All time kiwi league team
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Another couple that would be hard to leave out would be the Sorenson brothers , Dane front row , kurt second row
Both were considered the best in the world in their positions at the time ,
they were the first players playing overseas to be selected for the kiwis , before that if you went overseas , ( not too many did ) you said goodbye to the kiwi jersey ,
I tend to think the kiwi jersey meant more a lot back then , all our best players were playing at home, mostly for auckland clubs , ( gee that was a great comp back then, big crowds down at carlaw park every sunday for game of the round ) , and the pinnacle for them was kiwi selection
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@Siam said in All time kiwi league team:
Do we think that Mark Graham was the best? A pine tree type. Always grew up thinking that. Maybe Stacey surpassed?
Mark graham was an absolute gun
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heres my team with a bit of open bias to some heroes from my childhood , but could easily pick others , way too many close calls
- RTS 2 . Dane O Hara 3. Dennis Williams 4, Nigel Vagana 5. Philip Orchard 6 , Roger Bailey 7 . Stacey Jones 8 . Dane Sorenson 9 . Tom Conroy 10. Mark Broadhurst 11, Kurt Sorenson 12 SBW 13 Mark Graham
14 . Clayton friend 15 , Kevin Tamiti 16 . Roy Asotasi 17 Ali Lauititi
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I'm not a big league fan, no really, but a team of my favorites is (showing my age):
- Gary Kemble
- Tony Iro
- James Leuluai
- Fred Ah Kuoi
- Dane O'Hara
- Gary Freeman
- Stacy Jones
- Dane Sorensen
- Duane Mann
- Mark Broadhurst
- Kurt Sorensen
- Mark Graham
- Hugh McGahan
Don't ask me about a bench... Kevin Iro somewhere there.
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My team of only players I've seen play:
- Mathew Ridge
- Sean Hoppe
- James Leuluai
- Dean Bell (How is he not getting selected in more teams?
) - Kevin Iro
- Benji Marshall/Olsen Filipaina* (I actually can't pick between these two. I'm not a fan of Freeman at 6.)
- Stacey Jones
- Jesse Bromwich
- Isaac Luke
- Kevin Tamati
- SBW
- Mark Graham
- Hugh McGahan
Bench: 14. Henry Paul, 15. Reuben Wiki, 16. Quentin Pongia, 17. Kurt Sorensen.
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@kiwiinmelb said in All time kiwi league team:
I grew up down at carlaw park...
Another that came after him , Dennis Williams , also a centre that finished as a 6 ,
Picked for the kiwis at 17 years old , scored with his first touch of the ball stepping through pommy tacklers , was that kind of magic player ,
Thank you. My first thought was Dennis Williams. Maybe ‘cos he was my fave League player, and then Olsen Filipaina.
And crikey, look at the condition of those paddocks back in the Seventies!!
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@kiwiinmelb said in All time kiwi league team:
@Siam said in All time kiwi league team:
Do we think that Mark Graham was the best? A pine tree type. Always grew up thinking that. Maybe Stacey surpassed?
Mark graham was an absolute gun
On a kiwis tour in the UK he broke his ankle, carried on playing till halftime. Then actually took the field at the start of the 2nd half before coming off.
Guy was the forerunner to Richie McCaw for hardness and putting his team ahead of himself. -
Craig Innes? I know the Aussies rated him highly.
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@Virgil said in All time kiwi league team:
@kiwiinmelb said in All time kiwi league team:
@Siam said in All time kiwi league team:
Do we think that Mark Graham was the best? A pine tree type. Always grew up thinking that. Maybe Stacey surpassed?
Mark graham was an absolute gun
On a kiwis tour in the UK he broke his ankle, carried on playing till halftime. Then actually took the field at the start of the 2nd half before coming off.
Guy was the forerunner to Richie McCaw for hardness and putting his team ahead of himself.I remember watching him break into first grade at Oatahuhu as a tall skinny back row forward , the Oatahuhu back row was international quality with himself , Owen Wright and Gary Prohm .
The Oatahuhu coach was Lowe , when Lowe took up his first overseas coaching job at Brisbane , he took Graham with him , in his first game a fight broke out , some player came at Graham shaping up , so graham hit him and knocked him out , being a young kiwi bloke he didnt know alot about reputations in Aus . He knocked out Wally Lewis .
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@Salacious-Crumb said in All time kiwi league team:
@kiwiinmelb said in All time kiwi league team:
I grew up down at carlaw park...
Another that came after him , Dennis Williams , also a centre that finished as a 6 ,
Picked for the kiwis at 17 years old , scored with his first touch of the ball stepping through pommy tacklers , was that kind of magic player ,
Thank you. My first thought was Dennis Williams. Maybe ‘cos he was my fave League player, and then Olsen Filipaina.
And crikey, look at the condition of those paddocks back in the Seventies!!
I heard some time back Dennis Williams was not going so well ,
had a car accident and lost his memory ,Was fine with the day to day stuff , but couldnt remember the past ,
How tragic , imagine being a gun like that in your day , and you cant remember any of it .
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@MN5 said in All time kiwi league team:
No love for Clinton Toopi ?
Not when there are 5-6 that are better. Toopi was a bit error prone.
There’s no doubting that the Warriors era of Toopi, Fa’afili, Meli, Lauitiiti was damn good to watch.
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@Smudge said in All time kiwi league team:
Brendon Tuuta, just for the Chatham Island shoutout.
That fella knew how to throw a punch!
