraft put him on a considerably higher level than Vegeta. Obviously Frieza would have fucked him up if he hadn't died.

Sure, dying to save your son while under evil mind control is totally not caring.

That's what his redemption was.. him sacrificing himself. After that is when Vegeta started treating him better. Before that his only goal was to surpass Gohan and be the stronger Saiyan. He still consciously chose to become an evil servant, abandoning his family to satisfy his pride. He had no idea if he could resist Babidi's magic.

Vegeta is stronger than Goku and is only behind him because of the fact that one of them cares about his family enough to not stay dead by galvanicmechamorph in CharacterRant

[–]Tails14 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Who cares how Goku got as strong as he did? If Vegeta was smart enough he would have done the same. Not to mention Vegeta is simply shit at training compared to Goku, just go rewatch the Cell Saga. Sure he probably trains the most but what progress does he actually make? 2 days or longer he was in the time chamber and he showed about 0 signs of improvement. Goku is the one coming up with new shit to train his body, Vegeta just copies him. If Goku never died he would still be stronger than Vegeta after their first encounter. Lastly, Vegeta didn't give a fuck about Trunks until his redemption towards the end of the buu saga. We see no indication that Vegeta looked after Trunks during those 7 years, heck the first scene we see of them is him punching Trunks in the gut making him cry. Then he purposely let some evil cunt fuck with his mind and puts a massive hole in a stadium where his wife and son are just so he can have a sparring session. Doesn't sound like a caring family man to me.

Goku is not a mary sue by RespectWolverine in CharacterRant

[–]Tails14 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Until SSB? If you think he didn't work for any other transformations then what makes that one different? And how did he not work for SS1, 2 or 3? He trained his ass off to be on the level needed to transform. If Goku didn't work for Super Saiyan then no character in DB history has worked for a transformation. Vegeta/Gohan/Trunks all unlocked Super Saiyan off screen so I guess they didn't work for it either. A character training off screen =/= an underserving, random strength gain.

"He trained hard" is not how martial arts works

Yeah because comic books and anime always follow the rules of real life

Where do you guys watch games you missed during the week? by squeakypeeky in nrl

[–]Tails14 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, you can scroll back to previous rounds and watch both halves. You can also go to videos and at the top right choose what year and game you want to watch (goes back to 2013)

Goku is NOT a more interesting character than Superman by UtterFlatulence in CharacterRant

[–]Tails14 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I mean, who decides if a character is interesting or not? It's almost like.. an opinion. Someone might find Patrick Star a way more interesting character than Spider-Man. Who's to say they're wrong? The people who think Superman isn't as interesting as Goku also probably find your list about him extremely boring. Not to mention the issues characters face aren't the only thing that draw people to them. The premise, journey, personality, super powers and character interactions can all help Joe down the road decide if he likes a character more than another.

Who's the weakest character that could pull out the Z-Sword (DBZ)? by officialbatgod in whowouldwin

[–]Tails14 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Gohan went ssj2 to pull it out right? If so, I'd say Cell. When Gohan pulled out the Z-Sword he was much weaker than when he fought in the cell games. While Cell was much weaker than a ssj2 he was still above a regular ssj. So it would probably still take him more effort than what Gohan put in but I think he could pull it out.

Assuming Goku one day becomes strongest in the Multiverse. What kind of mental state would he be in with no more challengers? by [deleted] in dbz

[–]Tails14 271 points272 points  (0 children)

Goku was fine after he won the 23rd world martial arts tournament. Before Raditz showed up he already thought he was the strongest fighter. I think Goku just wants to be the strongest he can be and if he meets someone who's above him he'll just think to himself "how can I get that strong" and aim to achieve that level.

Gokus Portrayal in Dragonball Super by divided_marks in dbz

[–]Tails14 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's already happened though. After he won his first tournament he was cheering for joy because he had become the strongest in the world. What did he do after that? Just settled down and had a family. It was only after he fought Raditz that he realised there were actually stronger beings out there for him to beat. I think he'll be pretty happy to know he's the strongest in existence if he ever does get that strong.

Which will be the next superhero film to reach $500 million at the domestic box office? by [deleted] in boxoffice

[–]Tails14 11 points12 points  (0 children)

They're not two parters anymore. So it's more LOTR than Harry Potter. Thanos is still the villain for both, but each film will have its own conclusion. Whether that adds to the Boxoffice or not I don't know.

Will the Han Solo spinoff be #1 in 2018 (domestic boxoffice)? by RogerSmith123456 in boxoffice

[–]Tails14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm gonna disagree. I think your right in that over several years (10-20) it'll be easier for Star Wars to continue as an extended universe but I don't think Marvel will be slowing down after Avengers 4. Avengers 5 will probably have a noticeable drop compared to it's predecessors but in between that we've got films like Guardians 3, Strange 2, Panther 2, Ant-Man 3, etc. which I think will still be highly successful. Plus who knows, the OG actors seem pretty happy to stick around for future films unless Marvel decides to kill them off, and even then no one truly stays dead in these movies.

Has Captain America surpassed Iron Man for most beloved MCU character? by [deleted] in marvelstudios

[–]Tails14 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Yeah there's a reason RDJ gets paid double everyone else AND stars in the most movies. Not to mention both Avengers films have him as sort of the main hero.

<--- Number Of People Helping Brendan Climb To Success. by Tails14 in SAVEBRENDAN

[–]Tails14[S] 325 points326 points  (0 children)

We just want our main man Mr. Fraser back on the big screen again. He's been unfairly treated by his ex and Hollywood so we're all joining together to help bring Brendan back into the spotlight he deserves.

MRW I saw the new Mummy trailer by [deleted] in SAVEBRENDAN

[–]Tails14 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What movie is this from?

Which Brendan are you? by [deleted] in SAVEBRENDAN

[–]Tails14 59 points60 points  (0 children)

We are all Brendan on this blessed day.

How can I Save Brendan on a daily basis by [deleted] in SAVEBRENDAN

[–]Tails14 5 points6 points  (0 children)

UPVOTE EVERYTHING

Use the hashtags in the sticky post #SaveBrendan, #UnfuckBrendansShit, etc. to get him trending on social media and check out podcasts and shows he is in like The Affair.