Centenary of Greats
Signed & Framed
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Limited Edition of 100 Worldwide
Includes the signatures of more than 40 of the top 100 players of all time
Officially Licensed by: NRL
Accompanied by an Official Certificate of Authenticity
Framed Size: 110mm x 500mm
Click image for closer view
The 100 Greatest Players of the Century are the cream of the crop of Australian Rugby League's first 100 years.
Chosen by a select group of former players, coaches, administrators and historians, the 100 Greatest are quite literally the best of the best.
The absolute quality of the men selected is underscored by those who missed out – players like Brisbane Broncos' stalwart Petero Civoniceva (30 Tests for Australia), former Test halfback Ricky Stuart, Manly tryscoring machine Steve Menzies, former Queensland captain Gorden Tallis and dual Dally M winner Johnathan Thurston.
Make no mistake, this is a hot field, headed by the seven players who are recognised as the game's Immortals – Clive Churchill, Johnny Raper, Reg Gasnier, Bob Fulton, Graeme Langlands, Wally Lewis and Arthur Beetson and another 29 who hold pride of place in the game's Hall of Fame.
The selection process was designed to give appropriate weighting to all eras of the game's first century. The 36 Hall of Famers were automatic selections, meaning the selectors were left with 64 places to fill.
Of those, 23 were selected from the period 1908-45 and 41 from 1946-2007. Taking into account the eras of the Hall of Fame players, this left an even split of 38 players from 1908-45 (38 seasons) and 62 from 1946-2007 (62 seasons).
Of course the selections will be debated intensely. After all, no one person has watched every player over the last 100 years and in many instances (especially for the pre-WWII era) players were given the nod on reputation only. Even for those players who are well known to everyone, it is a hugely subjective assignment to place a great fullback ahead of a great front-rower, for instance.
The game is fortunate to have an extensive written history and the deeds of early stars such as Dally Messenger, Frank Burge, Dave Brown and Harold Horder have been well documented. Particular attention was paid to the opinions of old-time players and officials who had compared the greats down the years.
The 100 Greatest was never intended to be a definitive list of the game's greats. That, of course, would be an impossible task. It was designed as a talking point of the game's Centenary year, a means of recognising the deeds of many great players and honouring these men at a special point in the game's history.
This very limited edition will not last long so act fast to secure your collectable today !