Most overated players to put on the green jersey

Asus X540L · 30-07-2018 3:34pm #1

My picks:

Jerry Flannery
Jeremy Staunton
Kevin Maggs
The Easterby brothers
Isaac Boss
Brian Carney
Conor O'Shea
Donncha O'Callaghan
Geordan Murphy
Tomas O'Leary

pickarooney · 30-07-2018 3:36pm

I would agree with none of those.
Who on earth ever rated Brian Carney as a union international.

The answer is clearly ROG anyway. :pac:

Chico Flores · 30-07-2018 3:41pm

What a petty little thread

Asus X540L · 30-07-2018 3:42pm

pickarooney wrote: »

Who on earth ever rated Brian Carney as a union international.

Eddie O'Sullivan.
Didn't he bring Brian to WC 2007 cause he had "world cup experience" or something.
I think that showed just how much poor Eddie lost the plot.

Cookiemunster · 30-07-2018 3:46pm

So grand slam winners and capped Lions are overrated. OK......

arsebiscuits1 · 30-07-2018 3:49pm

Wow this thread is going to end well...

Jerry Flannery was one of the top hookers this country has ever produced and injury robbed him of his chance.

Less said about O'Callaghan on this list the better...

Mods, can we just lock this thread before it gets out of hand please?

Former Former · 30-07-2018 3:49pm

Asus X540L wrote: »

The Easterby brothers

Simon Easterby was an absolutely brilliant player.
Guy Easterby was not, but then no-one ever thought he was any good, so I don't know how you'd describe him as over-rated.

What a horrible thread.

Podge_irl · 30-07-2018 3:53pm

It is a nebulous concept anyway.

Tomas O'Leary was very good during the grand slam season. He was not as good after it. Acknowledging the former doesn't make him overrated.

Ultimately people probably "overrate" 90% of the players who play for their team.

prawnsambo · 30-07-2018 4:16pm

Over ated? Is that some kind of fat joke?

endacl · 30-07-2018 4:21pm

prawnsambo wrote: »

Over ated? Is that some kind of fat joke?

Rikishi! :pac:

Boscoirl · 30-07-2018 4:37pm

O'Driscoll
Murray
Sexton
O'Connell

Am I doing this right?

Squidgy Black · 30-07-2018 4:42pm

Definitely Paul McShane

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Clegg · 30-07-2018 5:03pm

Ireland's player pool was never large enough for us to have overrated players who didn't deserve caps. We couldn't afford to overlook anyone who was half decent. We certainly had players who werent great but were the best available therefore received a number of caps. Or players who were once great but were still playing long past their peak because there was nobody younger coming through. RoG post 2011 is a good example of the latter.

It's only over the last two years that we've developed depth in every position bar half backs.

Burkie1203 · 30-07-2018 5:04pm

John Hayes

bobbyss · 30-07-2018 5:14pm

Kevin maggs. 70 odd caps.
Can't remember anything constructive or any outstanding moment.
How did he get 70 caps?

Podge_irl · 30-07-2018 5:17pm

bobbyss wrote: »

Kevin maggs. 70 odd caps.
Can't remember anything constructive or any outstanding moment.
How did he get 70 caps?

Dearth of options? Obviously fairly limited but I recall him being useful enough to have BOD running off for example. Worth remembering that Ireland were really, really bad back in the day.

Faugheen · 30-07-2018 5:19pm

Inb4 Jamie Heaslip

amacca · 30-07-2018 5:43pm

Geordan Murphy was justifiably highly rated imo ....oozed class at full back.

Podge_irl · 30-07-2018 6:05pm

amacca wrote: »

Geordan Murphy was justifiably highly rated imo ....oozed class at full back.

hmm...he was the closest on the list I came to agreeing with. Funny how these things work.

The Pheasant2 · 30-07-2018 6:06pm

Asus X540L wrote: »

My picks:

Jerry Flannery
Jeremy Staunton
Kevin Maggs
The Easterby brothers
Isaac Boss
Brian Carney
Conor O'Shea
Donncha O'Callaghan
Geordan Murphy
Tomas O'Leary

Simon Easterby was excellent for Ireland. If anything not rated enough.

padd b1975 · 30-07-2018 6:13pm

Brian Smith.

Podge_irl · 30-07-2018 6:18pm

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

Simon Easterby was excellent for Ireland. If anything not rated enough.

He was less "showy" then Neil Best in a lot of ways and especially after Best's admittedly fantastic showing in the 06(?) AIs it seemed harsh for Easterby to come back in for the 6N. It was absolutely the right call though and I think he proved that.

bobbyss · 30-07-2018 6:44pm

Dick Spring?
But maybe he was never rated any way?

yerrahbah · 30-07-2018 6:51pm

Leinster

[Deleted User] · 30-07-2018 7:20pm

To even get remotely close to the level required to be a provincial player in a sport as competitive as rugby is a huge achievement. To go onto represent your country at the highest level is a huge honour and I'd say each and every player mentioned in this thread, retired or otherwise takes great pleasure in recollecting their time in green.

I think what we think of them really doesn't matter all that much, but even so I think it's particularly mean to denigrate their success by speculating how over rated or perhaps more tellingly - 'undeserving' they were.

Poor thread to be honest.

Podge_irl · 30-07-2018 7:22pm

Venjur wrote: »

I think what we think of them really doesn't matter all that much

I mean, I agree but at the same time we shouldn't pretend we don't all do it as a matter of course in other threads. We just don't put it forward like this.

Asus X540L · 30-07-2018 7:59pm

Venjur wrote: »

but even so I think it's particularly mean to denigrate their success by speculating how over rated or perhaps more tellingly - 'undeserving' they were.

.

Oh Gosh I might have even made them cry.

bilston · 30-07-2018 7:59pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

bobbyss wrote: »

Kevin maggs. 70 odd caps.
Can't remember anything constructive or any outstanding moment.
How did he get 70 caps?

Dearth of options? Obviously fairly limited but I recall him being useful enough to have BOD running off for example. Worth remembering that Ireland were really, really bad back in the day.

His partnership with BOD worked a treat in the early noughties when defences were a bit more spread. I'm not sure Maggs would have the same impact nowadays, that said I doubt even BOD would have ripped todays defences apart like he did around 2000-2003.

Quin_Dub · 30-07-2018 8:02pm

I'd agree with others - fairly petty thread..

I don't think that we've ever capped someone that wasn't worthy of the cap at that time and place.

Was every player that ever got a cap for Ireland "Top tier International Standard" ?

Perhaps not , but at that given moment they were the among the best players available to us.

In hind-sight we might all come up with a name or two and wonder how they got capped , but if we ask the question "Who else would you have picked at the specific time?" the answer will , I'm fairly certain be , "Actually , now that I think back , he was probably the best we had fit and available at the time.

As others have said , for long periods of time we were awful....

Podge_irl · 30-07-2018 8:04pm

bilston wrote: »

His partnership with BOD worked a treat in the early noughties when defences were a bit more spread. I'm not sure Maggs would have the same impact nowadays, that said I doubt even BOD would have ripped todays defences apart like he did around 2000-2003.

Not a hope. The classic bosher 12, runner 13 just isn't enough anymore. One of the impacts of professionalism is that size differences aren't as noticeable I think as well. Maggs was a big bloody unit for the time, but they're pretty much all big now. Even in the latter half of BOD's career it was close in strike runs that he did perfectly.

stephen_n · 30-07-2018 8:08pm

Jesus can the season hurry up and start already!

Most overated players to put on the green jersey

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