Team of the decade - Fullback.

Ah, the fullback. The first man on the team sheet every single week. But who would you give the number one shirt to, and why? What are the qualities of a rugby league fullback?

The modern fullback's minimum requirement is to begin the counter attack upon receiving the ball from the opposition's kick down field. They obviously need a good set of ball handling skills in order to not drop the high ball. He is also the last line of defence, meaning once the opposition get past this fellow, you've had it so a good tackler is essential. But what makes a great fullback is the way they perform their minimum requirements as perfect as possible, as well as their attacking qualities adding more options to the attacking structure for the half backs to use. The full back can slot into any side of the attacking line next to the second rowers and the centres, so they act as extra option runners or carriers. In effect, the defence can be playing against five three-quarters (If that makes any sense.)

Below are A Tap on the Twenty's four nominees for fullback of the decade, who all possess the key skills to becoming an excellent fullback.


Anthony Minichello
Minichello was one of the reasons I used to like watching Sydney when I was younger. He is always in support of his line breaking team mates and has scored 89 tries in 181 NRL appearances because of his ability to back up the runner. His hard work failed to go unnoticed having represented his country 18 times in test matches, with a further nine tries to his name. His début against Canterbury in 2000 saw him play on the wing for the first few seasons, but the retirement of Luke Phillips in 2003 sparked a career that also saw him represent New South Wales nine time scoring six tries in the position of fullback. Thankfully for Sydney, he has saved that team more tries than they care to think. But despite a reoccuring back injury in recent seasons, he has always been a real asset to the club and a local hero being part of a team that saw him win the NRL in 2002 and become grand finalists in 2000, 2003 and 2004.

Billy Slater
Easily the best fullback in the game currently. Unfortunately for this exercise it does not automatically qualify him for that imaginary fullback spot when you consider half the nominees either are retired or play elsewhere on a more regular basis. Slater is one of the more acrobatic players in the game. Cameron Smith's try is a perfect example of that, when it was Slater who knocked the ball away from the dead ball line for Smith to score. Slater is also one of the few players who catches the ball on the full every single time it is kicked towards him. It was a real pain to see Eastmond's or Thomkins' kicks go straight to Slater every time. Since 2003 when made his début against Cronulla at centre, he was quickly moved to fullback after seven games and has since set the world alight with his brilliance. 

Darren Lockyer
Darren Lockyer spent the early part of his career playing at five-eighth (stand off for us English folk.) This was at the early stage of his playing days at Brisbane in which he spent a lot of time coming off the bench from 1995 until 1997. From that point on he was a fullback, and a fine one too. He later went back to five-eighth at a later stage, but for now we will discuss his performances wearing the number one shirt. He was such a brilliant fullback that when Wayne Bennett moved him to five-eighth, I immediately cast doubt over his selection on the hypothesis that it seemed silly moving a player who has done so well at fullback playing for both his state and country in the number one shirt, to the number six shirt. But as the last line of defence, he was excellent. But he wasn't as flashy as Billy Slater. but equally effective. He would always find the extra yards to begin the counter attack that no other player at the time could. He didn't waste time letting the ball bounce either. He would collect it either on the full, or on the half volley. He always had his body in the right position to collect the kick without wasting chasing it down. A brilliant fullback in his day.
 

Kris Radlinski
Arguably the best British fullback since Jim Sullivan in the 1920s. Radlinski is of Polish decent, but was born and grew up in Wigan for whom he played 332 games for. His international debut came in 1995 for England, and made the Great Britain side a year later. Despite retiring and making a comback, his finest hour was during the 2002 Challenge Cup final, in which he won the Lance Todd Trophy award for his man of the match performance. I'll always remember his tackle on Tim Jonkers ten minutes into the final, when despite being in hospital all week he was passed fit, he managed to prevent what would otherwise have been a certain try for Saints. In his career he played for Lancashire as well, but always gave 100% for whatever side he represented. He demonstrated a brilliant attacking flaire, earning himself 183 tries for Wigan, but only two in an eight year stint playing for GB.

The 2000s fullback of the decade is Anthony Minichello.