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<blockquote data-quote="Larksea" data-source="post: 821164" data-attributes="member: 43875"><p>Cullen was very good, created some great moments and on is own was a legend. His career was fairly short, never won a SR ***le or WC. had injury issues.</p><p>Personally I rate Mills ahead of him. Played 100 tests - first All Black back to do so and accumulated an amazing record. His all round skillset and accuracy were pretty amazing and he had some big seasons for the AB's. Go back and look at the All Blacks highlights for 2010, its basically a Mills Muliaina highlight! Mills also drew attention to just how important it is for a fullback to be exceptional under the high ball. The AB's gameplan basically revolved around him being awesome under the high stuff. Maybe not the all out running game of Cullen but generally better everywhere else.</p><p></p><p>IMO Ben Smith easily tops them both, has the all round Skillset and high ball wizardry of Mills and an all round better attacking game than Cullen, maybe not the runner Cullen was in his prime but he has a much more diverse attacking arsenal and a much better team player, he easily creates more tries than he scores, and he scores a lot, Cullen was kinda known as being a bit selfish or individual. You were more likely to get a dummy than a pass from Cully. Smith is also much more active in games.</p><p></p><p>Simply put if we were discussing the best try scoring fullback ever then maybe Cullen would get it. But best allround fullback? No Smith is easily better.</p><p></p><p>I would say the most controversial thing about Smiths career is how late it took for the selectors to see just how good he actually is. I would say he deserved a regular squad spot from 2009 onward but only really get selected regularly in 2012/13? The selectors preferred Toeava over Smith for about 3 years which was clearly a selection mistake. Then persisted with an out of form Dagg as first choice fullback for a further 2-3 years. If not for that he'd probably have 80 test caps by now.</p><p></p><p>That said, even now without considering that Smith probably has a lions tour and another World Cup left in him, hes the best full back we have produced and I think NZ has produced the best. Respect to the ones outside NZ like Burke & Co. And not considering the old school era. Great at the time but hard to compare because those guys would have seriously struggled in the modern era, its impossible to compare.</p><p></p><p>Didn't mean to derail this stats thread, But Ben Smith features heavily in those stats. Easily our best and most consistent Back this RC as he is pretty much every series for the last few years.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larksea, post: 821164, member: 43875"] Cullen was very good, created some great moments and on is own was a legend. His career was fairly short, never won a SR ***le or WC. had injury issues. Personally I rate Mills ahead of him. Played 100 tests - first All Black back to do so and accumulated an amazing record. His all round skillset and accuracy were pretty amazing and he had some big seasons for the AB's. Go back and look at the All Blacks highlights for 2010, its basically a Mills Muliaina highlight! Mills also drew attention to just how important it is for a fullback to be exceptional under the high ball. The AB's gameplan basically revolved around him being awesome under the high stuff. Maybe not the all out running game of Cullen but generally better everywhere else. IMO Ben Smith easily tops them both, has the all round Skillset and high ball wizardry of Mills and an all round better attacking game than Cullen, maybe not the runner Cullen was in his prime but he has a much more diverse attacking arsenal and a much better team player, he easily creates more tries than he scores, and he scores a lot, Cullen was kinda known as being a bit selfish or individual. You were more likely to get a dummy than a pass from Cully. Smith is also much more active in games. Simply put if we were discussing the best try scoring fullback ever then maybe Cullen would get it. But best allround fullback? No Smith is easily better. I would say the most controversial thing about Smiths career is how late it took for the selectors to see just how good he actually is. I would say he deserved a regular squad spot from 2009 onward but only really get selected regularly in 2012/13? The selectors preferred Toeava over Smith for about 3 years which was clearly a selection mistake. Then persisted with an out of form Dagg as first choice fullback for a further 2-3 years. If not for that he'd probably have 80 test caps by now. That said, even now without considering that Smith probably has a lions tour and another World Cup left in him, hes the best full back we have produced and I think NZ has produced the best. Respect to the ones outside NZ like Burke & Co. And not considering the old school era. Great at the time but hard to compare because those guys would have seriously struggled in the modern era, its impossible to compare. Didn't mean to derail this stats thread, But Ben Smith features heavily in those stats. Easily our best and most consistent Back this RC as he is pretty much every series for the last few years. [/QUOTE]
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